The Brooklyn Rail

Balm in Brooklyn: A Case Study

The project: Balm in Gilead by Lanford Wilson, dreamed up by playwright Beau Willimon and tackled in the context of a four-day retreat in the block-long Brooklyn warehouse (modeled after Chekhov at Lake Lucille), using the full expanse of the space to create not just the NYC diner that is the setting for the groundbreaking first play by the late-great playwright, but the street where it lives as well. Balm in Brooklyn was initiated well before Wilson’s death on March 24 of this year. Suddenly losing Lanford along the way transformed the project, on some level, into the best kind of wake.