Balm in Gilead

After being workshopped in the directing and playwriting units of the Actors Studio, it debuted off-off-Broadway at La Mama Experimental Theater Club on January 20, 1965.

[5] Directed once again by Malkovich, the 1984 cast featured Jonathan Hogan, Danton Stone, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Sinise, Giancarlo Esposito, and Glenne Headly.

The 2005 revival starred Anna Chlumsky and Francisco Solorzano, and featured Victoria Malvagno, Luca Pierruci, Jennie West, John Gazzale, Trey Gibbons, Jeff Keilholtz, and Diego Kelman Ajuz.

[17] Balm in Gilead is set in Frank's café, a greasy spoon diner in New York City's Upper Broadway neighborhood, over the course of three days.

Meanwhile, Darlene finds herself ill-equipped to handle life in a slum, and she becomes increasingly vulnerable to the attentions of the various low-rent men who hang around the café looking for an easy target.

The play ends with all the lead characters droning their lines from the first scene over and over again in a circle, implying that their lives are stuck in a demoralizing rut.