THE STORY: A minty green pill—medication or sugar? Louise is working on a placebo-controlled study of a new female arousal drug. As her work in the lab navigates the blurry lines between perception and deception, the same questions pertain more and more to her life at home. With uncanny insight and unparalleled wit, Melissa James Gibson’s affectionate comedy examines slippery truths and the power of crossed fingers.
“…divertingly offbeat comedy-drama…Ms. Gibson has a lovely affinity for parchment-dry humor that softens the sadder undercurrents of PLACEBO. And she imbues her characters with an affection for wordplay and the oddities of language…Ms. Gibson puts amusingly off-kilter, slightly stylized exchanges in the mouths of her everyday characters with convincing grace.” —The New York Times.
“Smart, droll, beautifully observed…” —New York Magazine.
“…subtle yet intellectually explosive…Gibson’s contemporary analysis of relationships and the things that propel them forward into the dark unknown…[P]oses interesting questions about the role the mind plays for all of us in every aspect of life—from the basest mechanics of sexual arousal to the most abstract concepts of eternal love…Fortunately, everything Gibson gives us in intellectual fodder she translates into emotional content, both surprising and original in its delivery. She leaves us intrigued…” —TheaterMania.
