In Essential Self-Defense, when a disgruntled misfit takes a job as an attack dummy in a women's self-defense class, he finds himself mysteriously drawn to the repressed bookworm who's beating on him. But all's not well on the mean Midwestern streets of Bloggs: With local children vanishing at an alarming rate, our hero, his lady friend and a motley assortment of poets, butchers and punk librarians prepare to battle the darkness on the edge of town.
This new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Adam Rapp—whose other plays include last season's Obie winner Red Light Winter and Nocturne—is directed by Carolyn Cantor. The creative pair previously worked together on Rapp's play, Stone Cold Dead Serious.