Pascack Hills’ AP Literature students traveled to NYC Theater District on December 6 to view Theresa Rebeck's I Need That, a play with Danny DeVito, Ray Anthony Thomas, and Lucy DeVito. This play was directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel. Set in modern-day New Jersey, the characters in this play, Sam, and his daughter, Amelia, along with their friend, Foster, wrestle with loss and how it takes courage to move on from grief.
In this family drama, the characters in I Need That remind us of how to move on from the past, we need a strong sense of community in the present. Sam isolates himself with memories and objects, but by letting the outside world in, he realizes he does not need to fill his present physical and emotional space with stuff. This play was paired with Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night and added a modern twist to the unit of study about home and family culture.
