Book excerpt: Few playwrights have explored as relentlessly as Christopher Durang the pain and confusion of everyday life--or made us laugh so uproariously at the results. Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, the center of a storm of controversy for its satire of misplaced trust in religious authority," remains as powerful today as when it was originally produced. The excruciatingly funny The Nature and Purpose of the Universe asks whether Eleanor Mann's Job-like suffering is really her fault, while Titanic takes us into the heart of children's anger with their parents and parents' manipula-tion of their children. In Beyond Therapy, two horrifyingly human therapists pursue their own needs at the expense of the most mismatched couple ever to meet through a personal ad. Also including 'Dentity Crisis and The Actor's Nightmare, this collection demonstrates that laughter is the best surgery, slicing through prejudice and hypocrisy, cutting out dead beliefs and inflamed opinions. These dark comedies, lit by lightning bolts of truth and humor, are among the most illuminating in American drama, by "one of the most explosively funny American dramatists" (Newsweek). Includes: The Nature and Purpose of the Universe 'Dentity Crisis Titanic The Actor's Nightmare Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You Beyond Therapy