ABOUT THE PLAY

A collaborative effort between Scranton area playwright Tom Flannery and Los Angeles based playwright and screenwriter Rodger Jacobs, Purgatory Diaries of Jason Miller offers a searing glimpse into the soul of a man who reached the summit of two professions, on opposite coasts....at the same time.

"Me and Rodger co-wrote a first draft back in 2004", Flannery remembers. "Then Rodger had some personal issues to contend with so we were out of touch for a long time. I had no idea where he was, so I re-wrote it myself in 2006 and it wasn't until 2007 that me and Rodger got back in touch. I sent him what I had done and he was very happy with it. So he said....'go for it'. It's still a collaboration though. Without Rodger in the beginning, there would be no play."

Miller's Pulitzer Prize winning play That Championship Season made him the toast of New York City, while his memorable screen debut as Fr. Karras in the horror masterpiece The Exorcist rocketed him to A-list status in Hollywood. After such success....what to do? Indeed. No easy answers.

Purgatory Diaries of Jason Miller portrays a man seemingly paralyzed by these early successes....never quite sure what his true calling was. Was he a legitimate heir to Celtic bards like Eugene O'Neill? Or could he use his smoldering good looks and intensity to become a newer version of Brando or Dean? His potential was limitless. His talent was staggering. And his vices, drink being the most damaging, eventually wore him down. At the time of his death, he was largely forgotten.

It's a story not only of one man, but everyman. As Flannery says, "It's a play about success and failure, and how blurred these two things can become when the spotlight is in your eyes. And it's a story about wandering, and finally coming home."