Killer Joe by Tracey Letts
May 11-12, 17-19, & 24-26, 2007

Stage fright - Le Chat Noir explores the terrifying possibilities in poverty, ignorance and moral degradation with some surprising humor in ‘Killer Joe’
by Stacey Hudson, Metro Spirit (05/16/07)

Tracy Letts has written a powerful character study about thee seedy side of life.  This play is filled with violence, revenge, hate, greed, sex--and humor.  Somehow, Mr. Letts has taken the worst in humans, put it on stage, and actually sprinkled humor though the violence.

Killer Joe is about the Smith family--a redneck, supremely dysfunctional family living together in a trailer park in Texas.  Mr. Letts has taken every stereotype of the trailer park, Deep South, dirt poor, and uneducated and made very real, very distinct and very ugly characters. His play opens with blinding lightening and the play never stops from that opening but continues on like a roller-coaster ride that has no operator.  There are several posted warnings that this play is for mature audiences and that it contains strobe light, nudity, gunshots, and cigarette smoke.  It also involves realistic violence, lots of blood, and flying set pieces.  It is a harrowing, deeply disturbing play that contains touches of humanity and glimpses of lost spirit.  It is, amazingly, Mr. Letts first play.