There are many elements to consider when reviewing a play - the technical aspects as well as the aesthetic. But with Lenny Swartz’s play, Scarecrow, now playing at the Bell Street Chapel in Providence, there is an additional component that is important to include. That additional component is Lenny Schwartz’s process for putting a very personal and scary segment of his own life on stage for all to see.

This play, presented by the Daydream Theater Company, is not the first stage play to spotlight a real person’s experience, but as I suggested in the title, this production about a young man’s struggle with anorexia calledScarecrow, has a brain. What I mean is that it is thought provoking, intelligent, and well crafted. It is not just a voyeuristic display of horror-filled vignettes.

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