We watched a serious but self-contained news story explode into a searing drama in which characters with whom we were intimately familiar were often distorted into caricature.

The New York Times called the play a "searing drama" and the production enjoyed a sold out, extended run.

It is in the second act that Mr. Roth narrows his focus to one of the families and raises "Born Guilty" from staged documentary to searing drama.

One reason may be that the cosmically involved concerns of his searing early dramas gave way to the inner-directed conflicts and pretensions of his later ones.

To be sure, Schubert's greatest song cycle is a work of searing drama.

"We are pleased to bring you yet another Mama-on-the-Couch play," the Narrator begins, "a searing domestic drama that tears at the very fabric of racist America."

It's searing drama, reflecting on a particularly tough question: How do you behave when you can truly say that nothing matters anymore?

Now her searing dramas have taken her to the top.

But the most accomplished and rewarding play in the festival was a small but searing drama peopled by everyday characters and driven by an off-the-rack plot.

Quality - and a commitment, whether to wild silliness or searing drama - are prime ingredients in theater that will be enjoyed by children.