SOURCE: Rabe, David and Stephanie Coen. “When Reason Fails.” American Theatre 14, no. 6 (July-August 1997): 22.

In the following interview, Rabe discusses his dramatic adaptation of A Question of Mercy.

[Coen]: What led you to dramatize the essay by Richard Selzer?

[Rabe]: The piece was originally published in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, and when I read it, I was stunned by it as it unfolded. I had been in talks with American Playhouse about doing an adaptation of something else, so they were on my mind—I first approached them about doing it on television, and they said yes and optioned it.

I doubt that I'd have thought of making it into a play [A Question of Mercy] off the top of my head, but once I got into it I started to feel it as a play. When I turned it in to American Playhouse I said, “If...