-Phillip Dean-

The play `After January' is the story of a young man named Alex who meets and falls in love with a girl named Fortuna.

There are several themes in the play, but the main theme concerns modern day rites of passage. Rites of passage are various rites which societies use to change a participant's sense of identity. The rites of passage shown in the play are those of a young man as he goes through different stages on his way to manhood. There are three different phases in rites of passage and these are called separation, transition, and incorporation. Each of these phases has different aspects and features.

The first phase, separation, often involves alienation through a loss of identity. It could also involve the crossing of boundaries, which may involve a journey of some sort.

In the play Alex shows that he has...