In the/allowing essay, Christy recalls his introduction to Sticks and Bones as a first-year theater professor at Villanova, where Rabe was developing the play.

My most vivid memory of the play that became Sticks and Bones was my first reading of it. I was in my first year of teaching theatre at Villanova and David was on a Rockefeller grant finishing up his studies there after his time in Vietnam. There was talk around the department that David was at work on two interesting projects having to do with his Vietnam experiences, but I had not yet read any of his work. David asked me to read one of his new plays in an early draft. I settled down to it at my desk there with some anticipation, but also with that sense of duty that often accompanies the reading of a new script.

Within moments...