New Jersey Stage 2015: Issue 7 | Page 83

Leonard Zhukovsky / Shutterstock.com By The Water A play about Hurricane Sandy by Gary Wien The images of devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy will never be forgotten by those whose towns were ravaged. Sharyn Rothstein’s play, By the Water, begins with that image up close and personal. The audience meets the Murphy family whose Staten Island NewJerseyStage.com home has been destroyed and who has to choose between agreeing to the government’s buyout program or ruining the chance for government assistance for their neighbors. In their town, everybody has to be part of the buyout program or no one will be. 2015 - ISSUE 7 83