THE HEIGHTS, THE DEPTHS, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN
by Sally Nemeth
Playwright Nemeth’s look at coming of age (or at least, coming of adolescence) is set in those fairly safe, pre-cell phone 1980s when junior-high students like Lucy and her friend Jake would hang out, roam around town on their own and make friends with kids like troubled Gary Geary from the opposite side of the track. Their small Pennsylvania town, The Heights, is a comfortable backdrop for all the uncomfortable changes of early adolescence. Lucy is tall, while Jake, her best friend from early childhood, is a dwarf, and the shelter of the known world of elementary school can’t help them now. The transformation of their friendship as they enter junior high is inevitable, and this look at the private lives and real troubles of young teenagers is filled with believable moments and humor. While the wrapping up of plot threads in an epilogue weakens a strong and compelling story, Nemeth’s polished prose and consistently authentic characterization are noteworthy. (Fiction. 11-13)