PLAYWRIGHT'S LETTER 

How does one make a reviled figure in American society your story’s “hero”? In a sense, I wrote The Woodsman with the intent of answering that question. In this case, my hero, Walter, happens to be a convicted child molester. In my mind I first had to present a human being. If I could do that, I reasoned, perhaps an audience would accept (or at least be open to accepting) this unlikely protagonist. Still, it seemed like a tall order. Further, this “monster” would not die or go to prison at the end of the story. He would still be with us, living and working in our community. How would an audience feel about that?

Show the audience an unlikable protagonist struggling to change and they will care about that character. Presenting a convicted child molester as protagonist, however, was more problematic and challenging. I had to somehow show that my protagonist’s struggle was one the audience could relate to and yet that it transcended mere gritty reality. For me the key to enlarging Walter’s conflict was provided in the title. With “The Woodsman” I felt that I had found the right title. It revealed levels of fable and metaphor that opened up Walter’s world. Like many fables and fairy tales, The Woodsman is a world inhabited by predators and children with the possible hope of one mighty hero. The title of my play comes from the character that saves Little Red Riding Hood from the wolf. Walter, once a predator of little girls, wants to live a normal life. But he cannot succeed until he has the courage to confront the wolf inside him. The title clues the audience that Walter’s struggle is one that is universal. We all have our inner demons. Our best and our worst impulses often do battle – only our battles are not on the same scale as Walter’s.

The Woodsman began as a playwright’s attempt to reveal the humanity in a sexual outcast. It ended as a story about redemption. Of course research was done to get the story right. What I learned is that every pedophile is different. Their crimes are different. The causes of their sickness are different. The issue is difficult and complex. The Woodsman is the story of just one man, not Everyman. While society’s harsh attitude toward child molesters may be understandable, a question the play asks is whether there is still the possibility for forgiveness.