Abstract:
This play deals with the identity crisis of the recently ordained Catholic priest Lester Thibodeaux. During the war, he goes to Vietnam where he becomes romantically entwined with Joplin, whose brother is a monk at Peace Island. Thibodeaux rescues the girl from the bars and becomes a close friend of the family, which includes Uncle Bon, a witty, Quixotic older monk who has developed the Buddhist-Christian temple on the Island into a unique refuge from the world and the war. Thibodeaux's attempt to preserve that refuge turn into the utter destruction by fire of himself his beloved friends.