Vigil

Saunders, acclaimed writer and Booker Prize winner for Lincoln in the Bardo, returns with another imaginative meditation on the end-of-life experience. K. J. Boone is a self-made oil magnate whose legacy includes leveraging wealth and influence to discredit scientific research linking fossil fuels to global warming. His crowning achievement was a high-profile presentation arguing that global temperatures were falling rather than rising. Now confined to his deathbed, Boone is visited by Jill Blaine, who arrives in astral form to comfort and escort him into the afterlife. He is also visited by many others whose lives were altered by his actions. A full cast brings richness and dimension to this production, voicing the various figures who appear to Boone during his final hours. The emotional core, however, rests with Greer as Jill, whose performance anchors the narrative with warmth and authority. The ensemble approach immerses listeners in Boone’s final reckoning, creating the uncanny sensation of being a silent observer at the edge of life and what comes next.