In a bucolic setting with a serene cloudscape, a man is penitently building a dry-stone wall. A country idyll this is not.

Written by Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, American Song premiered in 2016 at the Milwaukee Rep.

David Mealor ably directs this searing 85-minute monologue, which examines the personal impact of American domestic gun violence. Murray-Smith employs American poet Walt Whitman’s notion of democratic equality and rural idealism to cleverly juxtapose the price paid for these principles. The insights are not exclusive to our allies.

Renato Musolino in American Song. Photo © Nic Mollison

When a mass shooting leads inexorably to the question “Why?”, Murray-Smith goes to some lengths to steer us away from the comfort of blaming any of the usual suspects. The protagonist is apolitical and not religious. He believes his views are moderate, reasonable and informed. There he is not alone.

Renato Musolino is Andy: a father, husband and worker at a crossroads. A consuming examination of the personal tragedy that irrevocably changed his life is met with explanations so inadequate as to leave him bereft and furious....