Citizens is directed by Pamela Rabe, her STC directing debut. The play, which Sun-Herald critic Jason Blake sees as “a series of vignettes, seen in the shadow of a huge wall, we’re told, stretches for countless miles,” is directed in a linear fashion as various characters traverse this walled city from one side to another.

Rabe: “Keene’s plays shun the characters who start and often benefit from wars such as the politicians, generals, terrorists and businessmen. That isn’t Daniel’s domain. His particular interest is powerless people and not the moneyed, the privileged and the people with the ability to articulate their views for their own ends or agendas.
In Citizens, the lives of common men and women unfold in the shadow of a wall dividing an unspecified community in conflict. The characters could be from Palestine, Northern Ireland or any country where the random yet predictable violence of war is just another of life’s daily hurdles.”

Reference: Andrew Taylor, “Suffer the powerless people,” Interview with Rabe and Maddock in The Sun-Herald, April 20 2008