Max Stossel has done a lot of psychedelics. He freely admits this in his illuminating solo show, It’s a Miracle. The confession elicits giggles from his audience, but jokes aside, he explains that our physical death on earth is not the end of our lives nor our creativity. “I don’t believe consciousness is confined to the mind, confined to the limitations of this skin we’re in. Something deep inside me knows it’s infinite.”
Expect neither a lighthearted comedy nor a Mamma Mia like sing-along from this 65-minute monologue. But give yourself permission to enter Stossel’s spiritual meditation with an open heart and mind and your appreciation for life—however and for how long you define it-will exponentially increase.
Stossel knows that his musings might be interpreted as “hippie speak”, but he builds a solid case, not necessarily for evidence, but for mere belief. “There are “miracles” some of which are explainable with science and others are not, either way they are miracles, happening all around us all the time. This world is absolutely full of miracles. It just takes time, sometimes lifetimes, to really witness them.”
On the page, Stossel could be pegged as a Bohemian leftover from sixties counterculture and occasionally, some of his descriptions are hard to follow. Overall though, this young New Yorker grounds his work in actual observations that he has experienced himself, along with those he has seen through family, friends, and the world around him. He especially leans into the precarious reliance on modern gadgets, suggesting that “we’re building technology that brings us further away from the soul and not closer to it.” Books, articles, and podcasts have been warning us of their peril for years but hearing it from Stossel seems less like an admonishment and more of a thoughtful hope for behavioral change.
Lighting Designer Devin Cameron and Sound designer Angela Baughman create marvelously precise cues which separate the celestial realm from the earthly one. Director Emily Maltby’s simple but effective staging ensures theatrical flair over what otherwise could become a static lecture.
The good news in all of this—aside from the lovely notion that our spirits will live on forever-is that Stossel’s play exists in our current time. The unfortunate bit is that the show had a scheduled short run at Union Square’s Vineyard theater, having played from March 13th- March 19th. Stossel, who has been named by Forbes as one of the best storytellers of the year, anticipates that it will be revived and performed again.
For the sake of our souls, let’s hope that it is, for It’s a Miracle is its own miracle of beautiful theater that should be seen, felt, and heard by everyone.
For more information about Max Stossel, visit his website.
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