Trust Exercise

Narrators Jennifer Lim, Suehyla El-Attar, and Adina Verson peel back the layers of three characters and one tumultuous year at an elite art school in the 1980s. Hormones, insecurity, and indiscretion abound as Sarah, David, and Karen navigate fraught, intense relationships while they are students of an unorthodox, demanding drama teacher. Each narrator provides a different version of their shared experience, so getting to the truth requires careful listening. Lim sets the stage, narrating the longest "trust exercise," told from Sarah's perspective. In addition to being nimble with dialogue, Lim delivers angst and frustration well. The "truth" is further distilled in the second "trust exercise," as told by Karen and deliciously performed by El-Attar. Finally, in a tone of careful vulnerability, Verson upsets the balance of all that has come before. A.S. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine