Working In The Dark is a woman's journey of self-discovery and hope.

Critically acclaimed 40-something Jewish filmmaker and academic, Ida Mae Glick, has begun work on her latest film about homelessness, entitled, "The Human Condition.” Her desire to live as her subjects lived led to a narrow escape with death from her starvation-induced cardiac arrest.

Hospitalized, she meets Dr. Fern Makepeace, a psychiatrist specializing in eating disorders, who has been assigned to assess Ida Mae’s mental condition. Fern is beset by insecurities and unfulfilled needs, all of which she relieves by over-eating.   Because of Fern's insecurities, and Ida Mae's insistence that she does not have anorexia, their first meeting is fraught with mutual hostility.

As Ida Mae slowly recovers, the adversarial relationship between therapist and patient evolves into one of uneasy respect, and Ida Mae recounts her addictions to alcohol and cocaine, her failed affairs with men, and her stormy relationship with her twin sister, Lisa.

Fern’s attempts to bring the two sisters together opens a Pandora’s Box of pathos, hilarity and poignancy. What Fern never expected was that her own life would be turned over to the prevailing winds as well.

About the Author

BARB SYVERUD received theatrical training at the Neighborhood Playhouse, and her early musical training at the Juilliard School's Preparatory Division.  She received degrees in Music Composition from Ithaca College and Northwestern University.  She has authored and co-authored numerous poems, short stories, essays, novels, screenplays and plays.  Her one-woman show, "Presenting:  Eloise Fliegel," written for the British actress, Risa Hall, was premiered at the Bolton Institute, then performed at the Taurus Theatre in Manchester, England, and the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe, where it was nominated for a "Fringe First" award.  She has served on the English Department faculties of Loyola University, National-Louis University, and Mundelein College, where she was Director of the Creative Writing Program.  She is currently at work on a new book.