Mind games, substance abuse mark Halley Feiffer’s ‘I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard’

Twisted head games, drinking and drugging, ugly crying: Halley Feiffer goes for melodrama at full throttle in her new play, I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard. One minute you’re laughing, the next you’re cringing. Sometimes you’re doing both at once. Flawed as it is, the play sticks in your head like a crazy nightmare. Two thirds of the action take place late at night in the kitchen where the childlike, eager Ella (a fine Betty Gilpin) and her father, David (Reed Birney at his most unhinged), are awaiting reviews for the play Ella’s in. Over copious amounts of wine, pot and coke, David regales Ella with stories of his past — the Brooklyn home he left, the “faggot” playwright he idolized, his own award-winning career. Ella’s heard all these stories before, but she’s too cowed, too admiring to do anything but gush anew. Meanwhile, David, a pot-bellied, narcissistic monster, alternately praises and belittles his only daughter, who’s playing a relatively minor role in a revival of The Seagull.