“Pressing to the edge”
Interestingly, Edson shared that her first job was as a physical therapy aide. When reflecting on this early work, Edson observed, “The world of physical therapy, it seems to me, is incremental progress; is small steps, small improvements toward a distant goal.” Throughout the play Professor Bearing’s transformation into a human who has lived and is willing to admit her vulnerability is achieved through a similar series of small steps through a form of what Edson calls spiritual physical therapy. According to Edson, by the end of the play, Professor Bearing has been “pressed to the edge of what she feels safe doing and then has to do one more thing. And that’s where we grow, at the margin there, at the zone of discomfort. If there’s too much of that destabilization, then we retract, but if there’s the right amount that’s where our growth comes.” Nurse Monahan, who, with her gentle patience stands steadfastly by her side, becomes that clinician who pushes Professor Bearing just enough to help her grow. Their relationship allows for Professor Bearing to realize that truth that Edson describes: “the risk of your own weakness is the beginning of your own increase of strength.”