If there is one thing Reza does well (and she does many things well when it comes to playwriting) is she cuts right to the chase without it feeling cheap, melodramatic, or false.  The question I constantly ask myself with this play is, “How does the playwright get us from A to Z so quickly?”  How do we go from “Those tulips are gorgeous” to “Children consume and fracture our lives.  Children drag us towards disaster, it’s unavoidable.”  I think the answer is simple.  ”What did you mean by that?”  That question, asked by one character to another, cuts right to the heart of whatever matter is at hand; whatever dialogue is being inferred but sublimated.  ”What did you mean by that?” doesn’t let the questioned character get away with passive/aggressive or flippant remarks.  Moreover, their response often merits a “What’s that supposed to mean?!”  In other words, some playwrights reveal a character’s truth very slowly, like undressing someone in fifteen layers of winter coats.  Reza, on the other hand, allows her character to flay one another like at a cat-skinning party.  For her, “What did you mean by that?” really states “I know exactly what you meant by that and I won’t pretend I don’t.”  For example, this exchange: “Gingerbread, delicious . . . Well, at least all this has given us a new recipe.” “I’d have preferred it if it hadn’t cost my son two teeth.”  ”Of course, that’s what I meant.”  ”Strange way of expressing it.”  It’s all quite civilized, and fairly simple.  She won’t let her characters off the hook they’re hanging themselves on.  Why?  ”You’re far more authentic when you’re showing yourself in a horrible light.”  Audiences want to see characters squirm in this horrible light because, like them, we more often than not know exactly what we mean when we say it.  We just hope the other person doesn’t make us prove it.