Phil Donahue observed that "Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem." Exploring one young woman's desire for that permanent solution is the subject of the Women in Theater's production of Scarlett Ridgway Savage's "Dear Daddy, Love Cassie" at the West End Studio Theater.

Cassie is a solitary young woman, adorned with bandages on both wrists and agonizing over writing letters, per her shrinks' orders, to her dead father. The letters peel back layers of memories of a childhood torn asunder by her parents' divorce and her separation from her father. As the reflective pace picks up, her father makes a ghostly appearance. Jack and Cassie discover they both longed for the other's company, love and most importantly, forgiveness. Jack, as a young father, was not ready for the responsibility of a wife and daughter. Cassie struggled with a childhood where her father was stripped from her everyday life, leaving her to live with a mother who was humorless and rigid. At her psychiatrists' and her father's urging, Cassie is compelled to dig deeper, where eventually she finds a moment that has dominated her with guilt and dread.

Suicide is pervasive in our current society of "self." My encounters with suicide have left me prying my memory, wondering if I could have predicted or prevented this solution to a problem. Lack of forgiveness of self and forgiveness of others always seems to be at the root of a tortured existence that leads to substance abuse, failed relationships and depression. Using this universal premise, Savage has written a sometimes humorous and compelling story that most of us would usually prefer to avoid but need to hear.

Christy Cloutier Holmes puts on a wonderful performance as Cassie. Her grappling with life, with and without her father, is compellingly portrayed. I felt my brain empathizing with hers as she scans for memories of warmth and avoids looming darkness. Chris Savage, as Cassie's father Jack, is the perfect sounding board for his daughter's self-inquisition. He provides fatherly humor, loving reflections, and a few shocking memories of his own. Alan Huisman as the therapist steps in and out of the play with a detachment that I found reflective of the mental therapy profession. His demeanoer is one of a man incurious, but his questions are as mentally invasive to Cassie as a Japanese beetle infestation in a rose garden.

The simple set created a lighting design challenge for Matt Cost, which he answered by focusing on the action. More props are needed-I never got the feeling of a psychiatric facility, for example-and the script drags in places, but, as Jack pointed out, "everyone has problems." Therapy is perhaps like the making of sausages: best if unseen. But I like sausages, and if the result is tasty and enlightening, taking a peek can be an emotionally compelling experience.

"Dear Daddy, Love Cassie" plays at West End Studio Theater, 959 Islington St., Portsmouth, on Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 and $10 for students and seniors. Call 603-969-2087 for reservations and further information.