I think that the play (Sticks and Bones) came across to some people as both anti-American anti-family.
I'm sure that a lot of the people who went to it went only because it won the Tony for Best Play. It's sometimes surprising that people see things without bothering to find out much about them in advance.
In addition, when everyone started walking out was the most upsetting scene of the play. It was extremely bloody, but beyond the blood, the premise of the scene was extremely unsettling to many people. People would have been deeply offended even without the graphic violence. With the graphic violence, I think some people (and clearly a substantial portion of the audience at that matinee) found it infuriating and insulting. And I'm sure some simply couldn't take all the blood.
I did not see the original production of Streamers, but I remember hearing about people also getting extremely upset about the violence and blood at the climax of that play.
Really, the play was very controversial, which is why the television adaptation was canceled. When it was shown several months later, at least 70 CBS affiliates refused to show it.
I just looked up a Times article that said that between the initial cancellation and when it was finally shown, one thing that had happened was that the public had become aware of "suicide, divorce and unemployment" among the returning vets.
My memory is also that Rabe made some major revisions to the script for the television production. I've never seen that written about and perhaps my impression at the time was wrong. But the thing that really surprised when I finally saw the television adaptation was that it almost seemed like a whole new play that was simply inspired by Sticks and Bones.
I did not see Streamers or Pavlo Hummel back then, though I read Streamers, but I did see The Orphan, which was originally announced as completing the trilogy.
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