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Additional Particulars

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  1w, 3m

Ed Simpson

Winner! Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
Winner! Backstage West Garland Award
Critic's Choice! The Los Angeles Times

Explores the intersecting lives of four "Save-a-Bundle Discount Mart" employees: Glenda Balitski, an optimistic but lonely young woman
who works in housewares; Assistant Manager Warren Grippo, a
generous but awkward man of unflagging good manners; Raymond
Fetterman, a maintenance man and a former "Employee of the
Month;" and Kenny
Hinkle, a good-natured and sympathetic younger co-worker.

Additional Particulars

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    1w, 3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades

  • Winner! Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
    Winner! Backstage West Garland Award
    Critic's Choice! The Los Angeles Times

Details

Summary
The intersecting lives of four "Save-a-Bundle Discount Mart" employees are explored in Additional Particulars. In the first act, Glenda Balitski, an optimistic but lonely young woman who works in housewares, has recently moved into her tidy apartment after the death of her invalid mother. Assistant Manager Warren Grippo, a generous but awkward man of unflagging good manners, has unexpectedly dropped by Glenda's apartment after work. After the lonely couple discovers a shared enthusiasm for the corporate ideals of "Save-a-Bundle," Warren reveals that Glenda has been chosen "Employee of the Month..." and confesses his desire to discuss with her some "additional particulars" of a more personal nature. Meanwhile, Raymond Fetterman, a maintenance man and himself a former "Employee of the Month" is having lunch with his young friend and co-worker, Kenny Hinkle. It is the eve of Raymond's 47th birthday, he's trapped in a job he hates, and Raymond has come to the painful realization that time is quickly running out on his chances of "having a life." As Raymond desperately yearns to escape the monotony of his life, the good-natured Kenny sympathetically listens...and harbors a heartbreaking secret of his own.
History
Additional Particulars was first produced by The Occasional Theater, in association with Hothouse Peonies, and The West End, at Third Stage in Los Angeles, on May 13, 2000. It was directed by Michael Lilly. The play was developed at Keystone Repertory Theater, at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, under artistic director Barbara Blackledge.
Cast Attributes
Keywords
Performing Groups
GLENDA BALITSKI – early 40s; a pleasant, plain, slightly plump clerk in the housewares department of Save-a-Bundle Discount Mart
WARREN GRIPPO – mid-40s; a conservatively dressed man of unflagging earnestness and good manners; the assistant manager at Savea- Bundle Discount Mart
KENNY HINKLE – late 20s; a simple, pleasant, agreeable maintenance worker, content to just do his job
RAYMOND FETTERMAN – almost 47; loquacious, dissatisfied maintenance worker desperately yearning for more from life
  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

“Critic’s Choice” - Los Angeles Times

“Critic’s Pick” - Backstage West

“...Human comedy par excellence, as if Chekhov were reincarnated in America’s Wal-Mart culture....Simpson’s sympathy and affection for (his character’s) weaknesses are signs of that rare combination of a humanist with a genuine sense of humor.” - Robert Koehler, Los Angeles Times

“...Witty and insightful...not just a very funny show, but an unexpectedly poignant and decidedly human one as well....Simpson writes with an unusual degree of humanity...” - Terri Roberts, Variety

“...Poignantly funny...Full of angst and unfulfilled desires, Simpson’s characters are heartbreakingly imperfect. Yet under the darkness, Simpson’s works shine with an essential sweetness that is often a rarity in modern theater” - F. Kathleen Foley, Los Angeles Times

“...Enchanting...delightfully funny and heartrending...With humor and despair always just a millisecond apart, Simpson’s understated style aims squarely at the heart of working-class ennui and scores a bull’s eye. This is a playwright worth watching.” - Les Spindle, Backstage West

“Additional Particulars Triumphs....Written with down to earth humor and heart-rending compassion...A peek at the heartland of America, this stunningly beautiful script captures the audience, and tugs at their heartstrings...” - Pat Taylor, The Tolucan Times

“Big hearted... Additional Particulars... can easily join the ranks of those classic, timeless hymns to quiet humor and the human experience... The laughs are earned, not cheap. The tears are real, not manipulated.” -Mary Burkin, The Burbank Leader

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

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Authors

Ed Simpson

Ed Simpson

Ed Simpson’s plays have been widely produced throughout the US and Canada and include Additional Particulars, which won the 2000 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and the Backstage-West Garland Award for Playwriting; Elephant Sighs; The Battle of Shallowford; The Comet o ...

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