A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Any Given Day

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  3w, 6m

Frank D. Gilroy

"A drama of soaring beauty and power...sprinkled with comedy." - Reuters

"A hauntingly chilling portrait...Gilroy knows how to write for actors." - The New York Post

Any Given Day

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 6m
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Period
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary
This engrossing drama by the author of The Subject Was Roses covers eighteen months in the life of the Benti family during 1942 and 1943. The household is ruled by Mrs. Benti, a prescient and iron willed widow, and includes her three adult children: Carmen, Nettie (a main character in Roses), and Eddie as well as Carmen's illegitimate son Willis whom the others orbit like the sun. Eighteen year old Willis is mentally impaired and in a wheelchair. He appears both younger and older as he presides in often startling and humorous ways over the conflicting dreams, desires and passions that ebb and flow about him. The family appears to be making noble sacrifices in Willis' behalf, but each is actually using him for selfish ends.
History

Any Given Day premiered on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre in November 1993 under the direction of Paul Benedict.

Keywords
Performing Groups

MRS. BENTI - 63, widowed matriarch, German extraction which none of her three children, stamped with her father's Italianate features, reflect.
CARMEN BENTI - 37, unwed mother of Willis.
WILLIS - nominal age 18, but instrument damage at birth has left him physically handicapped and mentally disabled (without impairment of facial features) so he appears both older and younger.
GUS BROWER - 37, Carmens boyfriend.
NETTIE CLEARY - 36, Carmen's sister. 
JOHN CLEARY - 40, Nettie's husband.
TIMMY CLEARY - 16, their son.
EDDIE BENTI - 35, Nettie and Carmen's brother.
DOCTOR GOLDMAN - 50, the family physician.

  • Time Period 1940s / WWII
  • Setting The Benti's Bronx apartment, 1941 - 1943
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

REVIEWS

"A drama of soaring beauty and power...sprinkled with comedy." - Reuters

"A hauntingly chilling portrait...Gilroy knows how to write for actors." - The New York Post

"First class." - WCBS-TV

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $120 per performance
  • Optional Music/Media Fee: $15 per performance

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Authors

Frank D. Gilroy

Frank D. Gilroy
Frank Daniel Gilroy (1925-2015) was an award-winning playwright, producer, screenwriter and director. After graduating from Dartmouth College and the Yale School of Drama, he contributed profusely as a writer to the Golden Age of Television. His impressive first play, Who'll ...
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