A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

The Sunken Living Room

Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy  /  2w, 2m

David Caudle

"A moving period drama about emotional abandonment...a witty and deep piece on many levels." - nytheatre.com
November, 1978. Wade Minnick, 16, is a slender, effeminate bookworm in suburban Miami. With his distracted mother out playing Bridge, and his pilot father away on a trip, Wade settles down in the family's showpiece living room to read A Passage To India.

The Sunken Living Room

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    105 Minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Period
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Details

Summary
November, 1978. Wade Minnick, 16, is a slender, effeminate bookworm in suburban Miami. With his distracted mother out playing Bridge, and his pilot father away on a trip, Wade settles down in the family's showpiece living room to read A Passage To India. His volatile brother Chip, 17, takes off on a dubious errand, leaving Wade alone with Chip's foxy pothead girlfriend. "Freak" Tammy teaches "brain" Wade more about life and about himself than he could learn from a dozen novels. And when Chip returns, having scored and snorted some serious drugs, Wade's gonna need every ounce of his newfound courage and compassion.
History
The Sunken Living Room received its world premiere at the New Theatre in Miami, Florida, in a co-production with Southern Rep on September 27, 2006. It was directed by Ryan Rilette. HOWL! Arts Project and The Actors Fund presented the NYC premiere of The Sunken Living Room in September, 2010 during their benefit festival at Theatre 80.
Keywords
Performing Groups
WADE - 16, a scrawny, naive bookworm who is not yet aware that he's gay
LYNNETTE - early 40s, Wade's attractive but distracted mother
CHIP - 17, Wade's sexy, athletic, volatile brother
TAMMY - 17, Chip's sexually-experienced pothead girlfriend
  • Time Period 1980s
  • Setting Miami, 1978. The sunken living room in a suburban home.
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Additional Features Physical Comedy, Stage Combat
  • Duration 105 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • Drugs
    • Intense Adult Themes
    • Strong Language
    • Nudity/Partial Nudity
    • Open Flame
    • Smoking

Media

REVIEWS:

"A moving period drama about emotional abandonment...a witty and deep piece on many levels." -nytheatre.com

"...Unsettling, funny, poignant... Caudle's writing is full of humor, compassion, keen observation and period-perfect language..." -The Miami Herald

"...Sharp period piece... blistering family drama... The Sunken Living Room is a drama with much to say about growing up too soon in a world that's moving too fast." -Sun Sentinel

"Sidelined by the hurricanes, The Sunken Living Room is back at home in Miami, all the better for South Florida audiences, who get to be the first of what will surely be many audiences to experience this delicious drama." -Miami ArtZine

"David Caudle's new play... is a rarity: a realistic, linear comedy-drama that holds and entertains its audience with an authentic slice of dysfunctional family life."...funny, touching and disturbing, ...dramatically buoyant theatre." -Times-Picayune

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Music

  • Musical Style N/A (Not a musical)
  • Vocal DemandsN/A (Not a musical)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $120 per performance

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Authors

David Caudle

David Caudle
David Caudle is a recent alumnus of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages, where he has developed several plays, including Downward Facing Debbie, Likeness, Leg Man, South Beach Rapture, Damsel and The Common Swallow, and most recently, the origina ...
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