A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Geniuses

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  1w, 5m

Jonathan Reynolds

"If Kaufman and Hart were writing Once in a Lifetime today, it might flaunt the cynical air of Jonathan Reynolds' Geniuses, a savage comedy about movie making." - New York Daily News

Geniuses

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    1w, 5m
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary

A satirical take on "Apocalypse Now"-type filmmaking set in a jungle shack two hundred miles north of Manila where a group of grandiose filmmakers are shooting a war epic, "Parabola of Death". The characters include the latest in a series of writers on the project, a sadistic set designer, a make-up artist specializing in wounds who is obsessed with Hemingway, a boy wonder 'auteur' director who creates chaos, and the producer's bimbo girlfriend who has been flown in to do a thirty second nude scene. An Off-Broadway hit at New York's Playwright's Horizons.

History

Geniuses premiered at Playwrights Horizons in New York City in May 1982 under the direction of Gerald Gutierrez.

Cast Attributes
Keywords
Performing Groups

WINSTON LEGAZPI - 22, slender, aesthetic-looking Filipino with a raft of children.
SKYE BULLENE - 27, all-American, very blonde, very gorgeous fomer Playmate of the Year for Playboy Magazine. Aware of the impact of her physique on others.
BART KEELY - 57, a vigorous, athletic outdoorsman with an excellent physique. Styles himself after Ernest Hemingqay. Funny, irascible, gentle, and brilliant.
JOCKO PYLE - 33, from New York. A novelist who has yet to catch on. Obsessed with his own failure and is very hard on himself. Angry, vitriolic, funny, brilliant, naice, and convince of his own absurdity.
EUGENE WINTER - 39, strong masculine, and golden. An art director accustomed to designing and building miniempires.
MILO MCGEE MCGARR - 32, has won six Academy Awards, the current whiz kid of movie directors. Has an idea per minute, enormous energy and intelligence.

  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Setting A village 200 miles north of Manilla, the Phillippines
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes
    • Nudity/Partial Nudity

Media

REVIEWS

"If Kaufman and Hart were writing Once in a Lifetime today, it might flaunt the cynical air of Jonathan Reynolds' Geniuses, a savage comedy about movie making." - New York Daily News

"Among other things, Geniuses is an insidious act of movie criticism. Make no mistake: beneath the japery, there is a warning: movies can be injurious to your health. Geniuses skewers deal makers, agents and all who overdose on self-importance." - The New York Times

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $120 per performance

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Author

Jonathan Reynolds

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