Red Speedo

Red Speedo

Lucas Hnath
$9.95
Publication Date: February 22nd, 2017
Publisher:
Dramatists Play Service
ISBN:
9780822235729
Pages:
142

Description

Ray's swum his way to the eve of the Olympic trials. If he makes the team, he'll get a deal with Speedo. If he gets a deal with Speedo, he'll never need a real job. So when someone's stash of performance-enhancing drugs is found in the locker room fridge, threatening the entire team's Olympic fate, Ray has to crush the rumors or risk losing everything.

A sharp and stylish play about swimming, survival of the fittest, and the American dream of a level playing field--or of leveling the field yourself.

About the Author

Lucas Hnath’s plays include THE CHRISTIANS (2014 Humana Festival), RED SPEEDO (Studio Theatre, DC), A PUBLIC READING OF AN UNPRODUCED SCREENPLAY ABOUT THE DEATH OF WALT DISNEY (Soho Rep), NIGHTNIGHT (2013 Humana Festival), ISAAC’S EYE (Ensemble Studio Theatre), DEATH TAX (2012 Humana Festival, Royal Court Theatre), and THE COURTSHIP OF ANNA NICOLE SMITH (Actors Theatre of Louisville). His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service. Lucas has been a resident playwright at New Dramatists since 2011, and is a proud member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre. Lucas is a winner of the 2012 Whitfield Cook Award for ISAAC’S EYE and received a 2013 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Citation for DEATH TAX. He has also received commissions from the EST/Sloan Project, Actors Theatre of Louisville, South Coast Repertory, Playwrights Horizons, New York University’s Graduate Acting Program, and the Royal Court Theatre. Lucas holds a BFA and an MFA from New York University's Department of Dramatic Writing.

Praise for Red Speedo

“…[A] remarkable feat…a taut, incisive drama…[Hnath] has a wonderfully inventive theatrical mind…With fragmented dialogue that often comes at you like artillery fire, RED SPEEDO recalls the (good) work of David Mamet, distilled and compressed. But Mr. Hnath’s voice and style are fundamentally his own. There’s an elemental, stylized simplicity to his work that focuses attention on the meanings behind the matters at hand. The characters in RED SPEEDO are palpably, at times movingly, human in their complexity and weakness…but as the play gathers steam it broadens out to become a subtle indictment of the ethos that insists that winning is everything.” —The New York Times.

“…Hnath raises hugely important questions about our society and the occasionally perverse behavior it encourages. What is the wisdom of basing success on one’s ability to be exceptional? What does ‘giving 110 percent’ really mean? Can we justify cheating when we feel that the game is already rigged against us?…[A] troubling and truthful play.” —TheaterMania.com.

“…a brutal examination of the cravenness of the modern sport scene in particular and America in general…Hnath constructs an intricate web of needs and counter-needs with the four players each battling and scheming to come out on top…Lurking underneath the surface waters of the plot is a bitter indictment of our winning-at-all-costs culture…this depth charge of a play hits you where it counts." —CulturalWeekly.com.