A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Disassembly

Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy  /  4w, 3m

Evan is what you would call "accident-prone." Now he's been randomly stabbed. In his apartment, his twin sister and his fiancée are trying to help him recover while fending off a steady stream of visitors and a bitter neighbor with a thing for stuffed cats.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    75 Minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Not Applicable
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary
Evan is what you would call "accident-prone." Having suffered from various injuries his entire life, he's now been randomly stabbed. In his apartment, his twin sister and his fiancée are trying to help him recover while fending off a steady stream of visitors and a bitter neighbor with a thing for stuffed cats. Something isn't quite adding up though. As the morning descends into a buzz of secrets and lies, this dark farce quickly becomes a brutally funny commentary on how, under the right circumstances, violence can take hold of just about anyone.

History
Disassembly premiered at Impact Theatre (Melissa Hillman, Artistic Director; Cheshire Isaacs, Managing Director) at LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre in Berkeley, California on May 6, 2011. The performance was directed by Desdemona Chiang. 
Cast Attributes
Keywords
ELLEN – A woman; deeply concerned for her brother, seemingly “normal” except for the inappropriate laughter, singing seizures, and lapses into extreme violence
EVAN / NARRATOR – A man; Ellen’s brother, with a good attitude, a generous smile and a lot of unexplained injuries, or at least very poorly explained injuries
DIANE – A woman; Evan’s fiancée, surface pretty, surface nice, making it through, but fed-up and breaking, trying her best to work it out
TESSA – A woman; all in black, very put together, overly polite, laughing at herself, past the point where death has any discernable impact
STANLEY – A man; sweet, caring, almost like a big teddy bear, with a healthy dose of psychotically jealous stalker underneath
JEROME / FOX – A man; Ellen’s sometime boyfriend, very quiet, very tense, not very nice, but very much in love with the idea of love
MIRABELLE / CROW – A woman; Ellen and Evan’s neighbor, she chews gum, she has cats, real and imagined, and a lot of attitude, somehow, oddly alluring
  • Time Period Contemporary, New Millennium/21st Century
  • Setting A spacious but simply furnished apartment
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 75 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

REVIEWS

"[S]trange and hilarious and unsettling... [it] had me leaning forward in rapt anticipation of what would happen next."  San Francisco Weekly, Read More

"Yockey's play has an infectiously goofy charm that sucks you in... a play with a healthy cynicism but never a self-conscious wink or nod.” Contra Costa Times, Read More

“The way [the twists] play out is delightfully perverse, with all sorts of troubling revelations and a hilariously brutal brawl. At only 70 minutes, it’s a tightly packed - and tightly wound - little gem.” -The Idolect, Read More

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

Available Formats:

Authors

Steve Yockey

Steve Yockey is a Los Angeles-based writer with work produced throughout the US, Europe and Asia. His plays Pluto, Bellwether, Afterlife, Octopus, Large Animal Games, CARTOON, Subculture, Very Still & Hard to See, The Fisherman’s Wife, Wolves, Disassembly, Niagara Falls and T ...
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