THE SUNKEN
LIVING ROOM
PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL FRENCH (now CONCORD THEATRICALS)
SYNOPSIS: A November night in Miami, 1978. His air line pilot father is off on a trip. His mother is out playing bridge. Dutiful Wade does his homework and holds down the fort. When his older brother Chip comes home in a drug-fueled rage even his pothead girlfriend can’t handle, Wade must fight to keep his showpiece living room clean-- and his family intact.
(2M, 2F)
WADE, 16. A scrawny, closeted bookworm.
LYNNETTE, early 40s. Wade's attractive but distracted mother.
CHIP, 17. Wade's athletic, volatile brother.
TAMMY, 17. Chip's pothead girlfriend.
John Magaro as WADE; Arianne Ellison as TAMMY. New Theater, Miami, FL
REVIEWS:
"a moving drama about emotional abandonment. ... witty and deep" Case Aiken, NYTHEATRE.COM
”funny, touching and disturbing, one character threatening to tip the scales toward tragedy." David Cuthbert, TIMES PICAYUNE
"...unsettling, funny, poignant... Caudle's writing is full of humor, compassion, keen observation and period-perfect language..." Christine Dolen, 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." Jack Zink, SUN SENTINEL
AWARDS:
Best Drama of '06, Miami Sun Times
Winner: Ambie Award, Best Original Play
Winner: Southern New Plays Festival
Carbonell Nominee, Best New Work
Gold Medal Finalist, Pinter Review Prize
for Drama; Finalist, Lark Playwrights Week
Play of the Week; Drama Book Shop, NYC
VISITING HOURS
PUBLISHED BY STAGE RIGHTS (now BROADWAY LICENSING)
SYNOPSIS: A Lesbian couple's longtime relationship is threatened when their estranged adult son resurfaces, having been arrested for Aggravated Assault. Their struggle is the nightmare of any couple, gay or straight in the current pandemic of drug abuse and mental illness.
(1M, 4F)
SHELLY, mid-30s (but passes for early 20s). Paul's homeless girlfriend.
NAT, 60s. Beth and Marian's wealthy Lesbian landlady and longtime friend.
MARIAN, 50s. Paul's mother.
BETH, 50. Marian's longtime Lesbian lover, step parent to Paul.
PAUL, 30. A troubled young man, in jail for an assault.
Jessie Terrebonne as SHELLY; Becky Allen as NAT. Mid City Theater, New Orleans. Director: Ann Mahoney
REVIEWS:
"a slow-burning, perceptive chamber drama about sacrifice and betrayal, honesty and self-delusion... In Caudle's worldview, self-interest trumps everything else, a conclusion that other playwrights, like Neil LaBute, have reached with caustic cynicism or world-weary hopelessness. But Caudle seems to be an inherent optimist, looking for even the slightest glimmer of hope or modicum of change in this tragic study of human foibles." John Thomason, Miami New Times
'Resonant.' 'A study in hard-wired familial dysfunction.' Christine Dolen, Miami Herald
"immensely engaging...Caudle examines the boundaries of love and acceptance, and the sometimes manipulative competition that filial love can create with the love of spouses….Caudle creates painfully real circumstances, as well as characters toward whom the audience feels genuine empathy. He also deftly captures the difficulty of placing limitations on love, when to tell the kind lie rather than the cruel truth, and the agony of wondering “What did I do wrong?”"
Theodore P. Mahne, Times-Picayune
AWARDS:
Best New Play of 2012; Times-Picayune
Finalist: Premier Stages New Plays Festival
Development in the Downstage Miami Workshop
SYNOPSIS:
Colonial Massachusetts, 1765: A wealthy landowner hires a highly idealistic young artist to paint a highly idealized portrait of his daughter for the purposes of enticing a titled British nobleman into marriage. Though adverse to the idea of telling a lie with his brush, painter Edmund Farraday is lured by the promise of money and career advancement. His contempt for the spoiled girl wipes away his last scruples, until the first rumbles of revolution make him see his subject and himself in a new way altogether.
World Premiere at Miami’s New Theater, directed by Ricky J. Martinez
Published in Blackbird, Volume 15.
LIKENESS
CHARACTERS: (3M, 3F)
EDMUND FARRADAY, 24; An idealistic young artist.
MARCUS, 17; A field hand.
MR. WESTERLEY, 40s. A tyrannical landowner.
MISS PRESTON, 30s. The reserved governess.
MISS WESTERLEY, 16. Mr. Westerley's only child.
MRS. MAPES, 50ish. Mr. Westerley's 'niece.'
DEVELOPMENT:
Full Development at the New Harmony Project, with director Lisa Rothe and Dramaturg Julie Felise Dubiner.
Semi-Finalist,
O’Neill Playwrights Center
A reading at FEDERAL HALL commemorated the passing of the Stamp Act. Directed by Joe Sicari, with NIck Lehane, Erin Wilhelmi, Ned Van Zandt, Kathryn Kates, Angela C. Howell.
Erin Wilhelmi
Manhattan Theater
Source
Matthew Leddy, Tara Vodihn
New Theatre
REVIEWS:
"...another brilliant piece of writing from Miamian-turned-New Yorker David Caudle, who turned to the turbulent times of Revolutionary War Boston to explore idealism versus reality. ...but it is really not a historical drama. It is, however, a tale about family, economic class consciousness, and, of course, the honesty of an artist..."Ron Levitt, Entertainment News and Views.”
"Likeness begins with a straightforward question — Should a struggling artist sometimes compromise his integrity to further his career? — and ends by colliding head-on with the eternal verities. ...we are forced to consider the virtue of honor, the wisdom of pragmatism, the nature of beauty, the beauty of truth, the allure of servility, the commingled love and fascism of certain kinds of father-daughter relationships, and the ultimate dominion of women over their husbands. Playwright David Caudle has much to say about all of these things, and he has the talent to let his characters say all of it in their own voices." Brandon K. Thorp, Miami New Times
DOWNWARD FACING
DEBBIE
PUBLISHED BY STAGE RIGHTS (Now BROADWAY LICENSING)
SYNOPSIS: Ditched at the altar, disoriented Debbie dives headlong into yoga to deal with her damage. Luck guides her to an exclusive class at a tony Hamptons studio led by two gorgeous, wise, powerful women. When newly-healed Debbie spots cracks in the studio's stunning facade, she embarks on a mission to heal her healers.
(2M, 4F)
DEBBIE, mid-30s, a troubled young woman.
ANDUIN, 30s. A beautiful, black, brilliant yoga instructor.
TATE, late 20s. Anduin’s hot model boyfriend and yoga teacher wannabe.
LI, late 20s. Anduin’s Chinese-American studio partner and fellow teacher.
CLAUDIA, 50s. A lost child in the form of wealthy, famous fragrance designer.
BOB, 50s. Blue-collar owner of an appliance repair company.
World Premiere in Planet Connections Theater Festivity, directed by Andrew Block
REVIEWS:
"I LOVE this play! …proceeds humorously and big-heartedly, sorting out a variety of issues and potential couplings among these six characters. Everyone's humanity--by which I mean their frailties and flaws AND their innate nobility and worthiness--is explored and appreciated. But not proven: the complicated nature of humanity is a given here, which is as it should be. The writing is sharp and often very funny. … I predict a long and healthy life for Downward Facing Debbie--the combination of yoga and wise humane comedy should serve to make this a play that lots and lots of companies all over the world will want to do. … This really does feel like one of those times when we're seeing the making of a big hit unfolding.”
—Martin Denton, Indie Theater Now!
DEVELOPMENT:
The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages
Originally commissioned by Outcast Productions