Beirut
Play Description
Set in an apocalyptic future where a young man named Torch has been quarantined to a dark, squalid room on the Lower East Side of New York City, after testing positive for a nameless, sexually transmitted disease. In his grimy cell which the locals refer to as “Beirut,” Torch passes the time alone, forbidden from contact with the moral population of the outside world. His uninfected girlfriend, Blue, makes the dangerous journey across the quarantine line to be with him. Torch tries to keep her at room’s length and for the next hour, they argue lovingly, jokingly, fearfully, bravely, and desperately about sex and death. All the while, Torch pleads with Blue to leave before his resistance fails and he infects her. She chooses the possibility of infection: “I can live without sex and feel dead or risk death and feel alive.”
Production Info
Cast: 3 total (1 female, 2 male)Full Length Drama (about 90 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
- Productions
Press Quotes
“… Alan Bowne’s stunner about love in the plague years. It’s ‘the near future’: we’re in a dump of a room on the Lower East Side, where a young man named Torch has been quarantined after testing positive for a nameless disease that sounds a lot like AIDS. His girlfriend, Blue, who has not been infected, makes the dangerous journey across the quarantine line to be with him … The marvel of Mr Bowne’s work is the richly raunchy language, tuned to the gritty rhythms of the street. It’s crude yet lyrical; even at its most scatological, the dialog sings … They (Torch and Blue) are a Romeo and Juliet of the boroughs, an East Side story … the poetry and power of BEIRUT …” —Walter Goodman, The New York Times
“… Alan Bowne makes a statement about sexually transmitted disease that is more powerful than all the soapbox orations which have been attempted theatrically to explore the subject. He deals with the human spirit as it faces the inevitable, and it is a spirit of hope and love, of logic and of empathy …” —T H McCulloh, Drama-Logue
Author(s)
Alan BowneAlan Bowne was an American playwright and author. His plays include BEIRUT, FORTY-DEUCE, SHARON AND BILLY, and THE BEANY AND CECIL SHOW, many of which are available from Broadway Play Publishing Inc. He was a member of New Dramatists. He also wrote one novel, Wally Wonderstruck. He died of complications related to AIDS at the age of forty-four.
Book Information
| Publisher | BPPI |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 5/16/2016 |
| Pages | 54 |
| ISBN | 9780881456233 |
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
First produced by the Manhattan Class Company
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com
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