Far East
Description
Set in the 1950s, FAR EAST tells of a young naval officer looking for fun in Japan before Voice of America calls him home.
Production Info
Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
Press Quotes
“… this poignant new play is a welcome reminder of A R Gurney’s gliding dialogue and structural elegance, as well as the troubled, rueful heart that informs all his work.” —Ben Brantley, The New York Times
“A play that does everything right. The new drama by A R Gurney looks at who Americans were in the mid-1950s — a few Americans, anyway — and how they behaved out in those vast stretches of the world over which they had sway, and what their songs and movies and slang expressions and values were. The story centers on four US Navy people (one a Navy wife) stationed at a base in Japan in 1954 and 1955 … This subtle, tender play is, I think, Gurney’s best work. It’s John Cheever-meets-James Michener and it’s a critical elegy for a long-vanished American view of life.” —Donald Lyons, New York Post
“It is no coincidence that the movie playing at the overseas Officer’s Club in A R Gurney’s new play FAR EAST, is From Here to Eternity: the 1953 Pearl Harbor drama starring Burt Lancaster as a rugged Army sergeant who has a torrid affair with the restless wife of his commander … [A] deliciously wry play …” —Amy Gamerman, The Wall Street Journal
Author
A R GurneyA R ("Pete") Gurney's work has been produced in New York at Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, and Primary Stages. Among his plays are THE DINING ROOM, THE COCKTAIL HOUR, LOVE LETTERS, SYLVIA, FAR EAST, THE FOURTH WALL, and BIG BILL. Four of his more political plays — O JERUSALEM, MRS FARNSWORTH, SCREEN PLAY, and POST MORTEM — have been produced at the Flea Theater in Tribeca. Gurney also wrote several published novels, as well as the libretto for Michael Torke's opera Strawberry Fields, presented by the New York City Opera. A former Professor of Literature at M I T, he was elected in 2005 to the Theater Hall of Fame and in 2006 to The American Academy of Arts and Letters. He passed away in June 2017. Audio Interview [audioplayer file="//www.broadwayplaypublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/Bonus-Weekend-Podcast_-A.R.-Gurney-a.mp3" titles="Leonard Lopate Interviews A R Gurney" artists="" bg="434343"]
Book Information
| Publisher | BPPI |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2/1/2016 |
| Pages | 80 |
| ISBN | 9780881456585 |
Special Notes
Originally produced by Lincoln Center Theater Company, New York
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com
