This tool is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.
Start planning your production with a cost estimate you can save and share with your team. Just answer a few questions.
This estimator is only for amateur productions. Professional customers should contact the Licensing department directly to enquire about a title's availability: [email protected]
Important: The cost quoted is an estimate only and may differ when you apply for a licence.
A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE
Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 5m
Larry Shue
Young architect Willum Cubbert has often told his friends about the debt he owes to Rick Steadman, a fellow ex-GI who saved his life after he was seriously wounded in Vietnam. Then Rick comes to stay, and he is absolutely not what Willum expected.
Aspiring young architect Willum Cubbert has often told his friends about the debt he owes to Rick Steadman, a fellow ex-GI whom he has never met but who saved his life after he was seriously wounded in Vietnam. He has written to Rick to say that, as long as he is alive, “you will have somebody on Earth who will do anything for you” – so Willum is delighted when Rick shows up unexpectedly at his apartment on the night of his 34th birthday party. But his delight soon fades as it becomes apparent that Rick is a hopeless “nerd” – a bumbling oaf with no social sense, little intelligence and less tact.
Rick stays on, and his continued presence among Willum and his friends leads to one uproarious incident after another, until the normally placid Willum finds himself contemplating violence – which, happily, is staved off by the surprising “twist” ending the play.
The Nerd was first presented by the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in April 1981 under the artistic direction of John Dillon and featuring its author Larry Shue as Willum Cubbert. On 22 March 1987, the play premiered on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Directed by Charles Nelson Reilly, the Broadway production featured Mark Hamill, Robert Joy, Peter Riegert, Pamela Blair and Patricia Kalember.
Terre Haute, Indiana. November, the late 1970s.
“A spring tonic of side-bruising laughter.” – The Milwaukee Tribune
“The audience almost never stops laughing – handkerchiefs wiping away tears of merriment.” – Variety
“It is a beautiful and startling piece, beginning naturalistically before shifting gear into something magical, spiritual and touching.” – The Telegraph
“It’s one of those “golden nugget” scripts that community theaters and high schools regularly produce because it only requires one set and offers a fast farce paced work that seems deceptively simple to produce.” – BroadwayWorld
“Shue delivers a neatly crafted package that uses some classic comic forms to bring the audience to its knees, laughing.” – The Milwaukee Journal
The Nerd – Milwaukee Rep Trailer