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A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE
Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 4m, 1girl(s), 1boy(s)
Will Eno
Image: 2019 Second Stage Theater Production (Joan Marcus)
CHRISTINE and Others – female, 10-12 MOTHER and Others– female, 30s LISA and Others– female, 40s TOPHER and Others – male, 50s GABRIELLA and Others – female, 20s PHILIP and Others – male, 12 KRISTA and Others– female, 60s KIT and Others – male, late 60s PAUL and Others – male, late 20s-30s BARBARA and Others – female, 70s REGGIE and Others – male, 70s
A NOTE ON CASTING: There is ample opportunity to double- and triple-cast many of these roles. A scene-by-scene breakdown follows, with suggested doubling. There are of course other ways this might be accomplished – what is most important is diversity, particularly in the “Chris” (Christine, Kris, etc.) characters. We will meet them in roughly chronological order, though they will be changing constantly in terms of gender, race, and personality.
With an 11-person cast, the casting might work something like this:
PROLOGUE GIRL – 10-12 [CHRISTINE]
SCENE 1. MOTHER – 30s NURSE – 20s-60s [KRISTIN] FATHER – 30s
SCENE 2. NANNY – female, 20s CHRIS – male, 12
SCENE 3. CHRISTINE – female, 16 JUSTINE – 40s [MOTHER] DR. RIVINGTON – male, 40s [FATHER]
SCENE 4. RADIO HOST – male, 60s [KIT] ADVERTISEMENT ACTOR – female, 40s [KRISTIN] RADIO PRODUCER [KRISTA] KRIS 21 [NANNY]
SCENE 5. CHRISTOPHER – male, late 20s-30s LOUISE – female, late 20s-30s [MOTHER] CAFÉ EMPLOYEE [NANNY]
SCENE 6. LOUIS – 40s [FATHER] KRISTIN – female, 40s JOAN 16 [CHRISTINE] PAUL [CHRISTOPHER] HELPER [NANNY]
SCENE 7. DIRECTOR’S VOICE [CHRISTIANA] TOPHER – 50s [FATHER] RODERICK [KIT] SOUND DESIGNER’S VOICE [CHRISTOPHER] LIGHTING DESIGNER’S VOICE [MOTHER] CREW PERSON [NANNY] WARDROBE PERSON [CHRISTINE]
SCENE 8. KRISTA – 60s [MOTHER?] PHILIP [CHRIS] CHRISTOPH [FATHER?] JOAN 2 [KRISTIN]
SCENE 9. DMV PATRON 1 [CHRISTINE] DMV PATRON 2 [DR. RIVINGTON] DMV PATRON 3 [FATHER] JOAN 2 [KRISTIN] KIT – male, late 60s DMV EMPLOYEE [MOTHER]
SCENE 10. LISA [KRISTIN] CHRISTIANA – female, 70s MOTHER [MOTHER] GABRIELLA [NANNY]
SCENE 11. KHRIS – male, 70s LANGLEY [NANNY or KRISTIN]
SCENE 12. JUNE [MOTHER] JAKE [FATHER] POLLY [NANNY] MICHAEL [CHRIS] BEN [CHRISTOPHER] MARTHA [KRISTIN] EVA [KRISTA] BARBARA [CHRISTIANA] GORDON [KIT] REGGIE [KHRIS] ALLISON [CHRISTINE]
AUTHOR'S NOTE: With respect to casting, all kinds of people should be included, so that the play resembles the world. Maximum diversity and difference are crucial to the structure of the play, especially in casting the "Chris" roles. This is as much for the purposes of theatricality, energy, and surprise, as for a social or political message; though, that said, it’s hoped that the play expresses a basic spirit of inclusiveness and commonality. In all developmental readings and the premiere production at Second Stage Theater, the cast size/racial breakdown/doubling has remained the same and it's one that works well in terms of storytelling and energy. A further hope is that simply following the story will be an act of and an exercise in empathy for the audience. Maybe that is true of all plays.
“Lovely and touching... a typically thoughtful and humane play by a significant American dramatist.” – Michael Sommers, New York Stage Review
“Tricky and compelling... Will Eno’s new play about the many people each person contains... grows, like life, from trick to tragicomedy.” – Jesse Green, The New York Times
“Ambitious... an abstract of the human race in all its genius and splendor – and all its stupidities and frailties.” – Marilyn Stasio, Variety
“Wry and metaphysical... [Eno is] looking long and lightly at a life, rather as Thornton Wilder would... Chris and the play both are interested in a progress of investigation, from the body through the mind and finally into the pretended self. The play never so much as winks at the supernatural, yet there’s still a sensation of … lifting up and off.” – Helen Shaw, Vulture
“[A] quietly haunting, uplifting new play... Chris may be [Eno’s] most open-hearted, spiritually ambitious effort yet—a journey from the beginning of a life to its end.” – Elysa Gardner, New York Stage Review
Playwright Will Eno recently completed the Residency Five Fellowship at the Signature Theatre, which premiered his play Title and Deed in 2012, The Open House in 2014, and Wakey, Wakey in 2017. Will’s play The Underlying Chris premiered at 2nd Stage Theatre in October 2019, ...
Thornton Wilder
by Will Eno
by Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl
Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers