A Place Where People Go to Die
Opens August 16, 2019
Show dates: August 16th Friday at 8pm August 17 Saturday at 8pm August 23rd Friday at 8pm August 24th Saturday at 8pm At The Avery Schreiber Playhouse in North Hollywood, CA |
ABOUT THE SHOW
Written for the stage, A Place Where People Go to Die is an adaptation of the screenplay After the Storm that was a Nicholl Fellowship Quarter finalist.
The play covers a three year time period while five people cope with grief, addiction, mental illness, suicidal tendencies, and salvation. This is a not a clean fun story. It is vulgar, insensitive and the characters give zero fucks about what people think about them.
The play focuses on Kate, newly sober after many long years of battling addiction. Now, 25, she has given up her chaotic lifestyle and presently lives with her boyfriend in Bakersfield. Their boring and unfulfilling life has now taken Kate to the brink of madness... (which she literally talks to voices in her head), she returns to Southern California, her home (the San Gabriel Valley) without any word and arrives at the grave yard of her ex-boyfriend who killed himself. Now fully equipped with a few joints, some candles, a blanket, lounge chairs, a suicide note she once wrote, a radio with a collection of 90's hip hop and rock CD's that she purchased at a thrift store, and a shoe box concealing one last item that is unknown... She is now ready to finally say good bye to her deceased boyfriend and face her past. But her plans are altered when she coincidentally runs into Alan, a former friend of her ex-boyfriend who has been battling the same demons as Kate. The two both share their grief, the guilt and relive their most scary moments in life as they invite the audience into their past and witness some of the most bizarre experiences they have both encountered at a quiet secluded cemetery.
Written for the stage, A Place Where People Go to Die is an adaptation of the screenplay After the Storm that was a Nicholl Fellowship Quarter finalist.
The play covers a three year time period while five people cope with grief, addiction, mental illness, suicidal tendencies, and salvation. This is a not a clean fun story. It is vulgar, insensitive and the characters give zero fucks about what people think about them.
The play focuses on Kate, newly sober after many long years of battling addiction. Now, 25, she has given up her chaotic lifestyle and presently lives with her boyfriend in Bakersfield. Their boring and unfulfilling life has now taken Kate to the brink of madness... (which she literally talks to voices in her head), she returns to Southern California, her home (the San Gabriel Valley) without any word and arrives at the grave yard of her ex-boyfriend who killed himself. Now fully equipped with a few joints, some candles, a blanket, lounge chairs, a suicide note she once wrote, a radio with a collection of 90's hip hop and rock CD's that she purchased at a thrift store, and a shoe box concealing one last item that is unknown... She is now ready to finally say good bye to her deceased boyfriend and face her past. But her plans are altered when she coincidentally runs into Alan, a former friend of her ex-boyfriend who has been battling the same demons as Kate. The two both share their grief, the guilt and relive their most scary moments in life as they invite the audience into their past and witness some of the most bizarre experiences they have both encountered at a quiet secluded cemetery.
Character Breakdown
KATE: Mid 20's. The play covers a span of three years while she struggles with addictions, to recovery, and into sobriety. Through this time period she struggles with the obsessive attachment her ex-boyfriend has for her and copes with his suicide that she feels responsible for. Kate is unpredictable, vulgar, and in some ways dangerous. There is a naïve immaturity about her and she lacks the sensitivity and cautiousness that society would expect from a someone. As a user she lacks accountability and is very dangerous to herself and everyone around her. But, once her ex-boyfriend takes his own life, she lives in a life of sobriety, and becomes more cautious and goes to the extreme of accountability and blames herself for everything. This leads Kate to get stuck in her head, haunted by the people in her life. Kate takes the audience in her head as they see her relive her past and combat the voices in her head that threaten her future and even her life.
ANGIE: Mid-late 20's. A working call girl and to the extreme in every way, Angie is part of this full circle of dysfunction in the story. Her lack in faith in people and spirituality has led her to a much more nihilistic lifestyle. Working the streets and avoiding her past like everyone else, Angie does what she can to survive. She becomes friends with Kate during her most lost phase of her life and shows her the ropes on how to survive. Angie believes that strippers and prostitutes these days are too sensitive and have tried way too hard to get in touch with their feelings. It takes a cold heart and soulless person to be a good street tramp. Her exhaustion of the world has made he extremely volatile and she can turn on anybody at the flick of a switch.
LYNN: 30's. Older and in her mind much more intelligent that the other characters in this story. Lynn is a Pastor in training for her church and prides herself in finding people living in sin (Prostitutes, adulterers, rapists, murderers, and whoever has strayed from God), just like Jesus did. Although, her intentions may be pure, her tactics are not. Maybe she doesn't speak so profane like the others, but she is just as cruel and lost.
ALAN: mid 20's. Broken and lost just like everyone else in this story... AND just the right song can bring him to his knees in tears. Alan was with Kate the last time she saw her ex-boyfriend Pete who killed himself. Alan was a mutual friend but now that Pete is dead, Alan and Kate share the grief and the guilt to how Pete committed suicide. Alan is quirky, lost and a burnt out stoner who is feeling better about his future ever since he got his job at Walmart. So haunted by his past, Alan sports another employees name tag (Fatima), so he can feel like someone else. But, now that Kate has returned home after a two year hiatus, his past has come full circle and is staring him in the eyes through Kate.
TYLER: Mid 20's, handsome, charming, educated, and sexually confused... Tyler is Kate's present-day boyfriend. The two have nothing in common except the fact they want to run from their past-- this has led them to Bakersfield, living in a small apartment, working low paying minimum jobs, sober, devoted to church and bored. Their non-fulfilling yet safe life style has sunk Kate into a deeper depression, but has led Tyler to accept his new life. Tyler who was once a disciple of Lynn, is now his own boss to his spirituality, and can see a future with Kate, even if she's miserable.
KATE: Mid 20's. The play covers a span of three years while she struggles with addictions, to recovery, and into sobriety. Through this time period she struggles with the obsessive attachment her ex-boyfriend has for her and copes with his suicide that she feels responsible for. Kate is unpredictable, vulgar, and in some ways dangerous. There is a naïve immaturity about her and she lacks the sensitivity and cautiousness that society would expect from a someone. As a user she lacks accountability and is very dangerous to herself and everyone around her. But, once her ex-boyfriend takes his own life, she lives in a life of sobriety, and becomes more cautious and goes to the extreme of accountability and blames herself for everything. This leads Kate to get stuck in her head, haunted by the people in her life. Kate takes the audience in her head as they see her relive her past and combat the voices in her head that threaten her future and even her life.
ANGIE: Mid-late 20's. A working call girl and to the extreme in every way, Angie is part of this full circle of dysfunction in the story. Her lack in faith in people and spirituality has led her to a much more nihilistic lifestyle. Working the streets and avoiding her past like everyone else, Angie does what she can to survive. She becomes friends with Kate during her most lost phase of her life and shows her the ropes on how to survive. Angie believes that strippers and prostitutes these days are too sensitive and have tried way too hard to get in touch with their feelings. It takes a cold heart and soulless person to be a good street tramp. Her exhaustion of the world has made he extremely volatile and she can turn on anybody at the flick of a switch.
LYNN: 30's. Older and in her mind much more intelligent that the other characters in this story. Lynn is a Pastor in training for her church and prides herself in finding people living in sin (Prostitutes, adulterers, rapists, murderers, and whoever has strayed from God), just like Jesus did. Although, her intentions may be pure, her tactics are not. Maybe she doesn't speak so profane like the others, but she is just as cruel and lost.
ALAN: mid 20's. Broken and lost just like everyone else in this story... AND just the right song can bring him to his knees in tears. Alan was with Kate the last time she saw her ex-boyfriend Pete who killed himself. Alan was a mutual friend but now that Pete is dead, Alan and Kate share the grief and the guilt to how Pete committed suicide. Alan is quirky, lost and a burnt out stoner who is feeling better about his future ever since he got his job at Walmart. So haunted by his past, Alan sports another employees name tag (Fatima), so he can feel like someone else. But, now that Kate has returned home after a two year hiatus, his past has come full circle and is staring him in the eyes through Kate.
TYLER: Mid 20's, handsome, charming, educated, and sexually confused... Tyler is Kate's present-day boyfriend. The two have nothing in common except the fact they want to run from their past-- this has led them to Bakersfield, living in a small apartment, working low paying minimum jobs, sober, devoted to church and bored. Their non-fulfilling yet safe life style has sunk Kate into a deeper depression, but has led Tyler to accept his new life. Tyler who was once a disciple of Lynn, is now his own boss to his spirituality, and can see a future with Kate, even if she's miserable.