Billy Nobody
Characters
- Billy:
- Male, early 40's, an agoraphobic, a charmer, highly eccentric
- Aurora:
- Female, early 40's, maybe older, an artist's model, a traveler, flashy and wild, unruly hair, unruly mind
- Emily:
- Female, Billy's ex-wife
- Emily's lawyer:
- Male
- Billy's landlord:
- Male
- Mrs. Sagerson:
- Elderly female, Billy's clairvoyant piano teacher, quite demented
Set
All scenes take place in Billy's apartment, lower Westside Manhattan
Production history
Produced by the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington D.C., fall 1992, directed by Howard Shalwitz.
Nominated for a Helen Hayes award for "Best New Play."
The Story
As the action opens Billy and Aurora, whom Billy has just met, return to Billy's apartment after Aurora has "rescued" him from the streets (Billy is an agoraphobic and has serious panic attacks whenever he has to leave his apartment). Aurora, a reformed "party-girl" (she invented the hors d'oeuvre), is attracted to Billy (the last man in the world with innocent eyes), who is her emotional opposite. She travels endlessly and compulsively (London, Paris, Madrid); he stays at home. He is a profound introvert; she is an extravagant extrovert. He is a virgin; she is experienced (she invented the fuck).
During the play Billy is besieged by visits from his landlord, his ex-wife, and her lawyer, all of whom make endless demands for money and his attention. He is also besieged by his piano teacher who threatens to cut off his fingers because Billy can't find his piano.
This is a play in an absurdist mode. It is about the search for intimacy in a world fraught with hostility. It is about the search for "freedom" by characters (Billy and Aurora) who are "trapped" by their past, their habits, their personalities, and their language. The texture of the dialogue is the play's best synopsis: the characters seem to be talking to themselves even though they are trying their best to communicate, and, perhaps, in the end, Aurora and Billy actually do.