Chinese Art of Placement
Character
- Sparky Litman:
- male, late 40s/early 50s, a lonely misfit, very sweet, but schizzy
Set
A bare stage with one chair and one telephone
Production history
- Phoenix Theater, San Francisco
- Woolly Mammoth Theater, Washington D.C.
- National New Plays Network, Festival 2000, Chicago
- Kitchen Dog Theater, Dallas, TX,
- Dallas Theater Center, Big D Festival of the Unexpected, Dallas, TX
- 78th Street Theater Lab, New York City
- Theater Alley Workshop, Toronto
- Melbourne Fringe Festival
Published
In Plays from Woolly Mammoth, Broadway Play Publishing, Inc. 1999
The Story
A play with an absurdist edge, this 80-minute monologue, explores the depths of human isolation with humor and poignancy. At its center is the hopelessly deluded, but eternally hopeful, Sparky, who seeks the perfect placement of his old wooden chair, as he desperately tries to reach out to all the "sad, apprehensive, isolated, wounded, suffering people" to let them know that "it's okay to be scared and isolated, it's normal to be scared and isolated" and they're not alone.
Awards
- Winner of the San Francisco Weekly's "Black Box" award for "best play"
- Nominated for the Bay Area Theater Critic's Circle Award for "best original script"
- "Best Bet," Washington Post
- "Critic's Choice," Chicago Reader
“ I would say it’s the best play for one actor I have ever read. I think it’s going to get done all over the place.”