Walls of Glass
Characters
- Alexa:
- Female, early fifties. An extravagant extrovert, who wears stylish black clothing (very Donna Karan) and black high-heeled shoes with ankle-straps and peek-a-boo openings at the toes.
- Raul:
- Male, late fifties, Alexa’s husband. A more cautious, gentle introvert, who wears stylish black clothing (very Giorgio Armani), and has partially graying black wavy hair and dark liquid eyes.
- Serena:
- Female, twenties/early thirties, very attractive. A design consultant, who wears stylish black clothing (very Dolce & Gabbana) and black high-heeled shoes with ankle-straps and peek-a-boo openings at the toes.
- Mario:
- Male, mid-thirties, very attractive. A design consultant, who wear sstylish black clothing (very Hugo Boss).
- Dr. Bentwood
- Female, sixties/seventies, an "environmental therapist," who wears serviceable black clothing and sensible shoes (very Soviet Union).
Setting
A full-floor condominium on the 29th floor of a new 50 story, glass-sided high-rise. The space has not been built out: it’s clean, open, expansive, beautiful. Although unstated, Manhattan is the play’s obvious location.
Production history
- Finalist, Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Festival, 2004
- Staged reading, Magic Theatre, San Francisco, April 2007.
The Story
Having unexpectedly come into substantial money, Alexa and Raul buy a floor-through condo on the 29th floor of a newly-built glass-sided high-rise. Choosing not to build out the space immediately, but rather to "camp out" in it and explore the possibilities, they engage the services of Serena and Mario, attractive young design consultants, and Dr. Bentwood, a mysterious "environmental therapist." With a comically-stylized, absurdist edge, the play follows Alexa and Raul's efforts to create within their glass walls the spirit of Pompeii's House of the Tragic Poet. The action follows the emotional convolutions of Raul and Alexa's relationship, the marriage-threatening anxiety of creating their "dream space," their sexually-charged tango with Serena and Mario, and the stresses and spiritual confusion of a voyeuristic, exhibitionistic life behind the walls of glass of a post-9/11 world.