Speech & Debate (TCG Edition)

Stephen Karam

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781559365444
• eBook ISBN: 9781559368650
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

"You might think a play that grapples with serious modern social issues—homophobia, teenage alienation, the limits of online privacy—would have no room for a warbling Abraham Lincoln doing an interpretive dance. But then you might not expect to encounter a piece of theater as ingenious and cannily plotted as Stephen Karam's Speech & Debate. It is a suspenseful tale that fuses keen-eyed civic critique with riotous and even campy humor." – Celia Wren, Washington Post

 

"Hilarious…Speech & Debate's real accomplishment is its picture of the borderland between late adolescence and adulthood, where grown-up ideas and ambition coexist with childish will and bravado…We never feel we're being educated, just immensely entertained." – Caryn James, New York Times

"A provocative play…A lot of shows about teens ring inauthentic. Not this one." – Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

 

"Stephen Karam's savvy comedy is bristling with vitality, wicked humor, terrific dialogue, and a direct pipeline into the zeitgeist of contemporary youth." – David Rooney, Variety

 

In this unconventional dark comedy, three misfit high school students in Salem, Oregon form a unique debate club, complete with a musical version of The Crucible, an unusual podcast, and a plot to take down their corrupt drama teacher. With his signature wit, Karam traces the cohort's attempts to fend off the menace of encroaching adulthood with caustic humor and subversive antics.

 

Stephen Karam's plays include The Humans (Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist), Sons of the Prophet (Pulitzer Prize finalist), and Speech & Debate. His adaptation of The Cherry Orchard premiered on Broadway for the Roundabout Theatre Company.

SCENE 1

POETRY READING

The stage should be relatively spare, dominated by a large screen or back wall onto which various slides/images can be projected.

With a loud tympani crash, there is a total blackout.

Lights up on an eighteen-year-old boy, Howie. He has his computer keyboard on his lap and is in the middle of an instant-message chat.

Howie’s screen name is “BlBoi”; the unseen stranger he is communicating with is “BiGuy.” Their names appear on the screen in two different colors.

Throughout the following silent scene, an “instant-message” online conversation is projected.

The dialogue’s projection is timed precisely with the music from Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. The result is a choreographed musical number. A cyber-ballet.

BIGUY	Im scared
BLBOI	Y?
BIGUY	u r 2 young
BLBOI	says who?
BIGUY	the police

Howie searches for clip art on his computer, finds a picture, pastes it, presses return.

BLBOI	[image of a crying baby]
BIGUY	LOL
BLBOI	Im 18
BLBOI	Blonde
BLBOI	Sm...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Production History
• Scene Breakdown / Notes
• Characters / Place
• Scene 1
• Scene 2
• Scene 3
• Scene 4
• Scene 5
• Scene 6
• Scene 7
• Scene 8
• Scene 9
• Scene 10
• Scene 11
• Scene 12
• About the Author