Suburbia (new version)

Eric Bogosian

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781559363426
• eBook ISBN: 9781559367448
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

"Chekhov high on speed and Twinkies. A Work as ferocious as Mr. Bogosian's own one-man shows." -- David Richards, New York Times "A scarifying dissection of youthful disillusion that manages to be both appalling and appealing." -- Newsweek "Bogosian's script retains the playwright-performer's trademark vitriol and hammer wit." -- TimeOut New York This updated version of Eric Bogosian's theatrical tour de force, set in a convenience store parking lot, riveted audiences in its Off-Broadway premiere. His rewrites – for a world with cell phones, hip-hop and war-time cultural tensions – render the piece "an American anyplace where everything, yet nothing , has changed." -- Celia McGee, New York Times One of America's premier performers and most innovative and provocative artists, Eric Bogosian's plays and solo work include suburbia (Lincoln Center Theater, 1994; adapted to film by director Richard Linklater, 1996); Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead; Griller; Humpty Dumpty; 1+1; Skunkweed; Wake Up and Smell the Coffee; Drinking in America; Notes from Underground and Talk Radio (Pulitzer Prize finalist; New York Shakespeare Festival, 1987; Broadway, 2007; adapted to film by director Oliver Stone, 1988). He has starred in a wide variety of film, TV and stage roles. Most recently, he created the character of Captain Danny Ross on the long-running series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In 2014, TCG published 100 (monologues), a collection that commemorates thirty years of Bogosian's solo-performance career.

Act Two

Lights up. The store is closed and dark.

Bee-Bee is standing alone, eyes closed, nodding her head and dancing to the music of the boombox.

Tim enters, sees Bee-Bee, then climbs to the roof.

Buff enters, sits on the bench and watches Bee-Bee. She pauses when she sees him. Buff closes his eyes and nods his head to the music. Bee-Bee resumes her “dance.” Both are moving to the beat, apart, yet together.

The song ends. Bee-Bee approaches Buff and sits next to him.

BUFF: Hey.

BEE-BEE: Hey. Gimme a cigarette?

(Buff gives Bee-Bee a cigarette. He lights it. They smoke in silence.)

You made a film?

BUFF: What?

BEE-BEE: Nothin’.

BUFF: What?

BEE-BEE: You said you made a video. What’s it about?

BUFF: It’s not about anything.

BEE-BEE: Oh. What’s on it?

BUFF: Stuff I got off the TV. The Jetsons. And some shit blowing up I saw on the news. Plus one day my mom was praying and shit and she didn’t see me watching and I videotaped her.

BEE-BEE: Yeah? Your mom praying?

(Beat.)

BUFF: And a cloud.

BEE-BEE: A cloud?

BUFF: There was this cloud and I videotaped it.

BEE-BEE: Oh.

BUFF: I was doing ’shrooms and I saw this cloud. It looks excellent on the tape. It’s like, the video is my head? And everything, you know, is like in there that I see. My moms and TV and the sky and plus I’m going to come down here one night and walk around inside the store with the camera. Tape shit.

BEE-BEE: That would be amazing.

BUFF: Yeah. Like imagine the inside of the store but with music. I’ll add music—Sonic Youth . . .

BEE-BEE: Yes!

BUFF: System of a Down, White Stripes . . .

BEE-BEE: Barry Manilow . . .

BUFF: Uh . . . yeah. Yeah!

BEE-BEE: Yeah?

BUFF: Plus, one night when nobody noticed I taped everybody talking, you know? So I’m putting some of that shit in, too.

BEE-BEE: Cool.

(Beat.)

What did I say?

BUFF: Uh. Nothin’. You know?

BEE-BEE: I wish I could see it. Your video.

BUFF: You can see it. Whenever you want.

BEE-BEE: Yeah?

BUFF (Direct): Sure.

(Bee-Bee gets up and paces near the bench.)

Don’t you work at a hospital or something?

BEE-BEE: Yeah. I’m a nurse’s aide at Mercy.

BUFF: You’re a nurse?

BEE-BEE: No. I, you know, clean ’em up. Empty the bedpans. Sometimes I feed ’em their lunch. That kind of thing.

BUFF: Old people? Like with Alzheimer’s? Really fucked-up?

BEE-BEE: Some of ’em. Strokes. A lot of types I don’t know what’s wrong with ’em. They’re not moving too much and they get kind of yellow. Usually they die if they’re real yellow.

(Buff paces like Bee-Bee.)

BUFF: Sounds like a total bummer.

BEE-BEE: No, it’s not. I like it. I mean they’re not all completely, you know, in a coma. They’re happy that I’m helping ’em. Fred Pierce? He’s there. He’s going blind. I guess it’s AIDS? We just had a birthday party for him last week. Doctor Patel says he’ll die pretty soon. But Fred’s great to talk to. Fucking funny guy. Says things like: “Watch it or I’ll bleed on you.”

(They sit on the ground.)

BUFF: Fred’s going to die?

BEE-BEE: Well, you know, he’s really sick.

BUFF: I thought there were drugs for that now?

BEE-BEE: Not always. Depends.

BUFF: Oh...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• The Story of the Garden Gnome: A Preface
• Introduction
• Acknowledgments
• Act One
• Act Two
• Act Three
• Act Four
• About the Author