Brooklyn Boy (TCG Edition)

Donald Margulies

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781559367479
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

“A terrific production... American playwright Donald Margulies’ self-reflective, dream reverie comedy drama Brooklyn Boy is tough, insightful, bittersweet, funny and ultimately wise.”— The Hollywood Reporter

“Those who know Margulies’ plays will find his familiar themes here: the inevitable transformations wrought by aging, the complex hands linking parents and children, the uneasy dance between commercial and artistic success. The story unfolds with an uncanny resonance that distinguishes all great theatre.”— Orange County Register

This new play by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Dinner with Friends is slated for a Broadway run in January 2005. Brooklyn Boy follows the career of Eric Weiss, a writer whose novel hits the bestseller list the same time his life begins to unravel. His wife is out the door, his father is in the hospital and his childhood friend thinks he has sold himself to the devil. A funny and emotionally rich look at family, friends and fame.

Donald Margulies received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Dinner with Friends. The play received numerous awards, including the American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, the Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award and a Drama Desk nomination, and has been produced all over the United States and around the world. In addition to his adaptation of God of Vengeance, his many plays include Collected Stories, Sight Unseen, The Model Apartment, The Loman Family Picnic, What’s Wrong with This Picture? and Two Days. Mr. Margulies currently lives with his wife and their son in New Haven, Connecticut, where he teaches playwriting at Yale University.

ACT ONE

SCENE 1

Maimonides

Maimonides Hospital, Brooklyn. Ambient sounds. The wall-mounted television is on, its back to the audience, the soundtrack of an old movie barely audible. Manny Weiss dozes in a hospital bed. His breathing is labored. He is ill; several IVs are attached. His son, Eric, dressed casually but well, carrying a hardcover book, the Daily News and the New York Post, enters and watches him breathe. He drapes his coat and umbrella over a chair, puts his gifts on the crank table beside an abandoned food tray, and sits. He watches the movie on TV. Soon Manny awakens and sees Eric.

MANNY: Jesus, I must be sicker than I thought.

ERIC: Hi.

MANNY (Sits up with effort; disoriented): What time is it?

ERIC (Looks at his watch): 2:43.

MANNY: Day or night?

ERIC: Day.

MANNY: How long you been sitting there?

ERIC: Not long. How long have you been sleeping?

MANNY: I wasn’t sleeping; I was just closing my eyes.

ERIC: Uh-huh.

MANNY: Fix me. (Meaning his position)

(Eric raises the bed electronically and puffs up pillows to prop up Manny.)

Higher. Lower. Lower. Uh! (Meaning, “Stop!”)

ERIC: Better?

MANNY: I don’t know. Leave it, the hell with it. Thought you were out of town.

ERIC: I was. I was in Miami.

MANNY: Can’t keep track of you. When’d you get back?

ERIC: Last night. And I’m leaving again tomorrow.

MANNY: Again?!

ERIC (Nods, then): Tomorrow I go to L.A. I wanted to see you.

MANNY (Sarcastic): All the way to Brooklyn just to see me? Gee, I’m honored. Your wife with you?

ERIC: No.

MANNY: I never see her—Nina. She’s always busy.

ERIC: She is busy. She sends her best, though.

MANNY: That’s nice. (A beat) Got any good news for me?

ERIC: What kind of good news?

MANNY: You know.

ERIC (A beat): No. No good news.

MANNY: Thought maybe I had something to look forward to.

ERIC (Regarding the TV): What movie is this?

MANNY: What?

ERIC: I’m trying to figure out what movie this is. Ronald Colman, Shelley Winters . . .

MANNY: Don’t ask me. It was black-and-white, I left it on.

(Silence as they both watch.)

ERIC: A Double Life? (Manny shrugs) I think it is. Ronald Colman’s an actor playing Othello who starts confusing the role with real life? (Manny shrugs. They watch) See? She’s his Desdemona.

MANNY: His what?

ERIC: Never mind. Haven’t you been watching it?

MANNY: I’ve been looking at it, yeah; that doesn’t mean I’ve been paying attention.

(Eric turns it off.)

Hey!

ERIC: You said you weren’t watching it.

MANNY: I did not say that! Turn it back on!

ERIC: Okay! (Turns it back on)

MANNY: I like having it on. It gives me something to look at.

ERIC: Well, excuse me. Mind if I mute it at least? I don’t like having to compete with the television.

MANNY: Do what you want. As long as you leave the picture. (Stays fixed on the silent image)

ERIC: So? How’re you feeling?

(Manny shrugs.)

How was your night?

MANNY: Terrific.

ERIC: Really?

MANNY: No. What do you think? It’s like Klein’s basement in here. Nurses in and out all night long—you should see what goes on he...