Cover art by Kimberly Rae Lyle

Big, Scary Animals

Matt Lyle
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Description

An older white couple from the country moves to the city to be closer to their granddaughter and unknowingly settles in the gay neighborhood. What begins as polite dinner conversation with their gay, multi-ethnic neighbors careens out of control. A hilarious collision of race, sex, guns, and sports, BIG, SCARY ANIMALS examines shifting generational beliefs and just how hard it is to raise a child regardless of who you are and where you live.

Production Info

Cast: 6 total (2 female, 4 male)
Full Length Dark Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
Category: Tag:
Reviews

Press Quotes

“BIG, SCARY ANIMALS sets its sights on the idea that we don’t know how to talk about our differences, tackling it with intelligence and humor. Lyle makes his point that words do matter and we should pay more attention to them; but he also effectively satirizes how overly sensitive we can be … it provides something sorely needed: Laughter. Lots of it. As he’s proven time and time again, Lyle has impeccable timing with a punchline or comic situation.” —Mark Lowry, TheatreJones

“Lyle toys with your expectations and loyalties and forces the audience to see The Other in a sympathetic (or critical) light, and does so through one of the densest string of laugh-out-loud comedies you’ll ever see … this smart, 85-minute comedy created a sense of community that is, at its heart, the goal of all theater.” —Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice

“The show has a handful of serious moments, but the most thoughtful among these is the concept that no matter how different people think they are, from food to decorating to political and religious opinions, there is common ground and it may be found in the place where we laugh together.” —Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News

“… genuinely, undeniably, wonderfully funny … character-based, infinitely empathetic comedy.” —Christopher Soden, Sharp Critic

About the Author

Author

  • Matt Lyle

    Originally from East Texas, Matt Lyle is a writer, actor, and director living in Dallas, Texas. Matt's plays have been produced across the U.S. His plays THE BOXER, HELLO HUMAN FEMALE, BARBECUE APOCALYPSE and BIG SCARY ANIMALS all garnered DFW Theater Critics Forum Awards for "Outstanding New Play" and BARBECUE APOCALYPSE was nominated for an American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg New Play Award. Matt has been commissioned by Theatre Three, Dallas Theater Center and Audacity Theatre Lab. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Playwrights' Center and was honored as the 2018 Distinguished Alum of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre.

About the Book

Book Information

Publisher BPPI
Publication Date 5/17/2018
Pages 78
ISBN 9780881457780

Special Notes

Special Notes

Licensees are required to include the original stage producers credits in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
The following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
Big, Scary Animals is produced
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com

Productions

Upcoming and Recent Productions

Professional


9/1/2022 – 9/25/2022
Theatre Three, Inc
Dallas, TX

Nonprofessional


6/8/2024 – 6/17/2024
World Stage Theatre Company
Tulsa, OK

6/28/2022 – 7/24/2022
Bellingham Theatreworks
Bellingham, WA

4/29/2022 – 5/8/2022
Acting Ensemble
South Bend, IN