Unconditional
Description
Nine New York stories converge in a racially and sexually charged tale of love, justice, rage, and betrayal.
Production Info
Full Length Drama (about 135 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
Press Quotes
“… Sex, violence, heartache. As it weaves together nine lives and several distinct story lines, Mr Leonard’s ambitious play circles continually around these themes, with the troublesome issue of race relations a common thread to all … Mr Leonard writes with precision for an impressive variety of characters; the dialogue [is] scabrous, grittily naturalistic, sometimes potently pause filled, sometimes pungent with brute feeling.” —Charles Isherwood, New York Times
“Opening with the sight of a gagged white dude teetering on a chair, hands tied, neck in a noose, being terrorized by a gun-wielding African American man, UNCONDITIONAL is terrific theater … anybody liking a good and nasty yarn will be absorbed … Murder, heartbreak, desolation and, yes, even some potential happiness … are among the outcomes in Leonard’s saga of big city blues.” —Michael Sommers, The Star Ledger
“Leonard’s play is a punch-in-the-gut drama, intent on showing the current state of the nitty-gritty of race relations, with the accent decidedly on the gritty … [Leonard’s] talent for characterization and storytelling cannot be denied, and while his vision may be bleak, bleak, bleak, it still makes for absorbing theatre.” —Karl Levett, Backstage
“This guy [Leonard] comes at you head on and with no holds barred, like no one that I know of at work presently in the theater. He is a force to be reckoned with, a force that is needed, a kind of raw, innocent, daredevil committed to his own aesthetic.” —David Rabe
Author
Brett C LeonardBrett C Leonard has been a member of New York's acclaimed LAByrinth Theater Company since 2003. His stage plays have been produced in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Toronto, Berlin and Sydney. In early 2010 his play THE LONG RED ROAD was directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in an extended-run world premiere at Goodman Theatre in Chicago. In 2008 UNCONDITIONAL was directed by Mark Wing-Davey in its world premiere production by LAByrinth Theater Company at New York's Public Theater, and is published in Smith & Kraus' New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2008. In 2004 his play GUINEA PIG SOLO had its world premiere as the inaugural LAByrinth/Public Theater co-production, and was later produced at Chicago's Collaboraction, where it was named Chicago Tribune's "Top 10 of 2005" and "most visceral show of the year." In 2007 GUINEA PIG SOLO was presented as part of the Berlin Arts Festival's 50th Anniversary at the House of World Culture. ROGER AND VANESSA has been produced at Latchmere Theatre 503 in London, The Actors' Gang in Los Angeles and Tap Gallery in Sydney. SCOTCH AND WATER was first produced by New Company in London, where it was selected as Critics' Choice in Time Out London. Mr. Leonard is the recipient of the 2008 Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award and is Co-Artistic Director (with Tom Hardy and Kelly Marcel) of London's Bad Dog Theatre Company. He is also a member of Israel Horovitz's Playwrights Lab. GUINEA PIG SOLO, UNCONDITIONAL, ROGER AND VANESSA, SCOTCH AND WATER and THE LONG RED ROAD are published by Broadway Play Publishing. Past and upcoming film and television projects include Unconditional (Cooper's Town Prods/Overture Films), The Other (Lionsgate, co-written with Tom Hardy), Hung (HBO), Jailbait (Belladonna/Kindred/Warner Brothers) and Upstate (E-1 Ent., co-written with Bob Glaudini).
Book Information
| Publisher | BPPI |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 12/1/2010 |
| Pages | 68 |
| ISBN | 9780881454635 |
Special Notes
World premiere by Labyrinth Theater Company, New York
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com