SYNOPSIS:
Humans in the American heartland struggle with their connections to one another, their environment, and their own identities, while a population of Common Swallows live idyllically beneath a bridge nearby.
Running time is approximately 100 minutes, without an intermission.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:
(Six Actors portray 11 Characters.)
1. JIM, 19. A drug-addled, newly homeless youth.
2. CORINTHIA, 50s. A kindly, chirping, bird-like woman. BABUSHKA, non-speaking, an old crone. MELINDA, 40s. Jim’s distraught mother.
3. ABRA, 20. A pampered young woman and drug dealer. RED, 24. A working-class, emotionally abused young wife.
4. KAREN, 42. A big city girl from this small town. On a final visit home.
5. TRIPP, 39. Karen’s underachieving brother, who never left home.
6. POLICEMAN, 30s. Hardworking, honest. EDDIE, late 20s. A drug addict clinging to his youth. PORTER, 50. Jim’s angry, disappointed father.
Elizabeth Rich
Annie Golden, MacLeod Andrews
PHOTOS by Nathaniel Siegel
Published in the acclaimed Online Literary Journal, BLACKBIRD.
THE COMMON SWALLOW was workshopped in the HOWL! Festival 2009, at 45 Bleecker Street Theatre.
Directed by Kirsten Kelly.
With MacLeod Andrews, Matt D'Amico, Annie Golden, Julie Jesneck, Doug Rees and Elizabeth Rich.
PHOTOS by Nathanie Siegel.
Doug Rees, Annie Golden
Julie Jesneck
Matt D'Amico, Julie Jesneck