About the Play:

An Evening for Merlin Finch is a one-act comedy by Charles Dizenzo. This enormously funny and imaginative play offers an incisive and lethal caricature of family life in suburbia. Especially recommended for school and contest use.

In An Evening for Merlin Finch we see two families as different as night and day: the Lawsons – who seem so well adjusted and in tune with one another they probably blend into the wallpaper at home – and the Finches, who continually bicker, scream and play the clarinet. Darlene is the crazy glue that holds the family together, beset by hallucinations and 'bug-eyed and bushy-haired' but dispensing love and witty observations on life while she fights off her imaginary mother. Frank, the bully who explodes with anger and then retreats like a fearful mouse, is a gray, dreary figure who hates his son Merlin. Merlin is the ultimate nerd – the kid who studies too much, doesn't play sports, plays the clarinet instead (and badly!) and is probably no stranger to self-gratification.

An Evening for Merlin Finch was first presented in 1968 Presented at Lincoln Center's Forum Theatre (on a double bill with A Great Career) in New York City. It remains an ideal choice for high school drama contests and one-act festivals.

Cast: 3 women, 3 men, 1 boy

What people say:

"…a wonderfully gifted comic sense." — New York Times

"…the best written play by a new playwright this season." — Jersey Journal

"…true comedy funny in a wholly original way." — The New Yorker

About the Playwright:

Charles Dizenzo is an American playwright. His plays were first shown Off Off-Broadway and have also been widely performed in Europe. He has taught playwrighting at New York University and at Yale University.