About the Play:

Brooklyn Boy has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Female/Male Scenes.

Brooklyn Boy is a full-length comedic drama by Donald Margulies. 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. Brooklyn Boy is a funny and emotionally rich look at family, friends, and fame by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Donald Margulies.

Brooklyn Boy follows the tale of a marginal writer who is finally garnering success while his life is otherwise faltering: his marriage is on the rocks, his father is in the hospital, his aunt is pestering him and Hollywood is calling. Eric Weiss is a writer who finally starts to come of age-a couple decades too late. He's finally made it big after years of hard work. His hot new novel (also called "Brooklyn Boy") is all the rage. Hollywood producers are interested in a film adaptation, but then an inconvenient phone call brings him back to the Brooklyn neighbourhood he grew up in and happily left behind. But has success changed him? And does where we're from affect who we become? Witty and deeply touching, Brooklyn Boy is a quietly moving, acerbically funny, entertaining story about growing up, coming home and dealing with fame.

Brooklyn Boy had a pre-Broadway engagement in 2004 at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California and then premiered at Broadway's Biltmore Theatre in 2005. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has been mounted by colleges and community theatres.

Cast: 3 female, 4 male

What people say:

"Margulies' remarkable gift of building characterization through realistic dialogue is undiminished. Full of aching ruefulness that underlies the comedy, Brooklyn Boy's scenes are written with precision and humor. The play isn't about Brooklyn, nor is it about a boy – it's about a man without a home." — Los Angeles Times

"Brooklyn Boy is the funniest and one of Margulies' most moving plays. This comedy delivers the kind of humane pleasures that brought audiences from all over New York City to Broadway during the post-World War II era. For those who have watched Margulies develop… Brooklyn Boy offers the subtler pleasure of watching a master deftly weave so many lifelong themes into this comedy-drama's colorful fabric." — San Diego Union-Tribune

"The rewards of success and fame are weighed with poignant complexity in Donald Margulies' midlife reflection, which traces a suddenly celebrated writer's unwitting struggle to reconnect with his past…[Brooklyn Boy] is illuminated by sensitivity and humor, by sparkling naturalistic dialogue and by the grace with which it extends a deeply personal story into a universal realm." — Variety

"Brooklyn Boy is a superbly crafted new play. The story unfolds with an uncanny resonance that distinguishes all great theatre, reminding us that nobody's journey through life can be made without some bad decisions, wrong directions or regrets." — Orange County Register

"A self-reflective dream reverie, Brooklyn Boy is tough, insightful, bittersweet, funny and wise." — Hollywood Reporter

"Mr. Margulies' most personally heartfelt work…reminds us of how rewarding a writer [he] can be…." — New York Times

About the Playwright:

Donald Margulies is an American playwright, screenwriter, and a professor of English and Theater Studies at Yale University. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2000 for his play, Dinner With Friends. Other plays include Pulitzer Prize finalists Sight Unseen and Collected Stories. He has also developed screenplays for HBO, NBC, Paramount, Propaganda, Touchstone, Warner Bros., TriStar and Universal.