About the Play:

Bug is a full-length a darkly comic thriller by Tracy Letts. The relationship between a lonely waitress and a soft-spoken Gulf War veteran festers into paranoia, conspiracy theories and twisted psychological motives in a seedy Oklahoma City motel room being infested with bugs.

Bug follow a waitress and a Gulf war veteran and their mad love story as they descend into fear and paranoia of their motel room being infested with bugs. Peter, a soft-spoken drifter is introduced to Agnes, a divorced waitress with a fondness for cocaine and isolation, by her lesbian friend, R.C. Agnes stays at a squalid Oklahoma City motel in hopes of avoiding her physically abusive ex-husband, Jerry, who was just released from prison. At first, she lets Peter sleep platonically on her floor, but not long after she promotes him to the bed. Matters become more complicated as Jerry eagerly returns to the woman he loves to beat her up, expecting to resume their relationship. On top of that, there's a hidden bug infestation problem that has both Agnes and Peter dealing with scathing welts and festering sores – which has Peter believing this is the result of experiments conducted on him during his stay at an army hospital. The line between reality and delusion is blurred as their fears soon escalate to paranoia, conspiracy theories and twisted psychological motives.

Bug originally premiered in 1996 at the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill, London, England. The play eventually moved to the United States, playing in Ithaca, New York, with a formal American premiere in 2000 by the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC. The critically acclaimed off-Broadway production of Bug at The Barrow Street Theater was the winner of the 2004 Lortel Award for Outstanding Play.

Cast: 2 women, 3 men

What people say:

"…obscenely exciting … top-flight craftsmanship. Buckle up and brace yourself…." — New York Times

"…[a] thoroughly outrageous and thoroughly entertaining play … the possibility of enemies, real and imagined, to squash has never been more theatrical." — Associated Press

"…a wonderfully lurid new thriller…." — Star-Ledger

"…a riveting thriller of paranoia and an instant guilty pleasure." — Hollywood Reporter

About the Playwright:

Tracy Letts is an American playwright and actor who received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play August: Osage County. He is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, where August: Osage County premiered.