About the Plays:

Comanche Cafe and Domino Courts are two offbeat dark comedic one-acts by William Hauptman. The plays chronicle life in a Depression-era Oklahoma, with a young waitress providing the glue that holds the two stories together. These Obie-winning plays may be presented together as an evening of entertainment.

Comanche Cafe: Set in the "Comanche Cafe", a roadside dinner in southern Oklahoma in the late 1930s, where Mattie has been a waitress for fourteen years and Ronnie is a newcomer. The two waitresses sit and pass the time peeling potatoes, talking about love and life in Oklahoma and working at the Cafe. The older, Mattie recalls a passionate fling that came to nought and has now settled for minimal creature comforts; while Ronnie longs for marriage before her chances are gone and is desperate to get out. (Cast: 2 female)

Domino Courts: Four years later, in a tourist cabin of the "Domino Courts", we see waitress Ronnie, from earlier, again – but now she is married to Floyd and still living in Oklahoma. Floyd and Roy, former bank robbers and self-proclaimed "Hot Grease Boys", meet up for an ill-fated reunion. Floyd went straight and married Ronnie. Roy joined a northern mob and married Flo. The reunion turns into an ugly confrontation as the realities of their lives are revealed. Domino Courts is about reality versus illusion – what we allow ourselves to believe, and who we become when we aren't looking. (Cast: 2 female, 2 male)

Comanche Cafe and Domino Courts were first produced in 1976 at the American Place Theatre off-Broadway in New York City and won the 1977 Obie Award for Distinguished Playwrighting. Each play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops.

What people say:

"Haunting, terrifying, funny, beautiful." — Village Voice

About the Playwright:

William Hauptman is an Amercian writer and Tony Award-winning playwright, best known for the plays, musicals, and short stories he has written. He set out to become an actor, made his way to New York and started auditioning for acting jobs while paying the bills as a temp. When he couldn't find a monologue that suited him for auditions, he began writing his own. Soon he discovered he had a knack for writing. He submitted those monologues in the form of a play to the Yale School of Drama and was accepted as a playwriting student.