About the Play:

Laughing Wild has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues, Male Monologues, and Female/Male Scenes.

Laughing Wild is a full-length drama by Christopher Durang. A provocative, inventive, and very funny study of the dangers and thrills of modern life in urban America. Unique in form, the play Laughing Wild consists of two monologues (one for each performer) plus an hilarious playlet which brings the two together and explores more fully the converging dreams and themes set forth in their solo expositions.

Laughing Wild is a laugh-out-loud, mile-a-minute, "that-is-so-true" look at modern life's dilemmas and indignities, including battles in the supermarket, inane talk show hosts and rude taxi drivers. In the first section of the play, a Woman enters and embarks on an increasingly frenetic (and funny) monologue ("Laughing Wild") of the deepest frustrations in her life. In particular she is incensed by a man who prevented her from buying a can of tuna fish by standing in her way – and whom she attacked in a fit of pique. In the second monologue ("Seeking Wild") the Man appears, and while the subjects on which he expounds (nuclear waste, the rigidity of the Catholic Church, particularly in sexual matters) may be broader in context, he also dwells on an incident in a supermarket, when a strange woman hit him over the head in the tuna fish aisle. For the third and last portion of the play ("Dreaming Wild") the two protagonists meet at last and reenact the supermarket incident via six varying interpretations; tell us more fully of their overlapping dreams; and then launch into an explosively funny parody of a talk show. In the end the two find an accommodation of sorts as they come together at the Harmonic Convergence in Central Park – both still hoping to instill a sense of optimism and purpose in their lives, but both still skeptical that they will succeed in doing so. This zany exploration of urban humanity is a fun, frenetic theatrical experience that will keep your audience laughing and leave them thinking.

Laughing Wild premiered in 1987 at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway in New York City. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is regularly performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 1 female, 1 male

What people say:

"Mr. Durang is one of the funniest men in the world, able to make the audience laugh out loud time and time again, taking us by surprise with his one-of-a-kind jokes and relentless bitter satire?" — The New Yorker

"At their liveliest, the monologues offer splenetic laughter, imaginatively induced." — New York Times

"The laughs just keep rolling in Laughing Wild." — Variety

About the Playwright:

Christopher Durang (1949-2024) was an award-winning American playwright and actor. One of the most popular playwrights of the 20th century, his plays have been produced on and off-Broadway, in regional theatres around the US and abroad. He received a B.A. in English from Harvard College and an M.F.A. in playwriting from Yale School of Drama. He was the co-chair of the Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School in Manhattan from its inception in 1994 to 2016.