About the Play:

Lone Star has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues and Male/Male Scenes.

Lone Star is a one-act dark comedy by James McLure. This hilarious study of a pair of Texas "good ole boys" on a Saturday night carouse explores the depths of brotherhood and the scars to be dealt with from battles fought both at home and abroad. Conceived as a companion piece to follow Laundry and Bourbon, with which it constitutes a full evening of theatre, this American Theatre classic can also be presented independently with equal effectiveness.

Lone Star takes place outside of a small-town Texas bar. Roy, a brawny, macho type who had once been a local high-school hero, is back in town battling symptoms of PTSD after a hitch in Vietnam and trying to re-establish his position in the community. Joined by his younger brother, Ray (who worships him), Roy sets about consuming a case of beer while regaling Ray with tales of his military and amorous exploits. Apparently Roy cherishes three things above all; his country, his sexy young wife, and his 1959 pink Thunderbird. With the arrival of Cletis, the former high school nerd and newlywed son of the local hardware store owner, the underpinnings of Roy's world begin to collapse as it gradually comes out that Ray had slept with his brother's wife during his absence and, horror of horrors, has just demolished his cherished Thunderbird. Lone Star – for all its high good humour – has now taken its place as a powerful exploration about the male image. The witty dialogue and situations serve as a deep parable about what makes a man, a man, and how that has changed... whether you like it or not.

Lone Star and Pvt. Wars were presented off-Broadway in 1979 after having been presented at the famed Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the annual Festival of New American Plays, an influential showplace for playwrights. In 1980, Lone Star was paired with another companion piece, Laundry and Bourbon, under the collective title 1959 Pink Thunderbird, at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, N. J. The double-bill of Lone Star and Laundry and Bourbon quickly became favorites in regional and community theatre, and although each play can be – and often is – performed as a stand-alone one-act (both are popular choices for high school drama festivals), they have connections, both thematically and through character's relationships, and are more often performed together to create a full evening of entertainment.

Cast: 3 male

What people say:

"What an auspicious Broadway debut this amounts to." — The New Yorker

"The evening unveiled a major comedic writing talent." — Hollywood Reporter

"Lone Star is an uproarious comedy about two bawdily rambunctious Texas brothers peppered with the playwright's own special brand of cascading, spontaneous wit." — The New York Times

About the Playwright:

James McLure (1951-2011) was an American playwright and actor best known for his two one-act plays that reached Broadway. He became interested in acting in high school, performing in Shakespearean plays. He obtained a BFA degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and subsequently studied at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, California. He was a participant playwright in The Missoula Colony, a writers workshop of the Montana Repertory Theatre and the only playwright to contribute to the Colony in every year for the first 15 years of its existence. He also wrote original screenplays for Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Twentieth Century-Fox.