bout the Play:
Mere Mortals contains six comedic one-act plays by David Ives.
The six plays in Mere Mortals involve a wide variety of
subjects and settings: Foreplay follows simultaneous dates on
a golf course; Mere Mortals shows construction workers
discussing their previous lives over lunch; Speed The Play
sends up four David Mamet plays in seven minutes; Dr. Fritz
shows an American tourist visiting a South American faith healer; and
Degas offers a contemporary New York man convincing himself
that for one day only, he is the painter Degas. The plays may be
presented separately or as an evening of entertainment under the
collective title Mere Mortals And Others.
This critically acclaimed evening of comedies Mere Mortals And
Others combines satire, wit, hilarity and intellect – a winning
combination.
Act One: In Foreplay Or: The Art Of The Fugue, we find
Chuck, a self-styled Don Juan, and his girlfriend on a date at the
miniature golf course. When they move to the second hole, a slightly
older Chuck II appears with another date. Finally, Chuck III, now in
his late thirties, arrives with a young date. His latest date doesn't
get his jokes, and worse, she's beating him at golf. (Cast: 3 female,
3 male)
Mere Mortals eavesdrops on a lunch hour on a girder 50
stories over the street, as three construction workers share
increasingly amazing secrets of their past. (Cast: 3 male)
In Time Flies, two lonely but sweet young mayflies meet at
a pond and really hit it off. Unfortunately, Horace and May watch a
nature program on this first night out and discover they have a
lifespan of only one day – and their lives are half over. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)
Act Two: Speed-The-Play is a crash-course send-up of David
Mamet, presenting the complete works of the master of scatological
dialogue in just under eight, male-bonding minutes. (Cast: 3 female, 3
male)
In Dr. Fritz, Vaudeville reigns as an American tourist in
pain seeks medical help from a wacky souvenir seller named Maria who
channels an even wackier German surgeon named Dr. Ringsvwandl. The
comedy steps up when the doctor recommends an operation. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
Degas C'est Moi: A man wakes up one morning and decides to
be the French Impressionist Painter Degas. The best place to do that
is in New York City where he encounters all that makes great art.
(Cast: 3 female, 3 male)
The six plays comprising Mere Mortals And Others premiered
in 1997 at Primary Stages to good reviews and sold-out crowds and
moved to the larger Off-Broadway John Houseman Theatre. The
plays
are
regularly performed in regional
and community theatre productions, and
Mere Mortals and Time Flies are ideal choices for high
school drama contests and one-act festivals.
Cast: The entire evening of plays can be performed with 3 female
and 3 male performers.
What people say:
"A brave, wise and deeply
moving play delineating the confrontation between culture, and power,
between art and politics, between irresponsible freedom and
responsible compromise. A gripping moral challenge in a cock sure and
self-seeking age." — New York Times
About the Playwright:
David Ives is an American playwright, screenwriter, and
novelist who was born in Chicago and educated at Northwestern
University and Yale School of Drama. He is perhaps best known for his
evenings of comic one-act comedies, a reputation which resulted in
the The New York Times referring to him as the "maestro of the
short form". A former Guggenheim Fellow in playwriting, he has
also written dramatic plays, narrative stories, and screenplays. He
lives in New York City.