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Mr. 80%

Mr. 80%
Your Price: $18.95 CDN
Last Copy!
Author: James Sherman
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change)
Format: Softcover
# of Pages: 62
Pub. Date: 1987
Edition: Acting
ISBN-10: 082220780X
ISBN-13: 9780822207801
Cast Size: 3 female, 3 male

About the Play:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

Mr. 80% is a full-length romantic comedy by James Sherman. A truly funny play, this comic romp deals with two decidedly straight young guys who pretend to be gay in order to share an apartment with a pair of beautiful young women. Reminiscent of the 1980s sitcoms "Three's Company" or "Bosom Buddies" with its slapstick humour, one-liners and wisecracks, Mr. 80% avoids being too situational and focuses more on the comedy that ensues as the two men, inevitably, find themselves falling in love with their roommates.

MR. 80% tells the story of Sharon, a no-nonsense young attorney, and Patricia, who is doing her medical residency. These young ladies advertise for a roommate to help pay the rent of their New York apartment. After a sour experience with Sharon's former live-in boyfriend, the two decide to specify either another woman or a gay male only. Enter Sam and Jan, a comedy team who move into the apartment. Only they're not gay. They're just desperate enough for a decent apartment to let the women think that they're gay. The fact that Sharon and Patricia are taken in by the ruse leads to a series of hilarious misunderstandings, made even funnier by the high jinks of the two attractive (and decidedly straight) young men as they revert from straight to gay and back again depending on the situation. Mr. 80% centers on the woes of the single life and dating, and mixes in pithy words of wisdom on relationships along with the comedic dialogue. How to work out a happy ending for relationships involving two young women who have become embittered and suspicious by the perfidy of men in general; and two young men who, having been so successful in convincing their roommates that they are gay that they are now hard pressed to reverse the notion, is a test of the author's ingenuity – but one which James Sherman meets with lively inventiveness, nonstop hilarity and, in the end, a redeeming touch of genuine warmth and humanity.

Mr. 80% premiered in 1986 at Chicago's Victory Gardens Theatre and was a long-run critical and popular success. The play has been performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 3 female, 3 male

What people say:

"…James Sherman has whipped up an engaging, entertaining souffle, laced with one-liners and quick comic turns…." — Chicago Sun-Times

"…Sherman, once again, has his finger firmly on the pulse of the zeitgeist in a light and frothy play that could serve as a time capsule for the 1980s." — Variety

"The results are hilarious, laughs hitting line after line." — Lerner Newspapers

About the Playwright:

James Sherman is an American playwright who began his professional career as a writer and performer with The Second City in Chicago and received an M.F.A. degree from Brandeis University. Since 1986, he has been a Playwright-in-Residence at the Tony Award winning Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago and he is currently a member of the Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble.