About the Play:

Pick Up Ax is a full-length dark comedy by Anthony Clarvoe. The play deals with two computer software whizzes whose competitors try and block their access to essential microchips. They receive a surprise visit from a slick operator with an MBA who has some "creative" ideas for dealing with corporate enemies. The title refers to a command in an adventure game.

Pick Up Ax is a hard-edged and quick-witted satire about the early 1980s in Silicon Valley. Can two best friends survive their own success? An inspired start-up enters the software big-leagues, but its founders don't have the clout to compete. Enter a problem-solver who delivers what they need to grow... with some unexpected strings attached. A funny and unsettling drama set on the shifting foundation of our technology culture, and a preview of the dot-com boom and bust from the dawn of the new economy.

Pick Up Ax received its world premiere in 1990 at San Francisco's Eureka Theatre and was later mounted at South Coast, Northlght Theater, and Off Off-Broadway by Manhattan's 29th Street Rep. The play received good reviews and numerous awards, including the Will Glickman, Bay Area Drama Critics’ Circle and Dramalogue Awards and an American Theatre Critics Awards Citation.

Cast: 3 men

What people say:

"Pick Up Ax... has a smart, sassy script that's studded with bright, funny dialogue." — Chicago Tribune

"Pick Up Ax is likely to be an audience-pleaser because of the sheer exuberance and wit of the script...." — Variety

"He adroitly sets up the requisite 'High Noon'-ish standoff among three men with three very different sets of skills and sensibilities...But Mr. Clarvoe also finds theatrical flair in the seemingly nontheatrical language of computerese (something even high-tech movie blockbusters like "Mission: Impossible" have serious trouble with). Its title, a computer command, will have resonance for anyone familiar with the early crop of video adventure games. And it is used to sly, character-defining effect here." — The New York Times

"Pick Up Ax is the best play I've seen this year ... the care Clarvoe has taken to get his facts right is one of the many pleasures of Pick Up Ax, but his play goes far beyond documentary. Despite all the spot-on references to chips and sensors and software, this is a play about how humans work rather than how machines do... Beyond the tight plot and its numerous twists, the insider nerd-speak and terrific dialogue ... one of the most effective aspects of this production is the way in which the characters evolve during the two hours we spend with them." — KQED (San Francisco)

About the Playwright:

Anthony Clarvoe is an award-winning American playwright. His work has been produced or received commissions at Mark Taper Forum, Playwrights’ Horizons, Signature Theatre, TheatreWorks, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, among others.