About the Play:

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

Porch is an extended one-act drama by Jeffrey Sweet. After years of estrangement, a dying small-town father tries to play matchmaker with his defiantly single daughter and the high-school flame she left behind. In one evening, she must relive the pain of the past and come to terms with an uncertain future. With engaging dialogue and with plenty of emotional subtext, Porch is an ideal choice for one-act festivals.

Porch tells the story of a big-city girl returning to her small-town roots and the familial and romantic entanglements that she left behind. Amy a hard-boiled New York editor returns to her hometown to see her widower father through an operation. They haven't seen each other in over a decade. As he prepares for exploratory surgery, he reflects on the untimely death of his only son ten years earlier. He's desperate to know his legacy will continue if he doesn't make it. And he's invited her high school sweetheart, who still harbours feelings for Amy, to come over. As they confront each other on the front porch, we see the loss that propelled Amy to New York and the clash that dissolved her family. We see Amy and her father at turns throwing barbs at each other and attempting, in their own ways, to heal old wounds. After all – they may not have much in common, they may not get along, but they're the only two left.

Porch premiered in 1978 at the Encompass Theatre off-off-Broadway in New York City and enjoyed a long run later that year in Chicago at Victory Gardens Theatre. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has been performed in fringe festival and community theatre productions.

Cast: 1 female, 2 male

What people say:

"A family play about open warfare and buried love between a father and daughter written with subtlety and increasingly compelling emotion." — New York Times

"It's lovely to watch this finely wrought, gracefully executed play draw an audience completely into its world." — Chicago Tribune

"Porch by Jeffrey Sweet – a funny, charming, and heartfelt little play – is worth checking out at this year's Fringe. It's not experimental, it's not revelatory. There be no dragons here, no reinvention of genre. But Porch serves as a reminder of what Fringe does best: Stripped-down productions showcasing remarkable performances. Don't mistake this play for small and unassuming. It may not be new or novel, but it's a quiet powerhouse." — DC Theatre Scene

About the Playwright:

Jeffrey Sweet is an American writer, journalist, theatre historian, and teacher. He divides his time between New York and Chicago, where he has been constant presence since the beginning of that city's theatrical renaissance in the 1970s. His plays have been presented off-Broadway, internationally, and in a variety of regional and developmental theatres. A popular teacher and author of many newspaper and magazine articles, he currently teaches at Wagner College, and has taught or guest lectured at dozens of universities and professional schools.