About the Play:

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

Search and Destroy is a full-length drama by Howard Korder. An inept businessman plans to lie and cheat his way to the top of the movie business. Told in a series of short scenes, this play is by turns darkly funny and malevolent; the story of a man who will stop at nothing – lying, manipulation, and even murder – in his pursuit of his dream and the Big Score. Search and Destroy is a study in how dreams become nightmares in a society driven by greed rather than ethics, filled with brilliant gutter language and tightly-wound characters.

Search and Destroy follows a time small-time loser with big-time dreams of becoming a successful film producer. Divorced and perilously in debt, Martin Mirkheim owes the IRS back taxes, But this is not where his mind is focused. Instead he is intent on acquiring the film rights to a novel called Daniel Strong, written by Dr. Waxling, a late-night-cable-TV evangelist and self help guru with the magnetism – and devotees – of an L. Ron Hubbard. The first part of Martin's journey is spent trying to meet Dr. Waxling, but he is kept away by secretaries and personal assistants. When finally face to face with Waxling, Martin discovers that the good doctor is less interested in any "higher truth" than in getting $500,000 for the film rights. Still consumed by his desire to make the book into a movie, Martin resorts to deceit, blackmail, fraud, extortion and murder to claw his way to success. Howard Korder's masterwork, Search and Destroy is a disturbingly entertaining indictment of American values today.

Search and Destroy premiered in 1990 at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California. The play made its New York debut at The Circle in the Square in 1992 and received its British premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in 1993. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has been performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 2 female, 12 male (doubling)

What people say:

"Search and Destroy is a very adventurous play by a very talented young dramatist…." — New York Times

"It'll keep you on the edge of your seat. Its evolution, shot through with brilliant gutter language, is vintage stuff, arresting and real…An altogether extraordinary achievement." — Los Angeles Times

"…Korder has a powerful sense of what is theatrically viable." — New York Daily News

"Search and Destroy will…disturbingly entertain." — The New Yorker

"...one of those all-too-rare plays where you desperately want to know what is going to happen next." — The Daily Telegraph

About the Playwright:

Howard Korder is an American screenwriter and playwright. The Broadway production of his drama Boys' Life won rave reviews and a Pulitzer Prize nomination and established him as one of the most important playwrights in America. He plays have been performed throughout the U.S., in Canada, and in Europe. He has also worked on several television projects, including HBO's Boardwalk Empire.