About the Play:

Stranger has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues.

Stranger is a full-length drama by Craig Lucas. Examines the evolving relationship between two deeply troubled strangers, one recently released from prison, who meet on an airplane and, in the course of a long flight, share their darkest secrets. A mystery, a tragedy, a love story, a requiem, and a jaw dropping shocker, Stranger is not suitable for bedtime reading.

Stranger is a dark tale of two strangers, awash in demons, who sit side by side on a night flight from the East Coast to the West. Gradually, each reveals things they have never spoken about before: Linda is terrified of flying and travelling with a great deal of cash as well as enough pills to kill herself; Hush has just been released from a maximum security prison after serving fifteen years for kidnapping a young girl and keeping her alive inside a trunk for over a year. An alliance grows based on the shocking aspects of their personal histories. They end up together in her backwoods cabin in the middle of nowhere at night. Here they learn things about themselves and each other that change their lives irrevocably.

Stranger premiered in 2000 at the Vineyard Theatre off Broadway in New York City.

Cast: 2 female, 2 male

What people say:

"Even more bravely the ever-questing author of Prelude to a Kiss and The Dying Gaul here presents an extreme portrait of a couple that suggests that at the heart of all relationships are the urges to torture and be hurt. Whatever role you chose, it seems, there is fear and loathing in love, much of it self-directed." — New York Times

"Stranger is a tense, thrilling ride filled with sharp turns." — New York Daily News

"Stranger is a behind the headlines thriller with a sociological subtext ... a gripping, edge-of-the-seat experience." — Curtain Up

"Stranger picks up where The Dying Gaul left off. The question it asks is this: when you’ve suffered inexplicable cruelty, how do you continue to live without being consumed by bitterness and a desire for revenge? Ever the nimble theater artist, Lucas embeds this inquiry into a deceptively simple plot." — The Advocate

About the Playwright:

Craig Lucas is an American screenwriter, performer, stage and film director, and award-winning playwright. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony nominee, his honours include the L.A. Drama Critics Award, two OBIE Awards, and the Excellence in Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.