About the Play:

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

The Altruists is a full-length comedy by Nicky Silver. These young radicals won't say NO to a protest! They'll march for real or unreal causes, leading completely self-centered lives – committing injustices identical to the ones they unthinkingly protest against. But what will happen when their own lives smack them in the face?

The Altruists revolves around a dedicated, if disorganized and demented, group of young radicals. These are the kids who protest. They protest arts funding and arms funding. They protest school cutbacks and AIDS cutbacks and welfare cutbacks. They march for gay rights and children's rights and Women Against Drunk Drivers. But their morality is put to the test one day when Sydney, a shallow, anorexic soap-opera actress, fires a gun into the hulking body of her sleeping boyfriend. Terrified, she looks to her brother, Ronald, the centre of this merry band of radicals, for help. Though he wants to help her, Ronald, is consumed with love for young runaway prostitute named Lance. But the other radicals convince him that they need Sydney – without her money they can do no good in the world. After all, "firebombs don't grow on trees." And when Sydney pressures him, revealing her vulnerability and her real affection for the first time, Ronald crumbles and makes the ultimate sacrifice, that of his own happiness for the greater good. And this group of altruists frames Lance, never noticing the irony as they head off to protest the unjust outcome of a trial involving a young man who resembles Lance in every way. Nicky Silver plunges his satiric dagger into a gaggle of relationships: sisters, brothers, lovers, liberal do-gooders and professional agitators.

The Altruists premiered in 2000 at The Vineyard Theatre off-Broadway in New York City. 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, 3 male

What people say:

"Exhilarating! Exceedingly funny! The playwright wields his wit like a scalpel…written with the florid theatricality and seething emotional adrenaline that are the hallmarks of Silver's unique voice…." — Variety

"Silver … hones his twisted humor to a peak in this show, skewering many idols with ferocious wit and leaving the audience with a shocking ending." — Boise Weekly

"Hilarious! … Classic Silver to the core." — Time Out

"Hysterical … The Altruists revels in political incorrectness. Nicky Silver is the bad-boy playwright of Off-Broadway." — New York Daily News

"Hilarious … the extravagantly amusing Nicky Silver has written one of his most consistent explosions of dark yet good-natured satire … we are carried aloft on the demented joy of [his] hyperarticulate imagination." — New York Newsday

About the Playwright:

Nicky Silver is an award-winning American playwright. He exploded onto the American theatre scene in October of 1993, with the off-Broadway opening of his play Pterodactyls (Oppenheimer Award, Kesselring Award, Drama Desk nomination, Outer Critic's Circle nomination). His plays have been produced extensively in New York City as well as across Europe and as far away as South Korea.