About the Play:

The Scene has become a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues.

The Scene is a full-length comedy by Theresa Rebeck. The tale of an out-of-work New York actor – married to a news producer – who has an affair with an ambitious, beautiful newcomer and finds himself more morally and spiritually lost than he was before. The Scene is a provocative comedy-drama that explores the dark edges of commitment and the struggles of balancing authenticity with ambition.

The Scene is about the sort of self-obsessed New Yorkers who pursue their own interests at the cost of their morality and loyalty. Charlie's trying to retake it. Lewis wants to change it. And Stella is simply over it. What starts off with an amusing exchange at a hip Manhattan party quickly turns into something more complex. Clea is a beautiful, sexy, rather callow young woman. She has recently come to New York, and is "making the scene," going to parties and trying to make her way in this dark world. When close friends Charlie and Lewis meet Clea, it sets them off on an emotional roller coaster. It's the New York show biz 'scene' in all its boozing, schmoozing and using glory. The Scene is a sharp comedy, full of Theresa Rebeck's wickedly scathing observations about the empty narcissism of American pop culture.

The Scene premiered in 2006 at the famed Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the annual Festival of New American Plays. Its New York premiere was in 2007 at off Broadway's Second Stage Theatre, an influential showplace for playwrights. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and  is regularly performed in regional and college theatre productions.

Cast: 2 female, 2 male

What people say:

"Ms. Rebeck's dark-hued morality tale contains enough fresh insights into the cultural landscape to freshen what is essentially a classic boy-meets-bad-girl story ... Ms. Rebeck is an established playwright who has also worked in television, and she clearly knows how the savage, mercurial economics of the entertainment industry can shatter the fragile ego and wreak havoc on domestic equilibrium." — The New York Times

"Rebeck's wickedly scathing observations about the sort of self-obsessed New Yorkers who pursue their own interests at the cost of their morality and loyalty." — New York Post

"The Scene is utterly delightful in its comedic performances, and its slowly unraveling plot is thought-provoking and gut-wrenching." — Show Business Weekly

"On the surface, it may appear to be just a bubbly boulevard comedy. And, on the surface, that's what Theresa Rebeck's The Scene uproariously is. But underneath lurks something much darker, almost tragic. That is how great, double-bottomed comedies are: Think The Misanthrope, think Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?...Finally, though, it is the writing that triumphs in the all- important details. There are frantic sentence fragments, stammering reiterations, dragged-out burbles, and every current noncommunicative cliche sovereignly ridiculed. And let us not overlook Rebeck's ability to put sex onstage: erotically, farcically, and with clinical dissection. Laugh your way into this one." — Bloomberg.com

About the Playwright:

Theresa Rebeck is a leading American playwright, screenwriter and author. Her plays include Bad Dates, Omnium Gatherum (co-written, Pulitzer finalist), Spike Heels, and Mauritius, which won Boston's prestigious IRNE and Elliot Norton Awards. Her work in television includes NYPD Blue for which she has won the Peabody, the Writer's Guild, and the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar awards. She holds a Ph.D. from Brandeis University and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.