About the Play:

The Trip Back Down has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues and Female/Male Scenes.

The Trip Back Down is a full-length drama by John Bishop. Is winning all there is? A once-great NASCAR racer must confront his career's inevitable downslide while visiting family and friends in his old home town. The Trip Back Down records his encounters with his father, the wife and daughter he deserted and also other friends and relatives. John Bishop was a member of the acclaimed Circle Repertory Company and this play was his first Broadway success before his Hollywood writing career.

The Trip Back Down chronicles a NASCAR racer whose career has hit the skids after a stellar debut on the racing circuit. Bobby Horvath a former "Rising Star" of NASCAR had visions of being the greatest. Racing brought him excitement, glamour and escape from the drudgery of a factory job. Now after eight years of racing with the big boys, he has returned to his Mansfield, Ohio hometown to in order to re-establish ties with the wife and child he left behind. It's not close calls and near misses that have him ready to retire, but the frustration of never winning the big races. The action moves in and out of the past and the heart of the play is his struggle to come to terms with himself. It is clear that he'll never be "number one" as a driver. But when past and present collide, the results are unexpected. Populated with rich characters including family members, colourful race car drivers, groupies, union leaders, and factory workers, The Trip Back Down is also about a blue collar mid-American town with its deadening routine of life. Boredom and depression begins to enfold Bobby with its futility and sterility. If winning is all there is, it is going to be a long road for Bobby to make it to the finish line.

John Bishop was writing about a world he knew well; the playwright grew up in Mansfield, Ohio, the son of a factory foreman, and his uncle was a stock car racer. The Trip Back Down began as a workshop project at off off-Broadway's T. Schreiber Studio in 1975, and after receiving good reviews, transferred to Broadway at the Longacre Theatre in 1977. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has been revived on several occasions in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 6 female, 9 male

What people say:

"Believable characters ... basic drama ... solid, professional theatre." — New York Post

"...it is ... the genuine goods, and in John Bishop, who wrote it, Broadway has gained a talented playwright." — New York Daily News

"Bishop's script has some clever, funny lines." — Los Angeles Times

"The Trip Back Down is a hit. It has a ... story that moves fluidly from beginning to end." — Living Out Loud LA

About the Playwright:

John Bishop (1929-2006) was an American playwright and screenwriter. When Marshall W. Mason, founder of the acclaimed Off-Broadway Circle Repertory Company, saw a performance of The Trip Back Down, he invited John Bishop to become a member as both a writer and director. Circle Rep would become his artistic home for nearly 20 years, producing many of his plays. He later founded the Circle West theater company in Los Angeles. He also used his knowledge of and interest in male behaviour and police procedures to do rewrites on the big-budget thrillers Sliver, Primal Fear, Clear and Present Danger, and Beverly Hills Cop III.