About the Play:

The Velocity Of Autumn has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues.

The Velocity Of Autumn is a full-length dramatic comedy by Eric Coble. Artist Alexandria is nearly 80, and being pressured by her family to move to a nursing home. When she booby-traps her second floor apartment with homemade Molotov cocktails, her estranged son, Chris, climbs a tree, enters the apartment through the window and attempts to mediate. The Velocity of Autumn is a powder keg dark comedy.

The Velocity Of Autumn swirls around Alexandra in a showdown with her family over where she'll spend her remaining years. In Alexandra's corner are her wit, her volcanic passion, and the fact that she's barricaded herself in her Brooklyn brownstone with enough Molotov cocktails to take out the block. Once a fearless world traveller and artist, she is now 79 years old and growing more forgetful and frail. Her children don't trust her to live on her own. They are prepared to take drastic measures to get her to move out of her home. However, even the threat of the police is not enough to move Alexandra. Enter Chris, the wayward third child, on a mission to infiltrate the apartment and talk some sense into his mother. Now in his late 40s, Chris has been wandering the country for years. He did not even come home for his own father's funeral. Now he crawls through Alexandra's second-floor window, back into the living room of his childhood home, and becomes the family's unlikely mediator. No sooner are the words "Hi, Mom" uttered than the emotional bombs start detonating. Alexandra is unwilling to compromise with his siblings, but Chris is ready to fight for common ground. Life, freedom, dignity and family are at stake…and the clock is ticking. The police arrive in one hour. The Velocity Of Autumn is a wickedly funny and wonderfully touching discovery of the fragility and ferocity of life.

The Velocity of Autumn premiered in 2011 at Boise Contemporary Theatre in Idaho. This was followed by sold-out performances in 2012 at the Beck Center of the Arts in Cleveland, before having a sold-out run in 2013 by Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage at Kreeger Theater. It premiered on Broadway at the Booth Theatre in 2013. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has become a popular choice for community theatre productions.

Cast: 1 female, 1 male

What people say:

"Bracing, honest, and often deliciously funny…Anyone who's even reached the crest of middle age will have an innate feeling for this admirably drawn woman." — The New York Times

"A vivid poetic expression for all the frustrations of old age…the clash Coble illuminates manages to touch nerves exposed in the many seemingly no-win debates across America over what's best for a relative no longer at her sharpest." — The Washington Post

"Sublime and penetrating…a tale that resonates with a broad range of audiences as it touches on a sobering dilemma faced by families every day." — Variety

"A Playwright to Watch: An unqualified original with rich and idiosyncratic works A spirit of playful invention pervades Coble's repertoire." — American Theatre Magazine

"Coble's comedies are, of all things, genuinely funny." — New York Newsday

About the Playwright:

Eric Coble is an American playwright and screenwriter. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. Before turning to playwriting, he received his BA in English from Fort Lewis College in Colorado, and his MFA in acting from Ohio University. He is a member of the Playwrights' Unit of the Cleveland Play House.