Headlands, The
- Full Length Play, Drama, Mystery/Thriller, Present Day, Contemporary
- 4M, 3F
- ISBN: 9780573709319
In Christopher Chen's contemporary noir mystery, an amateur sleuth and true crime aficionado in San Francisco sets out to solve the ultimate case: the unsolved murder of his father.
Description
- Full Length Play
- Drama, Mystery/Thriller
- 90 minutes
- Time Period: Present Day, Contemporary
- Target Audience: Adult
- Performance Group:
- Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, Professional Theatre
- Accolades:
- Honoree! Best of 2020 List (Exeunt Magazine)
Author's Note: Inspired by Vertigo and other San Francisco noir, as well as the exquisitely precise tone management of Kazuo Ishiguro's novels, the play's primary requirement for its creative team will be to make each scene, each moment, a highly distinct pocket of atmosphere, mood and emotion. There should a cinematic quality to each scene, and to the flow of the production as a whole.
REVIEWS:
"An ingeniously constructed new drama—a novel blend of twisty whodunit, family mystery, immigrant tale and memory play."
The New York
"Beguiling... a wonderful reorientation of perception."
The New York Times
"Draws the viewer in through the recognizable frame, then quietly spins out strands of subtext that force you to consider questions of family, community, identity, trust and truth… Highly Recommended."
Exeunt Magazine
"A haunting new play... Playwright Chen is a sly storyteller, and the mystery unravels with many twists, turns, and blind alleys. This gripping family tale... reaches for the universality of family stories from mythology."
Theater Pizzazz
"A great cinematic vision… gets away with something that even Alfred Hitchcock couldn’t."
The Wrap
"One part memory play, one part Dateline episode, and all parts twisted in the most thrilling of ways."
The Fordham Observer
"The twists in this dynastic whodunit are profound, and tilt a seeming escapade into a personal encounter with horror."
The Riverdale Press
Characters
- Casting: 4M, 3F
- Casting Attributes: Role(s) for Asian Actor(s)
- Casting Notes: The roles of PAT/LEENA (OLDER) and WALTER/DETECTIVE are lumped together for easy casting, but they can be split apart. POC casting encouraged for Jess.
GEORGE – Chinese, male, 20s and 40s
LEENA – Chinese American, female, 2's, 40s
JESS – Female, 30s
PAT/LEENA (OLDER) – Chinese female, 70s
WALTER/DETECTIVE – Imagined as male, at least 50s
TOM – Chinese American, male, 20s and 40s
Available Material
| Name | Price |
|---|---|
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Headlands, The Script
This is optional.
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In The Headlands, Henry is an amateur sleuth and true crime aficionado who sets out to solve the ultimate case: the unsolved murder of his father. Using his memories and the family stories he was told as a child growing up in San Francisco, Henry begins an investigation through a labyrinth of secrets and deceptions that leads him to question those closest to him. The Headlands is a contemporary noir that explores the stories we tell ourselves and the fallibility of the mind. |
$24.95 |
