All Things Chicken

Synopsis:

            In “All Things Chicken”, the two male lead characters seemingly engage with each other about their everyday lives, but they are so actually so disconnected within themselves – as one is stuck in past romantic angst and the other man detaches completely from his own upbringing while spinning fantasies of the future – that they remain profoundly, stupidly immature about the present and only stay afloat by clinging to each other as life preservers. 

            More specifically, they do so by entertaining each other – thus why I label this play as my version of “Waiting for Godot” but instead of being set in a barren desert wasteland, my play is set in the modern wasteland of fast food joints and diner dives, where the “boys” talk about profound things in profoundly foolish ways. 

            Structurally, I label the play a vaudeville because it (again like "...Godot") has a circular structure and each scene is made up of "routines" that the boys create to pass the time.  Moreover, these routines make a meaningless moment into something significant, something fun and form the building blocks of their friendship.  

            The parallels to “…Godot” are not exact – the language is more naturalistic and there is a bit more forward narrative progression in “…Chicken,” and especially, there is more tangible hope at the end. 

            For in the end, “…Chicken”  is both a comedy about how NOT to live one’s life, and a paean to the saving grace of friendship - no matter how dysfunctional.  

Notes: The movie version of "...Chicken," which is shorter in running time, and the play version have different supporting characters , so while they are thematically similar and share dialogue, they are very different aesthetic experiences... for instance, the "vaudeville" and circular structure is much more apparent in the play. Since it is just over an hour, I have a 24 minute one-act SOME PLACE ON THE ROAD that can serve as a companion piece. NOTE: A monologue from this play was adapted and published in Smith & Kraus "Audition Arsenal" series.