Cassie Strickland Is Not Under the Bed by Vince Gatton

[SHORT] Bed-bound Clay calls a friend for help.

*****This is one of a set of related plays, varying in length, genre, style, and setting but all connected in some way to a central, singular event. These plays each stand alone, so there’s no need to have read one to understand the others; but if you’re so inclined, the short pieces can be read together in the anthology The Thing That Happened,...
[SHORT] Bed-bound Clay calls a friend for help.

*****This is one of a set of related plays, varying in length, genre, style, and setting but all connected in some way to a central, singular event. These plays each stand alone, so there’s no need to have read one to understand the others; but if you’re so inclined, the short pieces can be read together in the anthology The Thing That Happened, along with the companion full-length You Have Earned Bonus Stars.

• JAM [One Act]
• Status Update [Short]
• Cassie Strickland Is Not Under the Bed [Short]
• Things Are Looking Up [Short]
• She’s Blown Away [Short]
• Janmadin [One Act]

• You Have Earned Bonus Stars [Full Length]
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Cassie Strickland Is Not Under the Bed

Recommended by

  • Charles Scott Jones:
    3 Dec. 2023
    “ From the title CASSIE STRICKLAND IS NOT UNDER THE BED to the white-knuckle inducing stage direction in the last pages, this is a riveting, extremely well-crafted short horror play. It’s inspiring how Vince Gatton uses each of our childhood imaginations (the archetypal fear for what’s under the bed) to get us inside Clay’s fear and feel it along with him - while also wanting to side with skeptic Howie. There are many great lines that make this frightening story come to life. I love Howie's line about people not knowing how to act around Clay. ”
  • Jillian Blevins:
    29 Oct. 2023
    “ Someone used Clay’s gun to do a bad thing. Now he needs the gun to protect himself from the forces that want him to pay (both human and decidedly not). CASSIE STRICKLAND… is part of Gatton’s broader storyline about gun violence and its impacts; the depth of the world-building, character backstory, and blanks left to be filled in makes this parable about guilt and responsibility stand on its own, and stand out from similar ten-minute plays. ”
  • Michael C. O'Day:
    28 Oct. 2023
    “ The problem with recommending this play, and saying that it's got one of the all-time great jump scares, is that it's selling the piece short. CASSIE STRICKLAND is also a masterful depiction of American masculinity, gun culture, small-town dynamics, and survivor guilt, and to say one more word about Gatton's accomplishment is to rob it of its sinister power. (But yeah, it's got one of the all-time great jump scares.) ”
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***Casting Requirements contain spoilers***
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The two main characters can be played by adult men of any ethnicity. Ideally CLAY would be played by a man of larger build.

And now the SPOILER: There is also a small non-speaking role at the very end, to be played by a girl roughly 4 - 9 years old.

Production History

  • Professional
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    New Ambassadors Theater Company, NYC
    ,
    2023

Awards

Winner
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Two-Hander Slam
,
Craig Houk
,
2021