FRIENDS WITH GUNS by Stephanie Alison Walker

You think you know your friends, your neighbors, your spouse, but what happens when you suddenly find out they have a garage full of guns? This new dark comedy explores the complicated issue of gun proliferation when two young liberal couples are forced to confront their assumptions about who should own a gun and why. The time of easy answers regarding this issue is long gone. In the wake of current events, we...
You think you know your friends, your neighbors, your spouse, but what happens when you suddenly find out they have a garage full of guns? This new dark comedy explores the complicated issue of gun proliferation when two young liberal couples are forced to confront their assumptions about who should own a gun and why. The time of easy answers regarding this issue is long gone. In the wake of current events, we are all forced to reexamine our strongly held beliefs about gun ownership. Friends With Guns explores the question of what we can compartmentalize…and what we can’t. It examines what happens when guns enter the conversation. It pulls the curtain back on liberals with guns. It asks what happens when suddenly one person in a marriage does a 180 on the gun issue. And it does all of this through a female lens.
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FRIENDS WITH GUNS

Recommended by

  • Patricia Milton:
    23 Mar. 2019
    “ With terrific, easy dialogue, and relatable characters, this play is smartly crafted to bring us to the edge of terror at the close. Powerful even in reading, and I imagine it will be even more in production. Well done. ”
  • Sarah Tuft:
    20 Mar. 2019
    “ FRIENDS WITH GUNS is a powerful portrait of progressive parents in the era of polarization and post-Trump panic. Especially poignant is its portrayal of a mother’s isolation, out of which grows her desperation for adult company. Equally truthful is the play’s portrait of that timeless need of married couples to “couple” with other married couples. FRIENDS WITH GUNS veers toward satire but only briefly as a sort of gotcha for what lies ahead. Because, there is an obstacle to all this kumbaya. It explodes, along with all the other carefully constructed tensions in this nail-biter of a play. ”
  • InterAct Theatre Company:
    16 Oct. 2018
    “ FRIENDS WITH GUNS was a finalist for InterAct's inaugural New Play Development Award. Out of a record-breaking 432 submissions, FRIENDS WITH GUNS stood out to us through its specific characters and its clever, surprising, feminist approach to gun ownership. ”
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Development History

Production History

  • Professional
    ,
    Chapel Theatre Collective - Milwaukie, Oregon
    ,
    2019
  • Professional
    ,
    The Road Theatre Company - Los Angeles, CA
    ,
    2019

Awards

Winner
,
BEST PLAY OF THE YEAR
,
Valley Theatre Awards
,
2019
Semi-Finalist
,
Downstage Left Residency
,
Stage Left
,
2017