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

  • Michael Shutt:
    26 Mar. 2020
    “ Friends With Guns achieves the near impossible.It's a play about a huge, timely, and contentious issue that makes you forget you're watching an Issue Play. Walker's strength lies in telling her story in the most microcosmic and human way possible. She focuses on her characters, not the issue. She gives us four rich, complicated, and completely relatable characters, that at first you think you know, but who eventually reveal themselves to be not so easily pegged. The only thing more surprising than the ending was the fact that I walked away from this questioning my own beliefs. ”
  • Kyle J. McCloskey:
    16 Mar. 2020
    “ An expertly crafted exploration into a complicated issue. Never felt overdramatic, but rather this plays leans into the truth on both sides of the debate regarding gun violence, the right to protect one’s self, and other issues that I won’t list out of potential SPOILERS. What an ending. One of the best endings to a play I’ve read in a while. A perfect play for the moment we are in now, where we constantly must engage with the question: What is the Right to Life?

    Produce this play!!! ”
  • Martha Steketee:
    19 Feb. 2020
    “ A strong premise that's overly familiar (liberals dealing with guns) and yet the playwright offers intriguing surprises in the execution. In a scenario that feels like it might evolve into the anti-vaxxer granola world of helicopter parenting, with a bit of GOD OF CARNAGE thrown in, two sets of parents travel new ground. How much do new friends know about one another? The playwright intertwines themes of power and control and gun violence in important ways. ”
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Character Information

  • SHANNON
    late 30s/ early 40s,
    Any race / ethnicity.
    ,
    Female
    Stressed out mom to two young boys (2 & 5.) Liberal. Suffers from anxiety of the 'everything-needs-to-be-perfect-and-especially-I-need-to-be-perfect variety. She has a lot of fear that stops her in life. Wouldn't even know how to be begin to re-claim her power though she wants to. She's a great mom, but shackled by the expectations of what a "great mom" should be. So though she is one, she never feels like it. Realtor. Married to Josh.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s, 40s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • LEAH
    late 30s/early 40s,
    Any race
    ,
    Female
    Wicked smart hippie/boho/punk mom who surfs and does yoga, is a self-proclaimed mathlete and is handy with a table saw and knitting needles. She seems to know the secrets of the universe. She is an empath and a connector. She's a deep eye contact kind of woman who really sees you and doesn't judge. Truly.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s, 40s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • JOSH
    late 30s/ early 40s,
    White
    ,
    Male
    Liberal democrat. Married to Shannon. Father to their two boys. Is the main bread winner. Works a decent but boring job (Data scientist at Hulu.) Has a great sense of humor. Is pretty self-aware, for the most part. Fancies himself a feminist. Knows deep down that he has an unhealthy relationship with his smart phone but would never admit that to his wife. Everybody loves Josh.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s, 40s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      White
    • Gender: 
      Male
  • DANNY
    late 30s/early 40s,
    Any person of color
    ,
    Male
    Exudes a laid-back coolness that is ingrained in his DNA. This man was just born that way. He is a former shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays. Grew up in Montana. Owns his own old-fashioned printing press. Distills his own whiskey. Fly fishes. And can really rock a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He is cool and it comes easy. He is not trying, NOT ever trying to be cool. He just is. Some people might wrongly assume he's a hipster. He's not a hipster. Don't ever call him that. He's pre-hipster. He's DANNY.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      30s, 40s
    • Age: 
      Any actor of color
    • Gender: 
      Male

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