Seaside Tragedies by Scott Sickles

[WORK IN PROGRESS; EARLY DEVELOPMENT]
[FULL-LENGTH DRAMA]

Tishk, an Indian/Pakistani American is figuring out his life after long Covid cranked his ADHD and ended his journalism career. To do this, he and his husband Brady, a Korean American photographer, have rented a cottage by the shore. Tishk spends his afternoons at the local diner, where he's been befriended by a Filipina...
[WORK IN PROGRESS; EARLY DEVELOPMENT]
[FULL-LENGTH DRAMA]

Tishk, an Indian/Pakistani American is figuring out his life after long Covid cranked his ADHD and ended his journalism career. To do this, he and his husband Brady, a Korean American photographer, have rented a cottage by the shore. Tishk spends his afternoons at the local diner, where he's been befriended by a Filipina American waitress. Meanwhile, Brady appears to be living a double life, a strange man shows up everywhere either of them go, and Tishk’s reality and perceptions separate and blur.

Seaside Tragedies examines multicultural marriage, intimacy, identity, and prejudice through a subjective neurodivergent lens in the lingering aftermath of the pandemic.

CW: Implied sexual content; homophobia; one fully-clothed sexual assault
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Seaside Tragedies

Recommended by

  • Christine Foster:
    3 Apr. 2022
    “ Both raw and literate, this devastating piece offers searing, personal insight into neurodivergent thinking (when the brain flat out works against the person trying to use it) piled on top of systemic prejudice, trauma, complications of Covid, loss and longing. The anticipated staging is ambitious, imaginative and gripping. Note: this play has graphic (though integral) realistic intimacy that may not be everyone, but then again maybe it should be, because it is, above all, triumphantly, honest. And "I won't survive you twice" is a line I'll never forget. ”
  • Daniel Prillaman:
    21 Mar. 2022
    “ As a Pisces with ADHD who loves coffee, I'm perhaps wired at a base level to adore this play. Tishk's "brain faffing" (real term, look it up) is remarkably written. I cannot overstate how excellently Sickles translates ADHD brain to the stage. He NAILS it. The thought cycles, the imagined scenarios and blurring of memories, the anxiety. I'm so excited to see the trajectory of this play, because it already feels timeless, looking forward, while back at the past at the same time, struggling to find peace in a terrifying now. Brilliantly structured, layered, and heart-wrenching. The Sea, indeed. ”
  • Maximillian Gill:
    10 Aug. 2021
    “ Yet again Sickles looks forward with his work. Although the illness is not explicitly named, the protagonist of the play is suffering from the long-term effects of a condition that we cannot help but associate with Covid. The play fully explores a survivor's attempt to re-negotiate his place in the world, an ordeal so many of us will be undergoing. There is an absolute tour-de-force in the center of this play that captures the humor, anxiety, and sheer pathos of a character's feelings in the midst of less-than-satisfying sex. A thoroughly compelling piece, and I look forward to future drafts. ”
View all 4 recommendations

TISHK - 42; South Asian/Indian-Pakistani American
BRADY - 59; East Asian/Korean American; preferably bearish
SUSAN - late 30s/early 40s; Filipino American
MAN - 60s+; rugged with a strong laborer's build

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    Scawwy Howwow Theatre
    ,
    2022

Awards

Finalist
,
Seven Devils Playwrights Conference
,
2023
Semi-Finalist
,
Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival
,
Garry Marshall Theatre
,
2022