this party sucks

Cleo and KJ hole up in a hotel room in between shows. They’re married, they’re both musicians, but KJ’s more successful than Cleo. When they encounter Cass, a younger fan of Cleo’s who works as a towel attendant at the hotel, she sheds light on Cleo’s panic about her career and her marriage. this party sucks is a fluid fever dream examining the artist relationship through gender, competition, and sexuality,...
Cleo and KJ hole up in a hotel room in between shows. They’re married, they’re both musicians, but KJ’s more successful than Cleo. When they encounter Cass, a younger fan of Cleo’s who works as a towel attendant at the hotel, she sheds light on Cleo’s panic about her career and her marriage. this party sucks is a fluid fever dream examining the artist relationship through gender, competition, and sexuality, asking us to examine what it means to love and be loved, to create and be created.
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this party sucks

Recommended by

  • Gina Femia:
    5 Jul. 2022
    This play is full of cathartic rage and populated with realistic characters whose story I was invested in. Loved reading ever word. This play should be a part of every theatrical season.
  • Samantha Marchant:
    30 Apr. 2020
    The dialogue is something truly special and real. The characters seems effortless and well crafted. There are many heartbreaking moments exploring the struggle of accepting and challenging.
  • Nick Malakhow:
    3 Nov. 2019
    Amazing piece that examines celebrity, sexism, relationships, and the sometimes toxic intersections between those things. "this party sucks" is both highly theatrical and huge while being startlingly intimate. The dialogue vacillates between spare and sometimes wordless moments of lived in reality and equally plausible frantic, emotion and substance fueled cascades of words. All three characters are so carefully rendered and multi-dimensional, and Cleo's arc is inspired and at times heartbreaking. I hope to see a production of this piece in the near future!

Development History

  • Workshop
    ,
    New York Theatre Workshop
    ,
    2018

Awards

Kilroys List
,
2019