Open to performers of any ethnicity, size and physical ability.
The ages range from 25 through late fifties.
Cast List from the Script:
Characters
4M
1W
DAVID: 35. Jewish. Born and raised in New York. Sarah’s twin brother. A professor of Library Sciences at a prominent NYC university (something like Fordham). David fled his terrible parents when he was a teen to come to school in the city in the late nineties. Reserved, shy, unlucky in love, a bit repressed, but very smart, knowledgeable. He’s harder on himself than he is on his friends, and he’s almost embarrassed by how much space he takes up in the world, even though he spends his life making space for others. Collects unopened books. Unironic cardigan-wearer.
ZACHARY: 35-ish. Any ethnicity. Zachary is flamboyantly Jewish and devoutly gay. A New Yorker for life. Grew up in the same neighborhood with David and Sarah, and has been BFF’s with David since they were knee high to some thigh-highs. He is the loudest thing in any room, and probably so is his outfit. He’s loyal, impulsive, opinionated, sparkly, and over-the-moon excited to be getting married to his boyfriend, Jesse. Zachary is not necessary conventionally handsome (though can be) but he’s certainly on trend and rigorously so.
FRANK: 63. Any ethnicity. Old school gay. Denim and leather and hanky codes. Head of Antiquarian Acquisitions at a prominent NYC public library. He also personally collects antiquated books. A commie-pinko-queer radical activist, he’s equally willing to whip out his politics or his dick in a social gathering. He appreciates the social and political progress he’s witnessed, and is frustrated by the extreme need for more throughout the world. Very smart, very caustic, very loyal. Loves David like a son. Frank recently lost his life-partner, Danny to cancer. He lost everything he owned trying to pay for Danny’s medical care. Deep in debt now, and with no family willing to help him out, Frank has moved in with David while he attempts to get back on his feet emotionally and financially.
SARAH: 35. Jewish. David’s twin sister. Take no prisoners loyal. Doesn’t mince words. Tired. Smarter than the job she’s stuck in, and bemoaning the fact that she’s in a traditional, happy romantic relationship…despite all her best efforts to be miserable. She’s a librarian by education and the head of World Continuity for a burgeoning sci-fi label in Brooklyn. She’s not a nerd, but she plays one at the office. The most important thing in her world is her relationship with her brother. When her parents turned their backs on her brother, she turned her back on them. You probably don’t want to be on her bad side. As she says in the play, her graduate thesis was on the uses of humor in the Bell Jar.
BENOÎT: 23. Jewish. Francophone (Joual dialect), native Québecker. Gay. Passionate, leads with his heart and gut, sometimes straight into trouble. In most cases, he’s still young enough to know better but smart enough not to care. Impulsive. His Québec pride is strong and unrelenting, and the fact that he finds himself falling for an English speaker is one of the largest obstacles he’s faced in his young life. Wears his heart and his sexuality on his sleeve, and is unwilling to apology for either. Comes from a close-knit, loving family, and can never remember a time when marriage wasn’t an option for everyone in his country. He struggles with speaking English, but he’s definitely better at English than any of the other characters are at French. Speaks English with either a very small or no accent at all. The only hint at English being his second language is his vocabulary and syntax, not his accent.