RED BIKE by Caridad Svich

2018-2019 NNPN Rolling World Premiere.

What kind of future will you have living in these here United States? Remember when you were eleven years old and you had a bike, one that made you dream about a world bigger than the one in which you live? This is that memory. Except it is now. A play for one performer (two or three). This is the first play in the AMERICAN PSALM seven-play cycle. ......
2018-2019 NNPN Rolling World Premiere.

What kind of future will you have living in these here United States? Remember when you were eleven years old and you had a bike, one that made you dream about a world bigger than the one in which you live? This is that memory. Except it is now. A play for one performer (two or three). This is the first play in the AMERICAN PSALM seven-play cycle. ... "Svich's RED BIKE is s luminous piece that tackles our common dreams and dangers with magic, poetry, and a sense of both possibility and loneliness. A beautiful work!" -- Cristina Garcia (novelist, Dreaming in Cuban)

"In RED BIKE, Svich sees poetry in the everyday, passion in politics, power in citizenship. In this play-monologue told from the perspective of pre adolescent exploring a world in distress (closed businesses, poverty on the street), Svich channels Carson McCullers' Frankie in A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING -- our unnamed protagonist observes astutely, accepts the parameters of their world, feels the possibilities of dreams. The bike is transportation and a dream mobile moving from one viewpoint to another, like a magic carpet. "Somebody gotta make red bikes somewhere," they muse, "so kids like me can dream." This dreamscape is haunting and gorgeous." -- Martha Wade Steketee, freelance critic and dramaturg

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RED BIKE

Recommended by

  • Sarah Cho:
    17 Sep. 2020
    “ This play swept me off my feet! I love this play with my whole heart. To be able to take something as simple as a 'red bike' and look at in so many ways through poetry and heart. The play transported me to so many different worlds. It was haunting, heartwrenching and beautiful all at the same time. As soon as the health crisis is over, this is one of the first plays I want to see live. ”
  • Pete Danelski:
    13 Aug. 2020
    “ I love this play.

    I haven't been able to get RED BIKE off my mind since finishing it. All at once it's simple, full of depth and complexity. It's a mesmerizing landscape of poetry, images and memory. The play wrestles with class, change, hope and fear in a visceral way. I found myself feeling deeply alongside the central character, bouncing back and forth between agency and powerlessness. The nature of the text and the versatility of Caridad's writing leaves the piece open to so many possibilities.

    I'm so excited for the long, long life ahead of this play. ”
  • Samantha Marchant:
    13 May. 2020
    “ Transporting. The language packs so much emotion and energy. It captures what it's like to be a kid in a dying town and to think what is the past and what is the future? ”
View all 20 recommendations

Development History

Production History

Awards

Selection
,
NNPN Rolling World Premiere
,
2018
Honorable Mention
,
Kilroys List
,
The Kilroys
,
2017