Red Bike by Caridad Svich

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 (or three). ... "Svich's RED BIKE is s luminous piece that tackles our common dreams and dangers with magic, poetry, and a sense of...
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 (or three). ... "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

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  • Ricardo Soltero-Brown:
    19 Jun. 2017
    “ "Get on with it." So should any author's direction be. This is Svich's strongest play since 'Guapa' or 'Hide Sky'. Regarding recent, new work, even Caryl Churchill and Conor McPherson might take notes. There are only a handful of writers that would allow this kind of open interpretation to a play's presentation and design. Directors will be hard pressed not to take advantage of it. The words, like Crystal Skillman's, demand not only attention, but your imagination. Most impressive is the simultaneous intelligence and naïveté of the story's kid. I am only allowed 100 words; you, however, have the play. ”
  • Heather Helinsky:
    12 May. 2017
    “ This play is like a painting that catches your eye in a museum and makes you stop---because it is simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar, simple yet complex, accessible yet layered with meaning. This play of Caridad's is full of imagery and modernist poetry, it evokes for me the kind of American imagery of Norman Rockwell, William Carlos Williams, and Muriel Rukeyser. We learn what America is through the eyes of an eleven year old with a red bike, who could forget all his observations the moment he turns 12. Great read. ”
  • Evren Odcikin:
    6 Mar. 2017
    “ RED BIKE is a uniquely timely play with a big imagination that explores the idea of class in modern American society through the eyes of a young child. Like the best of Caridad's work, I was taken by the poetic theatrical language that felt grounded and accessible. I especially love the fact that the play leaves a lot for interpretation (can be cast with any race or gender, and can be a solo show or divided amongst a number of actors). ”

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    The Lark
    ,
    2017
  • Reading
    ,
    New Dramatists
    ,
    2017
  • Reading
    ,
    Chaskis Theatre, London, UK at the Cervantes Theatre
    ,
    2017