←Recommendations of Waiting for the Guy (A Stop-n-Go Story)

Waiting for the Guy (A Stop-n-Go Story) is a ten-minute, sharply observed short play set on September 11, 2001. Austin and Swearsky wait in a park for a weed dealer as the world changes around them. The piece balances dark humor, banality, and historical weight, capturing the strangeness of ordinary life unfolding amid extraordinary tragedy. It’s a human, thought-provoking, and subtly devastating snapshot of how people cope with chaos.

The very concept of this play is so insanely unique and intriguing. Oftentimes, writers examine historic events as melodramatic, extremely somber subjects to the point that they forget the human experience is complex and conflicting. Oty has done the very important job of reminding us that history happens all around us, and we just keep on living. This is a deeply human play that perfectly explains what it's like to feel so very small in the midst of something huge.

I think the strongest parts of this play are when the characters are talking about banal things. Menial things. The shorter line structure seems to work for them, and maybe it's because it keeps placing it back in the homage territory (assuming you want audiences to have Godot in mind when they watch it). I think when the characters start to grapple with bigger issues, they seem to want to say more, and I wonder what would happen if you experimented with having them speak less in those moments.

We all handle stress and trauma differently. Some do hot yoga. Some drink a little more than they should. Others, sit on a bench with a friend in a park and wait for their weed dealer. September 11, 2001's events have spurred power plays that explore the results of the unfathomable actions of that day. SAMANTHA OTY's WAITING FOR THE GUY gives us a short play with all the layers a thoughtful writer creates: wicked humor, horrendous tragedy, and painful fallout.