Bodies, Rest and Motion

Nick keeps them going by selling TVs, but his plan (to which Beth reluctantly agrees) is to head off to the Midwest for a fresh start

As the play begins Nick is lounging about, drinking with their mutual friend (and his former lover) Carol, while waiting for Beth to return with more booze

When she arrives they discuss their imminent departure for Ohio but then, and abruptly, Nick takes off - alone - for parts unknown. Left in the lurch, Beth is drawn into a brief but fervid affair with a hip young house painter, Sid, who shows up to redecorate the house for the next tenants

But while Sid begins to take their relationship seriously, Beth does not, and echoing Nick, she sells the furniture (except for the color TV Nick copped from his former employer) and vanishes without a goodbye

When Nick, having had a change of heart, returns, it is to an empty house which, in a very real way, symbolizes the inertia and rootlessness that have brought them all to where and what they are

As the play ends Nick drifts back into a relationship with Carol, while Sid, abandoning his buckets and brushes, goes off in search of Beth. But the lesson of the play is that nothing has really changed, nor will it until those involved find something to truly believe in and pursue

This strikingly original play marked the arrival of a significant new voice in our theatre. Concerned with a group of laid-back young people who have yet to find their paths in life, the play combines humor and telling insights with incisive dialogue to illuminate the frustrations and lack of purpose which beset so many of the "now generation"

"The voice of a talented young playwright is a precious but fragile phenomenon" ~ NY Times

" engrossing, amusing, even poignant. An authority and sharpness to Roger Hedden's writing bodes well" ~ NY Daily News