Synopsis
Say Goodnight Gracie
Published by Dramatists Play Service
3 Male 2 Female
They are joined by Jerry's high-school friends: Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer; and Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and who arrives with his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful but rather kinky airline stewardess
Their intention is to attend their high-school reunion, and as they while away the hours before it is time to leave, they talk and smoke pot, their conversation becoming funnier - and more revealing - as the smoke thickens
Jerry, bitter that his acting career is at a standstill, decides that he doesn't want to go to the reunion, but the others (whose disappointments are as keen as his) try to cheer him up and urge him on
In the end, however, they fail - for Jerry and themselves. These are children of the idealistic 60s, unable to come to terms with the uncertain '70s, and trying to evade, with their ever - funnier and more biting comments, the sobering truth that haunts them all - that there are, unfortunately, no clear and simple answers anymore
First an Off-Off-Broadway and then an Off-Broadway hit, this very funny yet very revealing first play deals with the coming of age of the idealistic generation raised in the "Golden Age of Television"
" a very funny play with an undertone of dismay and bewilderment" ~ The New Yorker
"The play is loaded with hysterical one-liners that keep the audience doubled over in laughter " ~ Show Business
"Ralph Pape is an acute observer of those who are trying to keep up cheerful demeanor in the face of despair" ~ The Hollywood Reporter