Looking at the Sun

Ron wants his family and friends to experience the summer vacation of his childhood. But his friends are too busy seeking a threesome, his kids don’t give a shit, the Australians next door want to see the “real” America, and his wife won’t stop
falling asleep. Will he have a Summer of His Life? Will he connect with his family? Will he ever get cotton candy? A comedy about sad people on vacation.

I wrote this play while staying on the same street in Worthing, England where Oscar Wilde wrote The Importance of Being Earnest, which informed me in direct and indirect ways. It’s my hate letter to “the country house” play, and my love letter to my favorite comedic playwrights—Oscar, Alan Ayckbourn, and my mentor, Chris Durang. I’d seen a really horrific country house play that took itself SO SERIOUSLY and started rewriting it in my head while watching, which morphed into this. I’d also had a near-death experience a few months before, so that dripped into the play significantly.

Death. Vacation. Are they so really different?

Characters

3 women, 6 men

Setting

A beach house in a coastal town in America. The present.

History

August - September 2022 - World Premiere with AboutFACE Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland. Directed by Kathleen Warner Yeates. The show ran at Smock Alley Theatre and the Civic Theatre.

November 2019 - Reading in the NEWvember New Play Festival with AboutFACE Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland.

Cast: Alan Buckley, Ryan Roy, Kevin McMahon, Seán Mc Manus, Niamh McPhillips, Caroline Morahan, Anna Nugent, Paul Nugent, Mark Schrier