Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Philip's Commentary On

Brooklyn Boy by Donald Margulies

A Boy Grows in Brooklyn

Eric:       Dad, what I meant was you’ll recognize the characters [in the book].  It’s about a family .
Manny:   Who?
Eric:       People like us.
Manny:   Like “us” us?
Eric:       Uh-huh.
Manny:   Uh-oh.  Am I in it?
Eric:       Uh-huh.  Kinda.
Manny:   Yeah?  By name?
Eric:       No.  When I say you’re in it, I mean there are things about the father that are a lot like you.  But it’s not you.  The book’s not an autobiography; it’s a novel.
Manny:   What does than mean?

• When:   April 9, at  7 pm in Room10
                  Tuesday, April 24, at  7 pm in Room 9
• What:   BROOKLYN BOY by Donald Margulies
• Who:     UUCPA Thespians
• Why:     To read some fast-paced dialog between some fascinating characters.

Forty-something-year-old Eric Weiss has just written a best-selling novel and is trying to deal with success.  But the plot of this play is unimportant.  It‘s about people.  And, except for a part of one scene, it’s all done in dialogue.  Dialogue between Eric and, one by one, six other characters: his father, his boyhood  “best friend”, his ex-wife, a twenty-year-old groupie, a film producer, and a young movie star.

Reading it this month will be a different sort of experience for us.  Eric is always on stage (we may split his role if we have enough readers), but all the other characters are intensely present for one (or at most two) scenes and spend the rest of the evening being audience.

Sylvan, Sylvia, and I all saw the TheatreWorks production of this play last year.  The next day Sylvan emailed me and said, in effect, “What a great play.  Let’s read it.”  And here we are. 

Come join us. Send me an email thespians-info@uucpa.org
call me, or just show up on April 9 or 24th promptly at 7 pm.

UUCPA Thespians
Philip Hodge, Chair