front cover of Bug
Bug
A Play
Tracy Letts
Northwestern University Press, 2006
This dark comedy takes place in a seedy motel room outside Oklahoma City, where Agnes, a drug-addled cocktail waitress, is hiding from her ex-con ex-husband. Her lesbian biker friend R.C. introduces her to Peter, a handsome drifter who might be an AWOL Gulf War veteran. They soon begin a relationship that takes place almost entirely within the increasingly claustrophobic confines of her motel room. Peter begins to rant about the war in Iraq, UFOs, the Oklahoma City bombings, cult suicides, and then secret government experiment on soldiers, of which he believes he is a victim. His delusions infect Agnes and the tension mounts as mysterious strangers appear at their door, past events haunt them at every turn and they are attacked by real bugs. Tracy Letts's tale of love, paranoia, and government conspiracy is a thought-provoking psycho-thriller that mixes terror and laughter at a fever pitch.
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front cover of Man from Nebraska
Man from Nebraska
A Play
Tracy Letts
Northwestern University Press, 2006
A luxury sedan, a church pew, a cafeteria table, a favorite TV show, and visits to a nursing home form the comfortable cycles of the dull daily life of middle-aged insurance salesman Ken Carpenter. Then one night, he awakens to find that he no longer believes in God. To the surprise of his very understanding (to a point) wife and his two grown daughters who think he has lost his mind, Ken decides to find himself and his faith by flying to London, where he was stationed while in the Air Force. He navigates through the new and somewhat dangerous realm of British counter-culture and ultimately finds his way back home. Tracy Letts's moving, funny, and spiritually complex play dares to ask the big questions, and by doing so, reveals the hidden yearning and emotion that spur the eccentric behavior of seemingly ordinary people.
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