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    The Country House (TCG Edition)
    The Country House (TCG Edition)
    The Country House (TCG Edition)
    Ebook198 pages1 hour

    The Country House (TCG Edition)

    By Donald Margulies

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    About this ebook

    "Margulies is literate and intellectually stimulating. His ideas and language hold our attention and earn our respect."—New York

    "Donald Margulies has an unerring sense of language and the ability to penetrate deeply into the darkness of tangled human emotions."—Variety

    Gathering in their Berkshire home, a family of actors wrestles with fame, art, and (as always) each other. Brought back together for a melancholy purpose, the solemnity is quickly undercut by restless egos and inflamed temperaments. When the events of the weekend go off-script, secrets are spilled and bonds are broken. Inspired by—and often directly referencing –Chekhov's pastoral comedies, this witty and compelling new comedy unfolds in a fragile old home brimming with memories, new love, and discarded dreams.

    A funny and poignant comedy about a family of actors, from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies.

    Donald Margulies has won a Lucille Lortel Award, an American Theatre Critics Award, two Los Angeles Drama Critics Awards, two Obie Awards, two Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Awards, one Tony Award nomination, six Drama Desk Award nominations, two Pulitzer Prize nominations, and one Pulitzer Prize. His works have been performed on and off Broadway, and at major theaters across the United States, as well as a host of international cities.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTheatre Communications Group
    Release dateFeb 9, 2015
    ISBN9781559368032
    The Country House (TCG Edition)

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      Book preview

      The Country House (TCG Edition) - Donald Margulies

      Act One

      A century-old house in the Berkshires, near Williamstown, Massachusetts, that has long been the summer home of a family of theater people. Bought for a song four decades ago, it has changed relatively little over the years, and what improvements that were made were done piecemeal. Still, it is not without charm. Secondhand furnishings, collected over decades, somehow work in concert to convey cozy, Bohemian chic. (Look closely and you will see the decay.) Warped wooden shelves are crammed with mildewed, summer-reading paperbacks; arts-and-crafts made by two generations of children on rainy summer days; box games, a motley assortment of sporting equipment. Vintage posters from the Williamstown Theatre Festival and framed, faded production stills adorn the walls. Screened French doors open onto a brick patio and a garden. A kitchen, dining room and bathroom are accessible; a staircase leads to a warren of bedrooms on the second floor.

      SCENE 1

      A humid, overcast afternoon in early summer. Susie, barefoot in a black cotton dress, is curled up on the couch, looking through a photo album. Earbuds in, she’s listening to Joni Mitchell and mumble-sings along the way people do when they can’t hear themselves. We hear (but Susie does not) a car pull up on a gravel driveway.

      Anna, sunglasses on, makes her entrance carrying canvas bags of groceries.

      ANNA

      (Entering) Darling, I can use a hand. (Meaning: with the bags) Hello-o-o?

      (Anna comes closer, startling Susie.)

      SUSIE

      God, Granna, / you almost gave me a heart attack!

      ANNA

      How do you expect to hear anything, those stupid things / in your ears?

      SUSIE

      You could have at least made your presence known.

      ANNA

      I entered the room. I am not one whose entrances go unnoticed. Except, apparently, by my own granddaughter.

      Come here, you.

      (Anna opens her arms to Susie, kisses the top of her head.)

      You look more and more like your mother.

      SUSIE

      I look nothing like my mother.

      ANNA

      I haven’t seen you in ages.

      SUSIE

      You saw me spring break.

      ANNA

      Thank you so much for opening the house.

      SUSIE

      You’re welcome.

      ANNA

      The very thought of walking into this empty house . . .

      SUSIE

      I know.

      ANNA

      Something, isn’t it? Rooms so alive with someone, once she’s gone, all that’s left is stuff.

      (Susie brings the bags into the kitchen.)

      When did you get here?

      SUSIE

      (Exiting) Last night. One of my suite mates gave me a ride from New Haven.

      ANNA

      (Calls) How can you wear black on a hot summer day? It makes me sweat to just look at you.

      SUSIE

      (Off) That’s a fallacy, you know.

      ANNA

      Who said? Black is a heat magnet. And it’s depressing.

      (Susie returns.)

      I need you to run lines with me later.

      SUSIE

      Do I have to? I read horribly.

      ANNA

      You do not. You read wonderfully. (Remembers to ask) Whose Porsche is sitting out there?

      SUSIE

      Dad’s. Doesn’t it just cry out Male Menopause?

      ANNA

      (Lower voice) Is he here? (Meaning: upstairs)

      SUSIE

      Went for a run.

      ANNA

      (Surprised) Your father’s running?

      SUSIE

      See: Porsche above.

      ANNA

      Did he bring the girlfriend?

      SUSIE

      Oh, yeah. What kind of man brings his girlfriend to his dead wife’s family’s house? And what kind of woman goes with him?

      ANNA

      What’s she like?

      SUSIE

      (Shrugs) Beautiful.

      ANNA

      And Elliot . . .?

      SUSIE

      Uncle Elliot is napping. Uncle Elliot naps.

      ANNA

      Your Uncle Elliot naps . . . Far too much.

      (She picks up a discarded liquor bottle.)

      What are you doing inside on such a gorgeous day?

      SUSIE

      Waiting for you.

      ANNA

      Well, go! Shoo! Shouldn’t you be out having unprotected sex with people your own age?

      SUSIE

      I’m with people my own age all year long.

      ANNA

      So, what? It’s summertime! You know, I just got a look at some of this year’s apprentices. They’re adorable.

      SUSIE

      They’re always adorable.

      ANNA

      You should hang out with them.

      SUSIE

      Why? They’re all actors.

      ANNA

      What’s wrong with actors?

      SUSIE

      I hate actors.

      ANNA

      You do not hate actors. Your whole family is actors.

      SUSIE

      Exactly.

      ANNA

      Very funny. Speaking of actors . . . Guess who I just ran into at Wild Oats.

      SUSIE

      Who?

      ANNA

      Michael Astor.

      SUSIE

      (Blushes) You’re kidding. What was he doing there?

      ANNA

      He’s doing a play / up here.

      SUSIE

      I know. What was he doing at Wild Oats?

      ANNA

      Shopping for food.

      SUSIE

      Michael shops for food? Doesn’t he have like little assistants who run errands for him?

      ANNA

      Maybe in L.A. he does. He was by himself. Posing for people’s iPhones.

      SUSIE

      That must’ve been a scene: Michael Astor in produce.

      ANNA

      I actually got a lot more looks than he did. I didn’t recognize him right away; he’s grown some sort of mustache.

      SUSIE

      Eew.

      ANNA

      He was supposed to move into his sublet today but there were bugs or something. They were going to put him in some board member’s house—that awful woman with the high-decibel voice—I said absolutely not, he was staying here.

      SUSIE

      (Distressed) Here?!

      ANNA

      For one or two nights.

      SUSIE

      One or two?

      ANNA

      Until they can fumigate his sublet.

      SUSIE

      How could you do this to me?!

      ANNA

      What am I doing to you? You love Michael.

      SUSIE

      I do love Michael. In theory. And on television. That doesn’t mean I want him staying in our house . . .

      ANNA

      I thought you’d be thrilled.

      SUSIE

      He’s rich . . . Couldn’t he stay at a hotel? What about The Williams Inn?

      ANNA

      Michael Astor is not going to stay at The Williams Inn—not when he has us.

      SUSIE

      The least you could have done was ask me first.

      ANNA

      Excuse me? This is still my house, young lady. I thought it would be festive having him here.

      SUSIE

      Festive?!

      ANNA

      Given the circumstances, yes. He’ll be a welcome distraction.

      SUSIE

      (Vulnerably) But . . . I thought this was going to be, you know: just us. Immediate family.

      ANNA

      Oh, honey.

      SUSIE

      We were going to keep it low-key, look through photo albums and stuff.

      ANNA

      We are keeping it low-key.

      SUSIE

      No, now thanks to you we have guests to entertain. Michael, Daddy’s girlfriend . . .

      ANNA

      Michael is hardly a guest who needs to be entertained.

      (A

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