Sexual Perversity in Chicago and the Duck Variations. David Mamet

      

      Sexual Perversity in Chicago

      AND

      The Duck Variations

      WORKS BY DAVID MAMET PUBLISHED BY GROVE PRESS

      American Buffalo

      The Cherry Orchard (adapted from Anton Chekhov)

      Five Television Plays

      Glengarry Glen Ross

      Goldberg Street: Short Plays and Monologues

      Homicide

      House of Games: A Screenplay

      A Life in the Theatre

      Reunion and Dark Pony

      Sexual Perversity in Chicago and The Duck Variations

      The Shawl and Prairie du Chien

      Speed-the-Plow

      Things Change: A Screenplay (with Shel Silverstein)

      Three Children’s Plays

      Warm and Cold (with Donald Sultan)

      We’re No Angels

      The Woods, Lakeboat, Edmond

      Sexual Perversity in Chicago

      AND

      The Duck Variations

      TWO PLAYS BY

      David Mamet

      Grove Press

      New York

      Sexual Perversity in Chicago copyright © 1974 by David Mamet

      The Duck Variations copyright © 1974 by David Mamet

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Scanning, uploading, and electronic distribution of this book or the facilitation of such without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Any member of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or anthology, should send inquiries to Grove Atlantic, 154 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10011 or [email protected].

      CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that Sexual Perversity in Chicago and Duck Variations are subject to a royalty. Each are fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and all British Commonwealth countries, and all countries covered by the International Copyright Union, the Pan-American Copyright Convention, and the Universal Copyright Convention. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound taping, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction, such as information storage and retrieval systems and photocopying, and rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved.

      First-class professional, stock, and amateur applications for permission to perform it, and those other rights stated above, must be made in advance, before rehearsals begin, to the author’s agent: Ronald Gwiazda, Abrams Artists Agency, 275 Seventh Avenue, 26 ^th floor, New York, NY 10001.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Mamet, David.

      Sexual perversity in Chicago and The duck variations.

      I. Mamet, David. The duck variations 1978. II. Title: Sexual perversity in Chicago.

      PS3563.A4345S4 1978 812’.5’4 77-91885

      eISBN: 978-0-8021-5011-0

      Cover design by John Gall

      Cover photograph by Brigitte Lacombe

      Grove Press an imprint of Grove Atlantic, 154 West 14th Street, 12^th floor, New York, NY 10011

      Distributed by Publishers Group West

       www.groveatlantic.com

      Sexual

      Perversity

      in

      Chicago

      This play is dedicated to Jonathan Katz, with thanks for his comradeship, understanding, and most of the good lines.

      Sexual Perversity in Chicago was first produced by The Organic Theater Company, Chicago, Illinois, in the summer of 1974, with the following cast:

BERNARD	Warren Casey
DAN	Eric Loeb
DEBORAH	Carolyn Gordon
JOAN	Roberta Custer

      This production was directed by Stuart Gordon; set by John Paoletti and Mary Griswold; lighting by Jeffrey Buschor.

      It was produced off-off Broadway at St. Clements Theatre, New York City, in December of 1975, with the following cast:

BERNARD	Robert Townsend
DAN	Robert Picardo
DEBORAH	Jane Anderson
JOAN	Gina Rogers

      This production was directed by Albert Takazauckas; set by Michael Massee; lighting by Gary Porto.

      It opened off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City, in June of 1976, produced by Larry Goossen and Jeffrey Wachtel, with the following cast;

BERNARD	F. Murray Abraham
DAN	Peter Riegert
DEBORAH	Jane Anderson
JOAN	Gina Rogers

      This production was directed by Albert Takazauckas; set by Michael Massee; lighting by Gary Porto.

      The Characters:

DAN SHAPIRO	An urban male in his late twenties.
BERNARD LITKO	A friend and associate of Dan Shapiro.
DEBORAH SOLOMAN	A woman in her late twenties.
JOAN WEBBER	Friend and roommate of Deborah Soloman.

      The Scene:

      Various spots around the North Side of Chicago, a Big City on a Lake.

      The Time:

      Approximately nine weeks one summer.

      A singles bar. DAN SHAPIRO and BERNARD LITKO are seated at the bar.

      DANNY: So how'd you do last night?

      BERNIE: Are you kidding me?

      DANNY: Yeah?

      BERNIE: Are you fucking kidding me?

      DANNY: Yeah?

      BERNIE: Are you pulling my leg?

      DANNY: So?

      BERNIE: So tits out to here so.

      DANNY: Yeah?

      BERNIE: Twenty, a couple years old.

      DANNY: You gotta be fooling.

      BERNIE: Nope.

      DANNY: You devil.

      BERNIE: You think she hadn't been around?

      DANNY: Yeah?

      BERNIE: She hadn't gone the route?

      DANNY: She knew the route, huh?

      BERNIE: Are you fucking kidding me?

      DANNY : Yeah?

      BERNIE: So wrote the route.

      DANNY: