THE GUYS sy ANNE NELSON * DRAMATISTS PLAY SERVICETHE GUYS Copyright © 2003, Anne Nelson All Rights Reserved UTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that performance of THE. VS is subject to payment of a royalty: Icis fully protected under the copyright laws ofthe United States of America, and of all countries covered by the International Copyright Union (including the Dominion of Canada and the rest of the British Commonwealth), and of all countries covered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention, the Berne Convention, and of all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations. All rights, including without limitation professional/amateur stage rights, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound recording, all other forms of mechanical, electronic and digital reproduction, transmission and distribution, such as CD, DVD, the Internet, private and file-sharing networks, information storage and retrieval systems, photocopying, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are strictly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed upon the matter of readings, permission for which must be sccured from the Author's agent in writing. ‘The English language stock and amateur stage performance rights in the United Staves, its territories, possessions and Canada for THE GUYS are controlled exclusively by DRAMATISTS PLAY SERVICE, INC., 440 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. No. professional or nonprofessional performance of the Play may be given without obtaining in advance the written permission of DRAMATISTS PLAY SERVICE, INC., and paying the requisite fee. Inquiries concerning all other rights should be addressed to the Author c/o Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 440 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. SPECIAL NOTE ‘Anyone receiving permission to produce THE GUYS is required to give credit to the Author as sole and exclusive Author of the Play on the title page of all programs distributed in connection with perfomance of the Py and in al instances in which the tide of the Play appears for purposes of advertising, publicizing or otherwise exploiting the Play and/or a Production thereof The name of the Author aust appear on a separate lin, in which no other name appears, immediately beneath the title and in size of type equal to 50% of the size of the largest, most prominent letter used for the ttle of the Play. No person, firm or entity may receive credit larger or more prominent than that accorded the Author. The following acknowledgment must appear on the title page in all programs distribute connection with performances of the Play: ‘THE GUYS was developed and first produced by The Flea Theater in December 2001 in New York City Jim Simpson, Artistic Di Carol Ostrow, Producing, In addition, the following must appear in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play: ee ‘One passage of the THE GUYS, “The Science of Pain,” was adapted from the book Listening to Prozac by Peter D. Kramer. “The penultimate image of the play was ingpired by a passage from Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. SPECIAL NOTE ON MUSIC A CD containing original music composed for this Play is required for production and is available through the Play Service for $20.00, which includes shipping. The fee for the ponprofisional use ofthis music is $25.00Landscape plotted and pieced — fold, fallow, and ploughs ‘And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim. All things counter, original, spare, strange; Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) With swift, slow; sweet, sours adazzle, dim; He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise him. —from “Pied Beauty” Gerard Manley HopkinsAUTHOR’S NOTE The Guys is rooted in simplicity. It is the story of two people strug- gling to express grief and compassion in the midst of catastrophe. Tt would be my preference that the tango be played as an homage to the notion of craft and the beauty of synchronizing movement — not as a seduction scene. And while expressions of patriotism, such as the use of flags, anthems, etc., are common in many attempts to address the events of September 11th, they are not what this particular play is about. Likewise, one of the recurring ideas of the play is thar our society can suffer from the impact of recurring traumatizing images fol- lowing catastrophe, many of them emanating from the electronic media. I would greatly prefer it if productions could treat their audiences with the kindness of not subjecting them to footage of the planes hitting the towers, the physical devastation of the after- math, images of stunned rescue workers, etc. These ideas are approached more gently, I hope, through the use of words in the play, and the images will be present in the minds of the audience for years to come. The theme, and the intent, of the play is to give comfort through language, and I hope this will not be under- mined by directorial and design choices that wound, however unintentionally. Regarding the characters: Joan should be neither cold nor weepy. She is someone who has long used irony as a defense, and that irony is gradually worn down over the course of the play, as she is given the opportunity to experience more direct emotion. Nick may say that he is uncomfortable in using language, but he obviously has considerable powers of expression. Every word he utters counts, and not a syllable of his lines should be swallowed or muffled. He savors language, and whenever possible, the humor beneath it. —Anne NelsonTHE GUYS was originally produced at the Flea Theater in New York City on December 4, 2001. It was directed by Jim Simpson; the set and lighting design were by Kyle Chepulis; and the cos- tume design was by Claudia Brown. The cast was as follows: JOAN NICK Sigourney Weaver ... Bill Murray