"The White Airplane" is, without a doubt, the strangest thing I've written to date. It's my fourth stage play and was written in one weekend, at time when I was giving myself sleep deprivation to comply with a hospital test. And boy, it shows.

The excerpt on the site might not give it justice, because the play has four distinctly different acts (*). The actors (three men, one woman) are required to play four different people each throughout the play. The first act is a fairly straightforward mystery about a missing wife. There is a slightly fantastic element, though, as the woman's husband claims not to be the Japanese typist he is, but instead a man from Pittsburgh, transplanted into another's body. The second act is a very bleak "alternate take" of people in Pittsburgh awho try to buy return tickets to an unnamed destination on a bizarre airline (**). The third act, in my opinion the best, is a jealous husband's murder of his wife's lover during a University picnic. The final act is near out-and-out comedy set on a completely white airplane. Believe it or not, all these events and tone shifts do fit together. In my sleep deprived head, at least.

The play is my longest run time. I enjoy it quite a bit, as I think it breaks further dramatic ground from where I left off with "Water Pressure." It's a completely different play from the three others, and that's a good thing. My only trepidation is I'm unsure of audience reaction. Only time will tell, I suppose. You really have to be in the mood for something like this. It's not for everyone. Influenced equally by Japanese drama and Kafkaesque dream imagery, "The White Airplane" is sure to dazzle some and anger others. Nature of playwriting, I suppose.

(*) Yes, it's just coincidence that my first play was a one act, the second had two acts, the third three, and now the fourth four.

(**) Act Two ends with a very violent monologue of a character's dream. For those who care, this is an actual dream I have all the time. If someone could explain it to me, please do.

2005 Update: This play took top 8 out of 330 entries for the Columbus State Playwrighting Festival, a pretty swank competition, so that's nice.

2006 Update: Play was featured in Chicago's Dionysus Cup festival, had a reading at Chicago Dramatists and The Playwright's Exchange (Breadline Theatre). Also, play was booted from Boston Theatre Works avante garde festival for being "too weird."

2008 Update: Play is set for 2009 production with Polarity in Chicago and included a published version fo the play for purchase.