Autobahn: A Short-Play Cycle

LaBute, Neil; LaBute, Neil [Introduction]

ISBN 10: 0571211100 / ISBN 13: 9780571211104

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 0571211100-3-24462492

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Autobahn: A Short-Play Cycle
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571211100
• ISBN 13: 9780571211104
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 2 ounces

About this title

Synopsis

"Sitting in an automobile was where I first remember understanding how drama works...Hidden in the back seat of a sedan, I quickly realized how deep the chasm or intense the claustrophobia could be inside your average family car." --Neil LaBute

Be it the medium for clandestine couplings, arguments, shelter, or ultimately transportation, the automobile is perhaps the most authentically American of spaces. In Autobahn, Neil LaBute's provocative new collection of one-act plays set within the confines of the front seat, the playwright employs his signature plaintive insight to great effect, investigating the inchoate apprehension that surrounds the steering wheel. Each of these seven brief vignettes explore the ethos of perception and relationship--from a make-out session gone awry to a kidnapping thinly disguised as a road trip, a reconnaissance mission involving the rescue of a Nintendo 64 to a daughter's long ride home after her release from rehab. The result is an unsettling montage that gradually reveals the scabrous force of words left unsaid while illuminating the delicate interplay between intention and morality, capturing the essence of middle America and the myriad paths which cross its surface.

About the Author

Neil Labute―an acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker―is the author of plays including The Shape of Things, The Mercy Seat, Fat Pig, and the Tony Award-nominated Reasons to Be Pretty. He has written and directed films including In the Company of Men (starring Aaron Eckhart), The Shape of Things (starring  Paul Rudd and Rachel Weisz), and the 2006 American adaptation of The Wicker Man (starring Nicholas Cage).