Nocturne

A piano prodigy reeling from the death of his younger sister flees to New York City. Taking uneasy refuge in books, he reinvents himself as a writer. Across the following fifteen years he tries to cope with the ramifications of the tragic accident that tore his family apart and shattered their small American dream. Adam Rapp's "Nocturne" received its UK premiere at the Almeida Theatre, London, in July 2008 and in August transferred to the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.

Fifteen years ago I killed my sister.

So begins Adam Rapp's highly acclaimed play Nocturne, in which a thirty-two-year-old former piano prodigy recounts the tragic events that tore his family apart.

With a keen eye for human relationships and a deft ear for language, Rapp explores the aftershock of this unimaginable event. The father is so incapable of forgiveness he puts a gun in his son's mouth; the mother so shattered, she deserts the family and eventually takes leave of her sanity altogether; the son -- only seventeen years old at the time -- sets out for New York City. There, he seeks an uneasy refuge in books and reinvents himself as a writer. Across the decade and a half that follows he tries to cope with the ramifications of his own anguish and estrangement while making a desperate search for redemption.

A devastating, elegant, and gripping dissection of the American dream, Nocturne signals a brave new voice in American theater.

Adam Rapp is the author of numerous plays and young adult novels. He lives in New York City.