Bøger af Joel Drake Johnson

AS THE BEAVER takes as its premise that Ward and June Cleaver's youngest son, The Beaver, is gay. Joel Drake Johnson then spins this seemingly slight premise into a smart and funny and ultimately enriching exploration of American society and family. "Tell people the initial concept of Chicagoan Joel Johnson's new play AS THE BEAVER - Ward and June Cleaver discover that their younger son is gay - and they'll probably roll their eyes and ask, 'What's next?' But tell people that Johnson doesn't settle for a late-night skit, that he develops a fully realized play that is at once hilarious, challenging and moving, and you'll be doing them a favor. For AS THE BEAVER ... is one of the funniest and cleverest shows to be seen in a long while ..." -Andrew Patner, Chicago Sun-Times "... Happily, Johnson quickly transcends the easy laughs, using his premise to accomplish something considerably more ambitious: he ruthlessly deconstructs the mindless, superficial worldview of 50s and early-60s sitcoms ... The play is often hilarious, thanks in part to the playwright's great ear for formulaic sitcom dialogue ... Just when it looks as if Johnson has exhausted his premise he leaps ahead two decades, from the mid-60s to the mid-80s, to show how Beaver and company are faring in post-Stonewall, Reagan-era America" -Jack Helbig, Chicago Reader

Most of this play takes place in a nursing home where a disgruntled, flamboyant, elderly mother is recovering from a bad fall. With her middle-aged, recently divorced daughter by her side, she awaits the arrival of her long-estranged gay son who is bringing his lover for a brief tour of his hometown and his damaging past. "Joel Drake Johnson's new play is a sensitively written ... portrait of a fragmented family ... Johnson balances gallows humor with acute insight and compassion. He creates characters so real you wonder what will happen to them after the final blackout - and hope that the healing effects of time will allow parent and children to reconcile and thus reclaim life's most fundamental and precious relationship." -Albert Williams, The Reader "The title of Joel Drake Johnson's new play, THE END OF THE TOUR, may suggest the final leg in the career of a middle-aged rock band. That is not at all what it's about, yet the sense of having outlived one's usefulness is at the heart of this tragicomedy ... And even more than that, there is the feeling of being completely unmoored in the midst of one's life - while at the same time remaining hopelessly roped in by one's family ..." -Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times "... THE END OF THE TOUR, an engaging new work ... The dark comedy homes in on the interconnected lives of six characters who have reached a crossroads where they each must reevaluate their commitment to each other and decide what direction their own lives will take ... Johnson's dialogue - sharp and witty - has more than a little ring of truth in it that may have audience members identifying with the real-life idiosyncrasies of his characters." -Tom Witom, Lakeland Newspapers

An unexpected death throws Fay and her daughter, Rachel, together for the first time in years. When a friendly police officer attempts to ease their suffering, their funny, frustrating relationship takes on a new life. Joel Drake Johnson's hilarious and harrowing play examines how the relationship between parent and child constantly changes, yet remains the same. "... This is a richly written play, with its complexities and deceptive depths cleverly hidden by anecdotal small talk. Many authors use this approach and get lost in it. Their plays become stop-and-go affairs, but not Johnson's. No matter how small the chat, he constantly sustains the arcs of his characters and the lines of their actions. This play is only three characters and three scenes in ninety-five minutes, but there is nothing small or safe about it. Indeed, THE FALL TO EARTH is a dangerous play with terrible things to say about family fabric and the ego of parenting. It asks its three performers to take huge risks and get naked emotionally ..." -Jonathan Abarbanel, W T T W Public Radio & Windy City Times "Some people need years of therapy to get an inkling of who they are. Chicago playwright Joel Drake Johnson takes only ninety-five minutes to reveal the wounds, quirks and flaws of the three women in his fascinating new play, THE FALL TO EARTH. A compact drama with dark comedic overtones, THE FALL TO EARTH is a revelatory slice of a mother's life as she travels to her son's town after he dies ... In THE FALL TO EARTH, the mother, stays in a hotel with her estranged adult daughter. A local cop helps them through the process ... It's hard to watch two family members suffer so deeply and harm each other so consistently, without feeling sympathy and possibly a disturbing sense of familiarity ... Johnson holds up a mirror for us to feel our own aches and also to laugh at our flawed ways of coping. Dark tales such as this are a hard sell to people who prefer Happy Meal theater. But for those who like drama that drags them down dark, unfamiliar paths and into the rocky terrain of their own hearts, THE FALL TO EARTH is a rewarding trek." -Orla Swift, The News Observer (Durham)