THE STORY: Joanne is a privileged young publishing employee, who disdains her background. She yearns to be defamed by Kenny, a middle-class drug dealer. Kenny considers himself an “entrepreneur” and is panicked by the slow sales of his—strictly marijuana—drug business. He yearns for Terry, a chipper, evasive “professional escort” who wants to quit the business. She yearns for Brian, a snide but secretly emotional preppie who wants to go into the movies. He yearns for Joanne, his colleague in the—poorly compensated—publishing business. Joanne convinces lovesick Brian to steal a truckload of books from their company and sell them. She secretly gives the money to Kenny, to ease his financial woes and gain his love. Kenny, in turn, gives the money to Terry, to grease her exit from escorting and gain her love. Terry gives the money to Brian to go into the movies and gain his love. Instead of being strengthened, all the relationships explode, and Brian, for his part, is arrested. GORGO’S MOTHER is a La Ronde for the Nineties, in which money is a main concern, and no one secures the object of their desire.
First presented at the Manhattan Punch Line Theatre One-Act Festival, this harsh but compassionate comedy, set in a recession, chronicles four people pursuing the wrong partners, and in order to secure their love, commit a disastrous crime.
“…a stunning forty-five-minute version of LA RONDE all aspects of the production enhance Laurence Klavan’s affecting melding of slyness and conviction. As soon as they open their mouths, the characters reveal themselves, each with a poetic idiom of longing and cynicism.” —Village Voice.
