THE STORIES: Claire, the first piece, finds a beautiful matron who might have walked out of a Noel Coward play. Claire is trying to recover from an incident that occurred in the morning, an incident that brought home, all too painfully, the reality that the beautiful world that she called home is gone forever. Shaken and frightened, she finds peace only while making love with a much younger man, a man who allows her to forget herself and retreat into a world where "we were children and easily pleased." (1 woman.)
Philip, Claire's son, addresses the audience next. Stylistically he is her polar opposite, a mass of anxiety and tension, who lives a life without intimacy or human contact. Fearful and full of self-loathing, Philip becomes fixated on a young man, whose name he doesn't know. Terrified of rejection, he lives his life for furtive glances. Finally conquering his fear, he attempts to make contact—an act of bravery that leads to a terrifying and violent result. (1 man.)
Roger & Miriam follows the lives of a suburban mother and her awkward son for more than twenty years. From summer camp to finding new love after AIDS has robbed us of our innocence. Roger and Miriam confide in each other through a series of letters, often funny, sometimes tragic. While their paths are very different—Miriam experimenting with extra-marital affairs, Roger holding on to a childhood ideal of love—they both, ultimately come to a similar conclusion. "We were two people, touching," that's what mattered. (2 men, 1 woman.)
