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Halcyon Days (play)
Encyclopedia
Halcyon Days is a play written by Steven Dietz
that satirizes the 1983 American invasion
of Grenada
.
The play had its world premiere October 24, 1991 at the ACT Theatre
in Seattle, Washington
.
In February, 2006 Halcyon Days was produced by The Performance Gallery
, a professional non-equity theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio
.
Cincinnati CityBeat
Reviewer, Tom McElfresh noted of the play that "At a guess, the reason Halcyon Days is not seeing more current productions is because, apt to the times though its satire might be, it plays more like a Saturday Night Live
sketch than theater." http://www.citybeat.com/2006-02-08/webonstage3.shtml
A production in Los Angeles was recorded for the LA Theatre Works show "The Play's The Thing" and broadcast on several radio stations around the United States in late 2006. It starred Ed Begley, Jr.
as Andy Raper, Richard Masur
as Eddie, and Anne Archer
as Patricia.
. Alex is paid by the CIA agent to pretend that he is in danger, and Eddie is therefore forced to drop his opposition to the invasion and participate in a press conference with Alex when he returns to the United States. Meanwhile, during the invasion of Grenada, Ruby is killed when the hotel she is working in is bombed accidentally. Linda and Eddie are both upset with Alex and feel that he has become a different person. Eddie always expresses his misgivings about the invasion when talking to the other Washington characters, but when he meets Linda at the end of the play, when he sees her protesting the invasion, he admits that he has done nothing to stop the war.
Steven Dietz
Steven Dietz is an American playwright whose work is largely performed regionally, i.e. outside of New York City...
that satirizes the 1983 American invasion
Invasion of Grenada
The Invasion of Grenada, codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, was a 1983 United States-led invasion of Grenada, a Caribbean island nation with a population of about 100,000 located north of Venezuela. Triggered by a military coup which had ousted a four-year revolutionary government, the invasion...
of Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
.
The play had its world premiere October 24, 1991 at the ACT Theatre
ACT Theatre
ACT Theatre is a regional, non-profit theatre organization in Seattle, Washington, USA. Gregory A. Falls founded ACT in 1965 and served as its first Artistic director; at the time ACT was founded he was also head of the Drama Department at the University of Washington...
in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
.
Characters
- Eddie, a Senator, forties
- Tommy, a Senator, forties
- Blonigen, CIA, forties
- Ruby, hotel clerk, forties
- Linda, medical student, twenties
- Raper, presidential advisor, forties
- Patricia, speech writer, thirties
- Alex, medical student, twenties
Recent Productions
The Performance Gallery
Founded in 2001, The Performance Gallery is a professional theatre company in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, whose mission is to support individual and collaborative artistic expression and to introduce audiences to the evocative and rich nature of the alternative theatre scene...
, a professional non-equity theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
.
Cincinnati CityBeat
Cincinnati CityBeat
Cincinnati CityBeat is an independent local arts and issues publication covering the Cincinnati, Ohio area. It has the second largest readership in the Cincinnati area behind the daily Cincinnati Enquirer.-History:...
Reviewer, Tom McElfresh noted of the play that "At a guess, the reason Halcyon Days is not seeing more current productions is because, apt to the times though its satire might be, it plays more like a Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
sketch than theater." http://www.citybeat.com/2006-02-08/webonstage3.shtml
A production in Los Angeles was recorded for the LA Theatre Works show "The Play's The Thing" and broadcast on several radio stations around the United States in late 2006. It starred Ed Begley, Jr.
Ed Begley, Jr.
Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor and environmentalist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St...
as Andy Raper, Richard Masur
Richard Masur
Richard Masur is an American actor who has appeared in more than 80 movies during his career. From 1995-1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild . Masur sits on the Corporate Board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund.-Biography:Masur was born in New York City to a...
as Eddie, and Anne Archer
Anne Archer
Anne Archer is an American actress who has performed in feature films, television, and stage and was named Miss Golden Globe in 1971. Among her best known roles is that of Beth Gallagher in the 1987 movie Fatal Attraction, for which she received a nomination for an Academy Award.-Career:Archer's...
as Patricia.
Plot
The action of the play goes back and forth between Washington, D.C. and Grenada. In Grenada, Alex is a medical student who has a girlfriend named Linda, also a medical student, who works in a gift shop. The gift shop is owned by Ruby, a native of the island. From the beginning, Alex is shown to be a dishonest person, as he tells Linda that he is paying professors for answers to exams. A CIA agent repeatedly visits the shop and has many witty arguments with Ruby. In Washington, Andy manipulates Tommy and Patricia into helping him use political spin to make public opinion supportive of the Grenada invasion. It is revealed that Alex is Eddie's son, whom Eddie thought was going to Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. Alex is paid by the CIA agent to pretend that he is in danger, and Eddie is therefore forced to drop his opposition to the invasion and participate in a press conference with Alex when he returns to the United States. Meanwhile, during the invasion of Grenada, Ruby is killed when the hotel she is working in is bombed accidentally. Linda and Eddie are both upset with Alex and feel that he has become a different person. Eddie always expresses his misgivings about the invasion when talking to the other Washington characters, but when he meets Linda at the end of the play, when he sees her protesting the invasion, he admits that he has done nothing to stop the war.