Case for the Existence of God, A
- Full Length Play, Drama, Present Day, Contemporary
- 2M
- ISBN: 9780573710254
Inside a cubicle in a small office in southern Idaho, two men struggle to balance the confounding terms on a loan. Samuel D. Hunter's intimate, powerful play is a thoughtful meditation on human resilience.
Description
- Full Length Play
- Drama
- 90 minutes
- Time Period: Present Day, Contemporary
- Target Audience: Adult
- Set Requirements: Interior Set
- Cautions: Alcohol, Strong Language
- Performance Group:
- College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, Professional Theatre
- Accolades:
- Winner! New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play (2022)
A Case for the Existence of God unfolds in a cubicle where two seated people unexpectedly choose to bring one another into their fragile worlds. Keith, a mortgage broker, and Ryan, a yogurt plant worker seeking to buy a plot of land that belonged to his family many decades ago, realize they share a "specific kind of sadness." At this desk in the middle of America, loan talk opens up into a discussion about the chokehold of financial insecurity and a bond over the precariousness of parenthood. With humor, empathy and wrenching honesty, Hunter commingles two lives and deftly bridges disparate experiences of marginality.
REVIEWS:
"[A] must-see heartbreaker of a play."
The New York Times
"Heartbreaking... though A Case makes the connection between personal and societal calamity more explicit than ever – can it be just an accident that it’s set in Twin Falls? – it may also be the purest example yet of Hunter’s approach to playwriting as an experiment in empathy."
The New York Times
"Crystalline... The playwright has reduced his components to the bare minimum, offering us Hunter superfans a chance to marvel at his elegant way with exposition and the stealthy way he lures us down into the deep end of the emotional pool."
Vulture
"Easily one of the best of the year... Mr. Hunter, one of the finest playwrights at work today, is anything but an ideologue. His subject is the complexities of specific human beings – appealingly unexceptional ones – and the trials, large and small, that life throws their way. Mr. Hunter's plays are notable, or rather remarkable, for their laid-back simplicity and the depth of the compassion he shows for his characters."
The Wall Street Journal
"Phenomenal. Transcendent. An instant classic."
Theatrely
"Deeply compassionate, quietly remarkable... the play is constantly dynamic as it pulls you into its world... As in his previous works Pocatello, Greater Clements, and especially The Whale, Hunter has a gift for telling stories of ordinary people at crossroads and in crisis. He has an ear for dialogue that stubbornly rings true. On paper the title smacks of something on a grand scale; on stage the story is small and big at the same time."
New York Theatre Guide
"Stunning... A Case for the Existence of God is a world premiere, and there hasn’t been a better one for a play this theater season in New York City."
The Wrap
"Another extraordinary play by Samuel D. Hunter."
New York Stage Review
Characters
- Casting: 2M
- Casting Attributes: Role(s) for Black Actor(s), All Male
RYAN – Male, mid- to late thirties, white.
Available Material
| Name | Price |
|---|---|
|
Case for the Existence of God, A Script
This is optional.
Order Now
A thoughtful and meditative two-hander, Samuel D. Hunter's extraordinary play is both intimate and expansive as it explores themes of parenthood, financial insecurity and empathy. |
$24.95 |
