Motel California
by
Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman
Description: The heartwarming tale of a ruthless Belgian mercenary who gives up his life of killing for the cabaret.
First Produced: 1999
Date Added: 6/15/2011
Content Advisory: Adult situations spoken of in the dialogue (not depicted)
Keywords:
Comedy
Coming of age
Musical
Satire/Parody
Show biz
Brechtian
Surrealism/Absurdism
Mostly Male Characters
Small Cast Size
1 Act, 55 Minutes
0 Females, 2 Males
NOTE: Motel California is fully protected by copyright law and is subject to royalty. All inquiries concerning production, publication, reprinting or use of this play in any form should be addressed to info@harringtonkauffman.com.
Original Production Information
Motel California was first presented by Harrington amp; Kauffman, as part of the New York International Fringe Festival in 1999 at The Red Room, with the following cast and credits:
Gustave: Richard Harrington
Nhar: Chris Kauffman
Director: Patricia Buckley
Lighting Designer: Elizabeth Greenman
Sound Engineer: Ian P. Murphy
Excerpt from Motel California
GUSTAVE
I am in Nepal three months. One day, I am in the capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu, in the Tibetan section of town. I am in a restaurant. I have sit down to my breakfast of fried dough and oil, normal Tibetan breakfast. Next to me a bowl of chili in water, floating. In the corner, a créature he scurry and crawl. Quite close to my head, there is a speaker. The tweeter, it’s not so good. It play Tibetan folk music, copied four times over a bad casette player. It is quite loud. I am quite sad. I think perhaps I am going to have a bad day. But then, oh!
The opening bars of Hotel California are heard from behind the curtain. Nhar enters with a small white stereo on his shoulder and crosses behind Gustave, turning off Carmina Burana on the main stereo as he goes.
GUSTAVE
A song it come onto the radio. It’s so beautiful song. Music like this I never hear before in my life. I listen, and I weep. And when the song fade away,
Nhar exits and fades the music.
GUSTAVE
I feel a pain in my heart. But out of the silence, I hear a voice it is calling me. It is the voice of Don Henley.
About Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman
New York-based writer/performers Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman met in 1997 and began to craft the unusual blend of comedy, absurdity, tragedy, geography and accordion music that eventually became the two-man team of Belgian cabaret singer Gustave and his associate Nhar. Harrington & Kauffman debuted their first Gustave and Nhar show, Motel California, in 1999, and followed it up with Nharcolepsy in 2002. Their latest show, Cabaret Terrarium, opened in 2009. Each of these shows toured for several years around North America and the world.
(Note: Motel California started out with the name Hotel California, and for legal reasons related to a cease and desist order from attorneys for Don Henley, it is now called Motel California, after a brief period in which it was called The Show Formerly Known As.)
Richard Harrington wrote and directed the short film The Babies and co-wrote and co-directed the short film Waiting for Yanni. He has also toured his one-man show, Saving the Desert Tortoise, to fringe festivals in the Canadian prairie and performed it in New York at HERE Arts Center. In the past few years he has worked as a writer and performer in various productions at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Chris Kauffman has collaborated on new work for productions at Bleecker Street Theatre, the Alliance Francaise, HERE, PS122, NADA. He has performed regionally at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, MA; Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, AK; W.H.A.T in Wellfleet, national tour of The Miser. Performed with dance company dona orphéline in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Montreal. He has taught and directed at Gettysburg College and is the Co-Director of the Greylock Theatre Project at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Website: harringtonkauffman.com
Contact Info: info@harringtonkauffman.com
Plays by Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman
Motel California
by
Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman
Nharcolepsy
by
Richard Harrington and Chris Kauffman
