From the Author:
Q and Y was the first play I wrote and produced in New York. I had ended a year-long stint rehearsing and performing with and for Richard Foreman and I was dissatisfied with the projects I engaged in directly after the Foreman show ended. I was in a near paralysis, creatively. And, though terrified, decided to write a show that I could direct in the basement of The Drama Book Shop, where I worked.
It began with the idea of the actors sitting on stage, watching everyone come in, and judging them in the most concise way possible. The actors would size everyone up, write down their judgment and then use it to choose, the best of the worst, a person to love.
From that, comedy always being my preferred style, I figured I would write a play that explained and justified suicide as a viable option, attempting to break down any moral, personal, political, religious opposition to the act.
This led me to pinpoint the most meaningful, universal, necessary bits of life. And if these could be condensed and controlled, by an institution or force, suicide would be an okay inevitability. For those who really want it.
So, Q and Y arrive at such an institute. And they agree to everything. And then the play starts. And they go through their last moments together, each desiring an end for different reasons... One because he cares too much and the other because he just doesn't care. They fall in and out of love, they make the same mistake twice, they experience loss, they experience loneliness, they have recreation, they find sexual pleasure...and then they die. And all they have to say is Fuck. A word with many meanings and totally dependent on the actor in the role.
A side note: we worked in a very comedic style with this rather bleak show, having one actor emulate Buster Keaton and the other, Charlie Chaplin.
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