Bøker av Julie Marie Myatt

"BOATS ON A RIVER, a new play by Julie Marie Myatt, can be distinguished both by what it is and by what it is not. What it is, is a play by an American playwright that reaches beyond the borders of this country, to examine life in other parts of the world and to use that examination as a prism to reflect back on our own culture. In that regard, it is a singularly refreshing departure from the navel-gazing that occurs in much of American theater. What it is not, is melodramatic or pat or clichéd or shrill. And for a play that deals with the trafficking of young girls in the Cambodian sex trade, it deftly works in a quasi-journalistic fashion to tell its story palatably without diminishing or glossing over the horror of its subject matter. Myatt traveled to Cambodia to create a fictionalized story of an American who runs a center that pulls girls out of prostitution. Sidney Webb has clearly gotten too close to his job and, after 15 years at it, is on the verge of burnout. His condition isn't helped when a headstrong American blows into town, raids a brothel and drops a trio of his "rescues" -three girls ages 13, 8 and 5-into the already over-crowded center. Plus, Sidney is having difficulties with his wife, a Vietnamese woman scarred by her own past in the sex trade. The script ranges all over the place-attempting to climb into Sidney's head, examining the circumstances and attitudes of the young girls, even giving an unflattering glimpse of an American tourist awash in his own sense of entitlement and willfully ignorant about life in Cambodia and his own small-but-damning contribution to the sex trade. Myatt calls for adult actresses to play the young prostitutes, an obviously necessary concession and one that allows audiences just enough distance to absorb her thematics without recoiling in revulsion.… But Myatt also conjures a final stage image that hammers the play home with heart-stopping clarity. …If it gets to our heart a bit too much through our head, BOATS ON A RIVER still has a certain poignant grace to it as a story of those struggling mightily to do the right thing against a vast, invisible and diabolical machine."Dominic P Papatola, Twin Cities Pioneer Press

"…Myatt excels at using small details to evoke larger truths.… BIRDER explore[s] fatherhood, mortality, the post-recession economy and the illusory nature of the American dream… BIRDER revels in quirky, meta-theatrical artifice, complete with flashbacks, overt symbolism and fourth-wall puncturing monologues. Its protagonist, the accountant Roger, is a poor excuse for a dad…. Roger has always played by the rules in pursuit of an affluent lifestyle. Like so many in the disappearing middle class, Roger grapples with the pressures of living beyond his means; his atypical answer to midlife crisis, however, is to quit his job and take up bird watching…. Roger maintains a disarming boyish charisma as he chronicles how the growing appreciation of birds hiding in plain sight among us come to represent everything else that's missing from his life. …[BIRDER] offers a quiet vision of hard-won hope amid adversity…"Philip Brandes, Los Angeles Times

Combat photojournalist Matthew Milton is charged with flying from Afghanistan to pick up his sister, Lizzie, after a two month stint in rehab for heroin addiction. Lizzie's wealthy Connecticut lifestyle is no match for her desire to get high, and Matthew's own addiction to war is masked by his sense of duty to show the public the truth behind our endless wars. With no where else to stay, Sergeant Mac Johnson, just retired, comes home to stay with Matthew, in a building full of fellow photojournalists. The subject of one of Matthew's documentaries, Mac reveals that Matthew's search for the truth, came at the expense of Mac's sense of self, life and privacy. Both drugs and war prove inescapable addictions, in a nation that continues to both feed and hide them.

"…In returning to a familiar theme, the wandering away from and abandonment of small town America to seek fortune and enlightenment, Myatt scores by unusually and effectively staying with those who have been left behind rather than with the one who has left. The result is a beautifully written reflection on time and place, and the inconstancy of love and loss.… The play follows the investigations of a private detective hired by a couple to find their grown son. As he interviews assorted friends and a mysterious stranger, he finds that nothing is quite what it seems. And in the process, as so often happens to theatrical detectives, he experiences a significant transformation. With few exceptions, each of the roles is carefully written, and several of the characters are vividly and imaginatively conceived.…" Laurence Vittes, A P

"…Myatt excels at using small details to evoke larger truths.… JOHN IS A FATHER explore[s] fatherhood, mortality, the post-recession economy and the illusory nature of the American dream… In impeccably spare dialogue rarely longer than single-sentence exchanges, fragments of John's troubled past come to light during his encounters on a trip to reconnect with what's left of his estranged family.… It's utterly compelling naturalism rendered with economy and grace…. Myatt's new play offers a quiet vision of hard-won hope amid adversity.…" Philip Brandes, Los Angeles Times

For many urban dwellers, daily life includes walking the dog surrounded by strangers and neighbors for whom you have only a passing acquaintance, whose personal stories you can only guess, imagine, or project upon them through the various waves hello, small talk about the the weather, or random gestures of kindness. What happens when you cross through the threshold of strangers, into their apartment? What stories have they been keeping behind their doors, no one ever sees? Frank Gromke has kept his family and his Holocaust past from his neighbor Harriet, until his son Aaron is forced to come live with him after a motorcycle accident. Living with Frank's trauma, miraculous survival, and relentless will to overcome his pain, has overshadowed Aaron's ability to experience his own emotions, loss, and suffering. When Harriet accepts an invitation for a cup of afternoon tea with Frank, she and her dog, along with a food delivery man named Douglas, become the catalyst for a reckoning between a lost son, with his heroic father. Sometimes being witnessed by strangers is the only way a family can witness each other, tell the stories they long to tell, and be heard.

Alice intends to end her life in the Badlands of South Dakota, alone, in nature, only she keeps being saved by a Cowboy, out on a silent retreat. It could be an American romance story, but Alice didn't ask to be saved. She doesn't want saving by the Cowboy, and she certainly doesn't want it from the Man who has driven across country, and who has walked miles and miles to come and take her back home. Men are the cause and reason for her despair, and yet these two men, determined to be heroes, won't let her have her pain, as her own. Until it's too late.

The period between life and rebirth involves 49 days and three states of Bardo according to The Tibetan Book of the Dead. On a clear day and in a fit of bravery, Clyde Macey follows his unrequited love for a stranger named Syvia, only to enter this Bardo cycle when his car hits a tree. He can't let go of his life alone, and the Bardo is scary, vast, and painful. And, he's American; he hasn't prepared for this Tibetan ritual of passage. With the help of Syvia, her husband Will, and two other reluctant guides, Mel and Myra, Clyde can finally be heard, loved, reborn, and free.

When U.S. Marine Jenny Sutter returns from Iraq, she lays down her rifle but isn''t ready to pick up her children. Buying some time, Jenny takes a one-way trip to a misfit desert community called Slab City, where its kind residents gently nurture her wounded spirit, and nudge her back to her own humanity.

Dramatic ComedyCharacters: 3 males, 1 femalesWINNER! 2009 Ted Schmitt Award for the world premiere of an Outstanding New Play - Los Angeles Drama Critics CircleOrange County, California, 1975. For Walter Wells, it's the happiest place on earth. He has a beautiful wife. Two great kids. A house with a pool. Contentment. Until fate strikes a devastating blow, leaving Walter with no reason to put the pieces of his life back together. He resists attempts to help, especially the unexpected - and unwanted - offer from a Vietnamese refugee named Bao Ngo, who bears his own sadness. Then, across a cultural divide, Walter and Bao find a game to share, a song, a meal and then a way back in this uplifting - and surprisingly funny - new play by a rising star in American theatre. "Wry and affecting...Myatt's characters are so engaging that it's easy to push them toward comedy, which tends to reassure rather than surprise us." -Los Angeles Times"...Understated power of this gentle yet gripping dramedy...The most impressive element of Myatt's new work is the dexterous way she elicits emotional resonance by giving the human frailties of the characters a weight equal to their innate compassion and goodness. Subtly depicting the overwhelmingly difficult process of mourning and letting go, Myatt leavens the tragedy without blunting its significance." -Backstage