ADULT FICTION
by Brian Richard Mori
Brian Richard Mori’s critically acclaimed play is set in an adult bookshop and movie arcade in Times Square on a scorching summer day in 1979. The story revolves around Earl, the middle-aged manager of the shop, who feels a weary disappointment on how his life has evolved, and his young friend, Mikie, a naïve and inexperienced nineteen-year-old. Despite the seamy surroundings, Earl has a strong sense of basic morality, and he wants to help Mikie achieve a better life than his own. When Earl sets up Mikie on a date with a waitress friend of his, the story takes a hilarious turn. The play explores themes of morality, friendship, sexuality, and the yearning for love. Therein lies much of the irony and comedy and timeliness of ADULT FICTION.
- Cast Size: 4M
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
Brian Richard Mori’s plays have been produced in dozens of venues across the US, as well as in Europe and South America. They include ADULT FICTION (Geva Theatre, New Jersey Repertory Company, El Estudio), BEDTIME STORIES (American Renegade Theatre), COFFEE TALK (Impact Theatre), COUPLES (New Vic Theatre), DREAMS OF FLIGHT (Victory Gardens Theatre), EVE IN THE HOT SEAT (American Repertory Theatre), FIRST DATE (Nat Horne Theatre), LAST CALL AT MAX’s TAVERN (Coronavirus Plays Project), MEMORIES (Theatre 22), “OUR TOWN” IN MANDARIN (Planet Connections), PLAYERS (American Renaissance Theatre), SLOW FADE TO BLACK (Neighborhood Playhouse), and WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BEARS? (Staten Island Shakespearian Theatre).
The television adaptation of the Abingdon Theatre Company’s critically-acclaimed off-Broadway production of HELLMAN v. McCARTHY, winner of the HRC Showcase W. Keith Hendrick Playwriting Award, starring Dick Cavett (playing himself), Roberta Maxwell, and Marcia Rodd, was taped and aired on PBS; Cavett and Rodd also starred in the West Coast premiere at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills.
ADULT FICTION, winner of the Davie Prize, and BEDTIME STORIES are anthologized in Smith & Kraus’s Best Play series (NEW PLAYWRIGHTS: THE BEST PLAYS OF 2000) and THE BEST TEN MINUTE PLAYS OF 2005. 2 ACTORS, respectively); EVE IN THE HOT SEAT is published by Smith & Kraus in its 2017 BRUT THEATRE ANTHOLOGY; DREAMS OF FLIGHT is published by Dramatists Play Service; and HELLMAN v. McCARTHY is published by Next Stage Press.
He has had 15 screenplay options, including FADE IN magazine winner OBSCURA, which is currently in development.
He is represented by Elaine Devlin at Elaine Devlin Literary (brianrichardmori.com).
“Don’t miss it. Mori’s tender tale is set in the most unlikely, yet somehow appropriate of places, an adult bookstore in Times Square in 1979…. [The play is] nothing short of hysterical and disastrous with bitingly difficult realizations for both men. This is an outstanding evening of theatre. The play itself is a masterwork of character study. Mori has written a story with a poetic vernacular that rings so true it almost sounds improvised…. The language of Mori’s play serves to create characters that are tender and rich, and he weaves a tale that is filled with subtlety, sadness and an underlining hope.”
“ADULT FICTION is a startling good play. Playwright Brian Richard Mori has a sure ear for common dialogue…. The laughs don’t come from quips; rather they come from recognition of the awkwardness we’ve all experienced in similar situations…. Mr. Mori is a talent to watch….”
“ADULT FICTION is a startling good play. Playwright Brian Richard Mori has a sure ear for common dialogue…. The laughs don’t come from quips; rather they come from recognition of the awkwardness we’ve all experienced in similar situations…. Mr. Mori is a talent to watch.”
“‘It was a startling good play.’ Brian Richard Mori’s expressive writing… made ADULT FICTION the best of New Jersey Repertory Company’s 2000 offerings. Producers Gabe and SuzAnne Barbaras searched high and low for new plays by promising playwrights. The results span the same spectrum; ADULT FICTION was a high.”
“Having acted in Brian Richard Mori’s ADULT FICTION during readings and backers’ auditions, I testify firsthand that each and every reading generated unabashed enthusiasm from theatrical astute audiences…. Read it…. ADULT FICTION will bring a laugh and a tear to the eyes of any audience. Brian Richard Mori, like the others writers in this collection, is a lighthouse in a foggy theatrical world.”
Review Adult Fiction.