The House in Scarsdale: A Memoir for the Stage
Full-length drama / 2 actors, multiple roles
In The House in Scarsdale, playwright Dan O’Brien traces the roots of his family’s particular unhappiness to learn why his parents and siblings cut him off years ago. The more Dan learns about his family, the more mysterious the circumstances surrounding their estrangement become, until his world is shaken when rumors surface that his real father might be another member of the family. Ultimately, Dan must decide if his pathological pursuit of the truth is worth the risk, or should he follow the advice of a psychic and make his life a “never-finished work of art.”
The House in Scarsdale: A Memoir for the Stage premiered at Boston Court Pasadena in Pasadena, California, directed by Co-Artistic Director Michael Michetti. The House in Scarsdale: A Memoir for the Stage was the winner of the PEN America Award for Drama, runner-up for the Humanitas / Center Theatre Group Playwriting Prize, shortlisted for an LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Writing, and has benefited from the Center Theatre Group Writers’ Workshop, residencies at the New Harmony Project and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Bellagio, Italy, and readings and workshops at Center Theatre Group, Atlantic Theater Company, and Hartford Stage.
REVIEWS
“A compelling mystery”
—Margaret Gray, Los Angeles Times
“Dan O’Brien has written an American gothic tale on a par with Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard’s best works.”
—Jonas Schwartz, TheaterMania
“[A] tour-de-force . . . in an inexorable forward motion rife with adventure, anger, frustration, and a certain joy of the chase.”
—Stage Struck
FEATURES
“The Mystery Behind Award-Winning Playwright Dan O’Brien’s New Play” in Playbill
“A Look at Sounds of Silence: The House in Scarsdale” in Playbill
“Playwright Dan O'Brien ’96 Previews His Forthcoming Work” in Middlebury Magazine
INTERVIEWS
“Self-Analysis With Dan O’Brien” in Offscript the American Theatre podcast hosted by Rob Weinert-Kendt
The Subtext Podcast with Brian James Polak
“How Playwright Dan O'Brien Turned Decades Of Family Turmoil Into His Newest Work” by John Horn in LAist
“Dan O'Brien Talks The House in Scarsdale” at BroadwayWorld
EXCERPT
