The Whale and A Bright New Boise: two plays

Two plays from an American playwright whose bighearted and funny plays explore the quiet desperation running through many American lives.

The Whale
On the outskirts of Mormon Country, Idaho, a six hundred pound recluse hides away in his apartment eating himself to death. Desperate to reconnect with his long-estranged daughter, he reaches out to her, only to find a viciously sharp-tongued and wildly unhappy teen. 

The Whale tells the story of a man's last chance at redemption, and of finding beauty in the most unexpected places. It won the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play, and was adapted by its author for the 2022 feature film of the same name, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Brendan Fraser.

A Bright New Boise
In the bleak, corporate break room of a craft store in Idaho, someone is summoning The Rapture. Will, who has fled his rural hometown after a scandal at his Evangelical church, comes to the Hobby Lobby, not only for employment, but also to rekindle a relationship with Alex, his brooding teenage son, whom he gave up for adoption several years ago. Alex works there along with Leroy, his adopted brother and protector, and Anna, a hapless young woman who reads bland fiction but hopes for dramatic endings. As their manager, foul-mouthed Pauline, tries ceaselessly to find order (and profit) in the chaos of small business, these lost souls of the Hobby Lobby confront an unyielding world through the beige-tinted impossibility of modern faith.

A Bright New Boise won the 2011 Obie Award for Playwriting.