Lindsay Price, Playwright

Underground

One-Act Full Length - 3m 6w - Single Set

Who are the nameless faces you see every day?

Synopsis

Underground follows a day in the life of those who ride the subway. From the morning rush of mindless office workers, to the calm of midday and those who don't particularly have anywhere to rush to, to the late night exhaustive wait for the last train to take you home. For some, riding the subway is monotonous despair, for others it is a respite, and for a select few, it may be the only way to quit smoking.

The play offers a glimpse into the lives of the nameless faces you see every day: There's Peter who hates his job and his family but goes to work anyway. There's Rita who travels from home to work and back again without ever talking to a single soul. Theres Debbie who's determined not to let her ex-husband take their daughter away, despite the fact that she just lost her "power" job. There's Killoran, a twenty-one year old street musician who is wise beyond his years, but really, is still just a kid.

Structurally, Underground is an aural experience for both the actors and the audience: part poetry, part gritty realism, part fantasy, part melody, part choral, part overheard conversation, part silence. And underneath it all is the steady heart beat of a subway train entering and exiting a station.

Characters

Setting

A subway platform. All you need is a bench.

History

Before being combined into one play, portions of Underground have been produced in various forms: The Rita/Killoran section received a production at the New Ideas Festival in Toronto, Canada in 2002 under the name Underground Rage. The opening section is taken from Sardine Mean, which received a production in the Rhubarb Festival put on by the Buddies In Bad Times Theatre in Toronto, Canada in 2001.

Read this Play

PDFDownload a PDF of full script