"Streamers" takes place in a desolate
Vietnam-era Army barracks where a group of disparate young recruits wait
nervously for their orders. Billy and Roger have learned to ignore
their racial differences and become good friends. Richie is an effeminate
soldier whose personality disarms the others, and when Carlyle, an angry
black man, arrives, the simmering tensions come to a boil. He berates Roger
for living in a white barracks, and crudely exposes Richie’s homosexuality.
When drunken officer Cokes tries to calm the quarreling soldiers, Carlyle is
driven to destructive behavior. Placing the characters in a purgatory-like
locale where death and violence is imminent, Rabe’s play crackles with the
anger, fear, and confusion of a group of young men at a pivotal moment in
their lives. "Streamers" is a tightly woven script, resulting in a tense,
uncompromising drama.
Director: Bob Bartlett
Producer: Melody Fetske
Production Dates: January 24 - February 15, 2003
Produced by special arrangement with
Samuel French, Inc.
ESP Productions are partially supported by a grant from the Virginia
Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
