Eric Bogosian's Suburbia

To be brief, SubUrbia is a play written by Eric Bogosian. The producing theater of the play had been held in the Mitzi E. New House Theater, which was held by Lincoln Center Theater. (Richards, 1994) SubUrbia takes place in suburban Burnfield with a group of nine 20-something year old characters who always hangout in front of an old seven-eleven gas station run by an immigrant couple looking to make the American Dream a reality. The play introduces 7 characters within a matter of minutes, Tim who is an alcoholic and who was discharged from the US Air Force, Buff who is a wannabe video editor who has a stolen camcorder and who records everything and anything, Jeff, the only one out of the group of men from Burnfield who seems somewhat decent,
The group tends to socialize in front of the seven eleven as they pass the time, living day by day, care free of the world around them except for maybe the woman (excluding Norman who seems to be the only male figure in the entire play who is trying to make something of himself.) The men only drink and eat pizza as they tell each other stories of what has happened with their lives that may seem of interest to the rest of the group. However, an 8th and 9th character soon emerge from the plot. Pony, a former resident of Burnfield now self made rocker and success story to the residents of the seven eleven, and Erica, Pony’s assistant who is never far away from him. With the introduction of Pony, everything that was peaceful and drama-free will now cease to exist. The men of the film spite Pony for his success and are jealous, while Sooze especially adores Pony for venturing out into the unknown and making a name for
The youth, after graduating from high school, generally don't make a long term plan. They stick with what is happening now and live on a day-to-day basis, not thinking of what their actions could cause. As seen in the play, the hoodlums trash the parking lot of the seven eleven, making Norman spend extra time away from his wife at night or in the morning to clean up his business. The actors, how they act, is a great representation of how he or she would actually act living such a life style of not caring about the world around them and only thinking of themselves. The playwright’s play is almost sort of an epiphany happening through the course of it. Rising tension occurs as the characters themselves see that their existence is simply futile at this point, and they are frustrated with the fact that have completed barely anything with the lives that were given to them. Some, in this case Bee-Bee, cannot take the struggles of life anymore and simple cease to exist in the end. If a play in the genre of realism is done correctly, the audience will be attracted to it and they will simply step into the realm of the play. The set designer does this eloquently with how the stage is designed, all the props, the detailed, brick inlaid seven eleven building, the leaves, and beer cans help elevate the authenticity of the play. The costume designer also aids in bringing the audience