Snakebit

When Jonathan, a somewhat self-absorbed NY actor, is in Los Angeles for an audition — his big break — he and his wife Jennifer (along for moral support), stay with their longtime friend Michael, a caring but distracted social worker who is dealing with the sudden departure of his boyfriend and the fact that one of the children he counsels was beaten badly enough to be hospitalized where he has been forbidden to go and see her by his superiors. Jennifer, however, has her own issues — a sickly daughter three thousand miles away and uncertainty regarding her own blossoming, yet un-fulfilling career. The play initially focuses on the universal fears of self-doubt and the need for support but deepens with the arrival of Gary who forces the friends to look somewhere other than inside, to look at others and face the sins of the past with honesty and empathy. Snakebit reminds us how difficult it is for us to let the people we love change. It reminds us that we must always let them live, grow, sin, fail, succeed, hurt and hopefully find joy regardless of our own fears.

David Marshall Grant’s Snakebit was first produced in 1998 at the Grove Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village. Called “solid and savvy” by The New York Times, the play received nominations for Outstanding Play by the Drama Desk Awards and Outstanding Off Broadway Play and the John Gassner Playwrighting Award by the Outer Critics Circle. Snakebit received its Los Angeles premiere in 2000 at the Coast Theatre in West Hollywood.

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Appropriate For Ages: 16 and up