The House of Blue Leaves

John Guare’s heartbreakingly human comedy tells the story of Artie, a zookeeper living in Sunnyside, Queens who desperately wants to escape his lower middle-class existence. On the day in 1965 when the pope visits New York, Artie feels its time for his life to be blessed. But things get complicated with an ambitious mistress, Bunny, a crazy wife, Bananas, and a bomb-making teenaged son, Ronnie. In a society obsessed with success and infatuated with celebrity, Artie, Bunny and Ronnie are searching for fame and fortune, no matter how unrealistic their plans; Bananas would settle for love and acceptance. They have all bought into the myth that in this country wishes can be fulfilled. With a heady fusion of farce and tragedy, Guare gives a brilliant theatrical account of that very American dream gone sour. Nicholas Martin directs.