BED: A PLAY WITH MUSIC IN ONE ACT by Sheila Callaghan
Bed tells the jagged love story of Holly, a feral musical prodigy, and Cliff, a frustrated writer/scholar, as they struggle to build a life together. The play spans 10 years in less than 90 minutes and features original songs by Sophocles Papavasilopoulos.
“It is clear that we have entered the raunchily off-kilter universe of playwright Sheila Callaghan.” –LA Weekly
“Callaghan’s writing is acerbic, observant and insightful…” –Arts Beat LA
“Playwright Sheila Callaghan’s Bed [is] captivating and involving.” –Broadway World LA
“While Callaghan’s style is theatrical, she dissects these characters and their desires with scrupulous candor, and her dialog crackles with authenticity.” –Show Mag
“Bed is layered with a bewildering, raw, sexy, ugly charm that explains nothing and yet sums up relationships in the most dazzling of ways.” –Gia On The Move
It was a restaurant
Not fancy or
It was sinister and scuzzy
Like a fried bread hand-job kinda joint?
Some drunk dude by the stage was like
Feeling himself
Not masturbating
kind of absently rolling it around
but he was looking right at me
and I had this like, moment
you know when your eyesight gets kinda sharp
and the noise around you is like
like an animal giving birth?
my blood kinda stopped pumping
and I pictured myself leaping off the stage
hurling my body at this loser
shoving my claw down his pants
and tearing his pud right off its stem
So
I went for it
didn’t get very far
Like I said I was on drugs
I probably just lunged a little
We didn’t get our door money that night
Needless to say
But yeah, I really love being a mom.
—from Bed
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sheila Callaghan's work has been produced at Yale Rep, Clubbed Thumb, Woolly Mammoth, New Georges, Rattestick, and CTG, among others. She's a recipient of the Princess Grace Award, a Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and the prestigious Whiting Award. She’s a founding member of 13P and The Kilroys. Her writing for Hulu’s Casual and Showtime’s Shameless has garnered Golden Globe and WGA Award nominations. Visit her at sheilacallaghan.com.