BLOODSHOT
by Elinor T Vanderburg
Synopsis
THE STORY: A city that never sleeps.
A bloody New Year’s surprise.
A lonesome coroner on the brink.
Auld Lang Syne, 12:31 A.M.
The party rages on, in spite of The City’s insomniac epidemic—and the exploded body dripping down the walls in the next room.
Naturally, Detective Marjorie and I are on the case, but with frazzled, sleepless denizens bursting to bloody bits faster than I can get those bits back to my morgue, I’m feeling a little…disconnected from myself.
Still, there’s work to be done: Those walls aren’t gonna clean themselves.
There I go.
BLOODSHOT is a vicious psychocaper that pits the deprived against the depraved in a peace-starved, pulp-inspired mystery.
Unreliably narrated with an acerbic funny bone and a vibrant, twisted cast of characters, BLOODSHOT confronts audiences with an unraveling network of the self, inviting them to venture through the hotbed of a very human meltdown—and beyond.
Press Reviews
"…a neo-noir dark comedy about nonstop anxiety gnawing at a fictional New York City where no one has been able to sleep for three years. While there was nothing comforting about this darkest timeline, T Vanderburg’s play was carefully crafted, with vivid language and imagery…It crackled with sharp repartee...and a creeping sense of mystery mixed with smart self-awareness.” —American Theatre. “…Seeing BLOODSHOT…introduced me to the sizzling writing of playwright Elinor T Vanderburg. Her pulp fiction world was situated around a bone-tired Black man trying to get to the bottom of a mystery…The relentless exhaustion she portrayed was both a colorful storytelling device and a powerful metaphor…I want to know what she can do with a bigger budget, more resources, and, if theaters put their BLM statements where their budgets are, a theater world willing to confront head-on the myriad experiences of Black people in America."
— Exeunt NYC
Publication
BLOODSHOT is a play written by Elinor T Vanderburg and published by Dramatists Play Service (2021).
Community Reviews
No community reviews yet
Buy Play
Where to buy
New
Performance Rights
Restrictions: Major Markets Plus (US) / Standard Plus Add'l Postcodes (UK)
Apply for Rights
Similar Plays
Plays with similar themes, style, and content.
