Up (The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair)
by Bridget Carpenter

Name: Up (The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair)
Brand: Bridget Carpenter
SKU: 9780573663741
Rating: 3.39 (8 reviews)

Up (The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair) Cover

Up (The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair) Book Cover — Up (The Man in the Flying Lawn Chair) Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

90 mins 1990s Unit Set/Multiple Settings Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes Comedy

Synopsis

Up invites us into the life of Walter Griffin, a failed inventor obsessed with Philippe Petit's famed 1974 wire-walk between the twin World Trade Center towers.

Walter's greatest moment of glory – a flight on a lawn chair festooned with helium balloons – is now long behind him, though Walter dreams of inventing something wonderful once more.

His wife, Helen, has become disillusioned and frustrated at being the family's only breadwinner.

Their teenage son, Mikey, harbors dreams of his own: after befriending Maria, a pregnant girl in his class, Mikey becomes involved in her family's phone sales business, with surprising results.

When Walter finally takes a job, Mike keeps his a secret, and Helen allows herself to dream of a more secure life.

But when Helen discovers the truth about Walter's employment, it becomes clear to this family that life itself is lived on a wire not unlike Petit's, this one strung between happiness and sadness.

Press Reviews

"A brilliant play... original, poignant, moving, sad and funny. I have rarely sat in a theater audience that laughed so hard at one moment and, at the next, sat so still you'd swear you could hear the actors' hearts beating together on stage."
— Eugene Register-Guard

"The incredible and beautiful conclusion leaves the audience thinking, philosophizing and talking in the car all the way home... a perfect mix of comedy and drama."
— Grants Pass Daily Courier

"Not only has the playwright nailed the ultra-cool cadence of the next generation, but she also has captured an essential truth about the lure of the impossible dream, its freedom and its danger."
— Mercury News

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
Helen Griffin 38	—	—	38
Mikey Griffin 15	—	—	15
Maria 16	—	—	16
Aunt Chris 35-55	—	35-55	35-55
Philippe Petit 35-50, also plays STUDENT and UPS MAN	—	35-50	35-50, also plays STUDENT and UPS MAN
Student 16, played by the actor playing Philippe	—	—	16, played by the actor playing Philippe
Ups Man played by the actor playing Philippe	—	—	played by the actor playing Philippe
Firefighter 20-30	—	20-30	20-30
Helen’S Mother 50, played by the actress who plays Aunt Chris	female	—	50, played by the actress who plays Aunt Chris
Walter Griffin 44	—	—	44