FUBAR
by Karl Gajdusek

Name: FUBAR
Brand: Karl Gajdusek
SKU: 9780573697920
Rating: 3.43 (7 reviews)

Highlights

Female

Male

90 minsPresent DayInterior SetContemporary Costumes/Street Clothes

What readers are saying

Readers appreciate the unique writing style of the play, which allows for a suspension of disbelief despite its fantastical elements. However, some find the ending to be less satisfactory and feel it diverges into absurdity.

Unique writing styleEngaging despite fantastical elementsEnding feels off the rails

Synopsis

Mary and David, camped out amidst the boxes her abused mother left behind, are unpacking a small San Francisco apartment.

Outside, people self-actualize like crazy, riding the bubble.

When Mary herself is the victim of an unprovoked act of violence, it leads the pair down different paths of addiction and realization: one to the violence itself, one to the abuse of cat tranquilizers.

Meanwhile, Richard is a benevolent drug dealer working on his book while Sylvia wants to use the internet to double her life.

Drugs are consumed, David is tempted, Mary's anger rises, and a gun is found among the house's boxed possessions, as the mood spirals into delirium.

FUBAR is the story of four people trying to recognize the people they are becoming in a time that's totally F.U.B.A.R. (F*cked up Beyond All Recognition).

Press Reviews

"A writer for Showtime's Dead Like Me, Gajdusek has a TV scripter's flair for snappy dialogue, but he also has a much rarer talent for deep characterization and empathy, even when dealing with his most contemptible characters."
— Variety

"The dot-com bubble — well, its splintered psyches — are the subject of the feverish FUBAR, an engrossing evocation of a time (the turn of the millennium) and a place (San Francisco, awash in Web money, pharmaceutical acronyms and online sexual encounters)....the play rings true in feeling if not in plausibility...Mr. Gajdusek has a gift for the humorous moment...the production pulses like an all-night Ecstasy-fueled rave...FUBAR, leaves you with a decent buzz."
— The New York Times

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
David Early thirties. Mary’s husband. Exec at a nameless internet firm. Had a big exciting kick-ass plan about how this was all supposed to work. This plan should be starting any day now.	male	—	Early thirties. Mary’s husband. Exec at a nameless internet firm. Had a big exciting kick-ass plan about how this was all supposed to work. This plan should be starting any day now.
Richard Mid-thirties. Charismatic, intelligent, drug-dealer. David’s old friend.	—	—	Mid-thirties. Charismatic, intelligent, drug-dealer. David’s old friend.
Sylvia Late twenties. Beautiful San Francisco denizen. Outgoing and adventurous. Trying to have the biggest life possible.	—	—	Late twenties. Beautiful San Francisco denizen. Outgoing and adventurous. Trying to have the biggest life possible.
D.C. Late thirties. Boxer, retired. Old school. Lives in a different San Francisco from the others.	—	—	Late thirties. Boxer, retired. Old school. Lives in a different San Francisco from the others.
Mary Mid-thirties. Doctor. Carries the silence of someone who grew up in another’s shadow. Her mother recently took her own life, so the shadow’s gone. But Mary is still quiet.	female	—	Mid-thirties. Doctor. Carries the silence of someone who grew up in another’s shadow. Her mother recently took her own life, so the shadow’s gone. But Mary is still quiet.