The Layover
by Leslye Headland

The Layover Book Cover — The Layover Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

90 mins Present Day Multicultural Casting Unit Set/Multiple Settings Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes

Synopsis

Shellie and Dex meet on a plane during an airport layover in Chicago.

After a quick seduction, each stranger playing a version of themselves, they have a playful yet passionate one-night stand.

In the following months, their external lives with their respective partners remain the same, but the impact of their liaison soon invades their psychological landscapes.

Their personal dramas unfurl simultaneously, until romantic obsession and intense loneliness drive them toward an inevitable and tragic reunion.

Press Reviews

"Headland is smart, and writes snappy scenes. The opening is a model of its type."
— New York Magazine

"Calling dialogue 'slick' can seem like backhanded praise, code for facile gimmickry. But I use it for playwright Leslye Headland with genuine admiration and literalist precision: Her rapid-fire banter greases the skids for morally rudderless characters to crash into one another; it lubricates their descent into comic chaos."
— Time Out NY

"You’ll think twice before ever cozying up to a stranger on a plane after 90 minutes with The Layover, a taut and twisty psychological thriller from Leslye Headland."
— NBC NY

"Leslye Headland‘s new play careens between terrific meet-cute humor and the darkest romantic obsessions."
— The Wrap

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
Dex	—	—	—
Andrea 40s, Dex's wife	female	40s	40s, Dex's wife
Lily 9-10, Dex's daughter	female	9-10	9-10, Dex's daughter
Kevin 40s, Shellie's husband	male	40s	40s, Shellie's husband
Fred 60s, Shellie's dad	—	60s	60s, Shellie's dad
Shellie	—	—	—