“A serious comedy about the midlife crisis of a newly divorced man who doesn’t know how to listen to women—or anyone else, for that matter. At once repellent and sympathetic, Linda Vista draws you into the shared plights of its dissatisfied characters with absolute assurance.”
—TERRY TEACHOUT, WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Mr. Letts has created a profoundly personal, beautifully honest piece of work that deeply engages the audience . . . There’s karaoke, lots of uninhibited sex, rich conversation, many laughs, and love. Much more love than appears at first glance.”
—SAMUEL GARZA BERNSTEIN, STAGE AND CINEMA
“Linda Vista is a well-crafted dramedy with laughs and pathos in the right places . . . Letts’s sharp dialogue and shipshape dramaturgy make for a smooth ride.”
—DAVID COTE, OBSERVER
“Letts excels at character, dialogue, and psychology . . . In Linda Vista, the dramatic writing has a kinetic kick, the dialogue is potently funny, and the psychological dynamics are riveting in their accuracy.”
—CHARLES MCNULTY, LOS ANGELES TIMES
“A very funny new play about a very sad man . . . Irresistible.”
—GREG EVANS, DEADLINE
“Exceedingly funny . . . Letts has a tremendous gift for capturing misbehavior among and between the sexes . . . A keenly astute character study about a man in desperate need of a lifeline, cluelessly lost in the gravitational pull of middle age . . . We are with him, laughing and crying all the way.”
—ROMA TORRE, NY1
LINDA VISTA
OTHER BOOKS BY TRACY LETTS AVAILABLE FROM TCG
August: Osage County
Killer Joe
Mary Page Marlowe
Superior Donuts
Three Sisters
LINDA VISTA
Tracy Letts
THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP / NEW YORK / 2020
Linda Vista is copyright © 2020 by Tracy Letts
Linda Vista is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc.,
520 Eighth Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10018-4156
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this material, being fully protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all other countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is subject to a royalty. All rights, including but not limited to, professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this book by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the author’s representative: Ron Gwiazda, Abrams Artists Agency, 350 Fifth Avenue, 38th Floor, New York, NY 10118, (646) 486-4600.
Saint Jack by Paul Theroux. Copyright © 1973 by Paul Theroux, used by permission of The Wylie Agency LLC. “Home at Last,” Words and Music by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Copyright © 1977 UNIVERSAL MUSIC CORP. Copyright Renewed. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard LLC.
The publication of Linda Vista by Tracy Letts, through TCG’s Book Program,is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.
Library of Congress Control Numbers:
2019057729 (print) / 2019057730 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-55936-971-8 (paperback) / ISBN 978-1-55936-924-4 (ebook)
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Book design and composition by Lisa Govan
Cover design by John Gall
Cover photo: Shutterstock/sumikophoto
First Edition, August 2020
For Haskell
CONTENTS
Scene 1
Scene 1
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to all of the fine people—hundreds of them, actually—who helped realize the productions of Linda Vista at Steppenwolf in Chicago, Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, and Second Stage in New York.
As is always the case with my plays, my director and dramaturg were instrumental in the creation of the work. So I give thanks to Dexter Bullard and Ed Sobel.
I was blessed with a phenomenal company of actors in all three cities. I’m deeply grateful to the contributions and deep commitment of Ian Barford, Tim Hopper, Kahyun Kim, Sally Murphy, Caroline Neff, Chantal Thuy, Jim True-Frost, Cora Vander Broek, and Troy West.
My designers always have a lot of helpful things to say. Thanks to Laura Bauer, Marcus Doshi, Todd Rosenthal, and Richard Woodbury. Chris Freeburg, David Franklin, Jim Harker,