49 Miles

4 Men, 3 Women, 120 Minutes
Drama
Available for production

This play encapsulates the wanderings of a homeless writer (a John Doe), who records other people's conversations on a tape recorder as he travels San Francisco's 49 Mile Scenic Drive, until he's hit by a tour bus. As he lies dying, a crowd of seven people gathers around him and then acts out his memories of the drive. Utilizing monologues that seamlessly blend into rich, overlapping dialogue, this is an orchestral play that suggests, like stars in a constellation, all people are interconnected, no matter their racial, sexual, or political background. Written for a multicultural cast of seven actors who then play more than 60 characters, from an old Asian immigrant and an African-American shoe shiner to a Latina teenager on Muni. Homeless philosophers, jealous husbands, society women, stand-up comics and even a new age Emperor Norton all converge and separate, while buffalo and wild parrots make cameo appearances in this play for San Francisco natives and tourists alike.

Read the elephant keeper's monologue and one of the fugues.

• 2000 commissioned by Crowded Fire
• 2001 World Premiere—Crowded Fire & Black Box Theatre Company co-production

Above right: Charles Blackburn and Roxana Ortega. Photo by Jeff Prucher.

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