Lips Together, Teeth Apart

Play

Writers: Terrence McNally

Overview

Show Information

Category
Play
Number of Acts
3
First Produced
1991
Genres
Comedy
Settings
Unit/Single Set
Time & Place
a beach house on fire island, the fourth of july, late 80s, early 90s
Cast Size
small
Ideal for
ensemble, professional theatre, outdoor theatre, lead roles for female, Regional Theatre, Small Cast, Community Theatre
Casting Notes

Includes adult characters

Synopsis

A beachside home on Fire Island proves a strange setting for two straight couples -- sister and brother Chloe and Sam, and their spouses John and Sally-- on the Fourth of July. Upon his recent death from AIDS, Sally’s brother David bequeathed her the Fire Island house,. surrounded by friendly, partying gay neighbors on either side of the fence. With the companionship of each other, and the diversions of food, drink, and party games, the four characters reveal -- through quick, funny, heartbreaking dialogue and intensely personal monologues -- that they are nevertheless completely alone with their pain. Ambitious, poignant, and often riotously funny, Terrence McNally’s "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" is an indictment of ignorance and stagnancy in the fight against AIDS, as well as a powerful look inside dissolving marriages, lost hopes and dreams, and the looming, capricious nature of death.

Lead Characters


Lips Together, Teeth Apart guide sections