FIFTH OF JULY

by Wilson, Lanford

Ken Talley, a disabled Vietnam war veteran and his lover Jed live in the Talley family’s large farmhouse in the American Midwest. They are visited for the summer holiday by Ken’s sister June and her teenage daughter, and also by Gwen and John, a would-be rock star and her husband/manager. All are old friends from college, and over the years since their days of student activism on campus, each has altered their views and attitudes towards both past and present. As the action progresses it emerges that Gwen is hoping to purchase the Talley farm and convert it into a recording studio, but she runs into problems when Ken’s Aunt Sally arrives to scatter the ashes of her late husband on the family’s property. Through the course of the play, we see the bittersweet effects of hopes, dreams and loss as the effects of time and distance alter each character’s perceptions of themselves and each other. ‘This is one of the most incredibly written, profound and moving and often hilarious plays it has ever been my privilage to see in the American Theatre.’ — NY Daily News.