The Boys Next Door (play)

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The Boys Next Door is a play, written by Tom Griffin. It deals with four mentally disabled men who live in a group home. It takes place over roughly a two month period of time and consists of brief vignettes about their lives. Though the play is quite humorous in its non-mocking way of dealing with the handicapped men in real situations, the play takes a surprising turn as Barry's one-armed father comes to visit, and Jack (their caretaker) accepts a new job.

[edit] Characters

• Arnold Wiggins is a mildly retarded man who works at a movie theater. He is hyperactive and talks constantly. He's often abused by coworkers and is afraid to fight back. He tends to be very OCD.

• Norman Bulansky is a middle-aged retarded man who works at a doughnut shop. His job has caused him to become overweight. He has a girlfriend, Sheila, a woman from another group home.

• Lucien P. Smith is a large, black man who is profoundly retarded. He checks out armloads of books from the library, despite the fact he cannot read. He is in danger of losing his disability funds, when the state senate accuses him of faking his condition. He doesn't understand what is going on when he goes to the "State Sneck" and has a very profound scene when there.

• Barry Klemper is a young, schizophrenic man who pretends to be a golf pro. For the majority of the play he proves to be the most stable and the most "normal" of the men living in the group home. Towards the end though, when his abusive father visits him for the first time in years, it proves to be harmful to his mental condition.

• Jack is the social worker for the four men. He's found that he's becoming burned out and is thinking about a new line of work.

[edit] External links

• The Boys Next Door at Dramatist's Play Service, Inc.
• An excerpt from the play's climax