Streamers
Encyclopedia
Streamers is a play by David Rabe. After premiering at the Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared....

 in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

 in 1975, the production transferred to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, opening on April 21, 1976 at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, where it ran for 478 performances. The cast included Terry Alexander as Roger, Paul Rudd
Paul Ryan Rudd
Paul Ryan Rudd was an American actor, director, and a professor. He appeared as the title character in a 1976 production of Shakespeare's Henry V, opposite Meryl Streep as his love interest...

 (born 1940) as Billy, and Dorian Harewood
Dorian Harewood
W. Dorian Harewood is an American actor. He first garnered attention for his portrayal of Simon Haley in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations.-Career:...

 as Carlyle, with Evans, Sweet, and McMillian reprising their Long Wharf roles. Later in the run Mark Metcalf
Mark Metcalf
Mark Howes Metcalf is an American actor in both television and film.-Early life:Metcalf attended Westfield High School in Westfield, New Jersey.-Film and television work:...

 replaced Rudd as Billy.

Plot synopsis

The last in his Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...

 that began with The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel is a play by David Rabe.Rabe's first play in his Vietnam War trilogy that continued with Sticks and Bones and Streamers, its story is bracketed by scenes depicting the death of the emotionally stunted and mentally disturbed title character, who mindlessly grabs at...

and Sticks and Bones
Sticks and Bones
Sticks and Bones is a 1971 play by David Rabe. The black comedy focuses on David, a blind Vietnam War veteran who finds himself unable to come to terms with his actions on the battlefield and alienated from his family because they neither can accept his disability nor understand his wartime...

, it focuses on the interactions and personal conflicts of a group of soldiers preparing to ship out to fight in the Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

n conflict. Among them are middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

 African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 Roger, upper class
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...

 Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

ite Richie, who is struggling with his sexual orientation, conservative Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

 country boy Billy, and fearful loose cannon Carlyle, a streetwise black. In charge of their barracks are abrasive alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

 Sgt. Cokes, who already has served overseas, and aggressive Sgt. Rooney, who is anxious to get into combat.

Its title a reference to parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...

s that fail to open, Streamers originally was a one-act play entitled Knives Rabe completed in the late-1960s prior to writing the first two-thirds of his trilogy. While working as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

, he expanded it into a full-length play. Under the direction of Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...

, it premiered at the Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf Theatre
Long Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared....

 on January 30, 1976. The cast included Herbert Jefferson, Jr.
Herb Jefferson, Jr.
Herbert Jefferson Jr. is an African-American actor. He graduated with honors from New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1969. He is probably best known for his role as Lieutenant Boomer on the original Battlestar Galactica television series...

 as Roger, Peter Evans as Richie, John Heard as Billy, Joe Fields as Carlyle, Dolph Sweet
Dolph Sweet
Dolph Sweet was an American actor, credited with nearly 60 television and film roles as well as several roles in stage productions before his death from cancer in 1985.-Biography:...

 as Cokes, and Kenneth McMillan
Kenneth McMillan (actor)
Kenneth McMillan was an American actor. McMillan was usually cast as gruff, hostile and unfriendly characters due to his rough image...

 as Rooney.

Awards and nominations

Awards

1976 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play
This is a list of winners of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play initially introduced in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre.-1950s:Vernon Rice Award for Best Production...



1976 New York Drama Critics' Circle
New York Drama Critics' Circle
The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...

 Award for Best American Play

Nominations

1976 Tony Award for Best Play
Tony Award for Best Play
The Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...


Film adaptation

In 1983, Rabe adapted his play for a feature film directed by Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...

 and produced by Robert Michael Geisler and John Roberdeau (The Thin Red Line
The Thin Red Line (1998 film)
The Thin Red Line is a 1998 American war film which tells a fictional story of United States forces during the Battle of Mount Austen in World War II. It portrays men in: C Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division; in particular those soldiers played by Sean Penn, Jim...

). The cast included David Alan Grier
David Alan Grier
David Alan Grier , also known as "D.A.G." , is an American actor and comedian known for his work on the sketch comedy television show In Living Color.-Early life:...

 as Roger, Mitchell Lichtenstein
Mitchell Lichtenstein
Mitchell Wilson Lichtenstein is an openly gay American actor, writer, producer and director.Lichtenstein studied acting at Bennington College in Vermont....

 as Richie, Matthew Modine
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine is an award-winning American actor. His film roles include Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, the title character in Alan Parker's Birdy, high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, football star turned spy Alec McCall in Funky Monkey and the...

 as Billy, Michael Wright as Carlyle, George Dzundza
George Dzundza
George Dzundza is an American television and film actor.-Personal life:Dzundza was born in Rosenheim, Germany, to a Ukrainian father and Polish mother who were forced into factory labour by the Nazis. He spent the first few years of his life in displaced persons camps with his parents and one...

 as Cokes, and Guy Boyd
Guy Boyd
Guy Boyd may refer to:*Guy Boyd *Guy Boyd...

 as Rooney. The movie was awarded an unprecedented Golden Lion for its entire ensemble cast at the Venice Film Festival. The film will be released via Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...

 in January, 2010.

Revivals

Streamers was revived by Roundabout Theatre
Roundabout Theatre Company
The Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in New York City.-History:The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist and Elizabeth Owens and now operates five theatres, all in Manhattan: the American Airlines Theatre ; Studio 54 ; the Stephen Sondheim Theatre The...

 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre in 2008. This production was based on the one presented a year before, by the Huntington Theatre
Huntington Theatre Company
The Huntington Theatre Company is a non-profit professional theater company in Boston, Massachusetts. The Huntington has garnered six Elliot Norton Awards and three Tony Award nominations for productions that were transferred to Broadway after critically acclaimed productions in Boston...

. It was directed by Scott Ellis
Scott Ellis
Scott Ellis is an American stage director and television director.-Biography:Ellis has directed numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway productions, including the New York City Opera Company revivals at the New York State Theatre: A Little Night Music and 110 in the Shade up to his current show, the...

.

The 2008 cast includes J.D. Williams as Roger, Hale Appleman
Hale Appleman
Hale Isaac Appleman is an American actor. Best known for playing Tobey Cobb in the 2007 film Teeth, Appleman made his film debut in Chad Lowe's feature, Beautiful Ohio, and portrayed cartoonist Judd Winick in Pedro, Nick Oceano's 2008 film dramatizing the life of AIDS educator Pedro Zamora...

 as Richie, Brad Fleischer as Billy, Atoh Essandoh
Ato Essandoh
Ato Essandoh is an American television and film actor.Essandoh, who was born in Schenectady, New York, graduated from New Rochelle High School in 1990. He received a BA in chemical engineering from the Cornell University. He is also a playwright, and authored Black Thang which is published in the ...

 as Carlyle, Larry Clarke
Larry Clarke
Larry Denman Clarke, OC is a Canadian businessman and the founder, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of SPAR Aerospace Limited, the designer of the Canadarm...

 as Sgt. Cokes, and John Sharian
John Sharian
John Sharian is an American actor whose film credits include The Machinist and Saving Private Ryan and whose television credits include CSI: Miami and Spooks.-Education:...

as Sgt. Rooney.
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