The Urban Retreat
Fiercely funny, gripping and raw, A. Zell William’sTHE URBAN RETREAT is a powerful new American play about Chaucer Mosley, an English teacher and long-rejected writer, hired by a publisher of Urban Lit to turn the grandiose ramblings of a rap superstar into a compelling memoir. Unimpressed by the material but desperate for money, Mosley takes on the assignment. But when the rapper turns out to be a former student that Mosley unknowingly failed, the writing process becomes a surprising and deeply honest exchange about survival, selling out and what it means to be a black man in America today.
Cast Requirements
Character
Cast Size: 6
(In Line Order)
Chaucer Mosley 42, m, black. A storyteller, a teacher.
Setty Rexpin 16, m, black. A rapper, a hustler, a spirit.
Maggie Farmer 36, f, non-black. An editor, unabashedly ambitious.
Angie Kyriakopoulos 23, f, non-black. Pretty, professional, hip-hop at heart.
Trench Deep 24, m, black. Rap supernova, mad swagger, haunted.
Pooh Butt 28, m, black. A producer, a manager, a front.
CEO 50s, m, white. A shadowed figure voiced by the actor portraying Pooh Butt.
Zack 16, m. Played by the actor portraying Setty.
Voice Overs CTA Announcer, Singers
Set Description
An "L" train & Maggie's office in Chicago &
Trench's summer home in Mill Valley, CA.
Honors
The Terrence McNally New Play Award- Philadelphia Theatre Company
The Rita & Burton Goldberg Playwriting Award - New York University
Production and Development History
Received a Workshop Production as part of the Public Studio @ The Public Theater.