Private Eyes Program, NIC Theatre Arts

Private Eyes
by Steven Dietz

Presented by Special Arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

The World Premiere of PRIVATE EYES was produced by
Arizona Theatre Company, Tucson/Phoenix, Arizona
David Ira Goldstein, Artistic Director Jessica L. Andrews, Managing Director

Time:
The Present

Place:
Various rooms in an American city

There will be one 15 minute intermission
during which dessert will be served

Cast (in order of appearance)

Matthew           Jordan Gookin
Lisa                  Alyssa Calder
Adrian              Steve Hammond
Cory                Sandy Pelletti
Frank               Tony Parks

Production Staff

Director Joe Jacoby

Stage Manager Carrie Hawley

Scenographer Jack Green

Costumer Judith McGiveney

Lighting Design John Gallegos

Sound Design Allen Konigsberg

Assistant Stage Manager Garrett McDonald

Properties Grant Denton, Allen Konigsberg

Property Master Garrett McDonald

Technical Consultant Justin Van Eaton

Set Construction Jack Green

Costume Assistants Rebecca Kurzhal

Costume Shop Assistants Alyssa Calder, Jackie Weir

Lighting Crew John Gallegos, Meggin Gallegos, Matthew Day, Justin Van Eaton, Jacob Cooper

Light Board Operator Matthew Day

Sound Board Operator Melanie Sterner

Stage Crew Garrett McDonald, Jacob Cooper, Grant Denton, Rebecca Kurzhal

Publicity Stacy Zehm and College Relations

Posters and Programs Ali Shute

Acknowledgements

Justin Van Eaton and the Auditorium staff; Jim Headley, Lanny Stein, Randy Bennet, Sharon Hoffman, and Campus Events; Maria Pileggi and Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre, Silhouette Lighting and Sound, Tito Macaroni’s Restaurant, The Dockside Restaurant, Janet Warner, Virginia Johnson

Author’s Note

Private Eyes began as a lie.

Years ago I was sitting in a hotel room in Louisville, Kentucky, writing a scene in which two lovers fail to speak the truth. And, like a lie, the play grew. It began to go to greater and greater lengths to keep its own deceit afloat. It took my sense of structure for a ride and built a web of such complexity that clarity (aka “truth”) was rendered virtually impossible. And even now, years later, sitting in a hotel in Tucson, I think back to that first scene and say to myself: it started so simply. Doesn’t it always.

I have a friend who assures me that he is incapable of jealousy. He has convinced his wife of this fact. I admire him for this. I envy him this. And I don’t – in my heart’s heart – believe him for a minute. Jealousy is part of love’s arsenal, with suspicion as its fuse. And though I agree with Camus’ adage that “no man has ever dared describe himself as he is” – I have tried to write about my own fascination with the high-wire act known as “an affair”: the insidious power of suspicion, the delicious fever of deception … and the accompanying sobriety of truth. For beneath the headlines of our heartache lies something quieter, simpler: the fear of loss. The failure of love to answer its own promise. The low level panic of two people, alone, looking in each other’s eyes, with nowhere to run. Nothing between them but distance. Nothing awaiting them but time.

A play about lies must be a comedy, because only laughter can make us recognize truths we’re not fond of. Only laughter is generous enough to hear us out, to listen to our foibles and our familiar debacles … and let us think that next time, next time, it will be different.

Thanks for taking the ride

- Steven Dietz
5 April 1996
Tucson

Upcoming Events
NIC Jazz Band Concert: Swinging Into Summer, 7:30 pm April 30, Schuler Auditorium, Free
NIC Symphonic Band: A Mothers’ Day Celebration, 2pm May 8, Coeur d’Alene City Park