Dead White Writer on the Floor

Dead White Writer on the Floor uses two literary conventions — theatre of the absurd and mystery novels — to create one of the funniest and thought-provoking plays ever about identity politics. In Act One, six “savages”, noble, innocent, ignorant, fearless, wise and gay, respectively, find themselves in a locked room with the body of a white writer, which they stash in a closet. None of them can figure out how he died or which of them might have killed him. They realize as they point fingers at each other, however, that they are all profoundly unhappy with their lives. Gradually, they figure out that the latest iteration of Gutenberg’s invention buzzing like a beehive on the dead writer’s desk is actually a dream-catcher, which they can use to rewrite their lives in the image of their own inner beings.

Imagine their surprise when they reappear in the same locked room in Act Two as Mike, Jim, Bill, John, Sally and Fred—attending an A.A. meeting and bickering among themselves about reserve politics, unmanageable family relationships and whether Bingo has a place in their new air-conditioned casino — and realize the white writer must still be very much alive in their community; his body in the closet is still warm!