Synopsis "Plays By Stuart Spencer (in English)"
This collection contains three full-length plays by Stuart Spencer: SUDDEN DEVOTION, RESIDENT ALIEN and IN THE WESTERN GARDEN. Here is what the critics had to say: "It's not often you see a space alien in orange Converses and a Wisconsin K-mart employee expound upon Kirkegaard in the woods. RESIDENT ALIEN, a comedy by Stuart Spencer, is filled with such suprisingly funny scenes. RESIDENT ALIEN is hilarious...the dialogue is snappy with lots of local flavor, and the characters interact well with each other...this show is both heart-warming and delightful. The best part of this show is not the kooky humor, and it's not the Fargo-ish Wisconsin accents. What makes RESIDENT ALIEN so exceptional is that it manages to reveal a numAber of insights about intelligence, culture and a sense of belonging without being too obvious about it." Jenny Sandman, Louisville Eccentric Observer "RESIDENT ALIEN is a sweet and quirky comedy set in an anonymous small town in northeastern Wisconsin.... It's the characters that set RESIDENT ALIEN apart from television fodder. They are interesting, likeable and cut just enough against stereotype to be refreshingly funny.... Additional humor is found in small town insularity. Most of the characters, who are approaching middle age, are still playing out grudges and slights from their adolescent years." Damien Jones, Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee "...be sure someone pokes you awake for Stuart Spencer's IN THE WESTERN GARDEN, the evening's gem. It's 1989; a famous old abstract expressionist painter and his patient, sagacious wife are visited on their Hamptons farm by his longtime dealer, with a hot young conceptual artist in tow. The dealer, on the verge of bankruptcy owing to the crash in art prices, desperately needs product; the conceptual artist wants either to replace his boyhood hero or to subsume him into the anonymity his pomo installations express. The artist and his wife have secrets of their own to unveil. Packed into the play's short space are a neat, effective intrigue, a fierce debate about the nature of creativity, four vivid characters.... The wit or the nearly palpable passion behind Spencer's mordant contrivance." Michael Feingold, The Village Voice (reviewing the second act of the full-length play being performed on its own)
