Stone Cold Dead Serious - by Adam Rapp (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A collection of plays from Pulitzer Prize finalist Adam Rapp, "one of the more daring young stylists working today" (Time Out New York)

Adam Rapp's plays have captivated audiences across the country with their unflinching explorations of the good, the bad, and the ugly in America's heartland and cities. Gathered here are three of his works: Faster, in which two young grifters try to strike a deal with the devil during the hottest summer on record; Finer Noble Gases, a lament for a band of arrested thirty-year-olds slouching toward adulthood amid East Village decay; and the Off-Broadway hit Stone Cold Dead Serious. An honest, strange, and humorous look at a blue-collar family struggling to survive in the face of disability and addiction, and the seemingly surreal lengths their teenage son will go to save them from themselves.

"Rapp is very gifted, and, even rarer, he has something to say . . . Stone Cold Dead Serious [is] brave, compassionate, and . . . breathtakingly moving." -(New York Times)

Review Quotes

"Rapp is very gifted, and, even rarer he has something to say . . . Stone Cold Dead Serious . . . is . . . brave, compassionate, and . . . breathtakingly moving. It is the work of a playwright who is forging a real voice . . . It's rendering of the shared language of loved ones illustrates how families can remain intimate even when they are in shards. It's depiction of a working-class America that is unable to dream of anything beyond enduring is as sincerely sad a commentary on our culture as I've seen in recent memory. And its fear for young people is, unfortunately deeply convincing." --Bruce Weber, The New York Times

About the Author

Adam Rapp is the author of numerous plays, most notably Nocturne (Faber, 2002),
as well as six novels for young adults. He is at work on his first feature film, Winter Passing. He lives in New York.