A play about fiction's power to both divide and unite, from Pulitzer finalist Adam Rapp In small-town America, a young adult novel about teen pregnancy is banned by the local school board, igniting a fierce and violent debate over abortion, religious beliefs, and modern feminism. Its directionless New York City author arrives in town to defend the book and finds that it has inspired a group of local teens to rebel in strange and unexpected ways. A timely and unforgettable drama about the failure of urban and heartland America to understand each other, The Metal Children explores what happens when fiction becomes a matter of life and death. “An ambitious and prodigiously talented writer.” ― Charles Isherwood, Variety on Adam Rapp “[Rapp] shows an exuberant love for the written word . . . [He] tells stories that encase classical themes--class and envy, ambition and alienation--in blunt terms and in modern settings.” ― Jesse McKinley, The New York Times on Adam Rapp “Rapp . . . is a gifted storyteller. He makes demands on his audience, and he rewards its close attention with depth and elegance.” ― John Lahr, The New Yorker on Adam Rapp Adam Rapp is an OBIE Award-winning playwright and director, as well as a novelist, filmmaker, actor, and musician. His play The Purple Lights of Joppa Illinois had its world première last month at South Coast Repertory. His other plays include Red Light Winter (Citation from the American Theatre Critics Association, a Lucille Lortel Nomination for Best New Play, two OBIE Awards, and was named a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize), Blackbird, The Metal Children, Finer Noble Gases, Through The Yellow Hour, The Hallway Trilogy, Nocturne, Ghosts in the Cottonwoods, Animals and Plants, Stone Cold Dead Serious, Faster, Gompers, Essential Self-Defense, American Slingo, and Kindness. For film, he wrote the screenplay for Winter Passing; and recently directed Loitering with Intent. Rapp has been the recipient of the 1999 Princess Grace Award for Playwriting, a 2000 Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, the 2001 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, and Boston’s Elliot Norton Award; and was short-listed for the 2003 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, received the 2006 Princess Grace Statue, a 2007 Lucille Lortel Playwriting Fellowship, and the Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The Metal Children A Play By Adam Rapp Faber & Faber Copyright © 2010 Adam Rapp All right reserved. ISBN: 9780865479241 Metal Children, The ACT I SCENE 1 A one-bedroom apartment in the West Village that looks as if a bookmobile and a roving, high-speed Salvation Army float had collided on top of some tasteful Pottery Barn furniture. A small kitchen nook with a counter that divides it from the living space. There is a barely functioning fish tank, with one live fish and at least one dead one. There are also a few expired plants and scores of makeshift ashtrays scattered here and there. At one time, it was probably a pretty nice apartment.  TOBIN FALMOUTH , late thirties, is seated on his congested sofa in the living room. A camcorder has been set up in front of him, and he is clutching a piece of paper. He wears boxer shorts, mismatched socks, a stained white T-shirt, and an old, light blue terry cloth bathrobe. His hair is a mess. He needs a shave. He regards the camcorder for a moment, clears his throat, and then begins to read from the piece of paper.   TOBIN Um, Hi. My name is Tobin Falmouth. I am talking to you from my apartment in New York City. I apologize for the mess. With regard to my current state, lately things have been a little, well, “shoddy” would be the word, I suppose. Shoddy at best.I am the author of The Metal Children , a young adult novel that was published by Frontage Road Press in 1997. It’s my second published novel, the second of four. It has recently been brought to my attention that certain members of your community have taken issue with my book. I am aware of the events of a recent school board meeting at which a disgruntled student read some carefully selected quotes in front of your five-member committee. The bathroom door is flung open, and BRUNO BINELLI, TOBIN ’s agent, storms out. He is in his mid-forties, a feisty gay Italian American. He wears a nice suit and tie, nice shoes, a good haircut.   BRUNO I’ve felt more passion from a can opener. At least pretend like you have a point of view. TOBIN Who are you all of a sudden—Uta Hagen? BRUNO Tobin, do you have any idea what this might mean to these people? The least you could do is read it with a shred of enthusiasm. TOBIN But I didn’t even write it. BRUNO What, my prose isn’t fucking purple enough for you? TOBIN Your prose is fine, Bruno. It’s just—I don’t know—I’m not an actor. BRUNO You don’t have to be a fucking actor ; you just have to fucking mean it . And don’t apologize for the messy