Bøker av Topher Payne

It's 1924, and the wedding of the year has been planned in Columbus, Georgia- peanut heir Brewster Tuttle is set to tie the knot with dairy heiress Daisy Doverdill on the shore of Wildwood Lake. Despite the second-class status generally afforded to the mother of the groom, Brewster's mother Cilla has managed to carve out a leadership role in the festivities, and she's not letting anything take it away.But there are a few challenges. Mosquitoes on the stagnant water have caused an outbreak of malaria, taking out the entire wedding party and most of the guest list. Citing a public health disaster, the Army Corps of Engineers is now threatening to drain the lake, which absolutely cannot happen. Because there's a secret at the bottom of Wildwood Lake, one that could upend the lives of both families when it reveals... THE BRIDE FROM OUTER SPACE.Topher Payne's delightful and unexpected blend of 1920s drawing room farce with 1950s science fiction is a whimsical delight, exploring what it really takes for a mother to let go and send their child out into the world- or perhaps to other worlds entirely. "Defiantly and winningly wears both silliness and implausibility as badges of honor... There's a charming, lighter-than-air, confectionary quality that's maintained throughout the show, and its structure and pacing are actually solid as a tank."ARTS ATL

Here's the thing about baby showers: No one actually wants to be there. But there are certain rituals we follow, for the sake of tradition and a gift registry. A notably truncated group of women have gathered at Grace Driscoll's beautifully appointed home, fully expecting to go through the motions of social niceties.But an unforseen event in Grace's life, and a few unexpected guests, send the party careening into uncharted territory.Simmering resentment, cutthroat professional conflict, fierce battles of will... these are 21st century Southern women, and they have no interest in blessing your heart. "Deft and bristling... Though the story starts off as a snarky romp in which characters toss off one-liners like candy wrappers, it's no pacifier. Payne is a formidable combination of acid and honey."THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION "There's something about the South and a group of women (some of whom are related) that is alternately touching and tense. When they're all friends, it's touching; when they're all family, it's mostly tense. But blend those two, and the result shows you the perfect amount of pathos, empathy, and humor. Such is the case with Topher Payne's play."CREATIVE LOAFING TAMPA BAY "A vibrant chamber piece... grounded with moving revelations, trenchant self-discoveries, drunken miscommunications, and, above all, a veritable symphony of the sort of clever and lyrical dialogue at which Mr. Payne excels. Topher Payne has once again proven that he is a contemporary master of creating roles for women, especially roles for women "of an age" usually ignored by Hollywood (and young playwrights)."ATLANTA THEATRE BUZZ "A new addition to all-female ensemble plays in the vein of The Women and Steel Magnolias. This is women behaving badly in the most delightful way, and they keep the laughs rolling from the first nervous breakdown to the last."ARTS ATL

Frank Garrett is caught completely off-guard when Jackie, his wife of thirty-seven years, announces she's leaving. Her only explanation? "You don't send me flowers."Frank seeks solace and answers at the New York apartment of his son Charlie, a video game designer. When Charlie calls his sister Claire in a panic, he discovers Jackie has found refuge at Claire's Connecticut home.Via a series of telephone conspiracies, the siblings join forces on a mission to get their parents back together- and more importantly, back in their own home. But complications arise when Frank is introduced to Rita, the lovely widow across the hall...A modern homage to mid-century romantic comedies in the vein of Barefoot in the Park and Sunday in New York, Tokens of Affection is a warm-hearted delight. "A funny and endearing romantic comedy... sharp dialogue and specifically delineated characters... Centering it all is a series of brilliantly conceived conversations about marriage, relationships, (and) the contrasting needs of surprise and comfort/appreciation." ATLANTA THEATRE BUZZ"'Comfort' and 'appreciation' may seem mundane qualities when taken out of context, but in Tokens of Affection they are shown to be that which nurtures lasting love."SMOKE SIGNALS MAGAZINE"A laugh-out-loud look at family temporarily turned upside down... But between all the hilarity are some really poignant moments. At the heart is an endearing story that examines the ups and downs of marriage and relationships."COBB LIFE MAGAZINE"The Parent Trap for grownups"THE GA VOICE

Reno, Nevada. August, 1960. It is 106 degrees outside. Filming on The Misfits is so hopelessly behind schedule that the producers refuse to release Marilyn Monroe to attend the Hollywood opening of her latest film. So Hollywood is coming to Marilyn, and Reno is getting its first movie premiere.Elizabeth Taylor has been living in Las Vegas exile since her marriage to Eddie Fisher rocked the scandal sheets, and has been sent to Reno to walk the red carpet at Marilyn's movie.Montgomery Clift is fighting whisper campaigns of his own, and a glamorous glittering event escorting the two most desired women in the world is just what his image needs.And then the Sierra Mountains catch fire, grounding flights and blocking all roads in and out of the city. Reno loses power. Paula Strasberg has the generator from the film set brought to the Mapes Hotel, giving Marilyn the only electricity in town, and setting the stage for the strangest slumber party in cinematic history. This is the untold story of when Hollywood came to the Biggest Little City in the World... for a movie premiere that never happened. "Payne has a remarkable talent for taking a few threads of historical fact and weaving them into something wholly original and entertaining. He dispenses pithy, Coward-style one-liners with aplomb, while investing these larger-than-life personalities with complex emotional interiors. Thus, for all its giddy glamour, The Only Light in Reno appears to be a study of personal pain and public sting." ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION "If it hadn't really happened, playwright Topher Payne almost certainly would have made it up: the match of writer to outrageous subject is so deliciously fitting. Payne imagines what might have transpired during that long, hot night when these enormous personalities were stuck in a ninth-floor suite at the Mapes Hotel during a Sierra Mountain wildfire with little to do but drink, pop pills, wear glamorous clothes, bare their souls and insult each other with cuttingly witty zingers. Clearly, Reno is Topher-country."ARTS ATL

It's Christmas, and Kevin and Allie are about to become parents- they're just waiting for a phone call. And though they've asked their families to keep their distance from the maternity ward until the adoption process is complete and they bring their baby home, of course no one stays away.Kevin's father visits with his much-younger wife and their extended clan, followed by Kevin's mother with her veterinarian, her upstairs neighbor, and her favorite author, and then Allie's family invades, including her ultra-competitive sister, her Bubbie, and Bubbie's gentleman friend.Eight actors play twenty-two characters in this lightning-paced holiday farce that celebrates families of all kinds."Laugh-out-loud funny, and a touching reminder of how much more alike we are than we realize." - Atlanta Journal-Constitution"It's a perfect arrangement for Payne, whose light touch in the script makes the complicated maneuverings impressively smooth. The tinsel sparkles on cue, and the quips are fast, funny, and smart." - ArtsATL"Payne dazzles once again; there are touches of Noel Coward and Mel Brooks and any number of comic wizards that you could name. But mainly it's Topher Payne." - Atlanta Intown"In this day and age when a nuclear family is a relic of the past, and many times our family is made up of those we have chosen, this show is a Christmas story for everyone." - Anchorage Press "The perfect gift this holiday season." - The Examiner

It's 1932, and 20 year-old orphaned tobacco heir Smith Reynolds has returned from New York to his family's Winston-Salem estate with a surprise souvenir: a wife.The new Mrs. Reynolds is notorious Broadway star Libby Holman- a dozen years older than Smith. She arrives with a trunkload of gin and an acting coach who is quite possibly insane.Smith's guardian, Kate Reynolds, attempts to manage the scandal- giving Libby a crash course in Southern decorum. A party is thrown to introduce the newlyweds to society, but it's flat-out ruined when the groom turns up dead.The guests are gathered to reconstruct the evening's events for a beleaguered County Solicitor, but they fail spectacularly, which shouldn't be a surprise.For Southerners, the truth isn't nearly as important as a good story."A Rashomon-meets-Tennessee Williams-style story where the truth remains elusive... The play is a delightful and original treatment that balances froth with gravitas while investigating the meaning of lust, greed, hypocrisy and loss... Swell Party is anything but. It's a den of snakes, waiting to strike. Most impressive."THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION"Swell Party isn't just set in the 1930s; it exhumes and thoroughly revives that era's conventions. There's the staunch dowager, the dashing aviator, the eccentric stage diva and the brash Broadway starlet, all behaving as they might had the play actually been written in the '30s... Charming, funny, lively and winningly old-fashioned. It's a play that deserves to be a hit... Expertly and energetically done."ARTS ATL"Swell Party puts in place the elements of screwball comedy but adds considerably more than that... a mash-up of Tennessee Williams-style Southern Gothic and drawing-room whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie... touches on all the bases of breezy humor, family psychodrama and surprise revelations, living up to its considerable ambitions. It's pretty swell-egant."CREATIVE LOAFING

Judith and Eileen met and eagerly fell in love-first with a band called Phish, and then with each other. But that was thirty years ago, before their lives took notably divergent paths.An Instagram post from a stranger leads the two of them crashing back into each other, along with four young wayward souls who passionately want to be passionate about something. Over the course of one curious night at a remote Vermont farmhouse, they'll each explore the nature of devotion-to music, to literature, to other people-and learn the art of "including your own hey."This hilarious and heartfelt new two-act comedy by Topher Payne (author of Perfect Arrangement) explores sex, love, and fandom, and the unexpected connections resulting from each. "You Enjoy Myself is a tour de force... Topher Payne has written a quintessentially American play."Onstage Colorado "There's so much funny, wounded, sexually adventurous, winking, and sincere action... YOU ENJOY MYSELF had us at 'hey.'"The Denver Post

"Bennett is really trying to keep it together right now. He broke up with his boyfriend and moved in with his best friend, Cooper. It's election season, and he's the speechwriter for Georgia's only gay state senator, who's engaged in a bloody campaign against a conservative darling. Then Bennett's ex is attacked in the parking lot of a gay bar. Bennett and Cooper are informed that the assault can't be classified as a hate crime - because in Georgia, hate crimes against homosexuals don't legally exist. Their frustration and fear eventually turn to rage as they realize "acceptance" simply isn't enough. They're still living in a society that relegates them to second-class status. They're not respected. They're not feared. It's time for that to change"--Page [4] of cover.

When a complaint is filed against one of the 70,000 teachers in New York''s public schools, they''re sent to a Reassignment Center, one of a series of empty offices in the Department of Education Building. There, they sit and wait for their case to be reviewed. Usually for months. Sometimes for over a year.A claim of improper behavior by a failing student lands Evelyn Reid in "the rubber room," where she encounters a group of teachers, some guilty, some not, who have long since lost any hope of

It's 1950, and new colors are being added to the Red Scare. Two U.S. State Department employees, Bob and Norma, have been tasked with identifying sexual deviants within their ranks. There's just one problem: Both Bob and Norma are gay, and have married each other's partners as a carefully constructed cover. Inspired by the true story of the earliest stirrings of the American gay rights movement, madcap classic sitcom-style laughs give way to provocative drama as two "All-American" couples are fo