Brenda, a seemingly guileless young actress, takes a meeting with Bradley, a troubled, middle-aged producer, to discuss the film on which they are working. Brenda wants to be a star, but Collette, the other actress in the film, is in her way, so Brenda must convince Bradley that the film is in serious trouble unless he makes certain changes. Collette has her own agenda: She knows she’s not as young as she once was. She tries to convince Victor, the writer, to alter the film so she can be the heroine, or else, this, his first film, is destined to be lost in art houses or, worse, go directly to video. Victor, a naïve young writer from Off-Off Broadway, doesn’t know how to handle any of this, and drinks himself into a stupor before he changes his screenplay. Brenda and Collette find out they’ve been trying to stab the other in the back and all hell breaks loose in the final scene when Bradley and Victor confront one another and all the lies and backbiting are exposed as these four dogs go after their bone.

FOUR DOGS AND A BONE BY JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY

FOUR DOGS AND A BONE was originally produced by Manhattan Theater Club on October 12, 1993.

FOUR DOGS AND A BONE was produced by Manhattan Theater Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grobe, Managing Director) in New York City in October 1993. It was directed by John Patrick Shanley; the set design was by Santo Loquasto; the costume design was by Elsa Ward; the lighting design was by Brian Nason; The sound design was by Bruce Ellman; and the production stage manager was Donna A. Drake. The cast was as follows.

BRENDA……………………………………….Mary-Louise Parker

BRADLEY……………………………………….………Tony Roberts

COLLETTE……………………………………….……….Polly Draper

VICTOR……………………………………………………..Loren Dean