Am I Blue

by Beth Henley

Beth Henley

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama

30 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1982

About the author

Elizabeth Becker "Beth" Henley is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actress. Her play Crimes of the Heart won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 1981 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play, and a nomination for a Tony Award.

Reviews

[Marjorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hastily read through this as I was sitting on a bench outside before class. It took no more than 15 minutes. I scorned myself for putting this off, because I enjoyed every bit of it...I would have loved to relish in the scenes and dialogue. There was nothing really special about the words or language since it is mostly dialogue. But there was something special about the setting, the characters, and the plot. It's a charming play that fulfills the reader's expectations in such a short time.

You know when you read something and you can't explain why you like it, but you just do? That's how I feel about this play. I like Ashbe. I like John Polk. I like her eccentricity, his honesty. I like their problems with dating, girls, prostitutes, falling in love. And the title! Am I blue.
Isn't that great?

[Lara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this out for an academic tutorial I put together about depictions of fae on stage, with this one being an example of disenchanted fae (aka manic pixie dream girls) and honestly the play is way more interesting if you choose to interpret it that way. I like to believe that they don't just "dance all night" but instead they dance forever in a faery ring and John Polk loses 100 years of his life in one night and turns to dust next time he walks into a church.

[Chuckles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am I Blue, set in the French Quarter, follows John Polk, a local college student and Ashbee Williams, a teen girl, who meet in a bar. It is revealed he is killing time as he tries to keep his courage up to meet a prostitute. Ashbee claims to live nearby with her father but it becomes clear she living on her own and steals to get by as she tries to appear older but her sometimes silly behavior gives her away. After being kicked out of the bar when the waitress discovers their ages, they go to her apartment where they start to connect.

When I first read this, it reminded me in ways of Tennessee Williams’s more famous The Glass Menagerie, not that they are very similar, more the feelings they inspired. Alienation, isolation, and loneliness. Am I Blue seems to end on a more hopeful note.

I read this sometime in the mid 90s to mid 2000’s, the decade where after studying several plays in college English courses I remained interested in the form and continued reading plays that interested me, and attending productions when possible.

[Lance Lusk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic one-act play that provides timeless insight into the connections we can make with strangers.

[mickey m · Rating 5 out of 5]

always my fav, someone do this show please

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

1M/2F - some ensemble cast members - great language for teens. Themes of curiosity, adventure, discovery, community, and coping with life and spontaneity.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly the beginnings of a great playwright. Henley's characterizations show a young writer capable of more than constructing one dimensional roles. With these two characters of the frat boy and the rebellious teen, we see a similar fleshing out of their needs and internal conflicts that Henley must quickly expose due to the length of her play.

[Alistair · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of a bizarre, but sweet, play. I played Ashbe as a student and found her to be an interesting character.