Other People

by Christopher Shinn

Stephen, a struggling playwright and web-site movie critic, invites his ex-boyfriend, Mark, to spend Christmas with him and his roommate, Petra, a poet and stripper. Mark, who's recently completed making an independent film and is fresh out of rehab, begins his life back in the real world by becoming friends with Tan, a street hustler with a penchant for public masturbation. Meanwhile, Petra begins to engage outside of work with one of her customers, a kind, lonely investment banker who'd rather hear her talk than see her strip. In the crucible of a tiny East Village apartment, Stephen, Mark and Petra struggle with questions of art, sex and each other as the impending New Year forces them to define how they want to live and love in a dark and confusing world.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama

72 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2002

About the author

Christopher Shinn is the author of Dying City (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Where Do We Live (Obie in Playwriting), Now or Later (Evening Standard Theater Award for Best Play shortlist), and Four. Most recently, his play Against premiered at the Almeida Theatre and his adaptation of Ödön von Horváth's Judgment Day premiered at Park Avenue Armory. Of his thirteen original plays, over half had their world premiere in England, with five at the Royal Court. Fellowships include the Guggenheim (2005), the Radcliffe (2019), and the Cullman (2020). His plays are published by Methuen and he teaches playwriting at the New School.

Reviews

[Caleb Ewing · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m gonna be kind: what the fuck is going on here

Maybe it’s just so dated but it feels like a complete mess and thinks that makes it interesting. Says little to nothing about the conflict of sexuality and religion, but spends a whole lot of time talking around it. Most of the dialogue is almost unreadable to the point where it might actually be how 1980s yuppie theater New Yorkers talk.

Was this before or after it became trite to have “stripper with a heart of gold” as a character? Regardless, it still doesn’t work.

Also it’s so so so so clear that a white man wrote this (derogatory)


I do not understand it and maybe I’m not supposed to, but if I’m not supposed to… who is??? Idk, moving on to no time for sergeants, I hear that’s pretty great

Edit: found out this was written in 2002… woof

[liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing is insane, it would be so cool to see this performed

Also Tan is such a freak

[Nathanial · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play is the hair of the dog. Other People is a short three-act set in late nineties New York, with a cast of five - four men and one woman - who variously work in show business and the sex industry. Themes of hopeful disillusionment and resigned retribution run through the work. The challenge for Shinn is to trace the borders of this world, both to show how its characters push their way past their roles, and to show what impinges on this depiction of a close-knit (if not cloistered) community.

As often as I detest using the word 'community,' Shinn justifies it with how he contrasts the dialogue of friends with the dialogues of strangers. He's got a skill of showing how close friends talk - all the hesitations, stops and starts that depend on trust is revealed as more legitimate than the smooth talk and easy words of low-risk conversation. It becomes even more believable when the characters call themselves on being horrible, but do it anyway to make a point.

Plus, a few of the lines sounded almost exactly like the conversation going on around me at the porn studio between photo shoots. I forget exactly what the director and the cameraman were saying, but it seemed almost like the line "How do you not become, in some way, the person they want you to be?"

Mixed with the crying and bitter tirades, you get moments of sincerity like that one - and usually they're just as disjointed and incomplete as the awkward shame and rage. It's this sense of striving-past-perfection that pulls me through the text: because if perfection is what's expected, and failure is unacceptable, how do we rearrange the terms of success?

Even when I can't believe one character would play the 'nurturing girl' in a particular scene, or even when another's sorrow seems cheap and unearned, the play displays - not elaborately or with explicit self-consciousness, but it still remains a display (and it would be useful to think about the difference between displays, depictions, and descriptions, especially when you get down to literal terms) - an urge to earn an authentic life, full of other people.

[Nick K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the realism in which these characters are written. But the lead male Stephen was obnoxious (at least that's how he read). I was way more interested in Petra, Mark and Tan, but most especially Petra. I LOVED her opinion regarding RENT the musical. Finally, a playwright who is not afraid to admit they not only didn't care for it, but found it kind of offensive to artists. It's a risky issue due to RENT'S rabid fan base.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sad play about people longing to connect in New York in 1998.
I was bawling by the end, even though the play ends with a dark glimmer of hope. If you are an artist, or have ever longed for a connection, then there is a good chance you will connect with this play.

[Duckieee · Rating 5 out of 5]

christopher shinn is everything i want to be in a writer oh my god