Beast: A Fever Dream in Six Scenes

by Michael Weller

Two American war veterans, mutilated in a firefight in Iraq, find their way home from a military hospital in Germany in a harrowing and hilarious road trip that includes an illegal arms dealer, an Asian pimp, prostitutes with special skills, a wife, a fellow war vet, a lunatic born-again long-haul trucker and finally, in Crawford, Texas, their Commander in Chief, whom they thank and offer a plan to win the war.

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Michael Weller studied music composition at Brandeis University, then worked as a jazz pianist before taking his graduate degree in theater at the University of Manchester, England. His best-known plays are Moonchildren, Fishing, Loose Ends and Spoils Of War. His films include Hair and Ragtime and a teleplay of Spoils of War. He co-founded (with Angelina Fiordelissi and Suzanne Brinkley) and serves now as supervising mentor of the Mentor Project of the Cherry Lane Theatre, currently in its tenth season.

Mr. Weller's work has received an Academy Award nomination, an N.A.A.C.P. Outstanding Contribution Award, Critics Outer Circle Award, a Rockefeller Foundation Grant and a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, and has been honored by The Broken Watch Theatre Company which gave their playhouse his name. He is on the counsel of the Writer's Guild Fund and the Dramatists Guild of America. He lives in Brooklyn.