Streamers

Synopsis

This volatile, incendiary drama premiered in 1976 under the direction of Mike Nichols, produced by Joseph Papp at New York’s Lincoln Center. Revived in 2008 by the Roundabout Theatre, the third in author Rabe’s quartet of “Vietnam Plays” is set in the Army barracks housing a group of young men, the “streamers” of the title: hapless parachutists who streak to certain death when their parachutes fail to open. This group includes Billy, a new recruit; Roger, a street-wise refugee from the ghetto; Richie, a sarcastic, bitter homosexual and their sodden, ineffectual sergeants, Cokes and Rooney. Awaiting deployment to Vietnam, they are joined by Carlyle, an angry, psychotic young black man, whose presence sets off an escalating spiral of violence and death.
By the author of Sticks and Bones and Hurlyburly.