THE STORY: The scene is the men’s room of a dance club in Manhattan’s Bowery section. Two young punk rockers, Linc and Mel, both high-school students from Queens, are engaged in an energetic conversation about girls and dancing—the two things of most significance in their present lives. Both are in revolt against parental authority, as evidenced by their outlandish outfits and pointed remarks, but both are also touchingly concerned about their problematic futures—a dilemma that Linc has decided to deal with by enlisting in the Marines. His announcement shakes Mel, to whom the armed forces are another aspect of a drab establishment that, he thought, he and Linc were determined to resist. And while their carefree banter and zany playfulness resume, there is now a difference—an unspoken but sobering awareness that, young as they are, “life” is catching up with them and things will never be quite the same again.
Marking the New York debut of this writer, the play was also first produced by the Ensemble Studio Theater as part of its One-Act Play Festival.
Concerned with two young “slam-dancers” from one of New York City’s outer boroughs, the play captures both their rebellious spirit, and the frustration they feel about their uncertain future.
“The opening round of the Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Marathon '84 ends on a crescendo with Jane Willis’s SLAM!” —The New York Times.
Included in the collection
Men Without Dates and Slam!.
