If you like screwball comedy with a message for today, then BIG BOYS by award-winning playwright Rich Orloff is something for you. Described as “Big Business meets the Marx Brothers’ Monkey Business”, the play starts out with what is worst in America’s corporate culture and stretches it to its most absurd and, at times, surreal. It is filled with comic confrontations, naughty wordplay and sight gags. The plot is quite simple. It concerns Victor, the very successful and ruthless CEO of a large company. (No one, not even Victor, knows the name of the company or what it produces, but this doesn’t seem to matter.) One day, Victor interviews and hires as his assistant Norman, a young business school graduate. Norman is highly idealistic and more than a little naïve when it comes to working in the real world. In contrast to Victor’s unethical, profit-making schemes, Norman sees a better, more decent corporate way that will protect the environment and people’s lives. The stage is thus set for a fierce, albeit hilarious battle between the two men for the heart and soul of corporate America. The play couldn’t be more relevant. BIG BOYS also deals with the age-old question: Can a nice guy like Norman succeed in the business world by remaining true to his values? Or will he have to become more like Victor in order to join the big boys in America’s corporate elite?
The play won first place at the 1997 InterPlay International Play Festival and placed second with the 2002 Kaufman and Hart Award for New American Comedy. It continues to delight audiences wherever it is performed.
“BIG BOYS proves a winner.” New York Times
