Hello. My name is...

by Brendan Farrell

Brendan Farrell is a playwright/actor currently living in Los Angeles, CA. Brendan graduated from Bowdoin College with my class in 1996, and has been in productions such as Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. I had the privelege to debut Brendan's play with the Pocket Playhouse at the Studio Theatre of Villard Hall, on the University of Oregon's Campus in Eugene, Oregon, on January 30 and 31, and February 1, 1997.

The cast was as follows:

Brendan Farrell...........David Royer
Chad, Kieth, Dad, & Man...........Luke Hamilton
Michelle, Sarah, Allison, Mom, & Woman...........Kirsten Winchell

"Hello. My name is..." delves into the contradictions between the images of ordinary everyday Dick and Jane's, and their unacknowledged yet legitimate identities deriving from secular desires and explorations of the human dark side. It contains biting glimpses of a hidden reality, singing through with the final words of the play, echoing the title and the first words of the play.

Brendan Farrell...........David Royer

Brendan (the lead character), a senior at a small college in New England, has presumably grown up as a normal All-American boy from a well respected family in a white house with one sister, a dog, and a white picket fence. During our endeavor into his raw thoughts and discussions which border on the surreal, Brendan plays opposite a series of characters with whom he can relate, when considering specific portions of specific stages in his life. Each character recognizes very few of Brendan's flaws, rationalizing them and contributing to them with their own flaws. However, because of Brendan's superficial image, all parties involved refuse to acknowledge the obvious and ever-present twistedness of his dark side. Brendan, seeing himself as the center of "his" universe, challenges the nobleness of his acceptance by the public and private eye, suggesting that the surrounding social and belief structure would collapse upon recognizing a single glimpse of his true identity. For this reason he will continue his struggle against the grain, revealing only the image and markings of following the mainstream.