Ramon de Ocampo and Diarra Kilpatrick in “Sick” at Playwrights Arena in Los Angeles.
SICK
by Erik Patterson
Cast: 3 female, 4 male (including one child)
Genre: comedic drama
Keywords: hypochondria, mothers, leukemia, sex
Character Breakdown:
PAMELA: A twenty-eight-year-old woman.
DAVID: Her husband.
MICHAEL: Their ten-year-old son.
BROWN: His doctor. Handsome, charming.
GARY: Pamela's brother.
CARLA: His wife.
JEANNIE: An addict, a sales clerk.
Synopsis:
David needs to get laid, Gary could use a drink, and Tim would like you to take your top off. Carla craves cocaine, Jeannie’s got God, and Pamela keeps digging herself deeper into the funny and frightening world of hypochondria. But when one of their own gets sick for real, they’re all going to have to face their greatest fears and grow up.
Awards:
NOMINEE, LA Weekly Award, Outstanding Playwriting
Reviews
CRITIC'S PICK: "Playwright Erik Patterson admits to personal hypochondria in the program notes for this resplendently twisted effort—yet another in his string of HILARIOUSLY WICKED and glaringly contemporary plays gloriously sending up the communal sickness that affects us all as our country becomes progressively more immune to wellness...Director Diane Rodriguez's cast is uniformly golden...Patterson's wit and insight couldn't have found a better partner in creation than Rodriguez, who clearly gets him at every delightfully askew corner and turn."
-- Backstage, Travis Michael Holder
“Funny, personal, brutal at times, and PROFOUND…Sick packs a pretty enormous punch, and gives you a lot to think about and talk about afterwards.”
– The Sheila Variations, Sheila O'Malley
GO: "The two-character scenes that dominate the piece showcase Erik Patterson's edgy and hilarious play, and Diane Rodriguez's muscular direction energizes its episodic nature, cleverly turning even the transitions into opportunities for storytelling, such as employing an onstage waiting room for offstage characters. Sandra Burns' flexible, minimalist set (with its wonderful robin-egg blue floor), appropriately illuminated by Adam Blumenthal's harsh hospital fluorescence, provides the perfect backdrop for a talented cast that is solid across the board and KEEPS US LAUGHING AMIDST THE PAIN.”
-- LA Weekly, Mayank Keshaviah
"Modern society at its best and most neurotic is the theme here in playwright Erik Patterson's SMASHING new play Sick, now in its world premiere at LATC."
-- Entertainment Today
“When it comes to walking the fine line between humor and misery, Erik Patterson is an experienced high-wire artist. Patterson’s new play, Sick, is an INCISIVE treatment of hypochondria and addiction that can be blisteringly funny…Subplots abound, and Patterson makes some sweetly salient points about the role of faith in the recovery process, as the people in Pamela’s orbit struggle with their own burdensome brain chemistry.”
– LA Times, Kathleen Foley
"If you prefer your family drama with a side of hypochondria and alcoholism, then take a trip downtown to the Los Angeles Theatre Center to catch Sick...Sharply directed by Diane Rodriguez...A DARKLY COMEDIC journey to redemption [that is] Sick indeed. But you'll leave the theater feeling so good."
-- Hotter In Hollywood, Hiko Mitsuzuka