In an unfinished basement somewhere in St. Louis, Andi discovers her brother-in-law in her basement with a man, bound and gagged, and tied to a chair. This is the jumping off point for St. Louis playwright Stephen Peirick’s latest one-act comedy thriller, Monsters. It’s getting its world premiere after being introduced at a staged reading last year at Stray Dog’s New Works Laboratory. Though there are plans for further tweaks, the play is pretty good in its current form, showcasing Peirick’s trademark wit, unpredictable plots, and ear for comedic dialogue.
Davis (Jeremy Goldmeier) and Jeremy (Kevin O’Brien) are brothers, struggling to keep their late father’s debt-ridden diner afloat. Neither one is the sharpest knife in the drawer, so when a couple of diner regulars (members of the St. Louis mafia) offer to pay them $200,000 for a murder-for-hire scheme, they can’t bring themselves to say “no”, despite the fact that they have practically no idea whom they’re supposed to whack.
