Eldon Phelps might not be swatting away swarms of angry mosquitoes on some sub-tropical, Survivor-esque island, and he would probably never be seen going mano a mano with Donald Trump in a bogus T. V. boardroom, but he IS the star of a reality show called--for reasons that become hilariously apparent in the very first scene-- The Dead Guy. Eldon, you see, has been given one million dollars, with two conditions: first, he's got to spend it all--on camera--in one week; second, at the end of that week, viewers will vote, American Idol-style...
...on how he is to die.
That's right: whether he gets hit by a bus, carved up by a chainsaw, or squashed by a steamroller (and those are just three of the choices presented to viewers), Eldon is contractually obligated to allow his producers to kill him (with the whole world watching, of course).

Both thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny, The Dead Guy is a no-holds-barred indictment of our celebrity-obsessed media on the one hand and the glut of reality T.V. shows on the other.

Hm. Now that the play has been performed and published, no network exec would DARE put something like it on the air--or WOULD he...?

The piece plays beautifully when you use the language and built-in pauses to convey a real family who doesn�t have to say every teeny tiny thing they feel � they just say what they need to and take care of business. Lovely.

Characters: 3 men, 3 women (with doubling)
Scenes/Monologues: Wonderful roles for women (and one great role for an off-stage street vendor).

Recommended by: Stu

Also by Eric Coble:
Bright Ideas
Cinderella Confidential
In a Grove: 4 Japanese Ghost Stories
Nightfall with Edgar Allen Poe
Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede