The Nerd, by Larry Shue

Comedy in 2 acts

Publisher: Dramatists Play Service

Place and Time: Terre Haute, Indiana; November 4 and some days later, in the 1980's, more or less (Willum is a Vietnam veteran)

Persons of the Play:

WILLUM CUBBERT

M, celebrating his 34th birthday, architect, lacking in gumption

TANSY McGINNIS

F, Willum's girlfriend

AXEL HAMMOND

M, Willum's sardonic friend, theater critic

WARNOCK "Ticky" WALDGRAVE

M, Willum's client; "The last time Mr. Waldgrave smiled was forty-seven years ago, and then it was gas."

CLELIA WALDGRAVE,

F, Warnock's wife, "a picture of tasteful, studied patience, but not because her life is devoid of anxiety."

THOR WALDGRAVE

M, 8 years old, "there are good little boys; there are also precocious little boys, which is to say bad little boys whom we can somehow find it in our hearts to forgive. Thor is neither. Thor is a monster..."

RICK STEADMAN

M, Willum's fellow Vietnam veteran, a house guest from Hell

VARIOUS TAPE-RECORDED VOICES

Set: second-floor architect's living room/studio, a large friendly room in the treetops

Productions: Milwaukee Repertory Theater, April,1981; Royal Exchange Theatre Company, Manchester, England, April, 1982; Helen Hayes Theater, New York, March, 1987 [Internet Broadway Database entry].

Milwaukee cast:

• WILLUM CUBBERT: Larry Shue
• TANSY McGINNIS: Kristine Thatcher
• AXEL HAMMOND: Daniel Mooney
• WARNOCK WALDGRAVE: Henry Strozier
• CLELIA WALDGRAVE: Rose Pickering
• THOR WALDGRAVE: Matthew Knuth
• RICK STEADMAN: James Pickering

Manchester cast:

• WILLUM CUBBERT: David Horovitch
• TANSY McGINNIS: Shelley Borkum
• AXEL HAMMOND: Gary Waldhorn
• WARNOCK WALDGRAVE: Don Henderson
• CLELIA WALDGRAVE: Sally Gibson
• THOR WALDGRAVE: Matthew Barker/Oliver Findlay
• RICK STEADMAN: Derek Griffiths

New York cast:

• WILLUM CUBBERT: Mark Hamill
• TANSY McGINNIS: Patricia Kalember (Broadway debut)
• AXEL HAMMOND: Peter Riegert
• WARNOCK WALDGRAVE: Wayne Tippit
• CLELIA WALDGRAVE: Peggy Cosgrave
• THOR WALDGRAVE: Timmy Geissler
• RICK STEADMAN: Robert Joy

Quoted material above is taken directly from the published text of the play.