Welcome to the Hard Luck Café

Characters in Order of Appearance

Cast size 11, - 6 women and 5 men. Actors serve as customers during Café and bar scenes. Characters can be of unspecified age, except Cynthia and Anne, about 40 and Katie, 18. Casting can be color-blind except for Alexis and Marcus, an African American couple.  All female roles can be sung by an alto. All male roles can be sung by a tenor/baritone.

• JOE, (m) a recovering alcoholic, former bar owner, and no-nonsense co-proprietor of the Hard Luck Café, with a soft spot for his second wife, Mimi

• MIMI, (f) Joe’s kind, but preoccupied wife, also in recovery, and yearning for connection with her estranged children.

• DAN, (m) a nice-guy, gun-shy waiter in recovery, studying to be a financial planner.

• HAZEL, (f) a lively, street-wise waiter, training as an addictions counselor and volunteering at the detox unit.

• ALEXIS, (f) a waiter/nurse in recovery, at the end of her rope with long-term boyfriend Marcus.

• MARCUS, (m) a recovering alcoholic/addict and commitment-phobic boyfriend of Alexis.

• GREG (m), Marcus's mate from rehab, grieving for the recent loss of his partner.

• ANNE, (f) a disenchanted single clinical psychologist and Cynthia’s lifelong friend.

• KATIE, (f) Cynthia’s angry teenaged daughter, about to go to college.

• RICHARD, (m) a self-absorbed “drying drunk”, periodically in recovery.

• CYNTHIA, (f) a care-worn, alcoholic divorced woman, mother of 18 year old Katie.

 Time: Present time, over the course of about one year. 

 Setting: An unidentified urban area

NOTE: Script is available in 11 and 10 character formats in lengths from 85 to120 minutes.