Fowl Play

In Fowl Play, A Novel in Three Acts author and notable drama critic Steven Leigh Morris weaves his two great passions in life: the theater and barnyard poultry. As print media crashes down around him, veteran theater critic Seth Jacobson hatches a flock of chickens and negotiates a fragile pact with his neighbors (and his sanity) to house them in the garden of his Hollywood condominium. In the throes of professional and personal erosion (his Russian wife has left California for her homeland, apparently never to return), Seth clings to his three hens and one noisy aggressive rooster as family and objects of his unyielding devotion. In this complex fantasy and comedic microcosm of global conflict, all creatures (some with wit, some with wings), seek refuge in an acrimonious and often violent world. "A wryly funny, deftly written and tangibly absurdist novel of urban angst." - Charles Isherwood, drama critic at The New York Times "Morris has been one of the prime forces animating the maturing of the local theatre scene." - The Hollywood Reporter "Fowl Play starts at a small Los Angeles theater and ends up in a forest, an in between Steven Leigh Morris spins one of the most oddly compelling tails of obsession, midlife crisis and exurban anomie I've read. Though it defies genre, it's kind of a love story, and kind of family drama and definitely a kind of satire." - Rob Weinert-Kendt, American Theatre editor Essayist and theater critic Steven Leigh Morris is the Executive Director of LA STAGE Alliance and founding editor of digital arts venture Stage Raw. A true leader in Los Angeles theater, Morris has been writing for alternative newsweekly LA WEEKLY since 1988. In 2012 Morris chaired the jury for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and he is the recipient of the Critic of the Year prize by the National Entertainment Journalism Awards for his work with LA WEEKLY. His play Beachwood Drive was produced in Los Angeles and off Broadway.