Stage Notes: Hollow Log

Twenty-eight-year-old Lawrence Dial is a prolific playwright. His previous titles indicate a certain free spirit, like Arts Fucking Crafts and Fish Have No Eyelids. His themes and settings also have a contemporary feel. The two main characters here are a stoner and a rich female bar owner. While the premise of Hollow Log may sound familiar, the play (which happens to be a thriller) is not. Kel Haney directs. I recently spoke with Dial, a fast-talking, forthcoming amicable guy.

Hi Lawrence. So what’s with the title?
It’s a Beck song from his One Foot in the Grave album. There’s no symbolism connecting it to the play, except it reminds me of high school stoners I grew up with.

So the main character, Denny, is a stoner?
It’s sort of a stoner play; the anti-intellectualism of the stoner world mixed with a thriller. It’s kind of like what would happen if some of my friends in high school fell into a situation that was like a movie. How do you grapple with that kind of a situation?

What’s the plot?
Two roommates, Denny and Annie, living together in the East Village during current times. Annie’s parents passed away and she inherited quite a lot of money. Denny hasn’t done much with his life so far, except take up space on Annie’s couch. They are both in that place in life in between college and what you’re going to do with your life.

Annie owns a bar?
Denny is getting kicked out because Annie is getting married. Denny is broke and has no money to move. Annie offers to give him some money but he won’t accept it. And then strange circumstances occur.

OK, so without ruining the ending, what happens?
She finds a big bag of Smarties, the candies, outside her bar. She thinks it’s drugs. She gives it to Denny so he can sell it and make some getaway money. But Denny, in his stoner paranoia, thinks it’s a set-up. Even the audience doesn’t know if she’s trying to set him up. The question is: who’s lying?

Who are the other characters?
There’s a large Russian who comes into the mix, and someone gets tasered and maced. And then someone gets murdered. From the audience’s perspective, it’s a stoner comedy that gets more serious.

I really like stage thrillers, but they are so hard to pull off.
It’s difficult writing a thriller for the stage. The problem is, how do you confine all the action to as few a locations as you can? In my playwriting, I always pick one setting, and all of my plays are one to two long scenes. Here, the first act is one long scene, and the second is the same. It’s how to make it all happen in two 45-minute scenes.

Roy Arias Studios at The Times Square Arts Center, 300 W. 43rd St., third floor, (212) 868-4494. Previews Jan. 15, opens Jan. 16-Feb. 8. Thurs.-Sun., 8 p.m. $15.