Synopsis (from Backstage West): "In the noir tradition of Hammett, Chandler, and Mickey Spillane, The Amazing Brenda Strider is a love story wrapped in a mystery inside a conundrum. But despite the homage intended, there's nothing traditional about this play.

"The love story is between Jerry and Gene, two young writing partners who've had some success collaborating on what sound like B-minus noir films. Both men are stridently hetero, but built into their difficult partnership is that perfect unity of opposites that makes for a relationship that matters. Where Jerry is an open book, a profligate borderline alcoholic, a would-be layabout with a dysfunctional moral compass, Gene is tightly zippered, a closet intellectual, removed from the emotional epicenter of real life, unable to locate or even allow anyone else to glimpse his heart and soul.

"When Gene is stricken with cancer, Jerry finds himself at odds with his wallet, since his producer knows that with the magic synergy between the two writers disabled, the resulting product would have no shelf life. Unable to get Gene's collaboration, Jerry begins to spin a tale about a chance meeting with a woman in the hospital, the mysterious Brenda Strider. Gene cottons to Jerry's graphic description of his escapades, living the exaggerated moments vicariously, and so keenly that the tale develops a life of its own and Gene's hospital room becomes the stage for a very noir, Maltese Falcon kind of drama that curls around the two men in a swirl of hallucinogenic gallimaufry.

"What's real and what's imagined -- what you see isn't always what you get -- unfolds hilariously."

About the Playwright: Al Austin is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor. His full-length play Shotgun was produced at the Santa Monica Playhouse, Santa Monica, California, in 1999 and ran for two months. The Amazing Brenda Strider was a Backstage West Critic’s Pick and received a Maddy Award for Excellence in Playwriting. Al’s recently completed play Mimosa received a workshop production at the Los Angeles Theatere Center in March, 2002.

Al was born in New Jersey, but has lived in Southern California since 1969. He currently lives with his family in West Hills. He is a graduate of UCLA and has a Master’s degree in history from CSUN.

The Amazing Brenda Strider was first produced by JAT Productions in association with Glaxa Studios, Los Angeles in March, 2000.