Suburban Redux — Andrew Biss

In this novella adaption of his hit stage play Suburban Redux, award-winning author and playwright Andrew Biss presents us with a hilarious and poignant tale about love, truth and acceptance in a romantic comedy for the modern family. After thirty years of arid matrimony and suburban monotony, Mrs. Pennington-South's only dream was that her son, Cuthbert, would break free of the cycle of upper-middle class inertia that had suffocated her. Raising him in the hope that he was homosexual, she soon begins dragging home potential suitors for tea �" on this particular occasion a rather shy, awkward young man named Tristram. Cuthbert, however, finds he can no longer maintain his façade and at last confesses to his mother his guilty secret: his heterosexuality. When Cuthbert leaves to meet Trixie, his new female friend, Mrs. Pennington-South �" heartbroken but accepting �" takes solace in the company of Tristram, and a mutual love of the arts soon leads to a new found friendship. After several weeks, however, Tristram's feelings take on more amorous overtones and a confession of love for a woman almost thirty years his senior sends Mrs. Pennington-South into a state of emotional turmoil. Her anxiety is further heightened by the unexpected arrival of Cuthbert, merrily announcing that he has brought Trixie home for an introduction, and of the “big news” they wish to impart. Mrs. Pennington-South, mortified at having to face the reality of her son's lifestyle choice, fearfully awaits the dreaded Trixie. Nothing, however, could have prepared her for what would come next…