17 Minutes

Full-length
Drama
3f, 3m
Community, University & Pro

Overview

17 MINUTES is the length of time Sheriff’s Deputy Andy Rubens stood outside of a school while a shooter was inside. The play 17 Minutes explores the communal and residual effects of a shooting through Andy, a man who struggles with his own complicity in the tragedy, and who seeks meaning in the wake of the shooting.

Casting & Production

Production Notes

17 Minutes had its New York premiere at the Barrow Group Theater (Seth Barrish and Lee Brock, Co-Artistic Directors; Robert Serrell, Executive Director), opening on January 22, 2020. It was directed by Seth Barrish. The scenic design was by Edward T. Morris, the lighting design by Solomon Weisbard, the costume design by Matsy Stinson, the sound design by Emma Wilk, and props by Addison Heeren. The stage manager was Allison Raynes.

Casting

3M, 3F

Characters
ANDY RUBENS, a sheriff’s deputy
VIRGIL MORRIS, a detective
SAMANTHA RUBENS, Andy’s wife
MARY, a sheriff’s deputy
DAN, a father
CECILIA, a mother

Setting

Winter. A town in a cold part of the country.
Present day.

Reviews

17 Minutes is “brilliant… a work of empathy and startling compassion.”

– Theater Pizzazz

“There’s something about the stark honesty of 17 Minutes… that lends the play a kind of grace. This is an extraordinary piece of theater that should be widely seen.”

– Theaterscene.net

17 Minutes “accomplishes what the theatre does best: It presents this issue not as an emotionally fraught intellectual argument, but as a complicated and compassionate human drama.”

– Talkin’ Broadway