Bakersfield Mist

by Stephen Sachs

Maude Gutman, an unemployed bartender living in a trailer park in the California desert, believes a painting she bought in a thrift store for three dollars as a gag gift is really an undiscovered Jackson Pollock worth millions. Is this the find of the century or a clever forgery? When eminent New York art historian and expert Lionel Percy arrives at Maude's trailer to evaluate the painting, the two embark on a fiery debate over class, truth, and what we personally perceive as valuable. Inspired by true events, Bakersfield Mist is a lively and delightful comedy about the meaning of art. "It's exhilerating in the extreme when a world premiere play strikes rich on every conceivable level." - The Los Angeles Times on Bakersfield Mist

Genres: Plays, Art

76 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Stephen Sachs is the author of eighteen produced plays. They include Fatherland, Human Interest Story, his Deaf/Hearing love story, Arrival & Departure (Critic's Choice, LA Times), his stage adaptation of William Goldman's screenplay for All the President's Men, his stage adaptation of Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric (winner 2016 Stage Raw Award for Best Stage Adaptation, Fountain Theatre and Kirk Douglas in Los Angeles and Pure Theatre, Charleston, SC), Heart Song (Fountain Theatre and Florida Rep), Cyrano (LA Drama Critics Circle Award, Best New Play) and Bakersfield Mist (2012 Elliot Norton Award, Best New Play) which received a 3-month run on London’s West End starring Kathleen Turner and McDiarmid and is now being produced in regional theatres across the country and translated into other languages and being performed worldwide. His other plays are Dream Catcher (Fountain Theatre), Miss Julie: Freedom Summer (Fountain, Vancouver Playhouse), Gilgamesh (Theatre@Boston Court), Open Window (Pasadena Playhouse, Media Access Award), Central Avenue (PEN USA Literary Award Finalist), Sweet Nothing in my Ear (PEN USA Literary Award Finalist, Media Access Award), Mother's Day, The Golden Gate (Best Play Award, Dramalogue), and The Baron in the Trees. He wrote the teleplay for Sweet Nothing in my Ear which aired on CBS starring Marlee Matlin and Jeff Daniels. He was recently honored by the Los Angeles City Council for “his visionary contributions to the cultural life of Los Angeles.” in 2019, LA City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell hailed Sachs as "One of the great citizens and artists in our city."

Reviews

[Doug]

A potent little one act, would loved to have seen the London production with Kathleen Turner, who seems ideal for the part.

[Full disclosure: I hadn't realized it until AFTER I'd read this and formed my opinion, but Sachs actually won two awards for other of his works from the Media Access Office, while I was the Northern Calif. Director of such .... one of which - Open Window - I still have in ms. form. Too bad that hasn't been published - IIRC, it was excellent also.]

[aloha hal ✨]

Oh my, I love an un-happy ending.

[Jennifer]

Can't wait to read this aloud to my drama reading group in Nov.