Southern Discomfort Show Poster

Southern Discomfort Reviews

Based on real people Gray met growing up in the South, Southern Discomfort is a comedic exploration of loneliness and the drastic measures people take to overcome it. The play brings a collection of idiosyncratic characters to life: Ranging from a one-armed teenage boy selling Civil War re-enactment weaponry at his father’s gun stall, to a former beauty queen in a plastic surgeon’s office obsessed with facial symmetry, to a forlorn tow truck driver in love with an African-American-Mormon stripper.

Show Overview

critics reviews Critics’ Reviews (2)

A collection of our favorite reviews from professional news sources.

"Gray conveys [these characters] naturally and with sensitivity, making a wide array of personalities poignant and humorous."

Show Business Magazine

Dana Kitchens

Backstage

"Gray’s performance is unfailingly intelligent, and she differentiates her personages well."

Backstage

Erik Haagensen

About Southern Discomfort

What Is the Story of Southern Discomfort?
Elisabeth Gray brings a taste of her North Carolina roots to the off-Broadway stage in Southern Discomfort. Inspired by real southerners Gray met while growing up, the intimate show is a series of short monologues. The versatile actress switches effortlessly between six zany characters from ages 16 to 92: Julia Hanover, an aspiring actress obsessed with facial symmetry; William Ernest Fells, a highly organized widower delivering his wife’s eulogy on color-coded business cards; Josh Robinson Riddle, a one-armed boy with a passion for Civil War weaponry; and more. In each short piece, Gray reveals the haunting, inner loneliness each character faces while simultaneously keeping the audience in stitches.
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