Books by Lr Penn

Although Gambled Lives opens with the funeral of a beloved twenty-two year old beauty, its story is filled with humor as well as suspense. The narrator, Charlie G., is a diffident, weak willed millennial who sometimes comes across as a latter day Holden Caulfield. Charlie has spent much of his youth enjoying the crumbs left on the table by his best friend Keith, whose intensely hedonistic lifestyle has included a steady diet of drugs, sex, and gambling. But when Keith's girlfriend is found dead in her apartment Charlie is reluctantly drawn into investigating the girl's death. His inquiries bring him a new perspective on the world, and new insights into the complex interplay of forces that govern the course of human relationships; and he comes to understand that he will have to overcome his passivity and trust in his own instincts in order to take control of his life.

In this one act farce, LR Penn, who specializes in dysfunctional suburban families, spices up the action with enough drugs, sex, and violence to keep the audience titillated during the occasional interval between the abundant laughs and the surprising plot twists. In keeping with the traditions of the genre there is a healthy dose of adultery, slapstick, and mistaken identity, although the identities are not so much mistaken as actively misrepresented by the characters themselves. This is a play in which none of the characters seems capable of telling the truth, being themselves, or divulging their actual intentions. But what goes on in the dark eventually comes to light, and what emerges is the story of a family's struggle to assume control of their own lives in the face of the nefarious manipulations of a bullying father, in a classic conflict between the quest for freedom, individuality, and fulfillment and an oppressive regime that is seeking to maintain the status quo.