When Martin, a distinguished and successful architect, is forced to confess a sordid affair to his family, the consequences could have the power to destroy his ideal life, and the lives of his wife and teenage son. Martin is left to reflect on the very nature of love, and the outer limits of conventional morality, as he bears excruciating witness to the shattering of his world. From the acclaimed playwright whose other credits include Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Zoo Story, The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? paints an agonizing portrait of an American family on the brink of collapse, posing the question, "what does it truly mean to love?"
Steve Martin’s adaptation of a 1910 German farce by Sternheim follows the fate of Louise Maske after the startling day when her underpants fall off in public, taking a wry look at propriety, notoriety, and 15 minutes of fame. Louise and her husband, Theo, a minor government functionary, are trying to rent out a room in their apartment to earn a little extra cash. Theo fears that Louise’s wardrobe malfunction at the royal parade may have ruined their public image, but the prospective tenants who shortly come calling find the lingerie mishap more titillating than repellent. A nosy neighbor encourages Louise to take advantage of the situation and have an affair, but her tenant-suitors keep getting distracted. What’s a model housewife to do?
In a seedy motel room on the outskirts of Oklahoma City, cocktail waitress Agnes invites an aloof Gulf War veteran, Peter, to spend the night. Peter identifies a hidden bug infestation in the room, and undertakes efforts to eradicate it. The two, fueled by drugs and isolation, start to unhinge as they dig deep to uncover the source of the mysterious pests. What begins as a minor annoyance escalates into a full-blown conspiracy theory that threatens to unravel the final traces of reality.
