pot pipe

Will Blunk:

Will is an artistic 13-year-old misfit with family problems. He wants to switch to a hippy school, but his troubles fitting in at public school are subverted by his mother and his older sister's seemingly more-urgent problems. He takes on the roles of cheer-leader, clown and diplomat -- trying to hold his family together. But he's foiled at every turn, and eventually retreats, unnoticed, into a comfortable cloud of pot smoke and mischief. Then he's busted by a lonely single-mom who proceeds to seduce his dad, and Will, the kid who just wants to disappear, finds himself at the epicenter of a family crisis. Amid the wreckage of his parent's marriage, he finds his voice and says "no."

 insect

Hal Blunk:

Hal is a charismatic and successful 45 year-old entomology professor. He deserves to be proud of himself, but circumstances seem to conspire to piss in his cornflakes. His lovely wife, who hasn't slept with him in four years, slashes her wrists and spends more time in the psych ward than at home. His daughter, far from following his example, has dropped out of high school -- pregnant by the son of a local eccentric. His son is caught smoking pot by the sexy single-mother next door, which leads to an opening of the floodgates on his long-dormant libido. He's seduced by his son's accuser, bringing hypocricy and doubt into his well-ordered and rational self-image.

 old volvo

Kathy Blunk:

Kathy is a feisty and intellegent eighteen-year-old who has forcibly removed herself from a messed up, uptight academic family whose expectations she could never meet. She's dropped out of high school and moved in with a tribe of anti-establishmentarian musicians and gotten pregnant with the intention of finally having a "normal family." But she's still bound, mostly by guilt, to her biological family and grudgingly participates in their "I'm OK, You're OK" family therapy sessions. She broods through most of it, but when she speaks, her voice carries like breaking glass above the careful, plodding psycho-babble of her troubled family.

 pill bottle

Lucy Blunk:

Lucy is a forty two-year old mother of two, who's in long-term psychiatric care. She was abused as a child and now suffers chronic depression. She doesn't remember any abuse. She's never heard of Post Traumatic Shock. She just knows that she can't give her overbearing husband what he seems to think he's entitled to. She has been squashed into a role she can't play -- which isn't to say she doesn't want it. She does. She just wants some control. But the wrath of her impatient husband drives her further into herself. And when she's gone too far into herself, self-mutilation is her way out. They keep her well-medicated and away from sharp objects. She hasn't been home in a month.

Mrs Sandow:

Mrs Sandow is a solid, overworked social worker, who is trying to facilitate communication between troubled families. She is trying to quit smoking, and under her pleasant exterior, she is a bundle of nerves.

High heel.

Mrs Fishman:

Karen Fishman is an attractive thirty seven year-old secretary who lives in a rural neighborhood with her 13 year old son and two dogs. She's done very little dating since her divorce, preferring to wait for someone she really cares about. When she catches her son and the kid next door smoking in the basement, they claim that the substance is a legal marijuana substitute. She doesn't believe them, and smokes some herself to find out. It turns out to be the real McCoy -- which makes her feel pretty darned frisky. And, when the kid's father, a handsome professor, arrives to talk to her about their kid's mischief, she ends up seducing him.

Dead bird..

Adam Fishman:

Adam is a cocky and unpopular thirteen year-old misfit who lives in a rural neighborhood with his mother. He's been much happier at school since he transferred to an alternative (hippy) junior high school, but he still has to ride the same school bus -- where he takes plenty of abuse. Angry and jaded about his parent's divorce, and his lack of friends, he is mischievious and can be quite mean. He likes to shoot birds with his brand-new pump bb gun. When his one-time buddy, Will Blunk, beats him up and takes his gun away, Adam enlists the help of his mother to get it back.

Joe Duvalier:

Joe is a former english professor who adopts a hands-off attitude toward raising his seven children. His house is a disaster area -- overrun with grubby teenagers. He reads volumes of books and, when he's around, encourages his kid's to do the same. But his profound skepticism of "the system" has rubbed off on them and they have all dropped out of school. He is a likable and engaging old grub-ball, who is a magnet for disillusioned teenagers.

Jude Duvalier:

Jude is a spooky and intellegent seventeen year-old high school drop-out. He lives on wellfare in a big old hotel with his mother and about ten other grubby kids. He is Kathy Blunk's boyfriend and the father of her unborn child.

Ward Duvalier:

Ward is a warm and friendly fifteen year-old high school drop-out.He lives on wellfare in a big old hotel with his mother and about ten other grubby kids. He is Will Blunk's closest friend among his sister's clan.