Gate 1 - Synopsis

The Common Air links six distinct characters during the mother of all delays at JFK airport. The reason is unknown, and a game of "Telephone" ensues in an effort to find the truth.

The 1st character, an Iraqi Cabbie, has a winning idea for a reality show which he pitches to his passenger (the 2nd character), an Art Gallery Owner.

The Gallery Owner is struggling with a long buried personal issue: to return or not to the relationship he abandoned seven years ago. Two martinis have made him spill his dilemma to a Corporate Attorney, the 3rd character.

The sleep deprived Attorney evokes the reality show, Nanny 911, to illuminate the point that "following the rules" is for children. He imparts his rapid fire, ethically grey advice to the 4th character, a hipster DJ.

DJ PJ is in the throws of his own crisis: a lawsuit over the sampling a client's music. PJ's point of view is challenged by a west Texas Philosophy Professor, the 5th character.

The Professor is fighting a custody battle for his eleven-year-old son, via cell phone, with his soon-to-be-ex-wife. He presents his argument with a sinister mix of logic and irrationality to the 6th character; an Iraqi-American trying to get home from Baghdad.

The Iraqi-American brings us full circle as he articulates his journey to the Cabbie from the top of the show. His arrival in the Middle East began with a government-catering contract to feed US Troops and ended in recruitment to a Shia terrorist organization.


Gate 2 - Trailer

Gate 3 - Awards

Gate 5 - Interview

Pacifica Radio Interviewer Julio Martinez interviews Alex Lyras on his award winning production, The Common Air.


Gate 6 - Quotes

  • Lyras, a muscular and compact steel spring of a performer who coils himself around his characters with tensile energy and unflagging skill in this well-crafted, must-see show.

    - LOS ANGELES TIMES

  • The Common Air is richer than Danny Hock's Or Eric Bogosian's solo showcases.

    - LA WEEKLY

  • An unsettling, compelling play. The Common Air takes flight for nearly 90 intense minutes

    - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

  • It's not a must see, it's a I want to see

    - Bleeker Street Theatre

  • An emotionally involving, finely detailed performance. A tour de force exhibity of verbal and physical dexterity

    - VARIETY

  • One superb actor. Six fascinating characters. 90 minutes of thought provoking drama. This is THE COMMON AIR, sure to be remembered at year's emd as one of the finest solo performances.

    - LA STAGE SCENE

  • Lyras and McCaskill have devised an interiguing piece of theatre about six disparate people conjoined through an arbitrary event. A remarkable one-man show.

    - BC Critics

Gate 7 - The Collaborators

Alex Lyras & Robert McCaskill

Alex Lyras & Robert McCaskill have written and produced theater, film and TV in New York, Los Angeles and regionally. They collaborate on writing for their stage projects, Lyras acts and McCaskill directs.

The Common Air, their third collaboration, was produced in Los Angeles at The Lillian Theater. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Tensile energy and unflagging skill in his well-crafted, must-see show." The production won multiple awards and transferred Off Broadway to 45 Bleecker Street where it ran for another five months.

Lyras and McCaskill produced the feature film, Heterosexuals, a comedy concerning three couples in three disparate stages of love, starring Natasha Lyonne, Ashley Williams, and Tovah Feldshuh. Their first film as writer/producers, Mona, a modern day Jules & Jim, won Best Picture at the Malibu Film Festival and chosen by the Film Society of Lincoln Center for broadcast on the PBS “Indies” series. They have developed TV pilots for NBC, FOX, Warner Brothers, Jerry Bruckheimer and Joel Silver.

Gate 8 - The Book

Smith & Kraus published a Trilogy of
The Common Air, Unequalibrium and Desperelics

Available at Amazon