Ultimately, they are cast into another room offstage, which is represented by a dark void, by God, the steam bath's Puerto Rican attendant, with the help of his assistant Gottlieb.
Steambath was controversial when first produced for its obscene language (which was softened for its television version), its satirical take on religion, and some brief nudity.
Friedman claims to have been inspired to write the play in part because of a "bad experience with the food at a Chinese restaurant" that had him contemplating mortality.
[1] Anthony Perkins directed the original production which starred Perkins as Tandy, Hector Elizondo as the Attendant (God), Marvin Lichterman as Bieberman, Annie Rachel as Meredith, Conrad Bain as Old Timer, Mitchell Jason as Broker, Jere Admire as Young Man, Teno Pollick as 2nd Young Man, Eileen Dietz as Young Girl, Alfred Hinckley as Flanders, Gabor Morea as Gottlieb, Jack Knight as Longshoreman, and William Walsh as 2nd Longshoreman.
Coincidentally, Grodin soon landed his breakthrough role as a comedy actor in the film The Heartbreak Kid, based on a short story by Steambath author Friedman.
Steambath became a TV series for six weeks on the cable network Showtime in 1984 starring Robert Picardo in the Tandy role, Janis Ward as Meredith, Al Ruscio as DaVinci, Rita Taggart as Blanche and Allen Williams as Gottlieb.