Please Help Me Find a Play!!!

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 9/6/04 at 1:58am

I know, I know.
I said I wouldn't do this again.
But I'm desparate.
I have to get the play I'm directing this semester approved by September 20th.
I've gone through every anthology of plays in the library this weekend.
I have the last 154 that I haven't gone through checked out, and in my possession.
If I don't find something there, I'm totally and completely screwed.

So please, if you have any idea of a play that might work, please, please, post it.

The play requirements:

• Must be 20-30 minutes long (about 10-15 pages)
  
• Must have 3-4 characters
  
• Must be a published work by a known author

Keep in mind that I attend a women's college, so the more female the cast, the better.
But suggest anything.
Please.
I just need a direction to look in.

Originally I was looking for a comedy, but now I'll take whatever I can get.
(I've been looking into Christopher Durang, David Ives, and Wendy Wasserstein, but nothing has worked so far.) Updated On: 9/6/04 at 01:58 AM

Posted: 9/6/04 at 2:08am

The things that sprung to my mind:

"The Gloaming, Oh My Darling" by Megan Terry
" . . . perhaps the most tender of Miss Terry's plays. Two old ladies in hospital beds talk of themselves, their lives and families, the past and the future. Time slides in and out, it might all be the same time. The backbone of the play is their embrace of ife - however little of it may be left." - there are moments of interaction with daughters and nurses that could be configured and cast to suit your needs and availability. it's a one act.

"The Shadow Box"
Do the segments that have to do with Agnes and Felicity, and have the interviewer cast as an onstage role.

"Agnes of God"
It is possible to do a reduced version of this piece.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 9/6/04 at 10:33am

Check out anthologies by Jane Martin -- lots of small cast plays -- and the Marsha Norman collection volume one/two. Also, Rebecca Gillman. She's prolific, very sharp, and her plays cut well, I believe. (BOY GETS GIRL is a v.potent piece about a yuppie stalker, with a couple of stunning scenes that would work beautifully alone. Do read it if you haven't.)

[Jon]

Posted: 9/6/04 at 10:34am

Look at "All in the Timing" and "Mere Mortals and Others" by David Ives. These are collections of hysterically funny short plays - each about 10 to 15 minutes long. You could do two of them to make a 30 minute program.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 9/6/04 at 11:15am

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

DGrant - I will look into all three of your suggestions. Thank you.

Auggie27 - I will look for those authors. Actually, I did a scene in an acting class from "Boy Gets Girl" once. Very creepy stuff. Excellent. I'm not sure if my directorial skills are up to that, but I'll give it another read.

Jon - I don't think I'm allowed to do two plays. I own "All in the Timing" and have been reading through it. A few of the plays MIGHT work, but the time element is difficult to gauge by read-throughs since the dialouge is all so snappy. "Words, Words, Words" (the monkeys typing Hamlet), "Variations on the Death of Trotsky", and "The Philadelphia" all fit the character and page requirements. My professor might not approve them, however, as they are all so very unconventional and a lot of my grade is based on analysis. How do you pick out a protagonist in "Words..."? Or find the climax of "...Trotsky"?

I had one other thought...

I really like "Sure Thing", but it only has two characters.
Do you think it would work if I used two actors to play each character?
Like, one man and one woman sitting at the table, and an additional man and woman standing upstage from them next to a table with a bell on it.
And then, whenever the scenario between one pair went wrong, one of the other two could ring the bell, and then switch with their counterpart, and try a new tactic to change the outcome.
Does that make sense?
Am I stretching too much?
Is it legal?

If you have any thoughts on this, or if you should suddenly think of another play, anthology, or author I should look into, please let me know.
Any help I can get is greatly appreciated.

[NuggetMonkeys]

Posted: 9/6/04 at 12:26pm

For the main female character I would say "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You".
Now you just need a small, pre-pubescent boy.
hmmm...
-d.b.j-

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 9/6/04 at 1:30pm

NM, I am very confused by your suggestion.
And a little frightened.
But, um, thanks for trying.

[NuggetMonkeys]

Posted: 9/6/04 at 2:25pm

Why? In "Sister Mary", there is a small 8-year-old boy named Thomas.

you sicko!

-d.b.j-

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 9/6/04 at 6:20pm

I was mostly confused since you prefaced it with "For the main female character".
And, well, I'm looking for a play, not a character.
Also, that play is not short.
There are not many boys around here (of any age).
So it really does not fit my purposes at all.
I still love you, though.
Thanks for trying.

Anybody else got an idea?
Or thoughts on my 4-actor version of Sure Thing?
Anyone?
Please?

[Auggie27]

Posted: 9/6/04 at 7:20pm

A play hit me this afternoon -- an older one: "Lovers" by Brian Friel ("Dancing/Lugnasa..") This is a lovely two act, two character piece. Each act can be performed alone, and stands alone.

But if your faculty advisor will allow you, don't be afraid to do a meaty 20 minute scene from a full-length play. I sometimes think they can be even more effective than one-acts, because such things as too-truncated exposition, etc. don't get in the way. You can focus on the heart of the scene's conflict, the subtext, and sometimes, subtler character nuance.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 9/6/04 at 8:03pm

Thanks Auggie.
You rock.

I don't think I'm allowed to do scenes from plays unless they can truly stand on their own.
Basically, my entire grade on this class is composed of many steps which cuminate in this play (the performance of which is graded as my Final).
And a great deal of that has to do with analysis of the structure of the play.
But I'll ask him about it.
Thanks for the suggestions.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 9/8/04 at 1:37am

Alright, I have officially exhausted the resources of my college library.
This is my current "I wouldn't die if I was forced to direct this" list...

1. "Sure Thing" - David Ives (but with 4 actors)
2. "Suppressed Desires" - Susan Glaspell (might have to be shortened)
3. "Blue Stars" - Stuart Spencer
4. "Words, Words, Words" - David Ives
5. "Variations on the Death of Trotsky" - David Ives
6. "The Other Mother" - Esther C. Averill
7. "Jilted" - Mary Graham Lund
8. "Tradition" - George Middleton
9. "Company House" - Sigmund A. Stoler
10. "Indian Summer" - Betty Brydon Beecher
11. "The Philedelphia" - David Ives
12. "Even Exchange" - Paul S. McCoy

If you have any opinion on any of these ideas (be it positive or negative), please post them or PM me. And by all means please continue to suggest ideas. Thank you for your help.

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 9/8/04 at 1:42am

God by Woody Allen.
Warning: theatre of the absurd!

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 9/8/04 at 1:45am

Good luck with your production!

Posted: 9/8/04 at 8:37am

Check out the series of one-acts called "Tonight at 8:30" by Noel Coward. There are 9 one-acts in this series in which 3 were performed in an alternating schedule when originally produced, and when curtain time actaully was 8:30pm. You could select one, and be able to offer a complete, unedited performance. Also, you could speak of the unusual format and the history of the show as an interesting introduction.

Posted: 9/8/04 at 12:42pm

If you want to make a bit of a statement, Vanities is great. The author is Jack Heiffner (sp?) and features three girlfreinds over the course of three monumental times in their lives. 1)High School, 2)College and 3) a renunion between the three ten years past college. The set is really simple, and the concept of "Vanities" is each actress has their own vanity on stage, and do complete changes between scenes in full view of the audience. This also needs to be the way that the audience can see (through the costume changes) how the freinds are drastically growing apart. I have even been involved in a production where the actresses actually had to sing songs from the different era's portrayed after the costume changes were completed. So say the first act was set in the 60's the song choices might be "What the World Needs Now is Love", My Boyfreinds Back", and maybe "Leader of the Pack" - depending on the background of the character.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 9/8/04 at 10:46pm

Thanks Judy, Tommy, and WannaBe!


My project just got harder... New restrictions:
- must be a modern, realistic play (which I believe cuts out all of the David Ives things on my list. Damn.)
- found costumes only
- 4-7 lighting cues
- 2-4 sound cues
- no re-gelling, must use lights just as hung, no specials.

And the worst part... My set may only consist of things from the following list:
- 2 rolling doors
- 1 rolling window
- 1 two-person cube
- 4 one person cubes
- 1 4'x8' 6" platform
- 1 4'x8' 12" platform

Posted: 9/8/04 at 10:50pm

What about Lone Star..it has three guys. And then Laundry and Bourbon has three girls. They're both one acts, I'm not sure how long. Lone Star's for "mature" audiences and Laundry and Bourbon is OK for anyone, it's about three women who drink bourbon while folding clothes out on the front porch. pretty great.

My college is doing the two shows for the dinner theatre :) Hopefully I'll be cast :) :) :)

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 9/9/04 at 12:27am

FF~ Absurd Person Singular by Alan Ayckborun

It may fit many of your requirements (modern comedy, realistic,3-short acts, minimum props(all takes place in one kitchen). My college friend directed it at Rutgers North (Jersey).

Here's a link to this and other plays as well as the scrpits, etc.
http://www.stageplays.com/

Updated On: 9/9/04 at 12:27 AM

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 9/9/04 at 7:01am

There is a great short play by Susan Glaspell called Trifles. You can read the entire play at :

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/trifles.htm


"In Susan Glaspell's play Trifles (1163), she tells a story of mystery and intrigue, surrounding an apparent murder. The setting is in the early twentieth century and it appears to be cold, maybe late fall or the dead of winter. Either way the mood is chilling; cold like the death that has set the tone of the play. Although a death or a murder had taken place, Glaspell was not trying to make it the main theme. The main point she was leading to was the plight that so many women faced during this time in history. Glaspell illustrates how in the early twentieth century women were second class and some time were treated as such even by the men they were married to.
Women in the early to mid twentieth century were mainly relegated to the house. The upkeep of the house and maintenance of their husbands was or the most part their only job. Their job was thankless and that sometimes-bordered on slavery. Mrs. Wright was lively and happy before her marriage. The two female characters in the play even talk about the beauty of her voice before marriage, and how she used to sing in the church choir. Over the years her husband Mr. Wright seemed to break her down and transformed her into somebody to meet his own needs. The only thing that seemed to make her happy was a bird, a sweet singing canary that may have turned out to be a breaking point in Mrs. Wright. When Mrs. Wright found the bird dead, she snapped and killed her husband. Mrs. Wright found a way to free herself from the prison that Mr. Wright had kept her in, through murder she escaped.

Mrs. Wright was not the only one Glaspell was trying to make a point for the suffrage that women endured in the early twentieth century. She cleverly makes her point through the other two female characters in the play, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale. In the beginning of the play the men make comments on the cleanliness of the house, Court Attorney: …not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?(1166, 31). This statement demonstrates the sentiment that men had for women, whose responsibility for the upkeep of the house was the women's. The ladies are quick to come back, Mrs. Hale: Theres a great deal of work to be done on a farm."(1166, 32). "Stiffly"(1166) was used to describe the mood the actress needed to represent to the audience. Glaspell uses this tone to represent that these women knew how tough life could be for a woman on a farm or in any household.

Mrs. Wright was driven to murder her husband by the systematic breakdown of her lively spirit that existed before she got married. By the end of the play, it is the women who concluded to what had happened in the Wrights household. And it is these very women who decide not to share this information with the men. Men who would not understand, or take into consideration the events that led up to the murder. Glaspell shares with the audience what time was like for women in the early twentieth century, a point in time that was hard, thankless, and sometime life changing experience for women. At the time Glaspell wrote the play, maybe this was the only way to bring light to what was maybe going on in her own life, and in the world. "

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 9/9/04 at 9:29am

Captain_Obvious - Cannot do a 3m play at a women's college. And "Laundry and Bourbon" was done last year (and even though I WAS OUT OF THE COUNTRY, I'm not allowed to do it.) Thank you.

PB ENT. - Thanks, I'll look into that.

South FL Marc - Actually, we're using "Trifles" as our example piece for the entire semester, so that's out. But thank you for the suggestion.

Posted: 9/9/04 at 1:16pm

Do check out Vanities then, it looks like it may work for the new specs you provided! The set does not change at all - it's modern and the costumes can be found at any good will or salvation army...or even your closet I bet! Updated On: 9/9/04 at 01:16 PM

Posted: 9/9/04 at 1:18pm

~FF~ With those new parameters, I'd REALLY check out The Shadow Box segment I mentioned before.

[ckeaton]

Posted: 9/9/04 at 1:31pm

A little too after school special?:
http://www.davidmatthewbarnes.com/ayarit.html

Define modern?:
http://oneactplays.net/revisioning.html

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 9/9/04 at 6:28pm

There's always the short play "The Marriage Proposal" by Chekov. It's a 3 character comedy. Very funny and great to act.