Role in Boeing-Boeing, and public reading for Mrs. Loring!

I have two cool pieces of news for my career in the theater!

I've gotten a role in a professional show with Zero Point, the theater company I work for, called Boeing-Boeing. It is a silly, not totally tasteful but funny comedy show about a Parisian bachelor who juggles three flight attendant girlfriends because their flights call them away at different times, but is finding that faster jets means his schedules are starting to collapse into one another. I am playing Gabriella, the Italian girl with Alitalia. That means I have to practice my Italian accent! This is a very different sort of show than I usually do and I like this cast a lot, and I'm really excited to have gotten into a professional show. It's going up in the First Church of Boston downtown October 17th-20th. I hope you'll join me to hear my cheesy accent and see me look cute in a sixties stewardess uniform.

Also, Zero Point is giving me an opportunity to have a staged reading for my new full-length play, Mrs. Loring! It's the play I wrote for my thesis, inspired by and a prequel of sorts to The Tailor of Riddling Way. The summary:

"Young society wife Elizabeth Loring had everything she ever wanted, until her husband's death in World War I left her too emotionally shattered to live her life or care for her now-fatherless newborn daughter. At a loss, she has come to convalesce is an upscale mental hospital that provides comfort but traps troubled women in a cage of their own helplessness. But when she meets a young woman named Ginny in danger of being consumed by both her illness and the hospital itself, Elizabeth finds a new identity as a force of independence and strength in the face of an oppressive institution."

It will be going up in the Arsenal Center for the Arts black box in Watertown at 8PM on Thursday, August 29th. I'm still in the process of casting and assigning parts, but I do know that Elizabeth Loring will be read by the phenomenal Caitlin Patridge, and Ginny by the talented Samantha LeVangie, and I am extremely excited about that. I hope you will come and hear this piece presented by these talented actors. I've got rehearsals to arrange and editing to do, and I am determined to make this piece the best it can possibly be. Come out and help me develop this new piece!

31 Plays in 31 Days: #12 - "Protege"

I'm a little behind, but this was a piece I wasn't expecting to write and I'm glad I did. It could be very useful in the future, as it is an early scene in the sequel to Mrs. Hawking. I would like to open that piece with a scene that shows Mary's progress getting into Mrs. Hawking's work, with her mentor running her through a deduction and espionage exercise that leads to the solving of a case. Something fun, clever, and establishing to their growing dynamic. This scene would come immediately after. What I want here to is to set up an issue to explore for the rest of the play. Mary and Mrs. Hawking's relationship has to grow further, and I want it to happen with Mrs. H realizing that Mary could be her protege to continue her work on. What they may not see yet is that Mary may not fit exactly into the mold that her mentor wants to put her in, and that is something they'll have to work out.

Day #12 - "Protege"

MRS. HAWKING, avenger of downtrodden women
MARY, her housemaid and assistant
~~~

(MRS. HAWKING is in the parlor in his stealth suit, removing it piece by piece. MARY rushes back in through the front with her wrap and hat over her dress, exhilarated.)

MARY: Oh, that was extraordinary!

MRS. HAWKING: A task adequately managed, indeed.

MARY: I did it, I worked it all out, you saw it yourself!

MRS. HAWKING: Eventually. With some guidance.

MARY: Still, I did manage!

MRS. HAWKING: You did at that.

MARY: And yes, with your guidance. Everything you’ve wanted to teach me, I’ve worked very hard to learn.

MRS. HAWKING: Yes. Yes, you have.

MARY: You have seen it, madam, haven’t you?

MRS. HAWKING: You’ve been a diligent student. In fact… you’ve been an excellent one. Better than I dared hope.

(MARY beams at her. Then she begins taking off her wrap, her hat, and her gloves. MRS. HAWKING becomes contemplative, and after a moment MARY notices.)

MARY: Are you all right?

MRS. HAWKING: It’s only… it makes me think. I’ve been at this work for half my life now, and before you, I’d always done it alone. I thought that when it came time that I could not keep on with it any longer… that would be the end of it. All my efforts would die with me. But since you’ve come along, you’ve learned. You’ve risen to every challenge that’s come your way. I would never have guessed what help you would be to me.

MARY: Oh, madam. Do you mean that?

MRS. HAWKING: I do.

MARY: I’m sure I’m not the assistant you would have imagined.

MRS. HAWKING: Perhaps not. And yet I see now that I have in you a protégé, on your way to becoming a true partner. And one day, you’ll carry it all on in my stead.

MARY: Mrs. Hawking… I don’t know what to say.

MRS. HAWKING: Is that a path that you could see for yourself?

MARY: After everything you’ve shown me… it’s the only path I can see. Thank you.

MRS. HAWKING: No need. I can rest easy in the future of my life’s work.

(She turns away, pleased, and begins to gather up her things. MARY watches her, charmed.)

MARY: Why, Mrs. Hawking?

MRS. HAWKING: Yes?

MARY: I do believe you’re smiling.

(MRS. HAWKING frowns hard.)

MRS. HAWKING: I beg your pardon?

MARY: You never smile.

MRS. HAWKING: Certainly not. I don’t know what you’re on about, Miss Stone.

(She gathers her things in an armful and strides from the room. MARY watches her, and glows.)