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Play. F Andrew Leslie, from the novel by William E. Barrett. 4 men, 5 women : Open Stage with moveable props. Having decided to travel about the country after his discharge from
the army, Homer Smith has fixed up a bed in the back of his station
wagon and headed west, his plan being to stop for a day's work here
and there as the spirit moves him. Rolling through a parched valley
in the remote Southwest he encounters a group of nuns working in
the dusty fields, and his offer to help them for hire is quickly
accepted. His job is to fix a leaky roof, but when the time comes
to discuss payment the rather imperious Mother Superior seems to
understand even less English than usual. Although he has every intention
of insisting on his pay and moving on, Homer stays for supper, and
then another day, and another. Almost without realising it he is
drawn into the life of the nuns giving them English lessons, buying
food for their table, driving them to Mass, singing to them in the
evenings and, most importantly, coming to share the dream of building
the chapel which is Mother Maria Marthe's fondest hope. But the project
proves to be a burdensome and discouraging one and as the weeks wear
on Homer, with no bricks, no pay and no real hope for success, loses
- heart and resolves to go. He leaves, but just as Mother Maria Marthe
is convinced that God sent Homer to her in the first place, so does
she know in her heart that he will return - and he does. With the
help of the local farmers and the gift of many adobe bricks, the
chapel becomes a reality and Homer, despite his staunch Baptist background,
is invited to sit in the front pew for the first Mass to be said
in it. But his work is done, faith has earned its reward, and he
is free to go - this time for good. Yet even as he heads off into
the quiet night the meaning of what he has accomplished begins to
flourish and grow, creating a legend which, in time, brings fame
and success to the nuns and instills in their hearts a lasting gratitude
for the simple man who saw their need and gave unselfishly of himself
to meet it. Play: William Luce. Based on the autobiographical writings of Lillian Hellman. : 1F. Simple Interior The setting is an austere waiting room in a New York hospital, where
Lillian Hellman awaits the death of her longtime companion, Dashiell
Hammett. As she maintains her vigil, Miss Hellman's mind is flooded
with memories: her exciting but tempestuous years with Hammett; her
girlhood in New Orleans and New York, reminiscences of her beloved
parents; and her days of success and failure as an artist and a public
figure committed to liberal causes (some of which brought her into
sharp conflict with the powers- hat-be). With occasional pauses to
peer into the adjoining (off stage) sick room, she recalls the people
and incidents which shaped her life glittering figures from the worlds
of Hollywood and the New York theatre, literary giants who were both
friends and foes, and dearly loved personal associates like her black
nanny, Sophronia, who perhaps more than any other, helped her to
gain her burning social consciousness. In the end the play is both
a tour de force for an accomplished actress, and also a vital, fascinating,
sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always compelling portrait of
a remarkable woman and artist whose contributions both to the theatre
and the conscience of our nation will never be forgotten. Play. Horton Foote. 4 men, 3 women. Interior After the death of his alcoholic father, and his mother's remarriage,
young Horace Robedaux remained in Harrison, Texas, clerking in a
dry goods store. When his mother invites him to visit her and his
teenage sister, Lily, in Houston, Horace eagerly accepts, hoping
to resettle and find more promising employment. Once in Houston,
Horace is confronted by his gruff, surly stepfather, who dotes on
his spoiled sister, Lily, but dislikes Horace intensely - and shortly
orders him to leave. Horace's departure, however, is delayed by a
sudden bout of illness, which forces him to stay on for several weeks
as an invalid. This gives him the chance to re-establish his relationship
with his sister, whose memories of their late father are as bitter
as Horaces are forgiving. In the end Horace returns to Harrison,
convinced that during his brief stay the demons of the family's past
have been exorcised and that he, as well as his mother and sister,
can now face the future with a renewed strength of spirit. Play. James Goldman Although the outcome of the relationships depicted in this play
is historical fact, the quality and content of these relationships
are here imagined to be as vitriolic, lacerating, witty, disillusioned
and self-destructive as anything created by Strindberg or Albee.
Henry II and his Queen, Eleanor, whose mutual passion has long since
been destroyed by their obsession with intrigue and power, barter,
cajole and threaten to win for their favourite sons the Aquitaine,
Alais Capet, or the throne of England. Period 1183 Two plays. John Bowen The Coffee Lace ISBN 0 573 01238 5 Terrence McNally : Drama 2M 2F Exterior set Set on the outdoor terrace of an elegant beach house on Fire Island,
a brother and sister and their respective spouses attempt to celebrate
the 4th of July holiday weekend. Sally is married to Sam, a New Jersey
contractor, and she has inherited the house from her brother who
died of AIDS. Sam's hyperactive sister Chloe and her smug, aristocratic
husband John, have come for the weekend and, amidst the seemingly
mundane weekend activities, it becomes apparent that the two men
despise each other because John has had an affair with Sally; Sally
is panicked and melancholy because she is pregnant and fears a miscarriage,
while Chloe seems determined to drive them all mad with her incessant
chatter and enthusiasm for Broadway musical comedies. With the shadow
of Sally's brother David hanging over the festivities, they try to
divert themselves from the overpowering sense of their own mortality
with food, cocktails, fireworks, charades and biting jibes at each
other, but over the course of the weekend Sally, Sam, John and Chloe
find little to celebrate about themselves or their country on its
birthday. Play Terrence McNally. 4 men. Two Interiors. The first as is set in the fussily ornate apartment of Mendy, a
ferociously dedicated opera buff who begs and cajoles his friend
Stephen to let him borrow his copy of the pirated Maria Callers recording
of La Traviata made during a performance in Lisbon, Portugal. Stephen,
a blocked playwright whose detailed knowledge of opera exceeds even
Mendys, delights in showing off his expertise while dodging his friend's
entreaties, but beneath their often hilarious banter it is evident
that both men are deeply unhappy - Mendy because of his loneliness,
and Stephen because he is aware that his longtime roommate (whom
he loves deeply) is having an affair with someone else. Both it seems,
are trapped within opera, with its grand but contrived passions becoming
a neurotic substitute for real life. But in the second act, which
takes place in Stephens starkly modern apartment, reality arrives
with stunning force as Stephen confronts his roommate, Mike, and
tries to salvage their relationship. Sensing his failure, Stephen
turns on Mike and his new lover, Paul, driving the latter away and
taunting Mike so venomously that all hope of a reconciliation is
soon shattered. And, in the end, it is the operatic, the grandly
tragic, which assumes control again as Stephen, unable to accept
life and reality on their own terms, stabs his errant lover - tortured
by his continuing lack of creative fulfilment and by the compelling
need to preserve the illusion of love and fidelity to which he has
dung so desperately. |