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Travelogue: Second-Hand Nation
by Jerry Rabushka |
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It's a double edged sword - we writers love to talk about our work! In excruciating detail. Yet, we don't want to seem full of ourselves, or say that one little thing that changes someone's mind for the worse. Yet what's more off - putting than someone with a faux speech affectation telling you how they conceived their latest, most brilliant tome? But oh well, the good people at Brooklyn have allowed me the next few paragraphs to do just that - and I hope to acquit this balancing act well.
I used to live up the street from where I work; when I wrote the monologue Wispy Boy, I imagined it on my street, and the characters walking down to the little ice cream parlor by the train tracks. Quaint, indeed. I even picked out a house nearby, which for the story's purposes, held the abused deaf 'wispy boy.'
In between work and home - well, until I moved, that is - was an international grocery. You can get all kinds of things - frozen whole goat, snacks from India, cookies from Belgium, salsa from Argentina. For a long time, they've had a 'Kenya Shoe Drop;' just inside the front door were a few cardboard boxes of shoes to be shipped overseas.
Ideas for plays come in strange places, and I believe anything can be a play if you handle the material the right way. What if, I thought, someone's favorite and irreplaceable pair of shoes was donated to Africa, and its owner went on a safari to get it back?
After a few mental gyrations, I changed Kenya to a fictional country called Microbia; a place where everything is donated or handed down. Their music is out of date, their food is leftover, their clothing is 'what someone didn't want for Christmas,' and both the Americans and Microbians have wildly wrong ideas and prejudices about each other's lives.
One challenge in writing a fun play for production in high schools is putting together a flexible cast. You want a play that, in some cases, can be done with a group of 30 but at the same time, can work well with a group of 15 or 20.
I tried to solve this problem by creating several small yet memorable 'character' roles. Characters that have one or two scenes, but yet are fun to play and to costume. I wanted to make sure that if you're an actor with only a few minutes of stage time, you have the opportunity to play it to the hilt!
After all, how much fun is it when you're cast as the maid?
'I'll get it, madam.'
'As you wish, madam.'
Finally you want to say 'Get it yourself, madam, I'm not giving eight weeks of my life to say these two lines.'
I'll be the first to admit, running overseas for a pair of prom shoes is ridiculous and preposterous. But it's also funny as heck, and as a side order, it might teach us all a few things about respect for other cultures, as well as for members of our own family.
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For a Pair of Prom Shoes
by Jerry Rabushka | | Here's a play that'll start tongues wagging! You can imagine Sadie's distress when she finds out her mom just donated her unique pair of prom shoes to the small overseas nation of Microbia. Frantically chasing down the errant pair, Sadie finds herself 'one step behind' until finally she takes her sister and friends on an exotic journey to 'get back her sole.' Turns out Microbia is a place where everything is used goods... the clothes are out of style, the music is old, you name it, somebody else had it first. Sadie commits the ultimate crime - she butts in line at the shoe distribution pickup, and winds up in a foreign prison. Back at home, her family cooks up an ingenious scheme to get her back. This play has a large cast with well-drawn character roles, and many chances for doubling - a 'second hand tale' with some first rate laughs.
10 Males, 9 Females, 17 Either
(flexible; doubling/tripling possible; plus silent roles)
Playwright Bio
Jerry Rabushka is a founder of Ragged Blade Productions, a St. Louis-based theatre company dedicated to producing his original works locally and on the road. He has won awards for both his plays and musical compositions, and his plays have been produced throughout the U.S. and beyond.
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| | Free eScript Downloads | | | Available until 12-26-09. | For a Pair of Prom Shoes by Jerry Rabushka
Here's a play that'll start tongues wagging! You can imagine Sadie's distress when she finds out her mom just donated her unique pair of prom shoes to the small overseas nation of Microbia. Frantically chasing down the errant pair... Read more
Download free eScript
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Tammy Truelove and Tommy Truespirit are model high school students and very much in love. Enter Dean Mean, a new student and evil schemer, who has eyes for Tammy. Dean weasels his way into the good graces of Morebore, the English teacher... Read more
Download free eScript
Legend of Wenceslas by Walt Vail
In Prague, there is a legend that King Wenceslas' sword is hidden under the stones of the Charles Bridge. It is to be found by a child whenever Prague is threatened by enemies. It is Christmas Eve, 1939, and Prague is occupied by Germany... Read more
Download free eScript
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