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A few years back, before I began teaching full time, I wrote a play entitled Dead Parents: A Revenge Comedy. The play was staged initially in Lawrence, Kansas and received excellent reviews, and a couple of years later Dead Parents was awarded one of two annual awards for drama by the Ohio Arts Council.
The problem is, I simply haven't had the time or the energy to do much with the play since then. I'm hoping that somewhere out there in Barbelithland there is a theater person desperately seeking new material for a full production.
Dead Parents: A Revenge Comedy is a play about the events surrounding the sudden death of the mother of six children and the subsequent death, more spiritual than physical, of the father. The play centers around the youngest of the children, Frank, who finds himself feeling obliged to narrate these events.
But rather than dwell in what could be a quagmire of sentiment and remorse, the drama quickly shifts into a meta-dramatic gear and begins playfully to take on theoretical issues, such as the natures of autobiography and drama, the revision of history, and the responsibilities and ramifications of being a narrator. Ultimately, the audience and the characters realize that the play is actually about Frank's narrative itself, as well as his motivations for creating it the way he did.
As the title indicates, the play fiddles witht the Renaissance revenge tragedy tradition to the extent that Frank sees his vengeful portrayals of his siblings as morally and ethically justified. What is important, however, is that Frank possesses basically all of the shortcomings he so eagerly points out in his brothers and sisters.
The play has sixteen speaking parts, but can be performed by as few as twelve actors.
If you would like to know more, please contact me. |
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