FATES & FURIES
Fates & Furies: Three Short Plays received a reading in New York at the Bay Street Theatre on
November 17, 2007.
FATES & FURIES: THREE SHORT PLAYS
The Second Act Problem: A Comedy
CHARACTERS:
BRYNETH – a deranged aspiring playwright
ALBRECHT – a celebrated master in the field
Last Light
CHARACTERS:
STUART – late 40s, early 50s
HELENA – early 20s
The Stormy Waters, The Long Way Home
CHARACTERS:
RENATA – late 30s to early 50s, beautiful in a wistful, childlike way
THE SECOND ACT PROBLEM: A COMEDY
(10 minutes, 1 female actor, 1 male actor)
AWARDS:
Samuel French One-Act Festival, finalist (2006)
FirstStage One-Act Contest, honorable mention (2006)
PRODUCTION:
Samuel French One-Act Festival (2006)
CHARACTERS:
BRYNETH – a deranged aspiring playwright
ALBRECHT – a celebrated master in the field
LAST LIGHT
(One Act, 30 minutes)
Stuart and Helena wake up on the first day of their marriage. He is a successful and respected author, she a much younger student. As they begin to plan their day they reveal life ambitions that were never spoken before they said, "I do."
On the first day of their marriage, a celebrated writer announces to his much younger and starstruck, wife his sudden realization of the emptiness of artistic striving. He wants to leave everything—that very day—to travel to a remote, windswept place deeply meaningful to him in his youth. He wants her to be part of a new life he starts there. But she suspects he is running away, afraid he is unable to finish a landmark series of books to cap his career—and she has banked everything on being part of his accomplished life, at last being introduced to cultural icons she longs to meet. As they negotiate whether they will actually leave to honor what seems the more they talk a life-or-death desire, the two confront the fact their whirlwind courtship has allowed unfounded fantasies about one another to grow. (STUART, early 50s; HELENA, early 20s)
LAST LIGHT is one of a series of plays I’ve written that concerns questions of creativity and the struggles of the artistic life. It grapples with how difficult it is to create—even those who have accomplished a great deal often pull back when it comes to facing the artistic void. Still others channel their artistic urges through a vicarious enjoyment of others’ success. LAST LIGHT explores the paradox of two people who seek something from the other—Stuart to escape a crisis in his writing career by throwing himself into a younger woman he imagines will take him completely awayt, and Helena, young, lost, yet ambitious, who has banked everything on finding stability and meaning through his achievements. Yet if either attains their desire, is means the other will be denied their deepest wish. I’m interested in developing this piece further in rehearsal.
CHARACTERS:
STUART – late 40s, early 50s
HELENA – early 20s
THE STORMY WATERS, THE LONG WAY HOME
(10 minutes, monologue)
PRODUCTION:
Samuel French One-Act Festival (2001)
Ensemble Studio Theatre (2000)
Pulse Ensemble Theatre (2001)
O’Connor Theatre Project (2001)
CHARACTERS:
RENATA – late 30s to early 50s, beautiful in a wistful, childlike way