Topic: The Play's the Thing

Annabeth Caldwell

Date: 2016-03-20 20:43 EST
Annabeth looked down at the screen. It was done. Finished. Well not exactly. It was written and revised. Now it needed to be read.

She?d scorched the midnight oil rather than burn it the last week ? furiously revising well into the early hours. It had taken months to write the first draft, but something had bit her the night of the second Tempest performance and she knew exactly how she wanted it to look and move, breathe.

Now it just needed to be read.

Three to five people is what she usually aimed for. Preferably at least two of them with some theater experience. Who to go for this time though. Kruger certainly, he?d heard her babble about it often enough. Jenn of course. It was the rest that she wasn?t quite sure about.

Andu? He was a good friend, and would give her an audience?s perspective. He had been rather bogged down though of late. Icer would give her a similar perspective and might have more time to give to the project. She would like to know what both of them thought of it.

Yasmin? That was a two edged sword. Yas could definitely read it with the point of view of a leading lady. She would probably be fairly serious about it too, behind the scenes. Annabeth would have to impress Yas on the need to keep quiet about it.

Lirssa? Josette? Helen? Helen was a good choice. Dependable, and with a good eye for dialog, pacing, and stage direction.

Annabeth clicked on the print button satisfied with her list so far. Three definite choices, and five possibilities.

Annabeth Caldwell

Date: 2016-03-20 20:48 EST
Title: Home Fires

Dramitis Personae:
Vickie Inness - Woman in her early 30?s. Single, moved to the city as soon as she was 18, never looked back.
David Inness - Man in his late thirties. A professor at a small community college and single father.

Setting: Farmhouse Kitchen and Den in Eastern Tennessee.

Act 1: Vickie and David each inherited one half of their grandfather?s farm at his death. They return to the farm for the funeral, and afterward try to decide what to do with it. Vickie wants to sell the place and split the money evenly. David wants to keep it, and raise his daughter here, only he doesn?t have enough funds to buy Vickie?s half. There?s a buyer in the wings but he wants the whole farm, not half.

Act 2: They spend the next several scenes reminiscing and arguing. During one scene Vickie refuses to go to the den with David, and won?t explain why. David also gets several calls from his lawyer, but won?t go into details. Vickie finally drops an ultimatum. She?s leaving in two days he can either agree to sell, or she?ll take it to court and let a judge decide.

Act 3: The night before Vickie is going to leave David is drinking on the couch in the den. She calls to him from the kitchen. David refuses to move forcing Vickie to come into the den if she wants to talk to him. Finally she comes, but she refuses to look at him.

She asks David why he is so determined not to sell. David reveals that his ex-wife has remarried and is trying to get custody of their daughter. His lawyer thinks that having a house with a yard and neighbors would look better to a judge than his small apartment. That also explains why he can?t afford to buy Vickie out.

Then David asks why Vickie is so determined to sell. After some hesitation it comes out that years ago, while they were visiting the farm, Vickie walked in on their father and another man in the den. While her father was out of the room, the other man had molested her to ensure her silence.

The last scene has Vickie sitting at the kitchen table huddled over a cup of coffee, while David is talking to his lawyer. He has agreed to sell. There are other houses on the market.