Now that we've gotten the title and the dates out of the way, I suppose its time to actually talk about the plays themselves. Per the Short Form format, What I Took in My Hand will be comprised of four smaller 10-minute plays. After each of the mini-plays is workshopped, we will eventually combine all four plays and end up with a longer one (in theory, at least). As we continue to develop What I Took in My Hand, we will, no doubt, discuss the challenges and rewards of writing four thematically-linked 10 minute plays in four months. But for right now, maybe it would be more helpful to talk about the tentative overall plan for this project.
Jess has already briefly summarized the overall arc of the plays, but I think its high time we break things down a bit. As of right now, here's the titles and summaries of each of the four plays:
In The Spirit of St. Louis
On May 20, 1927, a 25 year old Charles Lindbergh began a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. 33 hours, 30 minutes and 29.8 seconds later, he was an American hero. This is the story of those hours inside the cockpit, a story of velocity and of moving, irresistibly, towards your life.
First He Giveth
On March 1, 1932, Charles Lindbergh’s son is kidnapped from his second floor nursery. On May 12, someone finds the baby dead in a ditch. There is a suspect, a trial and an execution. This isn't that story. This is the story of an empty bassinet and the grieved father who rocks it to sleep every night.
E pur si battimenti!
Collaborating with the revered surgeon, Dr. Alexis Carrel, Lindbergh begins work on a pump to keep organs alive outside of the human body. His intention is to put a human heart in a jar and keep it beating for one night, and thereby conquer death. Alone in the lab, Charles begins to tell bedtime stories to the beating heart.
As long as the heart beats, Charles is winning.
The heart eventually stops. Elysium
Maui, 1974. Diagnosed with lymphoma, the failed Immortalist prepares himself for death. He carves his own gravestone. He picks out his grave site under a tree and begins to dig it himself. And then something magical and impossible happens. Of course, this is all subject to change at the slightest whim. Stay tuned as we tear our hair out trying to make it all work. |
An investigative history of the Hartford Circus Fire of July 6th, 1944. Nominated for a Fringe First at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
oh.my.god.
i am so excited. i actually have goosebumps.
i miss you all so much!
much love from one (not-so-)urban metropolis to another,
tori