Jen Silverman: Three Plays

Jen Silverman

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781786824288
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sozialwissenschaften
• Subtopic: LGBT-Studien

Three plays about transformation, intimacy and power from award-winning American Playwright Jen Silverman. Contains the plays The Roommate; The Moors and Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties. Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties - Five different women named Betty collide at the intersection of anger, sex, and the "thea-tah", falling in love in unexpected ways. The Moors -Two sisters and a dog living on the bleak English moors, and dreaming of love and power, are surprised by a sudden arrival. The Moors is a dark comedy about love, desperation, and visibility. In The Roommate a middle-aged housewife makes a new friend with a big secret.A dark comedy about what it takes to re-route your life - and what happens when the wheels come off.

THE ROOMMATEThis play is for Laurel Laffrey

THE ROOMMATE premiered at Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival in Spring 2015 under the artistic leadership of Les Waters. It was directed by Mike Donahue, set design by Andrew Boyce, costumes by Kathleen Geldard, lighting by Paul Toben, music and sound by Daniel Kluger, and dramaturgy by Kimberly Colburn. The cast was as follows:

ROBYN	Tasha Lawrence
SHARON	Margaret Daly

THE ROOMMATE was further developed, and produced with a different ending at Williamstown Theatre Festival in Summer 2017, under the artistic leadership of Mandy Greenfield. It was directed by Mike Donahue, set design by Dane Laffrey, costumes by Anita Yavitch, lighting by Scott Zielinski, and sound by Stowe Nelson. The cast was as follows:

ROBYN	Jane Kaczmarek
SHARON	S. Epatha Merkerson

***

A real debt of thanks to the many theaters that produced this play as it grew and changed. Personal thanks to Les Waters, Meredith McDonough, Amy Wegener, and Kimberly Colburn, who took a risk on a first draft; to Mike Donahue and Dane Laffrey, who helped me co-parent this play from its earliest stages; and to Mandy Greenfield, who gave us the chance to dig back in, the benefit of her sharp dramaturgical insights, and the trust that we'd figure it out in the end.

CAST

SHARON	F, 54.
ROBYN	F, 56.

TIME

Now.
Summer.

PLACE

A big old house in Iowa City.

NOTES ON THE TEXT

On line breaks: The spacing is a gesture toward indicating rhythm and how thoughts change, morph, contradict each other, escalate, or get supplanted by other thoughts as we talk. Line breaks often signal either an intensification of, or a shift away, from something. They do not indicate a beat or pause except where written.

On punctuation: Sections of dialogue may sometimes end without punctuation. When this happens, this is a gesture toward the fluidity and energy of the exchanges. The difference between a sentence that ends with a p...