2) Palanquin_Info

Title

Playwright   

SP O'Brien

Director

Sarah Lacy Hamilton

Category

Gallery - MacVey Theatre

1st Rehearsal

January 21st, 2020

Tech/Dress

February 23rd-26th

Performances

February 27, 28, 29, & March 1st

Roles to be Cast

LA // Rich. Female. 20s-30s. Hotel heiress, very business savvy, has like 30 perfume lines. She actually has a very high IQ but her celebrity personality is very much “air head princess”. She talks like a baby in front of the cameras; her resting voice is quite serious.

DC // Rich. Female or Non-Binary. 20s-30s. LA’s “best friend”. They’ve known each other since childhood. DC is rich too, but a dog food heiress (like Iams or something). They’re not business savvy like LA and don’t actually make any of their own money. They’re obsessed with LA.

BOSTON // Rich. Female or Non-Binary. 20s-30s. They suck so hard. They’re the executive producer of LA’s reality show. They control everything. Bold, dominating, scary. They’re a sadist. They’re sort of hooking up with LA.

TOPEKA // Rich. Female or Non-Binary. 20s-30s. A competent person. Non-threatening, unassuming, but has no problem taking charge and whipping things into shape when needed. They’ve just been hired as Boston’s assistant because Boston is losing it.

PROVIDENCE // Poor. Female or Non-Binary. 20s-30s. Contestant on LA’s reality show. A bit grungy. A little punk. Probably smokes unfiltered cigarettes and hookah. Down to earth. A survivor.

LANSING // Poor. Female or Non-Binary. 20s-30s. Contestant on LA’s reality show. Genuine altruist. Apple Pie. Probably was a kindergarten teacher in a past life. Knows how to play the game.

PHOENIX // Poor. Female or Non-Binary. 20s-30s. Contestant on LA’s reality show. An escort back home. Flighty, skittish, rebellious. A meth head until they arrived at this hell hole. Now Boston and LA smoke all their meth, and they just want to go back home.

HOODED FIGURES // Four figures in hoods. They are the guards of this television production studio. They are extra eyes. They probably are also Production Assistants. They do what they are told and do it well. They are surveillance incarnate. They move with nimble stealth; they almost glide. They are physically daunting--menacing. Their reticence and heavy presence is bone-chilling. These are non-speaking roles but they are actively involved in the action of the play. Any gender, age, race, height, etc--as their faces and bodies are most likely never seen.

*Pronouns can be changed in the script to fit the casting.

Synopsis

On her very own reality tv show, a glamorous, business-savvy, hotel heiress named LA will soon choose her new "best friend" from a pool of contestants desperate to earn the title. As contestants are eliminated week by week, the competition intensifies among those who remain. Behind-the-scenes, tension is rising between LA and her crew as the work of maintaining the show’s glitzy facade of “reality” is proving more challenging than anyone imagined. The stakes could not be higher, but we must remain calm for the cameras have eyes. The cameras never sleep.

Notices

1/20Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Observed), 1/25  Chinese New Year (Year of the Rat), 2/2  Groundhog Day, 2/2  Superbowl, 2/3Iowa Democratic Caucuses, 2/10  Magha Puja Day, 2/14 St. Valentine's Day, 2/15  Nirvana Day, 2/17  President's Day, 2/21  Maha Shivaratri , 2/25  Mardi Gras, 2/26  Ash Wednesday (Beginning of Lent), 

* Holidays marked with an asterisk (*) begin at sundown on the previous day.