The
Second Prompt
Brought
to you by: Broken Nose Theatre
Broken
Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can company that develops and produces new
work and seeks to cultivate empathy, spark conversation, and amplify
underrepresented voices.
Please
pursue their mission as you complete their challenge.
November
2nd
Challenge: The
only prop that can be used in this play is a toilet plunger. There can be as
many or as few as you'd like, but the plungers must in some way
cultivate empathy - take this seriously as it's part of our mission statement.
DUE
November 3rd by 7am CST
More
about Broken Nose, producers of BECHDEL FEST, a two-week festival featuring a
diverse ensemble of actresses in nine short plays that were predominantly
written and/or directed by women. In keeping with our sophomore year’s
theme of “Lessons,” each featured play centered around women who are going
through learning experiences of their own. What they learn about their
families, their friends, their surroundings, and themselves serves as the
driving force behind each of the stories.
(No disrespect to Broken
Nose and the toilet plungers but I’m gonna keep pushing on with the Cymbeline
riff for a bit)
(Also, I rolled back into
yesterday’s post and added the following – which will resurface today)
ACTOR 2 is a little awkward and/or bashful around
ACTOR 1, who he thinks is very cute.
ACTOR 1 does not mind this.
(So, on with today’s post)
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE) and
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN, puppet) (cont’d)
Fear
no more the lightning flash,
Nor
th'all-dreaded thunder-stone.
Fear
not slander, censure rash,
Thou
hast finished joy and moan.
All
lovers young, all lovers must
Consign
to thee and come to dust.
ACTRESS 2 drops her puppet arm to become POSTHUMUS
again and
ACTRESS 1 drops her puppet arm to become IMOGEN
again
for their big farewell scene.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTUMUS)
I
am an exile.
Off
I go to Rome, then.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
I
shall miss you.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTUMUS)
And
I, you.
Don't
marry your stepbrother.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
I'll
try not to.
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN,
puppet)
I
lose my head.
ACTRESS 2 reanimates the GUIDERIUS puppet on her
arm.
ACTRESS 2 (GUIDERIUS,
puppet)
You
were very rude.
ACTRESS 2 drops her puppet arm to become POSTHUMUS
again.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
Take
from me this ring.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTUMUS)
Take
from me this bracelet.
It is difficult to take a ring or a bracelet off
when you have a puppet on one of your hands.
ACTRESS 1 and ACTRESS 2 probably get around this by
using their free hand to take the ring or bracelet off the other person’s hand
for the exchange.
This will still be awkward. Enjoy.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN) and
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS) (cont'd)
I
shall put it on now –
It is impossible to put on a ring or a bracelet
with a puppet on one of your hands.
So, perhaps with a flourish, perhaps in
frustration, ACTRESS 1 and ACTRESS 2 fling the puppets quickly off their hands
and onto the floor.
ACTRESS 3 and ACTOR 2 emit squeals of pain on
behalf of the cast-aside puppets as they hit the ground.
ACTRESS 3 (for QUEEN) ACTOR 2 (for GUIDERIUS)
Ow.
Ow.
As they put the ring and bracelet on, the lovers
resume their pledge:
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN) and
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
I shall
put it on now, and I shall wear it as a sign of my faithfulness to you until we
are together again.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
(cont'd)
Nothing
could make me remove this bracelet.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTUMUS)
Nothing
could make me remove this ring.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN) and
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS) (cont'd)
Any
more than another person could make me break my promises to you.
ACTOR 1 sneaks in and gets the QUEEN puppet back on
ACTRESS 1’s puppet arm.
The young lovers are either so in love their
oblivious, or wondering why this guy’s cutting in on their big moment as:
ACTOR 2 reanimates the BELARIUS puppet on his arm.
ACTOR 2 (BELARIUS,
puppet)
People
put way too much emphasis on tokens and signs.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
This
happens a lot in Shakespeare.
ACTOR 2 drops his puppet arm to become PISANIO
again.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
That
is so romantic. What could possibly go
wrong?
ACTRESS 1 reanimates the QUEEN puppet on her arm.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
Please.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTUMUS)
Hey,
loyal servant.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
Yes,
my liege?
While having this conversation, ACTRESS 2 pulls the
CORNELIUS puppet out of the pile and puts it on her hand, but doesn’t animate
it – yet.
You can make a thing of this, or not.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTUMUS)
I
want you to keep an eye on - I mean, look out for, my beautiful wife while I'm
away.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
Not
that you don't trust her.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTUMUS)
Oh
no, I trust her completely. Just, you
know, keep an eye out.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
Absolutely.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTUMUS)
OK,
off to banishment I go.
ACTRESS 2 makes a big deal of walking off into
exile, but then immediately turns around and animates her puppet arm for CORNELIUS
because:
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
I
need poison. Because of course I do.
ACTRESS 2 (CORNELIUS,
puppet)
As
the palace doctor, I find it's not a very good idea to have poison around royal
people.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
I'm
the queen. Poison, I want. Poison, I get.
ACTRESS 2 (CORNELIUS,
puppet)
How
about I give it to this servant here, for safe keeping?
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
Sure. I'm not going to do the actual poisoning
myself, after all.
ACTRESS 2 (CORNELIUS,
puppet)
And
who are you planning to poison?
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
I'm
not wicked. I'm just consolidating
power.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN, puppet) exits.
ACTRESS 2 (CORNELIUS, puppet) turns to ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
ACTOR 2 thinks it’s POSTHUMUS returning for a
second.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
You’re
back!
ACTRESS 2 wiggles the CORNELIUS puppet in ACTOR 2’s
face.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
(cont’d)
Oh.
ACTRESS 2 (CORNELIUS,
puppet)
This
is a sleeping potion. Wink wink.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
Do
you have some kind of facial tic?
ACTRESS 2 (CORNELIUS,
puppet)
If
you need to relax, or even perhaps appear to be dead, this will be a totally
safe and not at all poisonous way to do it.
Just don't tell the queen.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
O-kay. I'm not telling her - ?
ACTRESS 2 (CORNELIUS,
puppet)
You're
not telling her it's not poisonous.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
So
I *am* telling her it's poisonous.
ACTRESS 2 (CORNELIUS,
puppet)
If
she asks. Wink wink.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
Seriously,
is there something wrong with you?
ACTRESS 2 (CORNELIUS,
puppet)
No. Things such as this "not poison"
sleeping potion that makes a person seem dead temporarily come in very handy in
fairy tales.
ACTOR 1 (ARVIRAGUS) steps forward to explain to
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO). It’s OK if this
moment gets a little flirty.
ACTOR 1 (ARVIRAGUS)
This
happens a lot in Shakespeare.
(to be continued)
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