Director's Notes

1/25/2019 Director's Notes - Google Docs

Director’s Notes
Table of Contents

1. Scene by Scene……………………………………………………………………………………….…...1
a. Immediate Circumstances……………………………………………………………………….1
b. Between Scenes………………………………………………………………………………….3
c. Time………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
2. Big Ideas……………………………………………………………………………………………….……7
a. Recurring Themes………………………………………………………………………………..7
b. Concrete Details…………………………………………………………………………………..9
c. Guidelines for Playing the Genre………………………………………………………………10
3. Analyzing the Action.…………….……………………………………………………………….………10
a. Events of the Play.…………….………………………………………………………………...10
b. Intentions……….………………………………………………………………………………...12
c. Scene Names.…………………………………………………………………………………...13
4. Character……………………………………………………………………………………………..……13
a. Character Descriptions……………………………………………………………..…………..13
b. Character Flow Chart……………………………………………………………..…………….13
c. Character Thoughts Re: Self……………………………………………………………..…....14
d. Character Thoughts Re: Others……………………………………………………………….18
5. Design / Production………………………………………………………………………………….……23
a. Rules for Entrances/ Exits………………………………………………………………...……23
b. Guidelines for Set……………………………………………………………….……………....23
c. Guidelines for Costumes……………………………………………………………….……....26
d. Guidelines for Lighting……………………………………………………………….………....29
e. Guidelines for Sound……………………………………………………………….…………...29
f. Guidelines for Video……………………………………………………………….…………....29
g. Look Book Material……………………………………………………………….……………..32
6. Dramaturgical Work……………………………………………………………….……………………...38
a. Historical Timeline…………………………………………………………………………….…38
b. Political Background/ Archival Material……………………………………………………….41
c. Bibliography…………...…………………………………………………………….……….…..43
d. Resources for Actors……….…………………………………………………………………...44
7. Rehearsal Plans…………………………………………………………………………………………..45
a. Key Words/ Vocab……………………………………………………………………………….45
b. Guidelines for Giving Feedback……………………………………………………………….45
c. InClass Workshop Plan………………………………………………………………………..45
d. Final Rehearsal Lab Plan……………………………………………………………………....46
e. Ideas for Improvisations………………………………………………………………………...47
f. Rehearsal Schedule…………………………………………………………………………….49
8. Program Materials………………………………………………………………………………………...51
a. Cast and Staff Bios……………………………………………………………………………...51
b. Director’s Notes………………………………………………………………………………….52
9. Press……………………………………………………………………………………………………….53
a. Reviews…………………………………………………………………………………………..53
b. Performance Photos…………………………………………………………………………….55
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EFHIcK25pIrqYaup6NtzeCc1EmJhKonSuS7BPXsQzm4/edit 1/57

1
1. Scene by Scene
a. Immediate Circumstances
1.1 Questions
● April is 8 years old. ● Why is April’s father not around?
● Mama and April live in a trailer together. ● Is April’s mother too fucked up to save
● Mama is a recovering meth addict who never herself?
quite found Jesus. ● Did Mama vote for Reagan? Did she vote at
● April sees herself as a liability. all?
● April likes to color. ● How often has April seen television sets
● The father figure is absent. before now?
● Mama sees in black and white. ● How expensive is cable?
● April dreams in black and white. ● Was Papa abusive?
● April and Mama are getting their first TV set. ● Why is Mama so impatient?
● Ronald Reagan has just been inaugurated. ● Where does Mama work?
● Mama is a clerk. ● How long have they been living here?
● Mama believes Reagan is gonna get ● How many other people in the park have
everyone’s jobs back. television sets?
● Reagan advocates for the working class.
● Reagan is on his way to church.
1.2 Questions:
● Cynthia is also from a trailer park. ● What is Cynthia’s relationship with class?
● She is at a job interview for the FBI. ● What is she hoping to get out of this job?
● We are at the Unit in Quantico, VA. ● How did she prepare for the interview?
● Cynthia was recruited by Tom at a career fair ● Did Cynthia pay to fly out herself?
her junior year at Columbia. ● Is Cynthia’s father still in the picture?
● Cynthia flew out for the interview. ● What part of her background is not
● Cynthia is using her father’s last name. American?
● Cynthia views it as more “allAmerican.” ● How do Cynthia’s parents feel about the
● Cynthia has a relative named Michelle who work she does? Do they understand it?
disappeared in the ‘70s.
● She applies lipstick before doing her interview.
1.3 Questions:
● Tania is not concerned with being pretty. ● How sincere is she when she says she
● Tania was raised to believe in Jesus. doesn’t feed into beauty standards?
● Tania is a stripper. ● What is Tania’s relationship to theater/art?
● She writes her prices on the window in lipstick. ● What previous artistic experiences are
● Her boss values younger girls more. feeding into this performance?
● Tania likes to make her customers ● How does Tania feel about religion now?
uncomfortable. ● Why Mary Magdalene?
● Her act involves cosplaying as Mary ● How long has Tania been working here?
Magdalene and dancing on the cross. ● Has her relationship with Daniel changed
● Tania went to Catholic school. over time at all?
● Tania feels underappreciated as an artist.

2
1.4 Questions:
● April only puts her feet on the couch when ● What does a general work week look like
Mama is out. for her?
● April uses her lipstick as eyeshadow. ● Does Mama enjoy her job?
● Mama thinks lipstick makes April look like a ● How much does Mama earn?
whore. ● How often does April wake up or go to
● Mama believes the devil has taken too much sleep while her mother is out?
from her to take her daughter too. ● How many times has April seen Reagan on
● Mama isn’t getting paid enough. TV?
● It is Wednesday. Mama works three shifts on ● How much does she understand about the
Wednesdays. strike?
● Mama will not be making dinner. ● How much does Mama understand?
● Reagan is planning to quash all the air traffic ● How many times has Mama called April a
controller strike. whore?
● Reagan claims he is America’s most ● At what age did this start?
unionfriendly president.
1.5 Questions:
● The plumbing doesn’t work in Cynthia’s home. ● How often does Cynthia call her mother?
● Cynthia talks to her mother on the phone. ● How much money does Cynthia send
● Cynthia sends money home. home?
● The Unit stores information about serial killers. ● How often does she interact with Tom while
● Cynthia works as a behavioral analyst. at work?
● Cynthia works eight hours a day. ● How many other people work with them? Or
● Tom and Cynthia are on a firstname basis. are they all alone?
● Tom expresses concern over Cynthia’s mental ● What experiences has Tom had with this
wellbeing. information in the past?
● Tom’s father fought in Korea. ● Does Tom know about Cynthia’s financial
● The turnover rate at the Unit is high. situation?
1.6 Questions:
● Three days earlier, Wendy Lee Coffield’s body ● Is this the first time April has heard Mary
was discovered in Green River, Oregon. M’s name in church?
● Father Lichten recalls the story of Mary ● What other aspects of puberty emerge for
Magdalene. April during this time?
● Father Lichten portrays her as a sex worker. ● Has April been following the Coffield case?
● Father Lichten speaks often of sin. ● Does Mama know that April is praying to
● April begins her period. Mary M, or has begun her period?
● April begins praying to Mary Magdelene. ● What would Mama do if she knew?
1.7 Questions:
● April is becoming more and more fascinated ● What are Jordan and Tania’s relationships
with the missing sex workers. with diaspora?
● Tania is a sex worker. ● How much do each of them believe in God?
● Jordan is one of Tania’s johns. ● Why is Jordan saving himself?
● Jordan was raised Catholic. ● How much do their experiences in Catholic
● Jordan’s mother would not approve of the act. school overlap?

3
● Jordan has been indoctrinated with images of ● Why is Jordan so attracted to blasphemy?
a white Jesus. ● Is this Jordan’s first time in a strip club?
● Jordan is saving himself. ● How did each of them end up in Miami?
● Jordan has a lot of homerelated trauma. ● Does Jordan live alone?
1.8 Questions:
● April has begun praying to the sex workers. ● What does Tom mean when he alludes to
● Papa doesn’t write back. things that are “personal”?
● Mary doesn’t answer. ● What is Tom’s relationship with his father
● Cynthia’s sister was found dead in a river. like?
● It is implied that she was a sex worker. ● Is Tom’s concern for Cynthia sincere?
● Cynthia’s family left King County for a trailer ● What really happened to Michelle?
park in California. ● How consensual is this moment between
● Tom used to pray that his father wouldn’t come the two of them?
home.
1.9 Questions:
● Reagan has admitted to America’s growing ● What are the three jobs that Mama works?
unemployment problem. ● How much has her time at work increased
● The sex worker murders are continuing. over the years?
● Mama comes home late from work. ● What time does Mama get home? Is it later
● Mama works three jobs now. now than it used to be?
● Mama tells April stories about her absent ● How true are Mama’s stories?
father from time to time. ● What do we make of April’s father?
● April’s father was an Eric Clapton fan.
● Mama has to wake up at 5am.
1.10 Questions:
● Jordan is shirtless and handcuffed to the back ● Has Jordan experimented with kink before?
room bed. ● What was the process of negotiating
● Tania is in the bathroom. What’s taking her so consent leading up to this?
● What is Jordan’s relationship to drugs?
long, we can’t be sure.
● What have his previous experiences with
● The TV is playing in the bedroom. lipstick been?

b. Between Scenes

April and Mama
● 1.1 – 1.4
○ Reagan cuts in social programs and increases defense spending.
○ The air traffic controllers began their strike.
○ Just over six months have passed.
○ Mama has been given more hours to work.
○ April has become more interested in union politics.
○ April has begun experimenting with Mama’s lipstick.
● 1.4 – 1.6
○ Reagan conceded that the United States was in “a slight recession.”
○ An early CBS Report on AIDS was released, calling it the “gay cancer.”

4
○ April has been having more thoughts about purity after the lipstick incident.
○ Wendy Lee Coffield became the first of Ridgeway’s victims to emerge.
● 1.6 – 1.8
○ April has begun praying for the sex workers.
○ April sees Mary as a protective force.
○ April has been doing this for just over six months.
● 1.8 – 1.9
○ April has begun seeing less of Mama.
○ April has begun asking more questions about Papa.
○ April has begun spending more and more time watching TV.
○ Sex workers have started to disappear in San Diego – much closer to April.
● 1.9 – 1.11
○ April has begun voicing her desire to leave the park.
○ Mama and April have been arguing more.
○ April has been falling behind in her school work.

Cynthia and Tom
● 1.2 – 1.5
○ Just over seven months have passed.
○ Tania has moved to VA and begun working for Tom fulltime.
○ Tom and Cynthia have had a fairly professional relationship until this point.
○ Cynthia’s job has been fairly monotonous.
○ Cynthia has been keeping in touch with her family back home.
○ Cynthia has been reading up on the killers..
● 1.5 – 1.8
○ Cynthia and Tom have grown closer.
○ It has been one year since we’ve seen them together.
○ Cynthia has had several conversations about her sister with Tom before this.

Tania and Jordan
● 1.3 – 1.7
○ Sex workers have started to disappear in San Diego and King County, WA.
○ It has been seven months since we’ve last seen Tania.
○ Tania has been encountering more conflict with Daniel over her act.
○ Tania is beginning to worry about being able to keep her job as she gets older.
● 1.7 – 1.10
○ Fourteen months have passed.
○ Tania and Jordan have been seeing one another on a regular basis.
○ Their relatinship has become more intimate.
○ Donna Gentile has gone missing in San Diego, CA.

c. Time

● 1.1
○ This is 25 years in Grown April’s past.
○ The date is Jan. 20, 1981. It is the day of Reagan’s inauguration.
○ It is Tuesday – a work day for Mama and a school day for April.
○ It is shortly after noon, when the program was scheduled to begin.


5
○ It is lunchtime.
○ It is winter, but sunny and crisp, as we are in California.
○ The days are shorter than usual.
○ Mama and April have both gone home early for the special occasion.
○ Mama has been off drugs for six years.
○ It is also their sixth year of living in the trailer park.
● 1.2
○ It has been ten years since Michelle’s disappearance.
○ It is one month after Cynthia’s graduation from college.
○ It has been nine years since the unit was founded.
○ It is Tom’s fifth year on the job.
○ It is late June, 1981.
○ It is summer in Virginia (so probably around 78°F), but the building is air conditioned.
○ The interview is scheduled for 2:15pm sharp. It is a Monday.
● 1.3
○ It is midJuly 1981.
○ It is a Tuesday night.
○ Tania has just finished her set, so it’s around 1 am.
○ Tania has been working for Daniel for three years (since she was 19).
○ Daniel has been working there for ten years.
○ It is summer, hot and humid in Florida.
○ Tania isn’t planning on going to sleep until at least 4.
● 1.4
○ Six months have passed since we’ve last seen Mama and April.
○ Papa left shortly after they moved into the trailer park.
○ The day is Wednesday. Mama works three shifts on Wednesdays.
○ The date is August 5, 1981 – almost 48 hours after the strike began.
○ It is summer in California – hot, dry.
○ It is afternoon – in between shifts.
○ It is hours before April’s bedtime, and even longer before Mama will be back.
● 1.5
○ It is January 1982 – winter in Virginia.
○ The word “serial killer” was coined six years earlier.
○ The Behavioral Science Unit was founded ten years earlier.
○ It is Cynthia’s seventh month working for the FBI.
○ It is a work day, sometime in the morning.
○ The two are on a break, but must return to work soon.
● 1.6
○ It is Sunday, July 18, 1982.
○ It has been three days since Wendy Lee Coffield’s body was found.
○ It has been roughly 1,950 years since the stoning of Mary Magdalene.
○ It has been almost a year since April was caught with Mama’s lipstick.
○ April is 9 years old now.
○ It is April’s sixth year of going to church.
○ Service starts at 11am sharp.
● 1.7
○ It is sometime in October, 1982.
○ It is fall, but still around 80°F.


6
○ It has been fifteen months since we’ve last seen Tania.
○ It is a Tuesday night – the night Tania does her act.
○ It is after Tania’s shift has ended – sometime around 2am.
○ Tania and Jordan both have work the next day.
● 1.8
○ It is winter in CA and VA – sometime in early 1983.
○ It has been a year since we’ve last seen Cynthia and Tom together.
○ It has been six months since we’ve last seen Young April.
○ For April, it is late at night, after Mama has gone to bed – maybe around midnight.
○ For Cynthia and Tom, it is after they’ve gotten off work – maybe in the early evening.
● 1.9
○ It is March 1983 in California – hot but not sweltering.
○ It is a school night.
○ It has only been a couple months since we’ve last seen April.
○ Mama added one of her new jobs on a year ago, and the second only a month before.
○ Reagan’s Star Wars initiative was unveiled only days before.
○ The UFCW held its first regular convention in Montreal, Canada.
● 1.10
○ It is approaching midnight.
○ It is Christmas Eve, 1983.
○ It is a Saturday night.
○ It is winter in Miami, around 50°F out.
○ Jordan has to work in the morning.
○ It has been over a year since we’ve last seen the two of them.
● 1.11
○ It is a school night.
○ The date is Sunday, October 7th, 1984.
○ It is the evening of the first Presidential Debate between Reagan and Mondale.
○ The debate started at 7pm.
○ Mama gets home at 7:30.
○ It is autumn in California – cold but not too cold.
○ April has been watching Reagan speak on TV for almost four years now.
● 1.12
○ It is late October, 1984 – days before Reagan’s reelection.
○ It has been sixth months since Reagan, in a televised speech, urged American forces to
help the Contra "freedom fighters" in Nicaragua.
○ It is late at night – both Cynthia and Tom are working overtime.
○ It is winter in VA, somewhere between 50 and 60°F.
○ It has been almost two years since we’ve last seen them.
○ It has been three and a half years since Cynthia first began the job.
○ It has been two months since Tom was promoted.
● 1.13
○ Reagan has just been reelected for his second term.
○ The date is November 4, 1984. It is a Sunday.
○ It is 9pm where Mama and April are, and 12am in Miami and Quantico.
○ It’s been a year since we’ve last seen Jordan and Tania, but only a few months since
we’ve seen everyone else.
○ Everyone must work in the morning.


7
2. Big Ideas

a. Recurring Themes

Femme labor
● Young April – Does the labor of taking care of Mama, and of carrying the weight of the world
(mainly the world of the disappearing women) on her shoulders.
● Grown April – Does the labor of returning home to Mama and initiating the first step in continuing
their damaged relationship.
● Mama – Does the labor of raising a child in a world that doesn’t pay her enough to live.
● Cynthia – Does the intellectual labor required of her and is often underappreciated for it.
● Tom – Exploits Tania’s feelings/history to suppress her concerns with the Bureau.
● Tania – Carries the burden of making the men around her feel satisfied/whole.
● Jordan – Uses Tania’s femme labor as an outlet for his feelings, but has also been used this way
by others.

Sex work
● Young April – Prays to Mary M every night on behalf of the missing sex workers.
● Grown April – Works with sex workers currently, and feels a connection with them because of her
mother’s ties to the union.
● Mama – Shames sex workers because she sees glipmses of her own past in them, and tries to
shelter April from this lifestyle.
● Cynthia – Her lder sister worked as a sex worker and was killed by one of her clients, so Cynthia
has a deep fear that leads her to pursue other lines of work.
● Tom – Has prejudices against sex workers/ promiscuous women because of his sister and his
rigid upbringing, which he projects on the working class as a whole.
● Tania – Works as a sex worker, and is mostly surrounded by sex worker friends.
● Jordan – Explores his sexuality by visiting the strip club, and has feelings for Tania.

Religion
● Young April – Forced to go to church by Mama whenever she misbehaves.
● Grown April – Has infused a lot of her relationships with men with religious significance.
● Mama – Turned to Jesus as a tactic to help overcome addiction.
● Cynthia – Is not religious, but (much like April) seeks moments of connection with God in her
relationship with Tom.
● Tom – Is an atheist, wastes little time searching for God and believes in manengineered
solutions.
● Tania – Grew up in a Catholic household where she was shamed for her abortion, and uses her
strip club act to reimagine her relationship with God.
● Jordan – Grew up in a Catholic household where he was shamed for his femininity.

Workingclass identity
● Young April – Grew up in a trailer park with dreams of “getting out.”
● Grown April – Has realized as an adult that she can never fully leave the trailer park.
● Mama – Works three jobs, has never been able to imagine a life for herself that doesn’t revolve
around making ends meet, and is unable to “get out” in the way April does.

8
● Cynthia – Pursues prestigious work as a way of distancing herself from her past, but quickly finds

herself at war with her own people.
● Tom – Comes from a workingclass background but uses his work to distance himself from it and
look down on other poor people.
● Tania – SES unclear, but lives a workingclass life working as one of the girls.
● Jordan – Comes from a working class/diasporic background and works at a video store.

Violence against women
● Young April – Is constantly inundated with images of murdered women from the television and
other types of media, and associates this with the violence of God.
● Grown April – Works with battered women, and is coming to understand the ways in which Mama
hid her abuse from her growing up.
● Mama – Was in a physically and emotionally abusive relationship with Darrell, and in many ways
perpetuates some emotional abuse against April.
● Cynthia – Is assaulted and emotionally abused by Tom throughout the course of the play.
● Tom – Has been indoctrinated in images of violence against women, and uses violent masculinity
to seek revenge for the outcome of his sister’s life.
● Tania – Operates within a line of work where she is often surrounded by women who suffer
abuse, and must constantly put herself at risk to earn her living.
● Jordan – Is concerned about Tania and the violence she faces in her job, but also reflects some
lingering manifestations of this violence in this very relationship.

Absent fatherhood
● Young April – Has no memories of her father other than the stories her mother tells her, and waits
for him to return from jail not knowing that he never will.
● Grown April – Has still not connected with her father, and is coming closer to letting this part of
her life go.
● Mama – Has raised April as a single mother working multiple jobs; no mention of father.
● Cynthia – Father is also absent from the picture – couldn’t stand to stay with the family after
Michelle went missing.
● Tom – Father fought in Korea and abused authority at home.
● Tania – Father was emotionally abusive and kicked Tania out after the abortion.
● Jordan – Father imposes toxic standards of masculinity on Jordan, and makes sure that Jesus is
the only man in the house with long hair.

Addiction
● Young April – Grew up in a household with addicts, and lost her ideal of a complete family to the
presence of addiction in her life.
● Grown April – Must accept Mama’s addiction as part of who her mother is.
● Mama – Has lost a lover to addiction, but needs help getting through the day.
● Cynthia – Is complicit in the war on drugs via her work, and is struggling with balancing her ideals
with what she knows about workingclass life.
● Tom – Had a sister who was an addict, and blames drug users for crime in America.
● Tania – Uses drugs casually to help with her work, to a degree of severity which is somewhat
ambiguous.
● Jordan – Grew up with a mother who did drugs, and is concerned about Tania’s use.


9
Purity/Innocence
● Young April – Play revolves around April’s childhood, and around the slut shaming she
experiences from Mama and from the church at an early age.
● Grown April – Is concerned with making herself feel “clean” even as an adult.
● Mama – Obsesses over enforcing purity on April to compensate for regrets in her own past (esp.
with respect to addiction and teenage pregnancy).
● Cynthia – Worries about promiscuity leading her to the same fate as her sister.
● Tom – Wants to divide the world into pure/impure, treats all addicts as unclean, and forces
Cynthia to think of herself as promiscuous after taking advantage of her.
● Tania – Sees purity as a social construct, and celebrates her transition towards a more liberal
view on sexuality with her act.
● Jordan – Embodies the purity/impurity of Christ in many ways, and struggles with the concept of
purity in relation to gender, sexuality, and his relationship with Tania.

b. Concrete Details

● Lighting choices will be bold.
● The set will feel absurdist at points, with all action taking place inside of a physical trailer.
● Dialogue/direct interactions with other characters should be as realistic as possible – even when
lines read as overly poetic.
● During monologues, characters may present themselves as if in a dream state – here the poetry
of the language can be indulged a little more.
● Devised action will be paired with some key moments (such as when April stabs herself with the
lipstick, rips/draws on paper, or leaves handprints across the floor).
● There will be moments where the rest of the cast operates as an ensemble, and jumps in to
facillitate bigger moments (i.e. the church scene).
For specific themes:
● Religion :
○ Biblical imagery at different points – perhaps a crown of thorns around the TV
set, perhaps a screen that everyone prays to
○ Mama's scrubbing mirrored with the image of April praying
○ Different characters on their knees at different times
○ Some monologue material presented in a sermonlike fashion
● Femme labor :
○ The three women at their stations more or less throughout the piece
○ Images of Mama and Cynthia working
○ Silhouettes of Tania working
○ Women taking clothes on and off the laundry lines
● Workingclass identity (most important) :
○ Simple clothing choices throughout, maybe all blacks under clothing
○ Portrayals of hard femininity/ femininity under harsh circumstances (cussing
throughout, constant cigarette smoking, rougher body language)
○ Workingclass physicality (fatigue, spine curviture, weary muscles, heavy feet)
○ Set will make use of a large number of cinder blocks


10
c. Guidelines for Playing the Genre

● Living in this world can cause sensory overload. Lights are brighter, sounds are louder, and tastes
are richer. As in symbolism, seemingly small items/actions can become extremely significant
without warning.
● Time is elastic/relative, but events are extremely concrete.
● There is a sense of connectedness to the other characters in the play, even when you are not
directly aware of one another. Many events mirror previous events in characters’ lives, or
moments in other characters’ lives. Think of this as possibly religious in nature – the sensation of
tapping into something bigger, though details might be foggy.
○ Key religious moments in the play include: moments where April, Tania, and Cynthia
share the monologue, the prologue/interlude, moments where the TV is being watched,
both of the sex scenes, Father Lichten’s sermon, Jordan and Tania’s kiss, April washing
the sheets, any time someone puts on lipstick, Mama scrubbing the floor, April and
Mama’s reunion, any time someone is kneeling, April coloring
● Memories are experienced very vividly for all of the characters.
● People will not always react to (or even necessarily experience) the fantastical things happening
around you, and some experiences may be dreamlike in nature.

3. Analyzing the Action

a. Events of the Play

● On a National Level:
○ Reagan is sworn in as the 40th president of the United States.
○ Reagan crushes the air traffic control strike.
○ AIDS is recognized by the United States CDC.
○ Early CBS Report on AIDS is released, calling it the “gay cancer.”
○ Wendy Lee Coffield’s body is discovered in Green River, Oregon.
○ The FBI attains concurrent jurisdiction with the DEA over drug offenses.
○ The nation sinks into its worst recession since the Great Depression.
○ Reagan’s first debate with Democratic nominee Walter Mondale takes place.
○ Reagan unveils his proposal for a Strategic Defense Initiative, "Star Wars."
○ Reagan urges helping the Contra "freedom fighters" in Nicaragua.
○ Reagan is reelected by a landslide.
○ Nancy Reagan begins “Just Say No.” Reagan signs the AntiDrug Abuse Act.
○ Oliver North, John Poindexter, and two others are indicted by a federal grand jury for
secretly providing funds and supplies to the Contras.
○ Reagan gives his farewell address, in which he says he "made a difference."
○ The UFCW’s grocery workers’ walkout in Southern California fails.
○ Gary Ridgway is arrested and sentenced to 48 life sentences without parole.
○ Ronald Reagan dies in California at the age of 93.
Act 1:
● For April/Mama:
○ Mama comes home with a television set.
○ Reagan crushes the air traffic control strike.
○ Mama starts working more hours.


11
○ Wendy Lee Coffield’s body is discovered in Green River, Oregon.
○ April starts her period.
○ April begins praying to Mary Magdalene.
○ The nation sinks into its worst recession since the Great Depression.
○ Mama tells April about life with Darrell.
○ Reagan’s first debate with Democratic nominee Walter Mondale takes place.
○ Mama begins to question her intelligence in relation to April’s.
● For Tom/Cynthia:
○ Cynthia has her interview.
○ The FBI attains concurrent jurisdiction with the DEA over drug offenses.
○ Cynthia tells Tom about the morning of Michelle’s disappearance.
○ Reagan unveils his proposal for a Strategic Defense Initiative, "Star Wars."
○ Reagan urges helping the Contra "freedom fighters" in Nicaragua.
○ Tom begins moonlighting as an executive for the DEA.
○ Cynthia confronts Tom about having to spend more time on drug busts than on psych
profiles.
● For Tania/Jordan:
○ Tania sets Daniel up with drugs.
○ AIDS is recognized by the United States CDC.
○ Early CBS Report on AIDS is released, calling it the “gay cancer.”
○ Tania and Jordan meet.
○ Tania does Jordan’s lipstick.
Act 2:
● For April/Mama:
○ Reagan is reelected by a landslide.
○ Nancy Reagan begins “Just Say No.”
○ Mama tells April that Papa isn’t coming home.
○ Mama relapses.
○ Reagan gives his farewell address to the nation, in which he says the socalled Reagan
revolution "made a difference."
○ Mama goes to jail.
○ The UFCW’s grocery workers’ walkout in Southern California fails.
○ Ronald Reagan dies in California at the age of 93.
○ April leaves to pick Mama up from jail.
● For Tom/Cynthia:
○ Tom begins to blackmail Cynthia.
○ Reagan signs the AntiDrug Abuse Act.
○ Cynthia confronts Tom about the escalating FBI raids.
○ Tom assaults Cynthia.
○ Oliver North, John Poindexter, and two others are indicted by a federal grand jury for
secretly providing funds and supplies to the Contras.
○ Cynthia leaves her place of work and meets Tania on a bus.
○ Gary Ridgway is arrested and sentenced to 48 life sentences without parole.
● For Tania/Jordan:
○ Tania dresses Jordan up as Mary Magdalene.
○ Jordan becomes romantically involved with another man.
○ Jordan proposes to Tania.
○ Tania leaves her place of work and meets Cynthia on a bus


12
b. Intentions

Trigger event: M
ama brings home the TV.
April and Mama want to be a normal family.
Mama wants to put food on the table.
April wants to leave the trailer park.
Mama wants April to stay her little girl.
April wants to rebel against the church.
Mama wants April to be a better Christian.
April wants Mama to be more present for her.
Mama wants April to stay out of trouble.
April wants to learn more about the things she sees on the television.
Mama wants to feel smarter than April.
April wants Papa to come home.
Mama wants to protect April from the truth about Papa.
April wants Mama to stop using.
Mama wants to hide the fact that she’s using from April.
April wants to rekindle her relationship with Mama.
Mama wants to be forgiven.

Trigger event: Cynthia begins working at the FBI.
Cynthia wants to find her sister’s killer.
Tom wants to vindicate his own sister.
Cynthia wants someone to listen to her trauma.
Tom wants to find a kindred spirit in the office.
Cynthia wants to spend more time tracking down Gary Ridgeway.
Tom wants to pursue a promotion from the DEA.
Cynthia wants to be more in control of the work she does.
Tom wants Cynthia to follow orders.
Cynthia wants to leave her job.
Tom wants to punish her for leaving.

Trigger event: T
ania starts seeing Jordan.
Tania wants Jordan to pay her for sex.
Jordan wants Tania to give him attention.
Tania wants to feel Jordan out/ figure out what his deal is.
Jordan wants to make sure Tania keeps seeing him.
Tania wants to push Jordan out of his comfort zone.
Jordan wants to measure up to Tania’s other johns.
Tania wants to tell Jordan her real name.
Jordan wants to experiment with being someone else.
Tania wants Jordan to stop interfering with her lifestyle.
Jordan wants Tania to marry him, and to check her into rehab.


13
c. Scene Names

Act One: First Term Act Two: Second Term
● Prologue: Trailer Park Prayer ● Interlude: Whore of Babylon
● 1.1: The Inaugural Parade ● 2.1: Cleaning the Sheets
● 1.2: In the Bureau ● 2.2: The Rebirth of Mary
● 1.3: In the Club ● 2.3: Back to Work
● 1.4: Air Control Strike ● 2.4: Confessions
● 1.5: Down the Rabbit Hole ● 2.5: Smile More
● 1.6: Baptized ● 2.6: Relapse
● 1.7: The Wound of Christ ● 2.7: A Proposal
● 1.8: Black Curls, Red Blood ● 2.8: The Sacrifice
● 1.9: Story Time ● 2.9: On the Road
● 1.10: Cuffed
● 1.11: The First Debate
● 1.12: Orders are Orders
● 1.13: Four More Years

4. Character

a. Character Descriptions

● Young April : 8. Just a kid trying to do her best.
● Grown April : 33. April’s adult self, speaking to us from 2004.
● Mama : 24. April’s mother, who works two jobs but still struggles to make ends meet
● Tania : 22. Stripper, sex worker, and life of the party.
● Jordan : 26. A regular at Tania's club and her most frequent customer.
● Cynthia : 23. A recent grad from Columbia University, currently working at the Behavioral Science
Unit of the FBI.
● Tom : 34. Cynthia’s supervisor at the Unit.

b. Character Flow Chart

Young Grown Jordan/Father
April April Mama Tania Lichten Cynthia Tom/Daniel Length
ACT I
Prologue X X X X X ~45 seconds
1 X X X 6 pages
2 X X 4 lines 2 pages
3 Monologue X X 2 pages
4 X X X 5 pages
5 X X 3 pages
6 X X Ensemble Ensemble X Ensemble Ensemble 3 pages

14
1st
8 page 1st page 4 lines X X 3.5 pages
9 X X X 4 pages
10 X X 7 pages
11 X X 2 pages
13 X X X 1 line 1 line 1 line 2 lines 1.5 pages

Act II
Interlude X X X X X ~45 seconds
1 X X X X 3 pages
3 X X Monologue 3.5 pages
5 X X X X 11 pages
6 X X 1 page 3 pages
7 X Monologue X 5 pages
8 Two lines X X One line 4 pages
One
9 line X Monologue X X 5 pages
10 X X X X 4.5 pages

c. Character Thoughts Re: Self

Grown April :
● “There’s a whole hierarchy here – that’s what no one gets. When Mama bought our little
singlewide, I couldn’t have been more excited. After Papa left, more and more lots filled up with
doublewides, and today, the richer parks are even on some faux wood shit. The metal panels
blow away in the wind sometimes, and the summers are hotter than Satan himself, but Mama and
I’ve always had it good.” (12)
● “No stray bullets in a trailer park – too many speed bumps, so ain’t no way to outrace a cop.
Security checks in on the old folks from time to time to make sure they’re still breathin’, so they
know when a deal’s goin’ down. We moved here before Papa went to jail because our caseworker
said they’d have less access, so even though I dreamed of brick walkways, we were happy.” (12)
● “I felt the first drops of blood between my legs… It was like being baptized all over again.” (21)
● “On the bus home, I had to stand up so’s not to bleed all over the seats. I imagined wrapping
every time Mama called me a whore up in a piece of cloth, and collecting them in my pockets. I
imagined dropping them on the ground one by one, so I’d never have to look at them again. I
thought about Mary Magdalene – about how much she musta taught Jesus. Later that night, I
prayed to her.” (21)

15
● “For the first time, I felt like there was someone in the Gospel as sad as I was.” (22)
● “I thought of all the times I touched myself, all the times when I wasn’t supposed to – all the times I sat
in the pews and imagined peeling the skin off my bones to make myself feel a little more clean.” (22)
● “I thought about sex workers a lot after that… I thought about the man who killed Wendy Coffield,
and the one who must have killed Mary Magdalene somewhere down the line, and I wondered
why no matter how much of the Bible Mama made me read, I couldn’t find anything about the way
she lived or died outside of those seven demons.” (22)
● “I thought about how ugly the world must be for us to need each other to be beautiful – just to
forget we’re sinning every time we make love.” (23)
● “I started praying for the women every night after that – the ones who kept disappearing. What else
could I do? …I memorized their names, stitched them into my mind like I did with the Apostles.” (27)
● “The blood follows me into my silence.” (28)
● “The beauty I sought as a teenager was unattainable, like the beauty of God, but it felt closest
when I was allowing my body to be filled like the pews at church.” (52)
● “I took refuge in the blood, breathed my first desperate gasps of air in a pool of my mother’s
blood… Throughout my life, the stains would follow me. Blood on the sheets became the only
dependable thing about a body that seemed determined to make me its prey.” (52)
○ Adjectives: Omnipotent, coarse, strong, vulnerable, direct, sad, neurotic, sturdy, present,
emotionally intelligent, dry/sarcastic, witty, woke, daughter, femme
Mama :
● “I’ll be dead before I turn thirty at this goddamn rate.” (4)
● “Did I promise or did I promise?” (4)
● “The devil’s taken too much from me to take my little girl too.” (13)
● “I know it ain’t much, but it should be enough for the next couple weeks. Safeway let me take a
couple loaves…” (14)
● “They ain’t payin’ me enough anyway.” (14)
● “Mama’s gotta get ready… You know I work three shifts on Wednesdays.” (14)
● “My mother let me watch that crap.” (31)
● “Lord knows I don’t mind the quiet, but there are days when I miss those little bastards runnin’
‘round under our house.” (33)
● “I’ve gotta get up at five, and if that thing wakes me up before then it’s gonna be a long week for you.” (34)
● “The first time I used was the night we conceived.” (42)
● “I been learnt, and now I’m tired.” (46)
● “I’m not out here tryna make you scared of me. Mama’s just got work in the morning.” (47)
● “Lord knows what happens when a woman lets herself get excited.” (63)
● “Those high hopes got a way of breaking a mother’s heart.” (65)
● “You wanna cry about not having a daddy, go on and cry about it. When I was sixteen, I had to be
your mama and your daddy. Remember that?” (68)
● “God didn’t give me no choice.” (68)
● “Mama was fucked up back then, April. You gotta remember that. Mama got a job at Safeway,
where she could steal from the register and come in hungover and wasn’t a single soul there who
could tell me not to.” (70)
● “I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of stories.” (70)
● “They tellin’ me I can’t sit down, but they’re gonna call the fuckin’ cops if I get a little somethin’ to
help me through.” (79)
● “We all watch the fuckin’ news. Watch it like those holes in the ground are gonna kill us any
slower than–” (80)
● “God don’t want me… If he takes me now, he’ll be doin’ me a fuckin’ favor.” (80)


16
● “I needed to feel like a hero… Shiny, like a God.” (81)
● “Tired and broke, baby. That’s how they’ve got us feelin’.” (91)
○ Adjectives: Weary, worn, harsh, stressed, mother, worker, clerk, sensitive, disillusioned,
Republican, slowwitted, determined, resilient, moody
Tania :
● “The boys tell me I’m pretty, but I try not to be the kinda girl who feeds into that shit. You can pay
anyone to be pretty; my job is to get them on their knees.” (10)
● “I paint my prices on the windows in red, so they’ll know it’s me. When I was growin’ up, they
taught me Jesus bleeds in a similar shade... not that anyone forgets who he is.” (10)
● “No one recognizes art when it punches them in the fuckin’ tit.” (11)
● “I’m earning a living wage back here. You really think sitting around, listening to you talk is less
work than gettin’ you off?” (25)
● “Watched while you eat, watched while you sleep. At least here everyone’s fucking real about it.” (26)
● “One of my clients is an art history major.” (26)
● “I always thought Jesus would have made a better woman.” (26)
● “Worn… Just like us.” (29)
● “I wasn’t the only girl in the park to get into this line of work. I try not to think about the ones who
never make it back, but…” (29)
● “You can eat shit in this world if you don’t learn to hustle. I know girls who hustle behind the
counter and girls who hustle on top of it. In another life, I’d have still found myself a stage.” (29)
● “People eat this shit up like it’s porn. Makes me sick.” (36)
● “I’ve got my ground rules laid out. I’m a big girl.” (40)
● “My folks are sittin’ in a trailer park in San Bernardino, probably watching Wheel of Fortune or
some shit like that.” (40)
● “Everything in my fucking life is gonna kill me.” (41)
● “My act isn’t that fucking good.” (56)
● “Girl’s gotta make a living.” (57)
● “This act’s getting fucking old… Choir boys aren’t ready to dig that deep, and johns show up for a
different kind of diggin’ anyway.” (63)
● “At some point it doesn’t really matter what I wear; Daddy doesn’t approve either way.” (63)
● “The boys get excited no matter how little I try.” (64)
● “By the time [my parents] noticed the little stains on the bathroom floor, I’d been leaving trails of
blood behind for years.” (65)
● “Pa used to tell me if I wore any more makeup, I’d look like a streetwalker. Little did he know...” (67)
● “If I was someone else I woulda thought about killing myself. But I just didn’t have the time for it. I
try to burn bright, like love at first sight –– or withdrawal symptoms.” (72)
● “After leaving home, the club seemed like the safest place for me. When I’ve had too many
drinks, I tell Jordan it’s like I almost did grow up to be a nun – hidden away with other women,
praying to something big enough to swallow me whole.” (72)
● “I could use a fuckin’ blizzard.” (75)
● “I don’t take handouts from clients.” (84)
● “The Lord willing, you’ve spent too long on your knees to want to die there.” (90)
● “There are times when I get // hungry… Sixteen, hit the road. Nineteen, hit the streets. Don’t
worry little Tania, someone’s gonna take you home.” (92)
● “There are days when it feels like I’ve never left.” (93)
○ Adjectives: Angry, sassy, stripper, working girl, flamboyant, diligent, artistic, humorous,
daughter, independent, extroverted, proud


17
Cynthia :
● “Ten years before Reagan’s election, Michelle went missing. Three weeks ago, I accepted an
offer to work as an analyst in the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI.” (8)
● “Mother felt some type of way about the letter they sent. It came in the mail a week ago: C. Jones.
I used my father’s name to make things move a little faster. Fewer background checks, a little
more allAmerican. This job is full of compromises, they said, and I took that to heart. Mother’s
put a lot of effort into not raising another Jones kid, but the figures on that paycheck tell a story
much prettier than the ones on my birth certificate.” (9)
● “Maybe some part of me thought about Michelle – about our last name being printed and
reprinted in some dusty office somewhere where the windows are bulletproof because it’s the
inside that’ll kill you quick.” (9)
● “The job is simple, really. It starts with a case. Nothing too Charlie’s Angels – a kidnapping, a
murder here or there, something like that. My job is to get in the head of that criminal, nail down
some behavioral patterns, and keep it all in here.” (17)
● “Doug Clark, down in LA. Ted Bundy. Joseph Christopher. David Carpenter. At some point their
names all start to sound the same.” (17)
● “I keep reaching for that final piece, that piece thatʼs gonna make her real for me––” (28)
● “We left King County for a trailer park in California. Mom couldn’t manage to keep the house, but
it didn’t matter. God himself couldn’t have made my Dad walk back through that door.” (28)
● “Black curls rising to the surface, face down against the riverbank. Pretty red dress all tattered
and worn.” (28)
● “The night they pulled Michelle out of those waters, the rest of me got left there.” (30)
● “I came here to bust serial killers, not prey on addicts.” (48)
● “I promised my mother I wasn’t gonna whore myself out.” (48)
● “As long as everything’s colorcoordinated, I find a way of being pretty enough at work // without
looking like a––” (53)
● “In my experience, men are eager to draw blood but unwilling to sit with it. Eager to boast about it,
but repulsed by the idea of sharing a bed with a woman whose body stands in solidarity with its
own battles even when no one else will.” (53)
● “The work gets easier the less I let myself care. If I let my mind wander, whole days go by like
nothing. I don’t call Mother as often, but as long as the checks keep coming in, I suppose she
doesn’t have anything to worry about.” (55)
● “Mother always put work into us, always made sure we had a solid chance of making it out of the
park in one piece.” (55)
● “I learn about sacrifice, and even though I don’t believe in God, the unity of pain and worship
blends in perfectly with everything I’ve ever been told about love.” (58)
● “Another five women missing outta San Diego – all escorts. Too bad no one’s gonna pay me to
crack that.” (60)
● “People back home have forgotten words like “grief”. (60)
● “What I do in my free time is my business.” (62)
● “The pipes drip and the winters are cold, but I can afford to run my heater at home up as high as I
want… Father would be proud to see the kind of money I’m sending home.” (63)
● “If only I could phone home about the rest of my time in Virginia. The cases they’ve got me
working on, all this inf––” (63)
● “I started my period the day after I got the news… I dreamt of Michelle running through the woods
– wearing a face I was too ashamed to admit I couldn’t recognize… I dreamt she was sleeping on
a pillow of blood, pools forming around her ears to make the ground feel a little more her own…

18
When I woke up, I was laying in a pool of my own blood. I thought I’d died for a second too. I
didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, so I did a little bit of both.” (6566)
● “For the first time in my life, I caught myself missing the trailer park.” (74)
● “I couldn’t stop thinking about Michelle. (Beat) Whatever I did, she was there. (Bang) Another
bust–– (Bang bang) Another raid–– (Bang)” (85)
● “There are times when I just can’t hear another voice cracking // on the phone… Does that make
me shallow?” (92)
● “There are times when I feel like the hunger // never leaves.” (92)
○ Adjectives: Hardworking, obsessive, traumatized, clever, introverted, behavioral analyst,
college grad, responsible, controlled, selfdestructive, professional, struggling

d. Character Thoughts Re: Others

Grown April :
On Mama:
● “I still remember Mama telling me about the day I was born. She said it made her ache all over –
like when God told Mary he didn’t care how pure she was, she was having this baby whether she
liked it or not.” (2)
● “In a lotta ways, Mama’s an addict who hasn’t exactly found Jesus. She sent me to Sunday
School to do good for myself, but I think she secretly hoped that my innocence would lead her
straight to Christ. The Church talks a lot about children and their power to save… but in a world
where kids are less often miracles and more often chunky little liabilities, it gets harder and harder
to rescue adults too fucked up to know how to save themselves.” (23)
● “If Mama was here, she would have said, face it: The best words are always the ugliest – but my
gut is telling me to slap a little lipstick on the story I’m about to tell. Lipstick is the little piece of
pretty Mama always found a way to afford. As a child I put it on my eyelids, my cheeks – used it
to draw shapes and shapes in the mirror before Mama got outta the shower and told me her
things weren’t toys… She never told Papa that we weren’t his things.” (3)
● “Mama sees in black and white – that’s why we had so many problems.” (4)
● “It’s been twentythree years, and whenever I dream about Mama, it’s still in black and white.” (5)
● “I promised myself I’d never come back to this shithole, never give Mama the satisfaction of
knowing how much I struggled after she got busted… Mama used to tell me you can’t ever really
leave the trailer park – don’t matter how much money you’re makin’, whether you find a man to
build you a white picket fence or not. We’ve got a lot to talk about, me and Mama…” (8)
● “Mama still sings the ballad of the ugly woman. When Papa left, she put the lipstick on – and
maybe it was the attention she drew to her lips that forced her to keep on smiling.” (9)
● “Mama gave up everything when she had me, so I always knew better than to talk back… Mama
didn’t make me go to church every Sunday, but when she did, it was always over shit like this.” (13)
● “Getting presents from Mama always made me so sad.” (14)
● “Mama got meaner the longer her shifts got.” (31)
● “In those days, the happiest I saw Mama was when she was cuttin’ out coupons from the mail or tellin’
stories about Papa… Lookin’ back on it, that musta been why I asked for ‘em so much.” (3233)
● “Mama acted tough, but there were times when she leaned heavy.” (33)
● “When I pick Mama up, she’s gonna be singin’ that same tune. Mama’s always had a way of
letting men turn into Gods when she wasn’t looking. I guess most of us do.” (34)
● “In a lotta ways, I’m still waiting for Mama to decide that she misses me.” (53)

19
● “Mama signed onto her own union because, hell, working as a checkout girl didn’t give her much
choice. The reps at Safeway used words like “Reaganomics” to explain what was happenin’ to
her, but Mama believed in miracles whenever she could.” (54)
● “Thinking about how much of Mama’s life got put into our little trailer really fucks me up
sometimes… The unions talk about labor nonstop, but no one ever talks about the labor Mama
put into keeping this little place up and running.” (55)
● “No one talks about any of the important work Mama’s done – just how long she spends at that
register, scanning your food. Everything in Mama’s life was a factory.” (55)
● “Mama's survival was a political statement she didn't quite understand herself.” (59)
● “We accept our lots because heartbreak is a necessary part of being in love. Like all the violence
Mama keeps in her pockets, we don’t allow these events to go from hand to mouth, to graze our
lips, because Mama believes some scars were never meant to be seen in the light.” (70)
● “As much as Mama tried to keep her neck outta politics, she remembered the day Reagan signed
the AntiDrug Abuse Act like the day I was born.” (73)
● “Mama was stayin’ out for days at a time back then. But she’d been comin’ home late for so long,
I didn’t notice ‘til I got old enough to put shit together on my own.” (77)
● “The walls of the trailer are thin enough to hear my Mama’s heartbeat at night. After Papa left I
listened to her cry good and deep ‘fore I shut my eyes for sleep, but it wasn’t ‘til the summer I
turned fourteen that the moaning started.” (77)
● “I pull up to the San Bernardino County jail slow. Stay in the car for a minute to make sure Mama
don’t think I look like trash… I wonder what Mama wants to hear from me, whether there’s a way
to tell her that I never cared about watching some old man on a screen – that it was hearin’
someone call Mama a hero that meant so much, that it was Mama I dreamt about in black and
white all those years. I wonder–” (94)
On Darrell:
● “When Papa stayed gone, I put it on my own lips – not because I needed it to feel beautiful, but
because I sometimes forget to remind myself that this body is mine.” (9)
● “When Papa put my drawings up on the fridge, I don’t think he did it because he liked them. I think it
was because I made them myself. (Beat) Maybe pretty isn’t the right word for that at all.” (10)
● “Papa never did get outta jail. But in a few hours, Mama will. (Beat) I don’t know why she told me
those old stories about Darrell – or whether or not any of ‘em were really true.” (34)
● “Mama loved Darrell even though he could never become fluent in the language of blood…
Because there’s something romantic and fucked up about loving someone for the parts of them
you haven’t learned to read.” (82)
On Reagan:
● “I guess that’s the thing about strugglin’ to make ends meet: you’re on the good side of history no
matter how much you know about politics.” (16)
● “In the ‘80s, even workers were outta touch with workers. (Beat) Mama’s gettin’ ready to die a
Republican – maybe the only thing worse than just plain dyin’.” (59)
● “His term ended swiftly, but I didn’t see him out the door.” (90)
● “On June 5, 2004, Ronald Reagan died in his Bel Air home at the age of 93. (Beat) I felt nothing…
His funeral lasted seven days. A procession took him all the way to Capitol Hill, where five
thousand people an hour tried to get a look at the movie star in the casket. Every street sweeper
worked overtime.” (91)
● “Only thing sadder than Mama being locked up is the thought of her watching Reagan's funeral in
a cell.” (92)


20
Mama :
On Young April:
● “April? April! What’s it take to get a girl’s help around here?” (3)
● “You be careful with it. We’re cuttin’ down ‘til the end of the month for it.” (5)
● “April? Mama’s got a headache. You turn that down.” (5)
● “Jumpin’ up like a goddamn firecracker – you hidin’ something?” (12)
● [YOUNG APRIL takes one hand out from behind her back and unfurls her fingers. Nothing.
MAMA is unamused.] (12)
● “Always in such a rush to grow up.” (13)
● “You’re in for a rude awakening, baby.” (13)
● “You know I don’t mind you touchin’ my things, April. But I can’t let you out there lookin’ like a whore.” (13)
● “Being grown ain’t gonna be so fun when you’re out there waitin’ on some man to pick you up and
leave you in a ditch somewhere. You hear me?” (13)
● “You like that bread, don’t you? That white kind?” (14)
● “You know I don’t want you watching that crap.” (31)
● “Don’t you wake me when you come hollering with those nightmares. Mama needs her sleep.” (31)
● “Yeah? You gonna learn your way outta this place?” (31)
● “I don’t work three jobs so you can eat for fun.” (32)
● “You’re gonna give me a stroke one of these days.” (32)
● “Don’t you talk to God with that stinky breath.” (32)
● “You and me, that’s why we gotta look out for each other.” (33)
● “The year the old man got busted, I started sendin’ her to church every week. She can’t pay
attention for more’n a minute or two, but I told her God don’t punish for that. Father Lichten tells
me she ain’t got nothing but colors in her head… Whenever I leave that girl alone for two minutes,
she’s crumpled one sheet and moved onto the next.” (42)
● “You still got time to study when you’re working on that day and night?” (43)
● “You’re gonna blow through our whole damn electric bill at this rate.” (44)
● “You gonna [get out of here] with those drawings? Or you gonna try to be the president too?” (44)
● “You eat everything I put on the table.” (46)
● “You think I’m dumb? ...This is right here, right now. I’m tryin’ to live, and you don’t see that, April.
You don’t see nothin’.” (46)
● “There’s a lot you ain’t gonna learn from that little box, and I don’t have time to explain it all.” (47)
● “Watch your mouth.” (50)
● “We know you’re lost at sea, baby. You gotta dry yourself off sometime… Little boats who set sail
are bound to sink.” (51)
● “God dammit, April! How many times have I asked you to clean up after yourself? ... (Laughing)
Jesus Christ, April. Not again. Why cry over something so easy to clean?” (52)
● “How did I raise such a goddamn whore?” (53)
● “I wish you’d get yourself a man one of these days. A man or a job. Either way, you sure as hell
ain’t bringing any money home with those drawings.” (53)
● “Fine, you wanna be passive aggressive? Be passive aggressive.” (68)
● “Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind? Unless you ain’t got nothing goin’ on up there.” (68)
● [MAMA looks at her, suspicious.] (77)
● “You’re gonna kill me one of these days.” (78)
● “It’s my job to put fuckin’ food on this table. You ain’t gonna judge me, you got no right.” (79)
● “You bitch… You out here treatin’ me like a goddamn criminal, just like Ted at the store, like our
fuckin’ caseworker. You got no right.” (80)
● “Fuck you know about demons.” (80)


21
On Reagan:
● “He’s gonna get us our jobs back… We just gotta have faith.” (7)
● “There’s gotta be something more interesting on.” (16)
● “I don’t know how you watch so much of this.” (43)
● “Sometimes things feel big ‘cause of how small you are.” (44)
● “I’m sure he’s done a lot more than we can see… Things been gettin’ better anyway.” (45)
● “No shit, it’s the fourth already?” (49)
● “Miracles don’t happen overnight.” (49)
On Darrell:
● “If Darrell was still around we’d get her set up in no time.” (4)
● “That ol’ Eric Clapton album just came out, and your Daddy listened to it night ‘n day.” (33)
● “Darrell was a fine man, always so helpful. Took that old wasp nest in your room outta the wall,
always cleared the gutters out in time for spring. One summer I wasn’t makin’ enough to pay for
air conditioning, and he surprised us all by comin’ home with a fan for every room. He was a fine
man… You were like a princess to him. And he was out there tryna get you a castle.” (33)
● “Papa might not be coming home today.” (65)
● “He ain’t really been a part of our lives… He’s just a little smudge in our landscape.” (66)
● To Young April: “You were two when he left, baby. I wasn’t gonna let you grow up thinkin’ you were the
child of a monster. You deserved to have the kinda father I told you ‘bout. Kinda man who does his
time, comes home, takes a minute to play with his fuckin’ kid. That ain’t too much to ask for, is it?” (68)
● “Darrell wasn’t a bad man. Most bad men aren’t. He was just too… (She takes a moment) lost to
be the man we needed him to be. (Beat) I know I shoulda told you sooner.” (68)
● “I wanted your Pa to come home too, April. I found out I was pregnant with you in the bathroom of
Arroyo fuckin’ Valley High School in the middle of my goddamn algebra class. Darrell used to
come home from his shifts at the Rite Aid and read ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ to my belly like
you was right there with us.” (69)
● “He always liked to use that big ol’ voice.” (69)
● “That mouth of his got him into trouble. He talked about it lots – workin’ there one day, after
moving outta his folks’ place.” (69)
● “You can’t love people into existing, April. (Beat) He used to tell me, after he was done readin’
that book – used to tell me, “I’ll eatchu up I love you so.” You remember that part?” (69)
● “Baby, if I’da known how much he’d eat up. He brought the wrath of God on this fuckin’ house.
You gotta trust me on that.” (69)
● “Darrell brought in enough money for us to get our own place, but wasn’t a single night we had it
to ourselves... Every time I came home, Darrell and his fuckin’ friends were there cookin’. I told
them not to use the place, not with you on the way, but shit –.” (70)
● “His boys were like the monsters from that goddamn book – runnin’ around, causin’ rumpus.
(Mocking) Darrell ain’t that guy who hit you last night, baby. He just ain’t. That was just a monster
– we’ve all got monsters, right baby?” (70)
● “For me, your Pa died a long time ago, April… And I think it’s better that way.” (71)
● “If Darrell were here–” (78)
● “I been missin’ you, Darrell.” (81)

Tania :
On Jordan:
● “What, you wanna throw a rock at me now? I got my own rocks, baby.” (24)
● “You know the deal – I charge by the hour. You gonna waste yours telling me how to live my life?” (24)
● “You telling me you wanna be worshipped?” (24)


22
● “Lemme guess – these guys also shoved images of a white Christ down your throat and expected
you to take that shit for granted?” (25)
● “Seems like you’re still running.” (25)
● “I only ask because I like to hear you say it.” (35)
● “If you rush me I’m gonna charge extra.” (35)
● “It’s cute when you think I’m taking you seriously.” (35)
● “Just what? Just talked again? If I wanted to be your therapist I’d have finished college.” (36)
● “Did I leave you too long? You having abandonment issues?” (36)
● “Is this you hitting on me? ‘Cause if it is––” (37)
● “Nothing’s happening in here.” (37)
● “If you’re not gonna make good on your hour, I’m gonna go to sleep.” (38)
● “Good thing I made you pay up front. (Beat) [Your family] know where you’re at tonight?” (38)
● “Lucky you.” (39)
● “Don’t get me wrong, it’s worth it just to think about how much Sister Doris is turning in her grave
every time I put the old costume on. But you – you keep on comin’ back. What is that?” (56)
● “You’re not the first man who’s tried to buy my love.” (56)
● “You want to know what it feels like.” (57)
● “There’s something sad about Jordan… something I can’t quite put my finger on… His sadness is
too ravenous to nurse – bottomless, no matter how many women he’ll leave in his wake. I guess
some men are just like that.” (74)
● “In my dreams, he ages backwards. I lie with him in this goddamn room, like I do every time he
visits, and I have no choice but to squeeze him tighter and tighter – to try to stop him before he
becomes an infant, because I can’t be trusted with infants, and if he does I’ll be too scared of
droppin’ him to ever leave this bed. (Beat) Men like him are attracted to the things that are broken
because he’s used to making the ugliest parts of his past feel beautiful.” (75)
● “You can’t just show up here outta nowhere and––” (82)
● “You’re crazy… Fuckin’ crazy.” (82)
● “Fuck you know about Daniel.” (83)
● “(Softer) Men like you are the reason I do this, Jordan. And you know what? (Beat) I like my job.
I’m not gonna give it up just to be the one who saves you.” (84)
On Reagan:
● “[Jesus is the] only man in America worshipped for being… gentle.” (26)
● “People love him.” (27)
● “What did I tell ya? No one cares about gentle.” (50)
● “Mandatory minimums are goin’ through the fuckin’ roof – and what’s a girl to do? …The answer’s
simple, of course – charge a little more, switch to powder. Buy a goddamn house in the Hamptons
while I’m at it.” (7374)

Cynthia :
On Tom:
● “It was Tom who got me here. I’d been studying psychology at Columbia… Two career fairs later,
and I put my name down at the end of my junior year. What else is // a girl to do?” (8)
● “Maybe our cup’s just a little more fucked up than everyone else’s.” (19)
● “Tom says I’d look beautiful in a wedding dress… A big, white one – just like everyone back home.” (53)
● “Sometimes I want to stay with him, just so he can be the one to watch me die.” (54)
● “It’s the closest to happy I’ve ever been. But in the moments after he falls asleep at night, he has
no way of knowing that I spend my time searching for the receipts on this body so that I can slip
away and return in the morning with a new one.” (5859)


23
● “I had no way of knowing, but the ritual had already begun.” (59)
● “Tom, you have no right to––” (62)
● “The walls in my little office are a little too narrow to breathe in sometimes… Tom told me it’s
always like that when you start.” (6263)
● “The blood follows me no matter how far I go. Tom’s disturbed by it the first time it shows up
during sex, so we speak about home in strictly vague terms.” (67)
● “Tom’s never been gentle with me, but has never allowed himself to be brutal… My senses are acute
enough to recognize that he, too, is familiar with blood. But I guess that comes with the job.” (72)
● “I wasn’t working for the DEA directly, but Tom told me we locked up ten thousand Americans in
the year since the FBI got involved.” (73)
● “I kept trying to talk to Tom, but…” (85)
● “The closest I came to prayer was with Tom’s hands wrapped around my neck. (Beat) What
terrified me wasn’t how near I came to dying, but how much I found myself wanting to be killed by
him. Seeing that this was the end cut out for me and thinking––” (89)
● “My life was resting on cinder blocks, and Tom had the power to make me feel like – even though
we hid our blood for different reasons – Michelle didn’t have to be so far away.” (90)
On Reagan:
● “A politician’s mind is a criminal mind. I’m not making any of this up.” (48)
● “You’re telling me we’re neckdeep in countries like Nicaragua, cracking down on drugs harder
than anyone since Nixon, and it doesn’t have anything to do with us?” (48)
● “Yeah, but homeless camps? King/Drew Hospital? What about the kids down in South Central?” (86)
● “It started to feel like we were preying on people and calling it justice.” (86)
● “Everyone in America is tryin’ to forget.” (92)

5. Design / Production

a. Rules for Entrances/ Exits

● Mama and Young April only uses the door when explicitly leaving/ coming home.
● Tania, Jordan, and Daniel use the door to represent entering from/ exiting towards the club.
● Tom and Cynthia never use the door.
● No one uses the door during transitions.
● Grown April only uses the door twice: once when coming home for the first time, and once when
leaving to pick her mother up from jail.

b. Guidelines for Set

● Should serve 3 functions:
1) Communicate time and place
2) Focus eye of audience on the key action/narrative
3) Support actors in transmitting ideas/ genre
● Cynthia’s office will be indicated by filing cabinet, typewriter, and lamp.
● Tania’s room will be indicated by lamp, throw blanket removal, and light behind door.
● April’s house will be indicated by refridgerator, throw blanket, and full lighting.
● Elliott wants to try splicing different kinds of wallpaper.
● Not sure what to do about newspaper floor yet – need to meet with fire marshall.
● Can apply linoleum/carpet with carpet tape + drywall screws.

24
Preliminary Set Design:

Shop work:
● Laying down linoleum
● Wallpapering luan
● Assembling jacks
● Cutting wooden legs
● Paint/cut metal panels

Tentative LoadIn Schedule:
● Monday – move furniture, clamp platforms, adhere wall
● Tuesday – set dressing, rewiring lights
● Wednesday – setting up foyer

25

26
Preliminary Prop List:
Props: Set Pieces:
● Rope ● Bedside table
● Suitcases x2 ● Couch
● Lightbulb ● Counter
● Paperwork + files ● Filing cabinet
● Benches
● Small mirror
● Cinder blocks + metal panels
● Grocery bags ● Jesus figurine
● Apples, cutting board, knife + bowl ● Platforms/jacks
● Lipstick x5 ● Screen
● TV remote ● TV
● Radio ● Newspaper floor
● Hair beret ● Lamps x2
● Drawing supplies
● Sheets (stained with blood)
● Briefcase
● Typewriter
● Telephone
● Broom
● Cigarettes

c. Guidelines for Costumes

● Mama should always be dressed for comfort – either work or something casual, like a hoodie.
● April’s aging should take us through different phases of her relationship to gender: so maybe
overalls & cap in the very beginning, then more Femme as she ages, and finally tomboyish again
when she returns as an adult.
● Cynthia wears suits that match her lipstick, when possible.
● Tania – not entirely sure. Sometimes cozy sweatpants, sometimes corset, maybe both at times.
Definitely looking for red cloak.
● Tom is a suit and tie man. Maybe his blazer will come off once or twice.
● Jordan blends in when you’re on your way home from the bus stop. Maybe jeans + tshirt.

Mama Notes (as compiled by Emma Rothenberg):
1981:
● Black & white, austere, faith, lipstick
● Mama acts tough but “leans heavy”
● Light lips, dark eyes, rouged cheek
1987:
● Tailored pant or high waisted jeans
● Loose blouse (preferably w shoulder pads) OR something more casual (large AC/DC or
Led Zeppelin shirt tucked into high waisted jeans)
● Hoop earrings
● Simple black character shoe


27


28
Young April Notes (as compiled by Emma Rothenberg):
1981:
● Either short shorts with a large sweater/polo shirt or flowy (high waisted) shorts
● Overalls
● Thin headband
● White bobby socks

29
d. Guidelines for Lighting

● Lots of reds, purples, blues for transitions. Elliott wants lots of color for church scenes.
● April’s house is never too bright – maybe lit by projector/TV? Unless it’s daytime.
● Cynthia’s office is always too bright, unless it’s after hours.
● Tania’s room – let’s try pinks?

e. Guidelines for Sound

● News clips throughout show – need to go through and decide what to cut
● Whisper fetish sound effects?
● Radio music (Foreigner, Elvis, Nina Simone, Christmas music for 1.10, music during Tania’s act,
Ave Maria, maybe some Eric Clapton for Papa shadow play?)
● Would love some bells for praying to Mary M
● Trailer park track – maybe can be edited to fit different moments?
● Need to figure out how much of sound is projected, and how much is separate from video
● Need to track down computer with QLab

f. Guidelines for Video

● Still not 100% sure what’s going on here, but will be meeting with video designer over the next
few days to talk how many video cues we’ll need
● Use clips in archival document – try playing with static for Reagan voiceovers
● Reel of people talking about lipstick during preshow
● Static to project on faces
● Inaugural parade mashup for both elections
● Some way of incorporating Green River victim’s faces for scene 1.8
● Rose petals for Tania/Jordan scenes
● Projecting trailer exterior onto building? Projecting curtain?
● Reel for last two scenes – 2004 recap
● Do we use this every time the TV is on???
● Need to meet with Erik Sunderman to look at programming

Preliminary Cue List:

Cue: Page Number: Link: Notes: Finished?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=AaC7uDwjGnk Yes
v=PFFhSI_APY
Lipstick video 2 top of show v=0dVy1f8yxI
Trailer park
sounds 2, after the video (No footage on file) Yes

30
5, after "We’re cuttin’
Static/TV down ‘til the end of https://www.youtube.com/watch?
sputtering to life the month for it." v=t0I4mTEdAf8 Yes
v=0At0vwxWops
v=WzhUpX2QI
Need to figure out how
https://www.youtube.com/watch? to work in time for
v=4pPuqWOWMTw dialogue Yes
Presidential 5, after "I said one https://youtu.be/WzhUpX2QI?t=
Inauguration clip second, Ma!" 20m7s
https://youtu.be/hpPt7xGx4Xo?t=
5m32s
https://www.youtube.com/watch? Is there a way we can
v=WzhUpX2QI&feature=youtu.b mash up the
e&t=21m40s “Washington Post
March,” footage of the
https://youtu.be/hpPt7xGx4Xo?t=
Reagans waving from
9m53s
7, after "We don’t, their limousine, and a
Acceptance baby. We just gotta https://youtu.be/hpPt7xGx4Xo?t= distorted version of the
speech clip have faith." 11m11s address? Yes
14, after "Early
enough to get you up
Air traffic control for school – so don’t https://www.youtube.com/watch?
strike worry ‘bout that." v=j3ZTCPJ39LA Yes
16, after "There’s
"Tom and Jerry" gotta be something https://www.youtube.com/watch?
theme more interesting on." v=3cu0KOzunpI Yes
Air traffic control 16, after April https://www.youtube.com/watch?
strike, continued changes the channel v=j3ZTCPJ39LA Yes
19, after "I think we’ll
get along just fine."
AIDS Broadcast and Cynthia turns on https://youtu.be/X23vKiBE88E?t=
series the radio 1m4s Yes
21, after "And she,
too, did suffer for the
evils in her impure https://www.youtube.com/watch?
"Ave Maria" heart." v=S8aeUE89cT8 Yes
26, after "Only man
in America
worshipped for https://youtu.be/DOZ5nfgGTtI?t=3 Transition into Faces of
Reagan speech being… gentle." m51s victims?? Yes

31
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/arti
cle/GreenRiverKillerGaryRidg
Reel of Green waysvictimsin4954284.php#ph Should run until Grown
River victims After Reagan speech oto5403740 April exits Yes
Need to see if we can
30, after Young April replace this with
NHI clip enters (No footage on file) something else Yes
Lisa Yates 34, after "I guess Is there a way it can
disappearance most of us do." (No footage on file) peter out? Yes
Christmas Music 36, after "Turn it off." v=pY3LlB7Pxc Yes
"Sugar in my 40, after "I have an https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Bowl" idea." v=eSbxJMkItI Yes
Need to figure out how
Mondale/Reagan 43, after Young April https://www.youtube.com/watch? to work in time for
debate enters the house v=jj_xt5G1sFE dialogue Yes
v=hq2ZAOLocGI&feature=youtu.
be&t=19s
https://youtu.be/hq2ZAOLocGI?t=
53s
https://youtu.be/hq2ZAOLocGI?t=
Transition from Jane
7m46s
Reagan 49, after "The Akre, to Reagan, to
acceptance second time around, https://youtu.be/hq2ZAOLocGI?t= Mondale, to chanting,
speech #2 things felt different." 2m15s to Reagan again? Yes
Trailer park
sounds, 50, after video clip
continued ends (No footage on file) Yes
53, after "I hear
funerals are more
Nancy Reagan fun than weddings https://www.youtube.com/watch?
voiceover anyway." v=lQXgVM30mIY Yes
Donna Gentile 55, after Tania flips
voiceover on the radio (No footage on file) Yes
~Sex scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?
sounds~ After DG voiceover v=f77SKdyn1Y Yes
Unsettling noise,
culminating in
Reagan 68, after "I’ll fuckin’ https://youtu.be/FYWS7udm0yg?t
voiceover eat you." =1m14s Yes

32
Reagan 79, after "Another https://www.youtube.com/watch?

voiceover raid–" v=9G9uPkVVX5k Yes
83, after "Tired and
broke, baby. That’s
how they’ve got us https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Rain sound effect feelin’." v=jX6kn9_U8qk Yes
Interviewee 85, after "I try to https://youtu.be/YH6lztvOxYE?t=
voiceover forget." 1m10s Yes
Judith Ridgeway 85, after "His wife
voiceover testified. She said–" (No footage on file) Yes

g. Look Book Material


33

34

35

36

37

38
6. Dramaturgical Work

a. Historical Timeline

1958 – Cynthia is born.
1959 – Tania is born.
1970 – Michelle goes missing.
1972 – The Behavioral Science Unit is established at the FBI Academy in Virginia.
1973 – April is born.
1974 – The word “serial killer” is coined by FBI Special Agent Robert Ressler.
1976 – Papa goes to jail.
1979 – Spousal rape is outlawed in California; AFLCIO membership peaks; the United Food and
Commercial Workers International Union is founded.

Jan. 20, 1981
● Reagan is sworn in as the 40th president of the United States. Iran releases the 52 remaining
hostages who had been held at the U.S. embassy in Tehran for 444 days.

1.1 – Mama comes home with a television set, and the two watch Reagan’s inaugural parade.

April 28, 1981
● Reagan appears before Congress and receives support for his economic package, which
includes cuts in social programs and taxes, and increases in defense spending.

June 5, 1981
● AIDS is, for the first time, recognized by the United States Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).

1.2 – Cynthia has her interview for the FBI job.

1.3 – Tania monologues about her act.

Aug. 3, 1981
● Air traffic controllers go on strike. Reagan gives them 48 hours to get back to work, and fires
those who refuse.

1.4 – Mama’s gotta work more hours, and April begins getting interested in union politics.

Oct. 18, 1981
● Reagan concedes that the United States is in "a slight recession" but predicts recovery by the
spring.

1.5 – Cynthia monologues about her job.

January 1982
● Attorney General William French Smith announced a federal law enforcement reorganization,
giving the FBI concurrent jurisdiction with the DEA over drug offenses.

39

June 12th, 1982
● Early CBS Report on AIDS is released, calling it the “gay cancer.”

July 15, 1982
● Wendy Lee Coffield’s body is discovered in Green River, Oregon.

1.6 – April is in church, listening to Father preach when she finds out about Miss Coffield. Father says
some words about Mary Magdalene, and April starts her period.

Fall 1982
● The nation sinks into its worst recession since the Great Depression. Reagan fears budget
deficits as high as $200 billion. On Nov. 1, more than 9 million Americans are officially
unemployed.

1.7 – Tania and Jordan meet, and spend time in the back room talking about religion.

1.8 – April prays for the sex workers before bed. Cynthia tells Tom about the morning of Michelle’s
disappearance.

Early 1983
● The UFCW holds its first regular convention in Montreal, Quebec.

March 23, 1983
● Reagan unveils his proposal for a Strategic Defense Initiative, later dubbed "Star Wars," in a
national speech: "I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear
weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the
means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete."

1.9 – Mama comes home to find April watching the news and tells her about life with Papa.

1.10 – Jordan visits Tania for Christmas Eve and she ends the night doing his lipstick.

May 9, 1984
● In a televised speech, Reagan urges helping the Contra "freedom fighters" in Nicaragua.

Oct. 7, 1984
● First debate with Democratic nominee Walter Mondale.

1.11 – April watches the debate and gets in a spat with Mama.

1.12 – Cynthia confronts Tom about having to spend more time on drug busts than on psych profiles. We
find out that he is moonlighting as an executive for the DEA.

Nov. 4, 1984
● Reagan defeats Mondale in landslide. Reagan carries 49 states 525 electoral votes to
Mondale's 10, and 59% of the popular vote.


40
1.13 – All characters watch Reagan’s reelection.

2.1 – The women of the play meditate on blood.

Early 1985
● Nancy Reagan begins “Just Say No.”
● The UFCW meatpackers strike in Detroit.

2.2 – Cynthia at work.

2.3 – Tania dresses Jordan up as Mary Magdalene, and the two share an intimate moment.

February 1986
● Renegade strikers at Hormel are refused access to AFLCIO Exec. Council Meeting.

2.4 – Tom finds out about Cynthia’s sister and begins to blackmail her.

2.5 – Mama tells April that Papa isn’t coming home, we find out about Tania’s abortion, and Cynthia
reflects on her sister’s murder.

October 1986
● Reagan signs the AntiDrug Abuse Act.

2.6 – The strikes are rough and Mama relapses.

Nov. 25, 1986
● National Security Adviser John Poindexter resigns and national security aide Col. Oliver North is
fired in the widening IranContra affair. In a press conference, Attorney General Edwin Meese
announces that $10$30 million of profits from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran had been diverted to
the Nicaraguan Contras.

2.7 – Cynthia on the phone trying to suppress a probe into FBI corruption.

Feb. 26, 1987
● The Tower Commission report on IranContra concludes that Reagan's passive management
style allowed his staff to mislead him about the trade of arms to Iran for hostages held in Lebanon
and to pursue a secret war against the Nicaraguan government.

2.8 – Jordan proposes to Tania, but she feels that her autonomy is being encroached upon and refuses.
We find out that Jordan has become involved with a man.

March 4, 1987
● Reagan acknowledges a "mistake" in the IranContra affair.

2.9 – Cynthia confronts Tom about the escalating FBI raids, and – after announcing that she will quit her
job – he assaults her.


41
March 16, 1988
● Oliver North, John Poindexter, and two others are indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of
conspiring to defraud the U.S. government by secretly providing funds and supplies to the
Contras.

Jan. 11, 1989
● Reagan gives his farewell address to the nation, in which he says the socalled Reagan revolution
"made a difference."

2.10 (Past) – Tania and Cynthia leave their places of work and meet on a bus headed nowhere in
particular.

1996 – Mama goes to jail.

Nov. 5, 1994
● Reagan discloses in a letter that he has Alzheimer's disease. "I now begin the journey that will
lead me into the sunset of my life," he writes. "I know that for America there will always be a bright
dawn ahead."

20032004
● The UFCW’s grocery workers’ walkout in Southern California fails.
● Gary Ridgway is arrested and sentenced to 48 life sentences without parole.
● Sex Workers Outreach Project USA is founded and a vigil is held for victims of the Green River
killings.

June 5, 2004
● Ronald Reagan dies in California at the age of 93.

2.10 (Present) – Grown April goes to pick Mama up from jail.

b. Political Background/ Archival Material

The Hostile Intelligence Threat (ca. 1980s) | FBI Academy Training Film
● Recruitment of U.S. citizens by foreign governments as intelligence agents such as KGB and
GRU. Narrated by FBI Director William Webster. Foreign intelligence officers are working within
U.S. system to gain information through friendships and bribery of U.S.citizens get them to hand
over secret documents. Citizens can monitor diplomats activities by reporting unusual request for
restricted U.S.documents to FBI.
● National Archives Identifier: 12176; Local Identifier: 65.106; Creator(s): Department of Justice.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (1935)

1981 Reagan's Inauguration Parade

Ronald Reagan's Inauguration Parade EPCOT Center

Inauguration of Ronald Reagan 1981
● The first inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th President of the United States was held on
January 20, 1981. The inauguration marked the commencement of the first fouryear term of


42
Ronald Reagan as President and George H. W. Bush as Vice President. Chief Justice Warren E.

Burger administered the oath of office. Minutes later, the Americans held hostage in Iran were
released.

CSPAN: President Reagan 1981 Inaugural Address

Remarks and Q & A with reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike
● President Reagan's remarks and Q & A session with reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers
(PATCO) strike on 8/3/81.

Tom And Jerry Theme Tune

President Reagan's New Program to Combat Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime
● President Reagan's New Program to Combat Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime National
Archives and Records Administration 19821014 ARC Identifier 37854 / Local Identifier 170.15
Department of Justice. Drug Enforcement Administration. DVD copied by IASL Master Scanner
Timothy Vollmer.

1984 1st PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: REAGAN VS MONDALE (FULL)
● The fulllength 1st 1984 Presidential Candidate Debate between President Reagan and Walter
Mondale on 10/07/84. In Center Of The Performing Arts, Louisville Kentucky.

1984 Presidential Candidate Debate: President Reagan and Walter Mondale 10/21/84
● The fulllength 2nd 1984 Presidential Candidate Debate between President Reagan and Walter
Mondale on 10/21/84.

1986 AIDS Commercials

Early CBS Report on AIDS
● CBS news report by Barry Peterson from San Francisco on June 12th 1982 featuring the
occurance of immune deficiency syndrome in predominantly gay men in New York, San Francisco
and Los Angeles, who typically show symptoms of Kaposi's Sarcoma. Includes scenes of
interviews with Bobbi Campbell, Larry Kramer, Dr James Curran and Dr Marcus Conant.

President Ronald Reagan Address on IranContra
● Broadcast to the American people from the Oval Office. Reagan promises to tell the nation the
truth regarding the IranContra scandal and admits to making mistakes. He introduces new
personnel and processes put in place to ensure the integrity of future national security decisions.

Ronald ReaganSpeech to the Nation on the Campaign Against Drug Abuse
● President Ronald Reagan speaks with First Lady Nancy Reagan to the nation about the
campaign against drug abuse. They want to launch a national crusade to fight against drug abuse
in schools, workplaces, and communities. They focus on the damage drugs are inflicting
throughout the country and advocate "Just Say No."

The Death of Ronald Reagan June, 2004 CBS News part 1
● From June 5, 2004, here is a CBS Evening News Special Report on the death and long career
of President Ronald Reagan. This is part 1.


43
c. Bibliography

"Behavioral Science." Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI Academy , n.d. Web. 31 May 2016.
< https://www2.fbi.gov/hq/td/academy/bsu/bsu.htm >.

Bledsoe, Jenny "Feminine Images of Jesus: Later Medieval Christology and the Devaluation of
The Feminine." Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies 3, no. 1 (2011).
< http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/imwjournal/vol3/iss1/4 >.

“Drug Enforcement Administration, 19801985.” History of the Drug Enforcement Administration
(n.d.): 4357. Web. <h ttp://www.dea.gov/about/history/19801985.pdf >.

"Gary Ridgway Kills Nearly 50 Prositutes in the SeattleTacoma Area." Altered
Dimensions Paranormal. N.p., 27 Dec. 2012. Web. 31 May 2016.
< http://altereddimensions.net/2012/greenriverkiller >.

Limberg, Jerry Kathleen. "The Murder of Donna Gentile: San Diego Policing and Prostitution
19801993." California State University San Marcos. N.p., 9 Nov. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
< https://csusmdspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.8/252/LimbergJerry%20Fall2012.pdf
?sequence=4 >.

Lorenz, Liz. "Christ's Womanly Wounds: Vaginal Motifs in Gothic Illuminations." Issuu. Recycled
Origins, Sept. 2014. Web. 31 May 2016.
< https://issuu.com/lizlorenz/docs/recycled_origins_essay/0 >.

Reagan, Ronald. "Address to the Nation on IranContra (March 4, 1987)." Miller Center. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 28 May 2016. <h ttp://millercenter.org/president/speeches/speech3414 >.

Reagan, Ronald. "Inaugural Address." Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
National Archives and Records Administration , 20 Jan. 1981. Web. 31 May 2016.
< https://reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1981/12081a.h >.

Small, Deborah. "NHI: No Humans Involved." Deborah Small's Ethnobotany Blog. N.p., 21 Nov.
2013. Web. 31 May 2016. < https://deborahsmall.wordpress.com/projects/publicart/49582/ >.

"UFCW Strike and Class Struggle in America." International Communist League. Workers
Vanguard , 19 Mar. 2004. Web. 31 May 2016.
< http://www.iclfi.org/english/wv/archives/oldsite/2004/UFCW821822.hm >.

"Was Mary Magdalene Wife of Jesus? Was Mary Magdalene a Prostitute?" Biblical Archaeology Society.
N.p., 08 Apr. 2016. Web. 07 Sep. 2016.
< http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/peopleculturesinthebible/peopleinthebible/wasmar
ymagdalenewifeofjesuswasmarymagdaleneaprostitute/ >.

Wetsch, Elisabeth. "Wife Of Nation’s Worst Serial Killer Shares Her Story." Serial Killer Crime
Index. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2016.
< http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkiller_news/R/RIDGWAY_gary_leon.ph >.


44
d. Resources for Actors

For Tom and Cynthia:
● “Fake Deep,” by Cecile Emeke ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtVSputUs4Y )
● “Why It’s Dangerous to Tell Men to Be Persistent to Get Women to Sleep with Them,” by Ellen
Kate ( everydayfeminism.com/2016/10/menpersistentwithwomen/ )
● “The NFL, the Military, and the Problem With Masculine Institutions,” by Wendy Christensen
( psmag.com/thenflthemilitaryandtheproblemwithmasculineinstitutions1a30bb1095ac )
● “Why I Stayed With An Abusive Partner – And How Emotional Abuse Gave Me PTSD,” by
Jennifer WilliamsFields ( everydayfeminism.com/2016/04/emotionalabuseptsd/ )
● “Beware These 10 Types of Feminist Men,” by Melissa A. Fabello and Aaminah Khan
( everydayfeminism.com/2016/08/reasonstobewarefeministmen/ )
● “7 Reasons So Many Guys Don’t Understand Sexual Consent,” by David Wong
( http://www.cracked.com/blog/howmenaretrainedtothinksexualassaultnobigdeal/ )
● “A Grief Like No Other,” by Eric Schlosser
( theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/09/agrieflikenoother/376944/ )
● “Drug Laws and Snitching: A Primer,” by Eric E. Sterling – featuring a history of mandatory
minimums in the United States ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snitch/primer/ )
● “Drug Enforcement Administration: 19801985” – from the “About” section of the DEA Homepage
( https://www.dea.gov/about/history/19801985.pdf ) (I know this one’s long, but pay special
attention to attention to "Concurrent Jurisdiction with the FBI” on page 46, and "Organized Crime
Drug Enforcement Task Force” on page 49)
● “The Real Drug Lords: A brief history of CIA involvement in the Drug Trade,” By William Blum
( http://www.globalresearch.ca/therealdruglordsabriefhistoryofciainvolvementinthedrugtra
de/10013 )

For Tania and Jordan:
● “The Whorecast,” by Souxsie Q ( www.thewhorecast.com )
● “Tits and Sass” – a group blog run by sex workers ( titsandsass.com )
● Pamphlet about dating/friending sex workers ( swopsf.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/holover.pdf )
● “Why I Love Dick Lit,” by Brittany Newell ( stanfordartsreview.com/dicklit )
● “I Thought Sex Work Would Be Empowering and Feminist. I Was Dead Wrong,” by Emily Eveland
( narrative.ly/ithoughtsexworkcouldbeempoweringandfeministiwasdeadwrong )
● Cocaine Cowboys – a 2006 documentary film about the drug trade in Miami during the 1980s
( http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x292ax5_cocainecowboys12_lifestyle )
● Footage from the San Francisco Bay Area Sex Worker Film & Arts Festival Archive
( http://www.sexworkerfest.com/videos/ )
● “Mykki Blanco recites ‘I Want A Dyke For President’ – A film by Adinah Dancyger”
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6DgawQdSlQ )

For Mama and her Aprils:
● “Kids Dealing with Drug Addicted Parents,” by Jasmine Rain
( www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wa4QTgzho )
● “Why it’s so hard to succeed in Silicon Valley when you grew up poor,” by Ricky Yean
( www.vox.com/2016/1/27/10828326/startupsandpoverty )
● “The hardest part about growing up poor was knowing I couldn’t mess up. Not even once,” by
David Tran ( www.vox.com/firstperson/2016/9/27/13062230/poorcollegescholarshipopportunity )
● Subway scene from Pursuit of Happyness ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLwjEtY4uas )


45
● “Mother Daughter Redneck Attack!” ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=53bpVAYqFkM )
● “Crazy white trash Part 2” ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWwcxBg408A )
● “Always On My Mind,” by Elvis Presley ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6_aEsFwQ9s )
● 8 Mile clip: “We're Being Evicted” ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bY4qPadkSo )
● “My mother the meth addict” ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQOHAmKdcvM )
● “4 women struggle with meth addiction” ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjCwXqHZ8mE )
● “Sharon’s Story about Crystal Meth Addiction Recovery” ( youtube.com/watch?v=8nPEnB2dv9o )

7. Rehearsal Plans

a. Key Words/ Vocab

● Drops :
○ In reference to Jennifer WilliamsFields' piece in Everyday Feminism called "Why I
Stayed With An Abusive Partner – And How Emotional Abuse Gave Me PTSD," in which
she writes: "Emotional abuse in a relationship takes time to build. It’s slow and methodical
and incessant, much like a dripping kitchen faucet." (We started out talking about Tom &
Cynthia's relationship in terms of "crossing lines," but started using the drop metaphor
instead in an effort to make things more nuanced.)
● Existential wall :
○ A fun little one that Elliott came up with (and maybe borrowed from Helen?) to describe
the force that propels Mama forward/ talk about the weariness that lives in her spine.

b. Guidelines for Giving Feedback

● Being specific about what's good and what isn't
● Always finding things to comment on that the actor has found for themselves
● Never giving line reads
● Seeking to find what they don't understand (I've found that it's usually an issue of text
comprehension)
● Finding two extremes to try out, and letting the actor find somewhere in the middle that works for
them (the more absurd the extremes are, the more it'll help the actor find the courage to make
bolder choices)
● When we don't like something, ask why the choice was made – maybe we've missed something

c. InClass Workshop Plan

For my workshop project, I will be trying to work with the concept of time – mainly:

1) How time is experienced by different characters.
2) Ticking clocks for a narrator vs. ticking clocks for ensemble members.
3) How to represent the quirks of memory through physical timing.

I'll be pulling three volunteers from the class: two "play actors" and one narrator. The narrator will tell a
story about an interaction between themselves and another person (something simple and easy to act out
– maybe a funny or frustrating conversation in class, maybe a story about an outing with a sibling or
friend). Together, the group will cast one of the play actors as the main character (i.e. the narrator), and

46
the other actor as the sibling/friend/classmate, etc. The group will then begin an improv where the
narrator tells the story piece by piece at a leisurely pace, giving the other two volunteers chances to act
out the interaction being described. After doing this once (maybe for 12 minutes) we will repeat the same
story two more times – once with the narrator moving at a faster pace than the improvisors, and once with
the narrator moving much more slowly than the pace of the improvisors.

d. Final Rehearsal Lab Plan

For today's rehearsal, I plan on running Act One, Scene 11 (entitled "The First Debate") with Mama and
Young April. Young April will be played by Davis, and Mama will be played by Charlotte, who has received
a script and the following character notes:

● Mama's about 27 in this scene, and April is 11
● Mama works three jobs and is constantly tired/ struggling to make ends meet
● She's sober now but has struggled with addiction in the past
● It's just the two of them in the trailer, so they fight often
● This particular argument – Mama being upset about April not doing her schoolwork, April feeling
smarter than her Mama but having to make sure never to upset her too much – is one they've had
many times, so all of these topics have come up before
● Mama dropped out of high school at 16 to have April, so a lot of the tension in this scene is about
her feeling dumber than her daughter/ wanting to make a better life for her kid, but at the same
time resenting her for it

This is a 4th rehearsal for Davis, but a first one for Charlotte, but I will be trusting Charlotte and treating it
as though we are one week out from performing. From working with Davis in the past, I know she
struggles with intentions and tactics in this scene; as opposed to most traditional "theatrical arguments,"
there is no building towards a gradual outburst in this conversation – rather, the scene begins with Mama
being generally irritable, and ends with her deescalating into more of a pointed passiveaggression. This
is because Mama comes home from work looking for a punching bag, but her anger towards April is
fundamentally more selfhating in nature. The scene ends with her trying to patch things up, but ultimately
gaslighting April by using Papa's old tactic of saying "I’m not out here tryna make you scared of me."

Objectives for today will be to follow the ebb and flow of this argument without falling into a more
"traditional" fight. We will be focusing on physical activities for the two of them to pursue throughout the
course of the scene – Mama looking at her bills, and April focusing on her drawing/the Reagan debate.
We will also be looking at subtext for different lines (such as when April asks if they're going to watch the
parade, and when Mama asks "what parade?" as a symbol of their connection wavering). We will also be
identifying moments in this conversation which have happened before (Mama bringing up April's
schoolwork, April ignoring Mama, etc).

We will begin by reading through the scene and discussing these moments (57 mins). We will run the
scene once with the two of them holding hands and pushing/pulling one another in light of their different
objectives (emotionally pushing/pulling one another away) (3 mins) and then get the scene up on its feet
(4 mins), leaving a few minutes for notes. The blocking will be messy, as my Mama was unable to come
today, but I will not be focusing on this in light of wanting to cater to Davis's emotional process of working
with a new actress on a scene she's expressed having difficulties with.


47
e. Ideas for Improvisations

Immediate Circumstances
● April has just stolen her mother’s lipstick. Person A must play the mother, and Person B must play
April. Together they will decide 1) April’s motive for stealing the lipstick, 2) the mother’s reaction,
and 3) the age of each character. I will go around the room and adjust the ages of each character,
but the set of circumstances selected must stay the same. For the group setting, I will have two
volunteers begin an improv scene and switch actors in at different ages.
● Person A is handcuffed to the bed. Person B’s objective is to get Person A to kiss them, and
Person A’s objective is to prevent this from happening.
● Have an actor playing April improvise a prayer that she’s going to address to either Mary
Magdalene, her television set, or God.
● Person A is playing Grown April and Person B is playing Young April. Person B will be coming up
with gestures, and Person A will be distorting them by making them slower and more intentional –
a more adult form of that gesture. Then Person A will come up with a few gestures, and Person A
will distort them by making them more erratic and childlike. At the end of the process, we should
have a set of young vs. old gestures for each actor to use when playing the same character.

Between Scenes
● Person A plays April coming home from school. April’s teacher has just told her that if she studies
hard, she’ll be the president of America someday. Person B plays Mama coming home from work.
Mama’s boss has just told her that pity is the only reason she hasn’t been fired. The two meet on
their way into the house.
● Person A plays Tom and Person B plays Cynthia. The two are eating lunch in the breakroom
when the topic of Cynthia’s childhood comes up. Person A’s objective is to get Cynthia to tell him
a story, and Person B’s objective is to change the subject.
● Person A and B are holding hands. Person A is playing Tania, and Person B is playing Jordan.
Jordan has recently begun seeing a different lover, and feels guilty. Tania has just been laid off.
Each person’s objective is to inform the other.
● Tom is asking Cynthia out on a date – somewhere between scenes 1.5 and 1.12. The given
circumstances are: Cynthia's office after hours. Tom and Cynthia are the only two left in the
building. She is going through the files for her private project – finding Michelle's killer. Tom enters
and says: "You still here?" Cynthia responds: "Look who's talking." Scene ensues. Tom's objective
is to ask her out, and her objective is to feel out whether this is a good idea or not. During the
scene, let's look at:
1) Different persuasion tactics
2) Where these tactics fall on the scale between consent and coercion
3) Which of these tactics work with her

Bonding Exercises/ General

In our work with actors, we lead an exercise on genre in which we gave each member of our cast a tube
of lipstick, laid down an 8'x8' square of newspaper on the floor, and gave them 45 minutes as an
ensemble to create a piece. Elliott and I guided them with general prompts (i.e. use the newspaper floor,
copy what someone else in the room is doing, find another actor to interact with, draw a picture on the
ground and then in the air, etc.) and asked them to try and create a theatrical art with the piece.
Throughout the process, we saw actors draw outlines of one another's bodies, write the word "poop" on
their foreheads, cut their wrists with the lipstick, and fashion the newspaper floor into a dress for Davis.


48

As character work for Tania and Jordan, we had both actors sit on the ground and stare into one another's
eyes for the duration of several songs. With each song, we increased the level of physical contact
between the two until finally asking each person to do the other's makeup. This part of the process was
silent, and we dimmed the lights and sprayed perfume around them as they worked to establish a sense
for setting. Finally, we played one last song and had them kiss at the end – covered in makeup, just as
they eventually were during the show.

If we had had more time, I would have loved to see each actor put together a character biography using "I
am..." sentences – and ideally use the biography to create an emotional map of each character's life. I
would have also liked to do some more dramaturgical work, possibly by having everyone present about a
specific topic that comes up for their character (rather than just spoonfeeding that information to them, as
I ended up doing). I also would have mimicked the activity in an earlier chapter of identifying major topics
in the play as they relate to each character. Though this work was helpful for me on my own, having more
group discussions about the things that connect each character (addiction, absent fatherhood, religion,
etc.) would have been helpful, I think.


49
f. Rehearsal Schedule

Date Time Location Agenda Called
Monday, October 10 7:00 8:00 Roble 117 April Movement Work Fiona and Davis
8:00 9:00 Roble 117 1.1 + 1.2 Monologue Fiona
9:00 10:00 Roble 117 Cynthia Movement Work/ 1.2 Raquel
Monologue
10:00 11:00 Roble 117 1.2 + Cynthia and Tom Dynamics Work Raquel and Publio
Tuesday, October 11 6:30 7:30 Roble 117 Tania and Jordan Dynamics Work Hope and David
7:30 8:30 Roble 117 Mama Movement Work + 1.11 Abigail
Monologue
8:30 9:15 Roble 117 Mama and Young April Dynamics Work Abigail and Davis
9:15 11:00 Roble 117 1.1 Fiona, Abigail, and Davis
Wednesday, October 12 6:00 7:00 Roble 117 Tania Movement Work + 1.3 Monologue Hope
7:00 8:15 Roble 117 1.7 Hope and David
8:15 9 :15 Roble 117 1.5 Raquel and Publio
9:15 10:00 Roble 117 1.4 Monologues Fiona
10:00 11:00 Roble 117 1.4 Fiona, Abigail, and Davis
Friday, October 14 1:30 2:10 Roble 117 1.6 Monologue David
2:10 3:30 Roble 117 1.7 David and Hope
3:30 4:00 Roble 117 1.3 Hope and Publio
4:00 4:45 Roble 117 Tom and Daniel Movement Work Publio
Sunday, October 16 12:30 1:30 Roble 117 Tania and Jordan Dynamics Work David and Hope
1:30 3:30 Roble 117 1.10. David and Hope
3:30 4:30 Roble 117 1.6 + 1.7 Monologues Fiona
Monday, October 17 5:00 6:15 Nitery Finish blocking 1.10. David and Hope
7:00 8:00 Nitery 1.2 + 1.8 Monologue work Raquel
8:00 9:30 Nitery 1.2 + 1.5 Raquel and Publio
Tuesday, October 18 6:00 7:00 Nitery Jordan + Father Movement Work David
7:00 8:00 Nitery Ensemble Work All
8:00 9:00 Nitery 1.1 – 1.5 All
9:00 10:15 Nitery 1.6 w/ Church Ensemble All
10:15 10:30 Nitery 1.13 All
Wednesday, October 19 7:00 8:00 Nitery 1.12 + 1.8 Raquel, Publio
8:00 9:00 Nitery 1.8 Raquel, Publio, Hope,
Fiona, Davis

50
9:00 9:30 Nitery Prologue + Epilogue Raquel, Hope, Abigail,

Fiona, Davis
9:30 10:30 Nitery 1.9 Abigail, Davis, Fiona
Friday, October 21 2:00 3:30 Nitery Mama Movement Work Continued Abigail and David
3:30 4:30 Nitery 1.11 Abigail and Davis
Sunday, October 23 1:00 3:00 Nitery Act One Patching (1.11 + 1.12) All
3:00 4:00 Nitery Act One RunThrough All
Monday, October 24 6:00 7:00 Nitery 2.4 Raquel, Publio
7:00 8:00 Nitery Act One Review Abigail, Davis, Fiona
8:00 10:00 Nitery Raquel, Hope (late), Davis,
2.5 Abigail
Tuesday, October 25 6:30 8:00 Nitery 2.9 (w/o movement) Publio, Raquel
8:00 9:00 Nitery Mama Character Work Abigail
9:00 11:00 Nitery 2.7 Abigail, Davis
Wednesday, October 26 6:00 8:30 Terra 2.8 Hope, David
8:40 9:40 Nitery 2.7 (continued) Abigail, Davis
9:40 10:40 Nitery 2.1 Abigail, Fiona, Raquel,
Davis
10:40 11:00 Nitery 2.2 Fiona, Raquel
Thursday, October 27 8:00 9:00 Terra 2.10. (part 1) Fiona, Davis
Friday, October 28 2:00 3:30 Nitery 2.3 + movement Hope, David
3:30 4:45 Nitery 2.7 Abigail, Davis
Sunday, October 30 1:00 2:00 Nitery Hope, Fiona, Raquel, Davis,
2.10. Abigail
2:00 4:00 Nitery 2.6 + 2.9 Hope, Raquel, Publio
Monday, October 31 7:00 8:00 Nitery Bits n' pieces All
8:00 9:00 Nitery Act One Review All
9:00 10:30 Nitery Act One Run All
Tuesday, November 1 7:30 8:30 Nitery Act Two Review All
8:30 11:00 Nitery Full Run All
Wednesday, November 2 4:30 8:30 Nitery Bits n' pieces All
8:30 11:00 Nitery Full Run (featuring Leslie) All
Thursday, November 3 7:30 8:30 Nitery Bits n' pieces All
8:30 10:30 Nitery Full Run All
10:30 11:00 Nitery Notes All

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Saturday, November 5 TBD Nitery Review (if necessary) All*****

Sunday, November 6 10:00 1:00 Nitery Cuetocue All
1:00 1:45 Nitery Lunch All
1:45 4:00 Nitery Stumblethrough with tech!!! All

8. Program Materials

a. Cast and Staff Bios

Aaron Brackett is a Junior at Stanford and loves theatre. They say no one knows where he comes
from, but everyone knows where he's going. Or maybe it's the other way around. He hopes you enjoy
the show and appreciates you supporting art in these trying times.

Having played moms and magistrates, Hope G. Yi (they/them) is excited to have finally landed a role
that doesn't require them to dye their blonde streak. In their free time, Hope pilfers plastic utensils
from the Axe & Palm and sips on boba (Taro milk tea, 50% sweetness, 0% ice).

Abigail Flowers is a senior from Houston, Texas who is majoring in English and double minoring in
History and Film & Media studies. On campus, she was a member of The Stanford Harmonics and
has previously appeared in Ram's Head's Rent and At The Fountain's Criminal Cabaret. She is also
the writer and producer of a short film, SHEN, which is currently in the international film festival circuit.

David Albán Hidalgo is a senior double majoring in something sciencey and something
humanitiesy. Doing theater things helps David (pronounced dahVEED), deal with his own existential
and identity issues by pretending they're about the characters and not about him. Previously at the
Nitery, David was Carlos/creepy male figure for House on Mango Street and performed in the final
showcase for Chicanx Theater last spring.

Raquel Orendain Shrestha is a senior double majoring in Political Science / Film + Media Studies
with a TAPS minor. She has been involved in several theatre productions at Stanford; most recently
she acted in fox mirror forest and The House on Mango Street. She also enjoys watching and making
films.

Sam Johnson is a junior majoring in Electrical Engineering. He has designed for many productions
on campus including: Mali/State of Darkness (TAPS), Don Giovanni (Savoyards), Macbeth (Theater
Lab), and Top Girls/Glengarry Glen Ross (TAPS/Lab). He will be studying in Berlin the next two
quarters.

Davis Leonard is a sophomore majoring in Theater and Performance Studies. She's so grateful to
Maddie and Elliott for putting together this complicated, beautiful play, and thankful to have had the
chance to work with this company.

Fiona Maguire is a sophomore Theater and Performance studies and Human Biology double major.
She would’ve written a longer bio but she was chatting with the Holy Virgin and the Whore of Babylon,
but hey now she has four cents.


52
Publio Adrianza is a 5th year senior from Caracas, Venezuela writing his honors thesis in the STS
department and minoring in TAPS. At Stanford he's been part of Machinal (2014), Hamlet (2015),
Evita (2015), Life of Galileo (2015), and Brotherhood (2016). After graduation he plans on pursuing an
MFA and looks to engage with art at the intersection of performance and education. Publio couldn't be
happier to share this deeply moving and importantly provoking work of art with the Stanford
community nor could he be more humbled by the talent and passion that everyone in this cast has
brought to the production. Thank you.

Jace Alexander Casey is a senior who is majoring in Film & Media Studies and minoring in History
and Psychology. His short film SHEN is currently making the rounds of the film festival circuit.

Elliott Bomboy is a senior in the TAPS department and is originally from Oklahoma. This is the
thirteenth show they've worked on at Stanford and the first full production they have directed.

Madelaine Bixler is a History/TAPS doublemajor who dabbles in playwriting, directing, set design,
and letting vital deadlines hurl past her very eyes. This is the second play she’s written and produced
at Stanford, and she couldn’t be more grateful to be able to share it with you all tonight.

Holly Slang is a junior majoring in TAPS and Human Biology. Some of her favorite Stanford projects
include Spring Awakening (TAPS, Assistant Stage Manager), The Duel (TAPS, Stage Manager), and
12 Angry Men (Juror #5). She enjoys watching videos of animals on the Internet.

b. Director’s Notes

This is the first play that I've directed. I've been present since Madelaine first started writing In
Volution, I've seen it go through many iterations, and it's landed on stage as something that I could
never have imagined even a month ago. In Volution takes you through the constant overstimulation
that comes along with performing femme labor in a world that's hell bent on destroying you and
everything you love. It deals in the all the inbetweens of violence, in all of the ways it can be both
subtle and visceral. Perhaps most importantly, it ties systemic violence to interpersonal violence; it
shows the ways that institutions and events that feel so far out of our reach show up on our doorsteps
to hurt the most vulnerable among us. We have been blessed to grapple with these themes alongside
a cast of incredible artists who have breathed vitality and complexity into their characters. They have
ridden with us through this play and I am constantly in awe of the heights that they achieve in their
performances. As much of a proud moment as this is for me and for us, the events of this past week
have made the content of In Volution more relevant than any of us wanted. Suddenly the whole show,
the process, the room that we've shared for weeks now feels incredibly poignant. Suddenly we are
filled with fear and uncertainty for our futures, and that fear and uncertainty at times feels all too
similar to that experienced by the characters in the show. I have no words of hope other than that I
believe that we will walk away with reflections of where the nation was 35 years ago that will lead us
to insight into where we stand today, and what the season ahead of us holds in store. That being said,
I have faith in the magic and strength of all of every person who worked on this show, every person
who spends their lives doing femme labor, and every person who gives a damn, and I believe in our
power to move through time and space to show up for one another. That's the unity that will pull us
through.
– Elliott Bomboy ‘17


53
If I had to put a finger on when the tragedy of the Reagan Era first burrowed its way into my
subconscious, I would have to take you back to a time when my understanding of politics was little
more than “poor people have been fucked before, and as the sun rises & sets they'll be fucked again
and again.” After moving to Stanford from the mobile home park I grew up in, I found myself in one of
the most conservative learning environments I'd ever experienced – and as I worked to navigate the
brutal discrepancies between the immense wealth around me and the struggles facing my loved ones
back home, it became clear to me that the most tangible change the world has seen has always come
from the labor, love, and breathtaking resilience of the folks upon whose backs progress is so often
built. Even before the grave seriousness of Donald Trump's candidacy had fully set in, a number of
personal and national calamities left me, during the spring of my junior year, in mourning for
femininity, democracy, and the ability of working class people to survive in a world built to destroy
them. Out of it all came this project, which I couldn't be more thankful to be able to share with you in
the wake of one of the most terrifying elections my generation has been witness to. It has been the
culmination of late nights in femme dens and early mornings in computer clusters – scheduling
conflicts and misplaced keys, lipstick stains and diets composed of coffee and Excedrin. It is a
celebration of all things important to me: the stunning beauty of our communities – the humor,
bravery, and silly hobbies that keep us afloat – and the utter fucking magic that happens when we
allow ourselves to view one another as human beings. Thank you for creating space for my story, and
for the stories of the imaginary people who live inside my head too. My sincerest hope is that this
piece moves at a time when it’s all too easy to stand still, provokes when it’s all too easy to appease,
and above all, punches the hardships of the world right in the fucking tit.
– Madelaine Bixler ‘17

9. Press

a. Reviews

Electrifying “In Volution” at the Nitery carries an extra sting, postElection

Elizabeth Gerson | The Stanford Daily | November 11, 2016

My experience with “In Volution” began before I even set foot inside the Nitery. The energy of the lobby could only be
characterized as electric. Following one of the most tumultuous election seasons and shocking results in history, the
audience members eagerly awaiting admittance into the theater viewed this play in a new light. The story centralized
the Ronald Reagan electoral victories that occurred in the eighties, democratic decisions that, like the current
decision, sent shockwaves throughout the nation. With this in mind, the play adopted a new, acute sense of
relevancy, placing pressure on its actors that nobody could have predicted. Perhaps it was this relevancy which
fueled each actor on stage — or perhaps it was the incredibly moving content marked by some of the most intricate,
dynamic relationships I’ve ever seen. Regardless, each actor culminated their own individual talents to build an
ensemble that was tragic, raw, and shocking.

“In Volution,” written by Madelaine Bixler and directed by Bixler and Elliot Bomboy, is predominantly narrated by April,
a young and caustic pessimist reflecting back on her journey into adolescence in 1980s San Bernardino, CA. Adult
April, played by Fiona Maguire ‘19, watches as her life unfolds as she reconciles with some of the most troubling
memories of her past. She captivates in her strained retelling of those bittersweet, often just bitter, moments,
peppered by monologues between each changing scene.


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Young April, portrayed by Davis Leonard ‘19, immediately brings warmth and innocence to a home ravished by the
hand of poverty. As April faces the struggle of her own journey into womanhood, we are exposed to the volatile
relationship between April and her mother, played by Abigail Flowers ‘17. Maguire balances someone who is
emotionally drained and someone who still remains steadfast in their own selfreliance. Leonard displays the tragedy
of watching a the withering of a child’s innocence. And Flowers captures our love and sympathy, performing all the
necessary actions to make us throw this trust away, yet still commanding care from us, as viewers, for her wellbeing.
The trust lives on.

The other great dynamic relationship of the show is that of Cynthia, a fresh force in the FBI portrayed by Raquel
Orendain Shrestha ‘17, and her supervisor, Tom, played by Publio Adrianza ‘17. While a typical bossemployee
dynamic is initially established, the characters’ dark familial pasts create a third player in their relationship. Cynthia
initially comes across as cold and unfeeling, and Tom is protective in an almostpeculiar fashion. The purposefully
lethargic unravelling of their former lives picks away at each individual until the audience is exposed to a new and raw
duality to both characters. Shrestha faces the challenge of portraying a believable individual hardened to life, and she
accomplishes this with a certain air of grace that commands respect.

The third major relationship includes Tania, a sex worker hooked into life on the streets, and her everloyal
clientturnedconfidant Abel, who, much like a drug abuser, struggles with his own views of what he should be (the
straightlaced Catholic) and what he wants (Tania’s love, attention, and world). Tania, portrayed by Hope G. Yi ‘17,
enchants with their diction and body language. They leave the audience in want of her neverending layers of her
distorted past to be peeled back, exposed to be devoured. She’s seen and experienced life on the streets for far too
long, and thus comes across as difficult to crack; however, the light arrives with Abel (David Alban Hidalgo ‘17), who
dismantles Tania’s tough exterior, just enough to allow a peer into the inner workings of her mind. This duo, simply
put, takes us through the complexities of love that we throw ourselves into, rooting for the pair to bring out the best in
one another.

Apart from the tremendous skill put forth by each actor, one is immediately struck by both the decrepit set and the use
of multimedia. Both elements work together and compliment one another in order to transport the viewer to the
appropriate time period. In this case, we lifted from our seats in Nitery Theater and landed in the confined, congested
spaces of both a trailer and an FBI office. Additionally, the implementation of video projected onto the back wall of the
set, which graced our presence throughout the entire show, served to supplement the reality of the plot. Together, the
audience and characters were able to witness video of Reagan’s inauguration, a variety of 1980s commercials, and
pressing news reports which allowed the setting to be seen, heard, and felt with greater depth.

While “In Volution” gives us a variety of compelling relationships, the most powerful one of all was each character’s
own struggle between obsession and resolution. Each character has been to hell and back in their own personal way
and chooses to manifest this struggle in a variety of different ways. The play delves into bleak and dark topics, so
where does the hope lie? How is the audience able to leave the theater satisfied and moved beyond words,
especially in a time of such confusion and fear? The answer lies in endurance. By the end of the show, each woman
is standing, broken, scarred, and battered, yet not silenced. We, as an audience, are reminded that in times of
struggle, we cannot let this struggle define who we are. Each woman finds themselves in a new, foreign place in their
lives, facing equally new and foreign challenges; however, each woman pushes on, moves on, and carries on with
her own sense of individuality intact. This reminds us as an audience of the durability of the human spirit. While this
the end of the show isn’t necessarily optimistic, the action of carrying on, facing your demons, and coming to terms
with oneself is able to point us in that direction.


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b. Performance Photos


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Director's Notes

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● Cynthia – Pursues prestigious work as a way of distancing herself from her past, but quickly finds

Reagan 79, after "Another https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Ronald Reagan as President and George H. W. Bush as Vice President. Chief Justice Warren E.

9:00 9:30 Nitery Prologue + Epilogue Raquel, Hope, Abigail,

Saturday, November 5 TBD Nitery Review (if necessary) All*****

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Director&#39;s Notes

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1/25/2019 Director's Notes - Google Docs

● Cynthia – Pursues prestigious work as a way of distancing herself from her past, but quickly finds

Reagan 79, after "Another https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Ronald Reagan as President and George H. W. Bush as Vice President. Chief Justice Warren E.

9:00 ­ 9:30 Nitery Prologue + Epilogue Raquel, Hope, Abigail,

Saturday, November 5 TBD Nitery Review (if necessary) All*****

Вам также может понравиться

Director's Notes

Director's Notes

9:00 9:30 Nitery Prologue + Epilogue Raquel, Hope, Abigail,