Artifice

by Anne Flanagan

Cast: 4m., 4w. Struggling artist Payne Showers finally gets his Big Break. He dies. Fortunately, Payne's death greatly inflates the value of his work. Unfortunately, his estranged wife, Maggie, must sell it all to avoid bankruptcy. Just days before the auction, Maggie and her high-strung gallery manager, Richard, host a private showing. The guests of honor are influential newspaper maven Judith Fontaine; the fabulously rich real estate mogul Mick Fitzgerald; Trent, a gorgeous but dim-witted soap opera actor; Graciela, a streetwise cocktail waitress; and Emma, a humorless art critic. To Maggie's delight, Mick Fitzgerald buys dozens of paintings. Not only will the deal rescue her financially, but Judith Fontaine is covering the story. The resulting publicity will put Maggie's gallery on the map! At this point, the only thing that could go wrong would be if Payne Showers were to walk through the door. Then Payne Showers walks through the door. Artifice is a farcical take on celebrity and success and an affectionate tribute to loyalty and love. Unit set. Approximate running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Genres: Plays

82 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2011

About the author

Anne Flanagan's plays include Lineage, Artifice, First Chill, Skirts, Bloody History, and Death, Sex & Elves.

Flanagan's work has been produced and/or developed at the Bloomington Playwrights Project, The Blank Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theater LA, Georgetown Theater Co, Hudson Guild, 2Cents Theatre Co., Rogue Machine Theatre, Jennerstown Playhouse, MCT Theater, Dayton Playhouse,Theater Suburbia, Hobo Junction, Theatre InspiraTO, Antaeus Theatre, Ohio Wesleyan University, Waiuku Theater of New Zealand, Grey Wellington Theatre Guild and Crack the Glass among other venues.

Anne has won the BPP/Reva Shiner Comedy Award, the Julie Harris/Janet and Maxwell Salter Playwrights Award, the McLaren Memorial Comedy Award, the Mountain Playhouse Comedy Award and the Playwright's Theater "Plays for the 21st Century" Award among other prizes/honors.



Anne was a Top 12 finalist for Project Greenlight's "The New Normal" competition (2016) and a semi-finalist for the 2015 ARHO Shakespeare's Sister Fellowship. Anne was also a top 10 finalist for the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project (WFP) two years in a row - riiiight before it bit the dust.

Publications include Artifice (Dramatic), Best Women's Stage Monologues (Smith & Kraus), Best Contemporary Monologues (Applause), and Monologues From The Heart; Vol. II (JAC.)

Residencies include the Kennedy Center Playwright's Intensive (Gary Garrison; Director), South Hampton Writer's Conference (Stephen Adly Guirgis; Moderator) and the Kenyon College Playwrights Conference (Wendy MacLeod; Artistic Director.)

Anne has worked as an actor, inner city school teacher, private investigator and nude model - none of which were as exciting as one might think. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Theater Communications Group, The Playwright's Center, LAFPI, ICWP, SAG and AAA.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very successful full production of this a few years ago. Lots of positive audience feedback and some praise for finding the script in the first place. Still have some lovely acrylic pours pieces as mementos.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple characters fall apart at the end, but otherwise a fun slapstick comedy.

[Absentfriends · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny play - good for community theaters as it's mostly family friendly and somewhat "actor proof."

[Gossamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious! My theater Co. did this play last year and it was a big hit. Tight script, lots of laughs.