Figments

by Billy St. John

Cast: 7m., 7w. Rick Jacobs is a playwright with a wild imagination—perhaps too wild! As he attempts to overcome a massive case of writer's block, the audience sees four figments of his imagination play out the opening scene of his next murder mystery. He—and they—are interrupted by the arrival of his neighbor, Loni, with whom Rick is secretly, and helplessly, in love. As Loni tells Rick about Matt, the man she is dating, and his attempts to speed the relationship toward the bedroom, the writer imagines the man as an eight-armed, human spider. Rick also conjures up doubles for himself and Loni, saying to each other the words he'd like them to exchange. The source of Rick's trouble with women, his domineering mother, arrives on the scene (along with her imagined double) carrying a burial urn with Mr. Jacobs' ashes inside. Pop pops in and out of Rick's thoughts (wearing a lifesize urn) to comment on his life with Mama and on the hereafter. Even the image of Rick's former ladylove, Sarah, comes around to encourage him to cut the old apron strings. As Rick's thoughts bounce between his frustrating love life and his play, the real people and the figments of Rick's imagination clash riotously with the fictional characters in his play. They enact their scenes tipsy when Rick has one too many, hung over like Rick the morning after, and even act out the scene as Mama would write it. If you've ever wondered what goes through a playwright's mind, this farcical comedy reveals all—hilariously.

87 pages, Paperback

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

4 characters; 10 figments of main characters. Playwright, Jewish mother cliches. Repeated scenes -- one time drunk. Date rape -- almost. Proposal happened way too quickly. Simulated "after sex."
"Community theaters always have more actresses than actors." True that.
Not for us.