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Gracie
Gracie is a dramatic monologue that tells the story of a girl raised in a fundamentalist community that transports child brides between polygamist communities in both Canada and the United States.
As the play opens, Gracie is eight years old and moving with her mother, brother, and sisters from her community in the southwestern United States to a community in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. Her mother has been assigned to a new husband; she becomes his eighteenth wife. In five acts, Gracie plays herself at five ages and also gives voice to thirteen other characters, including her older sister Celeste – who becomes a wife at sixteen, a mother at seventeen – and her brother Billy, who is forced out of the community just a few years after the family arrives in Canada. Gracie is fifteen when the play ends, again with a journey as she herself leaves the community.
Gracie loves her family, and her strong faith is a source of comfort to her. Although the play examines practices that are abhorrent, it does so without judgement (as critics have noted). The play is a work of fiction but is inspired by the history of polygamist communities in both Canada and the U.S. – and its timeliness as uncanny; two days after the play premiered (in January 2017), three persons from Canada’s largest polygamist community went to trial for transporting child brides. Gracie is window into a complex and secretive world. While it takes place in a sheltered community, it also resonates with issues at the fore right fundamentalism, basic human and religious rights.
Gracie is a terrific vehicle for a young actor, and the script is an engaging read that has broad appeal to readers young and old.
Cast of one woman.
As the play opens, Gracie is eight years old and moving with her mother, brother, and sisters from her community in the southwestern United States to a community in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. Her mother has been assigned to a new husband; she becomes his eighteenth wife. In five acts, Gracie plays herself at five ages and also gives voice to thirteen other characters, including her older sister Celeste – who becomes a wife at sixteen, a mother at seventeen – and her brother Billy, who is forced out of the community just a few years after the family arrives in Canada. Gracie is fifteen when the play ends, again with a journey as she herself leaves the community.
Gracie loves her family, and her strong faith is a source of comfort to her. Although the play examines practices that are abhorrent, it does so without judgement (as critics have noted). The play is a work of fiction but is inspired by the history of polygamist communities in both Canada and the U.S. – and its timeliness as uncanny; two days after the play premiered (in January 2017), three persons from Canada’s largest polygamist community went to trial for transporting child brides. Gracie is window into a complex and secretive world. While it takes place in a sheltered community, it also resonates with issues at the fore right fundamentalism, basic human and religious rights.
Gracie is a terrific vehicle for a young actor, and the script is an engaging read that has broad appeal to readers young and old.
Cast of one woman.
- GenresPlays
75 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 1997
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 27, 2022
Another one-woman play (dramatic monologues seem to be more of a thing than I'd thought!), this one about polygamy and the FLDS. Gracie is a child when the play opens, a child being moved from the US to Canada so that her mother can become one of a man's many wives. As the play continues, Gracie ages and grows savvier: the girls around her are married off at young ages to men not of their choosing; boys her own age are pushed out of the community so that the older men can marry more girls; Gracie starts to see her own grim future stretching out before her.
I am curious about the choice to keep this to one character, as it works well this way but could also conceivably be done with a larger cast. The ending is perhaps a little abrupt, but this is one of the better plays I've read recently.
I am curious about the choice to keep this to one character, as it works well this way but could also conceivably be done with a larger cast. The ending is perhaps a little abrupt, but this is one of the better plays I've read recently.
December 14, 2020
Keeps you on your feet the whole time. I love how it followed Gracie growing up slowly and showing us how she adapted to her new lifestyle. You can tell the author put a lot of research into it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews