The play was called "Proclamation 4311." I wrote it as part of a ScriptWorks Weekend Fling program; a forty-eight hour writing program with 3 required elements (a photo that two characters interpreted differently, a character who only speaks in commercial phrases, and a gunshot or a birth) and a 10 minute maximum length.
The writing process was fairly easy for me. I write quickly. When I received the required elements, I looked through my ideas for plays list and when I came across the name of Gerald Ford, I immediately knew what picture I would use:
The picture is of the Cactus Dome on Eniwetok atoll in the Marshall Islands, and the gunshot was going to be one of the two attempted assassinations of Ford ( I settled on Sara Jane Moore). The character who spoke in commercial jargon became a young Marshall Island woman who learned English from watching American television.
Oh, and on a personal/historical note, President Ford, in college, played football for the University of Michigan and tackled Jay Berwanger, University of Chicago football player and the winner of the first Heisman trophy. And why is it a personal note? I went to summer camp as a boy in northern Wisconsin. The camp was run by former University of Chicago professors and coaches. One of the camp counselors and a young man I remember well, was the son of Jay Berwanger.
With these elements, a straight narrative seemed difficult, so I wrote a surrealistic drama and, being who I am, I made it a puzzle.
When it was publicly read at the end of the Weekend Fling, not surprisingly, everyone was confused. So, I was surprised when, a few weeks later, mine was selected for production.
To Be Continued...
*Anais Nin - The Novel of the Future
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