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Cages (contains Snowangels and Epiphany)
Cages (contains Snowangels and Epiphany)
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Author: Lewis John Carlino Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 63 Pub. Date: 1964 ISBN-10: 0822201747 ISBN-13: 9780822201748
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About
the Play:
Snowangels has
long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Female/Male
Scenes.
The volume Cages
contains a pair of one-act dramas by Lewis John Carlino.
This dark duo of one-act plays has just two characters, a man and a
woman, with both sets battling for supremacy. The battles end
differently, and yet they seem to come to the same conclusion.
Snowangels
and Epiphany
may be performed together as an evening of entertainment.
Snowangels is about a lonely man who hires a prostitute for
a one-night fantasy. Tormented by the memories of a past love, John
comes to Connie, a hard-bitten prostitute, to get her to reenact
certain scenes that have etched themselves in his mind and that have
become the symbol for all that was ethereal and beautiful in his
life. He makes her wear certain clothing. He applies make up to her
face, trying to get her to resemble the girl he lost. He feverishly
constructs a scene where he first met this girl, in a museum. The
action builds until he almost feels the moment is being relived, that
Connie is really the other girl. At this moment Connie shatters his
illusion by screaming, "I'm not her! I'm me! I'm me!"
Shocked, John starts to leave, saying he is sorry, that he only
wanted to feel the affection of those lost moments. Connie, shaken,
asks him if he wants affection, what does he give in return? Quietly,
she tells John what she imagines in this dirty little room while
strangers use her. She tells her tale simply. When she finishes
speaking, John is ashamed and has learned a simple lesson: that he
must give to get, that he cannot erase the identity of another human
being to suit his own needs. The play ends with John coming to her,
with him becoming what he came to ask her to be. Snowangels
has become a
favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops
because of its two-characters-one-set simplicity and its showpiece
female role. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)
Epiphany
is about a man who has failed so miserably as a man, that he decides
to become a chicken, a rooster. His wife, a successful advertising
executive, taunts him with memories of his failures, memories that
include a homosexual experience she witnessed between her husband and
another man. Years have gone by since this occurrence and her
husband, driven by his inability to assume the dominating role and by
his wife's constant undercutting and reminders of the incident,
plans horrible revenge. The play is a mixture of savage humor that
gradually turns to horror as the man, donning a steel beak, begins
his metamorphosis, his epiphany into a rooster, so that he may
completely rule. He locks the bedroom door and then proceeds to
assemble a roost on which he perches and gives orders. Just as all
seems to be going in his favor, he has a grotesque demise. He
ventures a rooster crow, but does not quite make it. Suddenly, his
body contorts. He screams in agony. An egg drops from under him. His
wife comforts him by saying it's really what he always wanted. The
play ends in a sort of Gothic horror as his wife tears off his paper
coxcomb and accepts him as her little "Henny Penny." (Cast: 1
female, 1 male)
Snowangel
and Epiphany
were
originally produced in 1963
as part of a double bill under the joint title of Cages,
and enjoyed an enormously successful off-Broadway run at the New York
Playhouse.
What people say:
"Fire a salute! Lewis
John Carlino is a writer of intensity and power."
— New York Times
"Off-Broadway has not produced
a more wildly inventive mind this season." — New
York World-Telegram & Sun
"Lewis John Carlino
makes the theater the living and glowing thing it was meant to be."
— Cue Magazine
"Highly original works fresh
and unusual." — New York Daily News
"Cages is a smart production, one that can make audiences laugh and, at the same time, feel the pain and anger of Carlino's bizarre characters. It's prime theater." — Gainsville Sun
About the Playwright:
Lewis John Carlino (1932-2020) was an American director,
screenwriter, and playwright. He first gained attention as a novelist
and off-Broadway playwright. He worked as a director and screenwriter
on a number of movies during a career which has spanned five decades.
He was nominated for many awards, including the Academy Award for
Best Adapted Screenplay and is best known as the writer and director
of The Great Santini that
starred Robert Duvall as
a bullying U.S. Marine Corps pilot.
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