About
the Play:
For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Female/Male Scenes.
Durang/Durang is a compilation of six one-act comedies by
Christopher Durang. Mix one part theatre lesson with three
parts Saturday Night Live to create this campy, hilarious cocktail
full of surprises, sex, and men in dresses. A wacky and hilarious
romp through the American theatre's greatest hits, parodied by one of
America's wildest playwrights, Christopher Durang. Split into
six one-acts it is not a full-length play, but it is all bundled into
a full evening!
Mrs. Sorken, a middle-aged suburban matron is scheduled to
give a lecture on the meaning of theatre, but has lost her notes.
Relying on memory, her comments are dotty, but definitely endearing.
(Cast: 1 female)
For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls. In this parody of
Tennessee Williams' famous The Glass Menagerie, the fading
Southern belle, Amanda, tries to prepare her hypersensitive,
hypochondriacal son, Lawrence, for "the feminine caller."
Terrified of people, Lawrence plays with his collection of glass
cocktail stirrers, not glass animals. Ginny, the feminine caller, is hard of hearing and
overbearingly friendly. Brother Tom wants to go the movies, where he
keeps meeting sailors who need to be put up in his room. Amanda tries
to face everything with "charm and vivacity," but sometimes
she just wants to hit somebody. (Cast: 2 female, 2 male)
A Stye of the Eye. In this bristling put-down of Sam Shepard's award-winning A
Lie of the Mind, cowboy Jake is a rage-oholic who has probably
killed his wife, Beth (played by a male). Ma, his feisty, no-nonsense
mother with a bad memory, thinks Beth "deserved" it and
wishes her own husband were dead (he already is). Jake, also
schizoid, becomes his own "good brother Frankie" and goes
to find Beth's family. Beth shows up, not dead, but damaged, and
talking gibberish. Jake's sister, Mae, also shows up, in love with
her brother. No problems are solved, but a great deal of "meaning"
is in the air. (Cast: 4 female, 3 male)
Nina in the Morning is a style piece à la Edward Gorey. A
tuxedoed narrator presents Nina, a preposterously narcissistic
wealthy woman, attended by her butler, a silent maid, and her three
children. The interwoven time-frame juxtaposes scenes from Nina's
past misbehaviours with the present morning when she can't seem to
get the butler to bring her a cruller. (Cast: 1-2 female,
3 male, flexible casting)
Wanda's Visit is recommended
for school and contest use. Jim and Marsha have been
married for thirteen years and are feeling a little bored and
unhappy. Wanda, Jim's very extraordinary ex-girlfriend, shows up for a visit. Over the course of two days, the couple will learn a lot about themselves, each other, and especially about Wanda. Out one night for dinner, all hell
breaks loose in the restaurant as a waiter tries to cope on his first
day with the confused threesome. (Cast: 2-3 female, 2-3 male, flexible
casting)
Business Lunch at the Russian Tea Room is an expose of a writer's distress while being tempted to chuck his ideals and become a hack writer for Hollywood movies. Chris, a writer,
has a business meeting at the Russian Tea Room with a new Hollywood
hotshot, Melissa. At the Tea Room, Melissa pitches insane ideas to
Chris who can't wait to just leave this meeting. Once home, he tries
so hard to write up the idea of a priest and a rabbi who fall in love
(and other complications) that they appear to him to help him
through. (Cast: 3 female, 3 male)
Durang/Durang premiered in 1994 at New York City Center/ Stage
II in a production by Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) off-Broadway in
New York City. The evening
of
six one-acts has been
performed
in regional repertory, college, and community theatre productions.
Wanda's Visit
is frequently performed in high school festivals.
What people say:
"With the help of Mr. Durang,
the fine art of parody has returned to … theater in a production
you can sink your teeth and mind into, while also laughing like an
idiot… Parody of this comic verve is as much fun as the marvelous
party Noel Coward once sang about. I couldn't have enjoyed it more."
— New York Times
"Christopher Durang's
new collection of six short plays has an impish,
everybody-into-the-pool spirit about it; among those who get soaked
are Sam Shepard and the tough-talking David Mamet. The highlight is a
hilarious parody of “The Glass Menagerie.” … Sitting through
“Durang/Durang” is a little like going on the bumper cars at an
amusement park: you're so caught up in the exhilarating hysteria that
it doesn't matter to you that you're not actually going anywhere
except – momentarily, blissfully – outside yourself." —
The New Yorker
"No one in the American
theater has a surer ear for, or can take more accurate aim at, the
foibles of his fellow men, and particularly his fellow writers, than
Christopher Durang, and this recent program of
satirical skits and other parodies, given a first-rate production by
the Manhattan Theater Club, showed Durang at his sweet and sour
best." — New York Post
About the Playwright:
Christopher Durang (1949-2024) was an award-winning
American playwright and actor. One of the most popular playwrights of
the 20th century, his plays have been produced on and off-Broadway,
in regional theatres around the US and abroad. He received a B.A. in
English from Harvard College and an M.F.A. in playwriting from Yale
School of Drama. He was the co-chair of the Playwriting Program at the
Juilliard School in Manhattan from its inception in 1994 to 2016.
