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Mrs. Sedgewick's Head
Mrs. Sedgewick's Head
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Last copy!
Author: Tom Griffin Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 67 Pub. Date: 1998 Edition: Acting ISBN-10: 082221542X ISBN-13: 9780822215424 Cast Size: 2 female, 8 male
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About
the Play:
Mrs. Sedgewick's Head is a full-length comedic drama by Tom
Griffin. Johnny Simmons, an ex-con with a best-selling novel, is
pursued by a Hollywood producer who wants to turn his latest novel
into a film. But Johnny is playing hard to get as to whether he'll
write the screenplay. Funny, moving, and evocative, Mrs.
Sedgewig's Head is part mystery, part classic
Hollywood comedy, and part send-up of the movie-making machine.
Mrs. Sedgewick's Head is about family loyalty, betrayal,
and the Hollywood movie business. Johnny Simmons, a successful
screenwriter, is sent to prison for the "mercy killing" of
his brother. During his incarceration he writes a novel – in his
mind – totally memorizes it, and upon his release writes it down
verbatim and has it published under a pseudonym. It is a huge success
and Hollywood comes calling. The novel is purchased by an independent
producer who hooks up with a studio. Although the novel is published
under a pseudonym, the studio insists Johnny write the screenplay.
Secrets can't be kept. The studio sends a young female exec and the
indie producer to Johnny's upstate New York home, a rural village
populated by a highly original cast of characters. The producers try
to convince him that he's the only one for the job, but soon find
themselves in a battle between money and morality. What at first
seems like a screamingly funny and scathing Hollywood comedy soon
turns into a rather dark and brooding look at selfishness and self
loathing. The ruthless Hollywood moguls and the seemingly innocent
locals ultimately clash, showing both sides in a harsh light, proving
that if one is not capable of a mercenary lifestyle, one is nothing
but a victim. Mrs. Sedgewick's Head also deals with the
memories of the events that led to Johnny's imprisonment.
Mrs. Sedgewick's Head premiered in 1993 at Trinity
Repertory in Providence, Rhode Island.
Cast: 2 female, 8 male
What people say:
"Tom Griffin has
written at least two plays in Mrs. Sedgewick's Head
that collide on stage in a cascade of shooting stars .... [It] is a
thrilling evening of theater .... While there's an air of mysticism
over the entire proceedings, Griffin, the author of the
earlier hit, The Boys Next Door, has given these characters
dialogue of such wit the play is filled with laughs, but is
distinctly not a comedy."
— The Boston Herald
"Mrs. Sedgewick's Head
... has all the earmarks of Griffin's previous comedies: a
warm-hearted funniness, the interplay of zinger and non-sequitur,
some off-the-wall characters. But there is a mythic,
Cain-and-Abel element that sneaks into the play,
as if the sharks next door this being Hollywood had left the patio
door open .... There is, however, more to Mrs. Sedgewick's
Head than its clever game of sharks and bumpkins. For one
thing, there is some great writing...." — The
Providence Phoenix
"It's hard not to resort to
some of the 'Hollywood Hype' the play takes on, to note its impact,
but [the play] indeed is: Riveting! Startling! and Not to be Missed."
— East Providence Post
About the Playwright:
Tom Griffin (1946-2018) was an American playwright and
screenwriter, known for the critically acclaimed play The Boys
Next Door. His plays were produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway,
Off-Off-Broadway, in London's West End, and regional theatres in the
United States and in Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Over his career, he wrote 14 screenplays, for Warner Brothers,
Paramount, MGM, ABC, and others.
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