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Opal's Baby
Opal's Baby
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Author: John Patrick Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 57 Pub. Date: 1974 Edition: Acting ISBN-10: 082220858X ISBN-13: 9780822208587 Cast Size: 4 female, 2 male
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About
the Play:
Opal's Baby is a full-length comedy by John Patrick. Part of this author's ever popular "Opal" series about the lovable and irrepressible Opal Kronkie – a colourful, naive middle-aged woman with a bit of a hoarding problem.
This cheerful,
wealthy recluse is besieged by the infamous Nubbs Family, a backwoods
group of ne'er-do-wells and con artists, out to swindle her out of
her life savings.
Opal's Baby revolves around the Opal
Kronkie, the zany and
lovable heroine who lives in a tumbled-down home at
the edge of the city dump, and is a collector of trash, treasures and
people. She has a visitor looking for a tire to fit his
1927 Reo truck. Misguided into thinking that Opal is a rich
eccentric, the shifty visitor, Norman Nubbs, announces (fallaciously)
that he too is a Kronkie – and Opal's long-lost kin. The upshot is
that the warmhearted Opal takes him, and his whole family, in –
whereupon they scheme to do her out of her supposed fortune. When
Norman confides that his daughter-in-law, Verna, is pregnant (abetted
by a well-placed pillow), Opal decides to leave all her worldly goods
to the "baby," and the others have to settle for petty
thievery while they figure out how to get around their lie. Needless
to say the "plot thickens" hilariously as they do so, but
happily all ends well, at least for Opal, who emerges safe, sound and
ready for whatever may come next.
Opal's Baby premiered in 1973 at the renowned Flat Rock
Playhouse (the State Theatre of North Carolina) and has been
delighting audiences ever since. An entertaining and fanciful comedy,
and one of the most successful plays for regional, high school, and
community theatres.
Cast: 4 female, 2 male About the Playwright:
John Patrick (1905-1995) was a prolific American playwright
and screenwriter, writing more than a dozen screenplays and some 30
plays. He had several Broadway successes, most notably Teahouse of
the August Moon (which was awarded a Pulitzer, a Tony and a New
York Drama Critics Circle Award) and The Hasty Heart. His
movie scripts are impressive with Three Coins in a Fountain, The
Shoes of the Fisherman and The World of Suzie Wong as well as
adaptations of the two plays mentioned above. His plays remain
popular with high schools and community theatres.
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