Better (Short)

[SHORT] Two women working along the line of a poultry-processing plant in Arkansas share many things, including their views about personal improvement; but when those views unexpectedly diverge, old cracks break wide open.

**Winner - Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival
*Finalist - City Theatre National Award for Short Playwriting

[SHORT] Two women working along the line of a poultry-processing plant in Arkansas share many things, including their views about personal improvement; but when those views unexpectedly diverge, old cracks break wide open.

**Winner - Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival
*Finalist - City Theatre National Award for Short Playwriting

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Better (Short)

Recommended by

  • Stephen Kaplan: Better (Short)

    Gatton immediately creates a full world peopled with fully developed characters that jump off the page - something so hard to do in a short piece. The dialogue is truthful and funny and biting and sad and honest...all at once. A brilliant piece.

    Gatton immediately creates a full world peopled with fully developed characters that jump off the page - something so hard to do in a short piece. The dialogue is truthful and funny and biting and sad and honest...all at once. A brilliant piece.

  • Emily Hageman: Better (Short)

    A truly great funny, meaningful, tight ten-minute play. A fantastic character study achieved in such a short period of time. We only know Ruth and Donna for ten minutes, but we know everything about them. A hilarious, but deeply sad story about two people mired with resentment and unfulfilled dreams. Great title, poignant, fun, and about as perfect as you can get in a two-hander.

    A truly great funny, meaningful, tight ten-minute play. A fantastic character study achieved in such a short period of time. We only know Ruth and Donna for ten minutes, but we know everything about them. A hilarious, but deeply sad story about two people mired with resentment and unfulfilled dreams. Great title, poignant, fun, and about as perfect as you can get in a two-hander.

  • Lee R. Lawing: Better (Short)

    One of the funniest plays I've read in years! So truthful even to the point of bringing up a lot memories working on the night shift in my little small town in South Carolina while I was in college. It's raw and funny and just explodes right off the page with such depth of soul and heart. Such great roles for two people. It's one of those plays I could read it again and again and never tire of the situation, dialogue or action. Very well done and so inspiring to me as a writer.

    One of the funniest plays I've read in years! So truthful even to the point of bringing up a lot memories working on the night shift in my little small town in South Carolina while I was in college. It's raw and funny and just explodes right off the page with such depth of soul and heart. Such great roles for two people. It's one of those plays I could read it again and again and never tire of the situation, dialogue or action. Very well done and so inspiring to me as a writer.

View all 6 recommendations
Ruth and Donna are both middle-aged blue collar white women with a strong Arkansas dialect.

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization Cherry Picking at The Wild Project, Year 2017

Production History

  • Type Professional, Year 2018
  • Type Fringe, Organization New American Theater, Year 2017

Awards

  • National Award for Short Playwriting
    City Theatre
    Finalist
    2019
  • Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival
    Winner
    2018