The Wooden Heart

by Adam Szymkowicz

PUBLISHED FULL LENGTH: Mitch wants to be a carpenter. Heather wants to be a woodcarver. The wolf wants to be an intellectual. Ruby wants to escape the wolf. The woodcutter wants to escape the narrator. A fable-inspired play about love and wood and finding your purpose.

https://trwplays.com/the-wooden-heart/

PUBLISHED FULL LENGTH: Mitch wants to be a carpenter. Heather wants to be a woodcarver. The wolf wants to be an intellectual. Ruby wants to escape the wolf. The woodcutter wants to escape the narrator. A fable-inspired play about love and wood and finding your purpose.

https://trwplays.com/the-wooden-heart/

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The Wooden Heart

Recommended by

  • Cavan Hallman: The Wooden Heart by Adam Szymkowicz
    “

    We produced a reading of "The Wooden Heart" for Mirrorbox Theatre's "Out the Box" series and our audiences found it to be a true delight. It has all the quirks and whimsy you might expect of a modern-day fairy tale but avoids unnecessary sentimentality. The resolution is mysterious and full of yearning - a beautiful story for people of all ages.

    We produced a reading of "The Wooden Heart" for Mirrorbox Theatre's "Out the Box" series and our audiences found it to be a true delight. It has all the quirks and whimsy you might expect of a modern-day fairy tale but avoids unnecessary sentimentality. The resolution is mysterious and full of yearning - a beautiful story for people of all ages.

    ”
  • Kate Danley: The Wooden Heart by Adam Szymkowicz
    “

    A delicious fairytale both old and new. Lyrical, evocotive, and the nerd in me just delighted at the Grimm rhythms. You'll want to sink your teeth in to the prose. This would be the perfect piece for a theatre looking for large casts but simple technical elements.

    A delicious fairytale both old and new. Lyrical, evocotive, and the nerd in me just delighted at the Grimm rhythms. You'll want to sink your teeth in to the prose. This would be the perfect piece for a theatre looking for large casts but simple technical elements.

    ”
  • Doug DeVita: The Wooden Heart by Adam Szymkowicz
    “

    Absurdly wonderful, wonderfully absurd, magically heightened language, language heightened magically... Adam Szymkowicz' "The Wooden Heart" is an insanely entertaining twist on the fable/folktale genre, with a beating, flesh and blood heart that keeps the show joyously alive from beginning to end.

    Absurdly wonderful, wonderfully absurd, magically heightened language, language heightened magically... Adam Szymkowicz' "The Wooden Heart" is an insanely entertaining twist on the fable/folktale genre, with a beating, flesh and blood heart that keeps the show joyously alive from beginning to end.

    ”
View all 8 recommendations

Character Information

CAST OF CHARACTERS (5F, 4M)........

Narrator, female, 30s

Mitch, male, a little lost, 30s

Heather, a would-be woodcarver, female, 30s

Brenda, female, works in an office, 30s or 40s

The Wolf/The Wooden Man/Prin, adult male

Ruby, female, 20s or younger

Janice, the woodcutter, female, 30s

Harris, the carpenter, male, 30s to 50s

Nazario, the woodcarver, male, old as the woods, might have an Italian accent........


(All actors can be any race. If you need one less actor, Brenda or Janice or Nazario could be Prin and then Harris could do Wolf/Wooden Man.)........


SETTING
A small New England town with a lot of woods and wetland swamps..........

TIME
The present. But also there is a fable/fair tale feeling to it, you know? So kind of mythic too.
  • Narrator
    25 to 45
    Any
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      Teens,
      20s,
      30s,
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Mitch
    25 to 45
    Any
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Heather
    25 to 45
    Any
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Brenda
    30s to 50s
    Any
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • The Wolf/Wooden Man/ Prin
    Adult Male
    Any
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s,
      50s,
      60s,
      70s+
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Ruby
    20s or younger
    Any
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      Teens,
      20s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Janice
    25 to 45
    Any
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Harris
    30s to 50s
    Any
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s,
      50s,
      60s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Nazario
    may have an Italian accent
    old as the woods, like much older than a person should be
    Any
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      40s,
      50s,
      60s,
      70s+
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male

Development History

  • Reading, The Juilliard School, 2018
  • Reading, Flux Theatre Ensemble Retreat, 2017

Production History

  • Workshop, Acadiana Repertory Theatre, 2019