Here Lies Cappy

by Anya Richkind

FULL LENGTH: There is a bag of letters from Barbara that nobody has opened for many years. Mom has the bag. Somewhere in that bag is Barbara's suicide note. Letter by letter, Mom and Twig learn about Twig's grandmother Barbara, who left us when Mom was two years old. Meanwhile, Dad is building a deck and someone named Benny moves in next to Twig.

PLEASE NOTE: I'm hoping to rewrite this play COMPLETELY! Many...

FULL LENGTH: There is a bag of letters from Barbara that nobody has opened for many years. Mom has the bag. Somewhere in that bag is Barbara's suicide note. Letter by letter, Mom and Twig learn about Twig's grandmother Barbara, who left us when Mom was two years old. Meanwhile, Dad is building a deck and someone named Benny moves in next to Twig.

PLEASE NOTE: I'm hoping to rewrite this play COMPLETELY! Many characters may not exist in the next draft. The heart of the play will still be a daughter, her mother, and her mother's mother. The heart of the play will still be the letters, because those really exist, just like my maternal grandma really did exist, and in many ways, still does.

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Here Lies Cappy

Recommended by

  • Dayna Smith: Here Lies Cappy

    With such simplicity of language and dialogue, Anya paints a portrait of these people so fully. They inch toward a deep, dark pit of the play -- a mother's suicide -- with baby steps but when it finally hits, the simplicity and truthfulness and "that's all there is?"ness of it is so moving and true and just laid me out. The central relationship between Twig and her mother is such a moving strong suit of this play -- the image of three generations of women sitting at a kitchen table reading the eldest's suicide note will stay with me.

    With such simplicity of language and dialogue, Anya paints a portrait of these people so fully. They inch toward a deep, dark pit of the play -- a mother's suicide -- with baby steps but when it finally hits, the simplicity and truthfulness and "that's all there is?"ness of it is so moving and true and just laid me out. The central relationship between Twig and her mother is such a moving strong suit of this play -- the image of three generations of women sitting at a kitchen table reading the eldest's suicide note will stay with me.

Character Information

  • Twig
  • Benny
  • Mom
  • Dad
  • Barbara

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization The Tank, Year 2019
  • Type Reading, Organization Play by Play Lab, Year 2018

Awards

  • Semi-Finalist
    Seven Devils' Playwrights Conference
    2020
  • National Playwrights Conference
    O'Neill Theater Center
    Semi-Finalist
    2020
  • Variety Pack Series
    Cutting Ball Theater
    Finalist
    2019
  • Leah Ryan's Fund for Emerging Women Writers
    Finalist
    2019
  • Semi-Finalist
    Bay Area Playwrights Festival
    2019