Long Layover

by Michelle Tyrene Johnson

Lorraine is a single black woman who lives unhappily in Dallas where she has worked for a marketing firm since graduating from college. Big decisions weigh her down and in a meta-weird way she works this all out in her therapist’s office. Kelly, her therapist, wants Lorraine to picture herself in her safe space when she’s in a therapy session. But for Lorraine, safe space is more of a happy place. And her happy...

Lorraine is a single black woman who lives unhappily in Dallas where she has worked for a marketing firm since graduating from college. Big decisions weigh her down and in a meta-weird way she works this all out in her therapist’s office. Kelly, her therapist, wants Lorraine to picture herself in her safe space when she’s in a therapy session. But for Lorraine, safe space is more of a happy place. And her happy place is an airport waiting area at Dallas Love Field. Her marketing company is about to lay off several employees but offers her a freelance contract to stay. Is the anonymous comfort of her favorite sports bar enough to keep her tethered to Texas? Her love interest, Moussa, wants to take the relationship further, but he lives in Dakar, Senegal where he helps run the family hotel chain. Is moving to West Africa in her future? In Lorraine’s spare time, she has recreated her grandma’s concoction for hair repair, and an International cosmetics conglomerate in Amsterdam, Netherlands wants to make her the modern-day C. J. Walker. Should Lorraine start all over again in a first-class European city? And then there’s her father back in her hometown of Memphis who Lorraine has been estranged from but who now has prostate cancer? Should she move back to Tennessee to mend her relationship with her only living parent? With simple props and use of the stage, Lorraine moves in and out of place and space on three continents as she decides whether the next adventure of her life centers on love, money, family, or the ease of status quo. Thematically, this is a play about a woman who is at a crossroads in trying to figure out what she wants, what she has grown into, and how to step into power, happiness, forgiveness, and love.

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Long Layover

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  • Heather Helinsky: Long Layover

    Lorraine is at a crossroads with her career and personal life and this play has me deeply invested in Lorraine's choices. This play affirms mental health, black female friendship, and healthy boundaries, while the writer takes us on a journey where the options are complicated. There is much potential in dramatizing Lorraine's "happy place" and sitting in a liminal space of waiting that is highly relatable, with comic moments that are self-aware, and speeches that paint vibrantly the complicated emotions that can hold one back from personal growth and decisiveness. Wishing this play a swift...

    Lorraine is at a crossroads with her career and personal life and this play has me deeply invested in Lorraine's choices. This play affirms mental health, black female friendship, and healthy boundaries, while the writer takes us on a journey where the options are complicated. There is much potential in dramatizing Lorraine's "happy place" and sitting in a liminal space of waiting that is highly relatable, with comic moments that are self-aware, and speeches that paint vibrantly the complicated emotions that can hold one back from personal growth and decisiveness. Wishing this play a swift journey to production!

  • Claudia Isabel: Long Layover

    This show seamlessly combines so many things, travel, healing through therapy, family dynamics, love, and the tough decisions we have to make in life. Kelly is such a powerful character, and for the brief moment Jabir is there - his character makes a huge impact!

    This show seamlessly combines so many things, travel, healing through therapy, family dynamics, love, and the tough decisions we have to make in life. Kelly is such a powerful character, and for the brief moment Jabir is there - his character makes a huge impact!

  • Donna Hoke: Long Layover

    I read so many plays for contests and if this one crossed my path, I would definitely pass it on for being original and current in the most inventive ways. This play is a breath of fresh air--relevant, smart, FUNNY (so funny), and written with a voice that sings. Loved it!

    I read so many plays for contests and if this one crossed my path, I would definitely pass it on for being original and current in the most inventive ways. This play is a breath of fresh air--relevant, smart, FUNNY (so funny), and written with a voice that sings. Loved it!

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