Dorothy Louise

SYNOPSIS – A CAPPELLA

A Cappella centers on the lives of three sisters of a certain age who eke out their existence on their faded family estate with little money and no men. Willie, the oldest (50) and most controlling, wants to maintain the status quo; Faye, the middle sister (45), hopes to start a new life in California as a chef; and Bea, the youngest (35), wants to explore her aptitude for dreaming and writing. Meanwhile, Mike (30's), a traveller who has traded his services as a handy man for a place to stay, becomes indispensable. One week in October, Faye flies off into the wild blue yonder to cook at the Petaluma Diner; and Bea rushes off with Mike. Willie is left alone when Chazz, a gay cosmetologist, presents himself as her new tenant. Their relationship unexpectedly develops into a substantive connection, as Willie tries to regain her equilibrium without the balance of her two sisters. Eventually, they, too, return and grope for a revision of their former life together.

Two acts, three women, two men, one set.

The action occurs one day in 1912 in DEGAS' studio. On this day, when DEGAS is forced to move because his building is being torn down, MARY comes to retrieve her letters to him. During the course of her visit, she and DEGAS plunge into past times together, often disputing events and their interpretation, unconsciously proving the vitality of their thirty-five-year-old relationship.

Captain Lewis Crosses the Last Frontier concerns the journey of the Lewis and Clark expedition, which landed in Oregon in 1805 and thereby laid claim to what is now the western third of the United States of America. Beginning on the last day of Lewis’s life, the play centers on his interior journey, as he relives the key events of the expedition, and struggles to reconcile the values of Enlightened civilization with those of the indigenous peoples whom he meets along the way. His Shoshone guide, Sacagawea, increasingly serves as Lewis’s connection to the native cultures through which the expedition passes; and his experience of these cultures convinces him that the expedition’s purpose is fatally flawed, its results potentially disastrous.

Returning home, Lewis tries to dissuade Jefferson from his initial plans to develop the territory, fearing for the environment and for the indigenous peoples, but he fails, and abandons himself to apocalypse.

The structure of the script mirrors the captain’s interior conflict, as it shuttles between the journey into the wilderness and the settled environment of Washington. Music composed and arranged by X underscores this tension by contrasting parlor catches to the strange modes of the wilderness.

Other characters: those in the "literary expedition" -- Clark (30's), Charbono (a French trapper, 40's), Sacajawea (his Shoshone wife and the expedition's guide, 20's), and York (Clark's black slave, 20's); those in Jefferson's world -- the President himself, his hostess, Dolley Madison, his slave, Sally Hemmings, et al.

Lifetime friends Jane and Mary make a sport of repartée, managing to fill their days as they struggle with loneliness and mortality, even as Jane is distracted by a series of inconclusive diagnostic tests. When the dashing eccentric Captain Olaf Piccolomini snookers them into his Caution-to-the-Winds wellness cruise, they grab the brass ring of adventure. Back home, Mary harbors a crush on the Captain, but Jane suspects his motives. He arrives to offer a proposition they cannot refuse: the chance to participate in his longevity research on another cruise, far from the reaches of the FDA. His offer has a certain universal appeal -- we’re all dying, yet hoping for a reprieve – and Mary jumps at the chance, while Jane holds back -- who wants to live another twenty years? When she presses the Captain about his intentions toward Mary, he pleads innocence. Incensed, Jane drives him out by brandishing her pearl-handled revolver. Once the Captain departs, Mary acknowledges her foolishness, and Jane informs her of the status of her health. Jane comforts Mary with tea and the story of Samuel Beckett as the lights fade.

Goldengrove centers upon Kate’s effort to cling to hope – and life – by relying on her imagination to lighten her burdens and brighten her outlook. She tries to remain strong and hopeful in the face of adversity, which includes getting older. And thus Kate reflects the traits of many women in such circumstances. I hope that her situation is universal, even as it may also touch on the topical issue of mental health. To me she is wise, strong and beautiful; yet uncertain, anxious, and lacking in self-confidence. Above all, she finds solace in her imagination, creating as she does situations and stories out of whole cloth. In addition, she does her best to connect to her daughter, Becca; her friend, Jeff; and her landlady, Missy -- all real characters, who also double as various persons whom she observes or invents. She leans on these three actual persons, and fills out her roster with characters she has observed or wholly imagined, until she can no longer sustain her struggle.

Traces the rise and fall of a heterosexual relationship that depends upon the woman's submission -- until she frees herself, however tentatively.

The Patient Therapist is an absurdist comedy of shifting identities in which therapists and patients periodically change places. Sydney has her first session with Robert, aka Dr. Bob, who advocates acting out one’s feelings physically, and manipulates his clients as part of their treatment. Subject to this technique, Sydney lashes out at him and leaves. Shaken, Robert calls on a colleague, Denise, for help. Impressed by his progress, Denise becomes his patient. At her first session, it appears that Robert has been replaced by his twin, William, who rebuffs Denise as a patient. Robert returns, explaining that his twin is deeply disturbed and has been hospitalized. Denise, skeptical of William’s existence, wonders if Robert is using this “twin” to help her. Sydney returns to apologize, only to hear from William that Robert has been hospitalized. Denise barges in, concerned that Robert is seriously deluded about his so-called twin. Eventually, Robert lets go of William, Sydney espouses her new freedom from striving, and Denise resumes being Robert’s therapist. Ninety minutes; two women, one man (all double); one set.

The play centers on Helen, her family and, especially, her school friends, as she struggles to decide whether to enter the convent, or to pursue theater studies at Loyola, her fondest dream.

2
SYNOPSIS
Sarah, divorced, and Jen, along with her husband, Brian, moved into a house together in West Philadelphia six months ago. Sarah is freelancing while she tries to paint; in his final year at the university, Brian is job-hunting because he failed to get tenure as a musicologist and pianist; and Jen is looking at career options, instead of taking the most congenial job available. So each in a different way is starting over.
The trio is also discovering new experiences and insights about love. Sarah finds herself off-balance when she meets Gabriel, a flutist and friend of Brian. Jen sees Brian differently in the new household. And Brian feels rejected both at home and at work. Jen’s mother, Teddy, who disapproves of the household; and Ron, a sculptor and jack-of- all-trades, come and go.
Act II jumps twenty years, with the old friends and family gathered to celebrate, and to catch up with one another’s fortunes. Then, back in 1980, various couples re-configure, Sarah and Jen sell the house, starting over once again.