Stuff! A Curious Collection
STUFF set for the production in Ward 6 Park by Creative Works of Lancaster.
An American Alliance for Theatre and Education Unpublished Play Reading Project winner!
Commissioned by Adventure Stage Chicago for their Trailblazers program for secondary school students working with professional mentors, STUFF! was given a workshop production in Chicago in 2013.
I’ve rewritten this script recently for a larger cast and have now taken it back down to a cast of 7 plus puppets, but a larger cast is still possible, with adjustments, indicated below. I’d be willing to work with your company on either version.
For more information or a copy of the script, please email me at sandyasher@gmail.com or leave a message on the Contact form.
CHARACTERS
All may be representative of whatever variations of human being are locally available.
M.C., (Master of Creativity) m or f, represents the human drive to find order and meaning through story. Upbeat, confident, and welcoming.
STUFF, m or f, non-speaking personification of odds and ends of absolutely no significance except when paired with human creativity. In this play, as in life, STUFF calls to us, teases us, tickles us, troubles us, inspires us – and, in so doing, realizes its own potential.
THE ONES:
SOME ONE, m or f, upper teens, loves to read and write stories. Also plays story characters MINEY, TRAVEL AGENT, LARRY, PUPPET CURLY, PUPPET MOE.
ANY ONE, m or f, early teens, a visual artist who loves to play dress-up and finds costume pieces for others as indicated. Also plays story character MOTHER.
EACH ONE, m or f, a drummer who loves to play with all kinds of sound and helps to create sound effects as indicated. Also plays story characters FATHER, LION, PUPPET WHALE.
EVERY ONE, m or f, upper teens, born to dance. Also plays story characters MEENY, TOUR GUIDE.
OTHER ONE, m or f, the youngest and shyest of the ONES, grieving for a beloved pet. Also plays story characters EENY and shared PUPPET MOE.
NOTE: For a larger cast, STORY CHARACTERS may be played by additional actors, with or without use of puppets, all imagined into being by the ONES as they create their group story. STUFF’s role can be divided among additional actors, all non-speaking, either as equals or as assistants to a single leading STUFF.
PLACE: Anywhere. Here.
TIME: Any time. Now.
RUNNING TIME: about 50 minutes
SYNOPSIS: STUFF! A CURIOUS COLLECTION is a fantasia that explores the power of stuff to inspire story creation, and the power of story to heal spirits and build community. Five young people who have lost their zest for life, for a variety of genuine and recognizable reasons, are called into an imagined world where a blank book awaits their individual and group stories. Once they share the stories that have frozen each of them in an unhappy state, they begin to appreciate one another and understand themselves. Soon, they are combining their real-life odds and ends into a gloriously silly – and healing — story soup. Having arrived alone, the five young people depart together, no longer imprisoned by their stories but owning them.
SANDY ASHER 