Mays & Terese
This play has the following sections: 1 2 3
a two-act historical fantasy
Developed in conjunction with the New Harmony Project and with the assistance of the City of Austin Arts Commission. First produced at Bloomington Playwrights Project.
CHARACTERS
MAYS (MADALYN MURRAY O’HAIR): Born in 1919 and raised on the East Coast, O’Hair garnered national attention for her 1963 Supreme Court case which banned prayer in schools. She later founded a group called the American Atheists to promote non-belief and separation of Church and State, headquartered in Austin, Texas. She disappeared suspiciously in 1995, along with her son and granddaughter. Their bodies were found in West Texas and positively identified in 2002.
TERESE (MOTHER TERESA): Born in 1910 in Albania, she became a nun in her teens through an Irish order, and was eventually named headmistress of a school in Calcutta. In 1946, on a train to Darjeeling, she had her second calling — to serve the poor. In 1950, she won Rome’s approval for the establishment of the Missionaries of Charity, a separate and independent order. In an unprecedented move, the order became papal, meaning that they answered only and directly to the Pope. She won the Nobel Peace prize in 1979, and passed away of heart disease in 1997.
TIME & PLACE
Act One: India, 1946
Act Two: Various, 1995 and beyond
PRODUCTION NOTES
The setting should be minimal but multi-leveled and allow for quick scene transitions using sound and light as primary elements. The actresses themselves should accomplish these transitions, going off and on stage as necessary. They can break their characters during “brown-outs” to help with the scene change, but it’s much preferred if no other physical person breaks the playing space. Sound, properties and costumes should be as detailed and realistic as possible under these constraints, while all furniture can be suggested with a unit block set: an overturned box for a boat, a pillow makes the box a bed, smaller boxes make the seating for transportation. A screen or series of screens would enhance the setting with projected visual images, both static and moving: but these should be subtle, not overpowering.
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