THE THIRD SKY
synopsis & info photos
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COMEDY - Not Yet Produced in English
New Title - originally: "Crotched Mountain" SEMI-FINALIST - 2016 O'NEILL PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE Cast of 5 (2 men, 3 women) One Set DEVELOPMENT: READING (Under the title "Crotched Mountain" - April, 2015, The Players, NYC THE THIRD SKY is a “pre-quel” to THE GRANITE STATE (produced in 2014 by the Peterborough Players) utilizing four of the characters from the latter play. Both plays stand alone and can be produced entirely independently of the other. They will eventually form two-thirds of a projected trilogy, the third play of which, is tentatively titled “Monadnock”. THE THIRD SKY is a comedy about death, loss, literary ethics, old love, new romance, acceptance and redemption. The play takes place over the course of one day and night in January of a recent year in Hancock, New Hampshire, somewhat in the shadow of Crotched Mountain. George is an aging novelist who has recently lost his younger wife, Kate, a noted poet, to cancer. Essentially unable to function, he retreats to an attic bedroom emerging only to make vodka martinis and sardonic quips. His son, Tom, enlists his mother and George’s ex-wife, Anna, to try to bring George out of his depression. Carrie, the assistant to George’s and Kate’s agent, unexpectedly arrives with contracts and galleys for Kate’s last book. Carrie asserts that the contracts must be signed immediately despite the fact George has yet to read the manuscript which deals unsparingly with the months preceding Kate's death. As the first act ends, it is revealed that Carrie is operating solely on her own and has a desperate agenda in wanting to see Kate’s work published. Also, making a first appearance in George’s household on this January day is Louise, a pot-smoking, aging hippie born again Pentecostal who found Jesus while vacuuming and quotes the Grateful Dead and Dante with equal ease. The plot swirls around literary ethics (or the lack thereof) and Carrie's bungled scheme. Despite initial antagonism, Tom and Carrie find themselves falling in love and eventually into bed. George and Anna explore an old relationship and perhaps re-kindle lost love. All comes to a head in a 3:00 AM impromptu meal in which Anna’s perception’s, Tom and Carrie’s embarrassment, Louise’s intuition, and the un-expected appearance of the Northern Lights ("The Third Sky") bring George to his own small epiphany. Translated into Russian by Olga Varshaver and Tatiana Tulchinsky, under the title "НА ТРЕТЬЕМ НЕБЕ" ("On the Third Sky"). PRODUCTION HISTORY
World Premiere: Vilnius Chamber Theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania (in Lithuanian), 2019 |
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