31 Plays in 31 Days: #1 - "Pretty is Power"

Today when I was helping Plesser, thefarowl*, niobien*, and Prentice move into their new house, Caitlin mentioned to me this challenge she found on the Internet and wanted to do. It's called 31 Plays in 31 Days, and it's a challenge to playwrights to write a play of at least one page in length every day for the month of August. I thought that was intriguing, so I looked it up and decided to give it a try myself. So hopefully every day this month I will post a little one-page play. They will likely mostly be crap, but writing is a habit one must get into, and I think this might be good for me. Also, I'm excited to see what Caitlin generates. She studied playwriting too when she was at her theater intensive this past semester, and even wrote a musical that saw a staged reading.

While as I said I don't expect many of these to be any good... I actually kind of like the one I just wrote. This first play for August 1st is based on a vague idea I've had for a play that I've never really developed, about a fashion model who has a terrible accident that forces her has to reevaluate her values. So I wrote a little bit I imagined for that. Here is that little bit, completely unedited. I think I'm off to a decent start.

Day #1 - "Pretty is Power"

(Lights up on CHRISTINA MORAY center stage, cast in a spotlight. She is a model, an astonishingly beautiful woman.)

CHRISTINA: Pretty is power.

(A gang of photographers swarm around her in a flurry of flashes and clicks. CHRISTINA mugs for the cameras. After a bit the photographers all step back. CHRISTINA looks to the audience.)

CHRISTINA: Instant status. Universal value. The one currency that everyone understands.

ALL: Miss Moray! Miss Moray, over here!

(They surge forward, taking more pictures and proffering autograph books. CHRISTINA smiles at them, dazzling and untouchable, condescending to sign their pads and brush them with her fingertips. A young man, KEVIN, steps forward trying to get her attention. He has a small jar tucked in one hand.)

KEVIN: Miss Moray?

(CHRISTINA ignores him and continues talking through the fourth wall.)

CHRISTINA: Nobody can ignore it. It’s enough to make anyone instantly look to you. You get the first glance, the first shot, the first choice. They can’t wait to give it to you.

(She swans past KEVIN without looking at him, going to stand at the center edge of the stage.)

CHRISTINA: Because no matter what anyone says… everyone wants pretty. Wants to have it, wants to be it. You could be surrounded by people who are smarter than you, more successful, more talented than you… but because you’re pretty, they still won’t be able to look you in the eye… and they still won’t be able to look away.

KEVIN: Miss Moray, do you have a minute?

(Hearing him, CHRISTINA laughs and shakes her head without looking back.)

CHRISTINA: The things people will do, just to get a taste of it. Pretty can get you anything you want.

(KEVIN pushes through the crowd and grabs a hold of CHRISTINA’s shoulder.)

KEVIN: Miss Moray!

(CHRISTINA turns to him in disgusted exasperation to see what he wants. KEVIN pops open the jar and splashes the contents across her face. CHRISTINA collapses and, agonized, clutches her face in her hands. BLACKOUT as she starts hysterically screaming.)