Little Wars E-Book

Steven Carl McCasland

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

A dinner party during the Second World War unites celebrated writers Agatha Christie, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas – with a mysterious guest. With copious booze flowing, acid-tongued barbs flying, and the threat of global conflict looming, the guests – and the world around them – are close to boiling point. Everyone has a confession. Someone has a secret. Set in the French Alps in 1940, Steven Carl McCasland's  Little Wars  is an enthralling, entertaining and ultimately moving portrait of seven exceptional women – and a thrilling fiction based on truth. It was workshopped Off-Off-Broadway, first performed in 2015, and received an acclaimed digital premiere in 2020, featuring Linda Bassett, Sarah Solemani, Juliet Stevenson and Sophie Thompson. It provides glorious opportunities for an all-female cast to play some of the greatest literary figures of the twentieth century.

Leseprobe

Steven Carl McCasland

LITTLE WARS

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Little Wars

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Little Wars received its world premiere at The Clarion Theatre, New York City, in 2015, with the following cast:

GERTRUDE STEIN

Polly McKie

ALICE B. TOKLAS

PennyLynn White

LILLIAN HELLMAN

Kimberly Faye Greenberg

DOROTHY PARKE

Dorothy Weems

AGATHA CHRISTIE

Kimberly Rogers

MARY

Kristen Gehling

(MURIEL GARDINER)

BERNADETTE

Samantha Hoefer

Director

Steven Carl McCarsland

Producer

The Beautiful Soup Theater Collective

The play received its international premiere at the Daylesford Theatre, Hamilton, Bermuda, in 2016, with the following cast:

GERTRUDE STEIN

Susanne Notman

ALICE B. TOKLAS

Heather Conyers

LILLIAN HELLMAN

Gillian Henderson

DOROTHY PARKER

Deborah Pharoah-Williams

AGATHA CHRISTIE

Karen Stroeder

MARY

Emily Ross

(MURIEL GARDINER)

BERNADETTE

Raven Baksh

Director

Carol Birch

Producer

Jennifer Osmond for The Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society

The play received its US regional premiere at Mixed Blood Theatre, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2017, with the following cast:

GERTRUDE STEIN

Candace Barrett Birk

ALICE B. TOKLAS

Sue Scott

LILLIAN HELLMAN

Vanessa Gamble

DOROTHY PARKER

Elizabeth Desotelle

AGATHA CHRISTIE

Alison Edwards

MARY

Laura Adams

(MURIEL GARDINER)

BERNADETTE

Miriam Schwartz

Director

Shelli Place

Producer

Elena Gianetti for PRIME Productions

The play received its digital premiere and was streamed internationally in November 2020, with the following cast:

GERTRUDE STEIN

Linda Bassett

ALICE B. TOKLAS

Catherine Russell

LILLIAN HELLMAN

Juliet Stevenson

DOROTHY PARKER

Debbie Chazen

AGATHA CHRISTIE

Sophie Thompson

MARY

Sarah Solemani

(MURIEL GARDINER)

BERNADETTE

Natasha Karp

Director

Hannah Chissick

Digital Creative Editor

John Walsh Brannoch

Producer

Thomas Hopkins & Michael Quinn for Ginger Quiff Media in association with Guy Chapman & Bailey Harris Kelly

Acknowledgements

This play went through a number of drafts. The feedback of friends and colleagues was invaluable, and they all must be thanked: Thia Stephan Hyde, Jon Imparato, JoAnn Mariano, Patti Mariano, Polly McKie, Carey Purcell, Molly Tiede, Maggie Wirth, Shelli Place, Debbie Chazen, Catherine Russell, Juliet Stevenson, Ginger Quiff Media and all of the other actresses, directors and designers who have worked on this play. Especially Carol Birch, who helped me discover things I never knew were there.

Great thanks to Georganne Guyan Bender, Charles Busch, Robert Featherstone, Irma and Sol Gurman, Julie Halston, James Horan, Lucille Kenney, Rich Kizer, Alison Broomfield and Logan Rollins for their unwavering support and encouragement.

Overwhelming gratitude to Albert J. Pica, Theresa Pica and Susan Percoco.

Thanks are due to Nora Ephron, whose Imaginary Friends introduced me to Lillian Hellman and Mary McCarthy when I was sixteen. She helped inspire this and every play that followed.

And, of course, to Lillian Hellman.

This play is dedicated to Irma Gurman and Elaine Tozar, two teachers who inspired a life of learning

Characters

GERTRUDE STEIN, sixty-five. The hostess. A Lesbian writer with no interest in the conventional. American

ALICE B. TOKLAS, sixty-two. Gertrude Stein’s lover, secretary and muse. Art enthusiast and collector. American

LILLIAN HELLMAN, thirty-four. A lying, chain-smoking, conniving woman who also happens to be a brilliant writer. American

DOROTHY PARKER, forty-seven. Satirist and author. Despite her biting wit, Dorothy cowers to Lillian out of respect and fear. American

AGATHA CHRISTIE, forty-nine. A crime-fiction writer. Far too smart for her own good. British

MARY (MURIEL GARDINER), thirty-eight. A psychiatrist working in the Austrian underground to rescue Jews and dissidents. American

BERNADETTE, twenty-two. Gertrude and Alice’s maidservant. German

Time and Place

22 June 1940. Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas’s country home in the French Alps.