Intermission
a creative coffee break from writing the play

• Sam
• You are so beautiful it hurts.
• Siren
• Yeah, that’s my thing.
• Sirens
  by
  Deborah Zoe Laufer

Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt Ritchie
Bordeaux, France
March 5, 1819

Get out of my house, you owdacious–you ruined–you abimi young woman! You will corrupt all my family. Good gracious! don’t touch me,–don’t come near me. Never let me see your face after to-morrow. Pack.

Mrs. Tiffany to Gertrude
Fashion (1845)
by
Anna Cora Ogden

We’re way off-story.

the Siren to Sam
in
Sirens
by
Deborah Zoe Laufer

I was born on Easter Sunday. The Titanic went down
the following Thursday. And why? Two Titanics can’t exist in the world at one time! When one shows up, the other has to go down!

Harry Hay
in
The Temperamentals
by
Jon Marans

To tell you the truth I expected much, much worse.

Mandy to Sarah
in
Time Stands Still
by
Donald Margulies

Ketti Frings
Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.
February 28, 1909

I was not too bruised by its lack of success. You can only learn from your mistakes.

Ketti Frings on the
cool reception of her play
Mr. Sycamore, 1942

Just say ‘Mark Twain.’ People who say ‘Samuel Clemens’ deplete me.

Mrs. Fitch to Mr. Fitch
in
Mr. and Mrs. Fitch
by
Douglas Carter Beane

Mary Chase
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
February 25, 1906

If Harvey happens to take a liking to people he expresses himself quite definitely. If he’s not particularly interested, he sits there like an empty chair or an empty space on the floor. Harvey takes his time making his mind up about people. Choosey, you see.

Elwood, p.28
Harvey
by Mary Chase

Edna St. Vincent Millay
Rockland, Maine, U.S.A.
February 22, 1892

Shall I forget, then,
When I am old, I ever was a child?
I tell you I shall think of you
Throughout my life, without such tenderness
As breaks the heart,—and I shall think of you
Whenever I am most happy, whenever I am
Most sad, whenever I see a beautiful thing.
You are a burning lamp to me, a flame
The wind cannot blow out, and I shall hold you
High in my hand against whatever darkness.

Bianca, p.38
The Lamp and the Bell
a play in verse (1921)
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Carson McCullers
Columbus, Georgia, U.S.A.
February 19, 1917

There are all the family around and I can’t seem to tell them. I wish I had written it down on the typewriter beforehand. I try to tell them and the words just—die.

Frankie, p.96
Member of the Wedding
By Carson McCullers

Nancy Oliver
Syracuse, NY, U.S.A.
February 9, 1955

See…all I really want to do is read. All I’ve ever wanted to do is read. But nobody understands…Really. My mother practically strip-searched me tonight. I had to sneak this one in my underwear. Don’t you think that’s ridiculous?

Julie to Charisse, p.11
Social Life
by Nancy Oliver

Kathy Najimy
San Diego, CA, USA
February 6, 1957

… we thought we’ll write it and no one will like it but us, but then the only rule was that we have to really like it. We did it in very small little cabarets and clubs and theaters in San Diego. People seemed to really like it. We kept extending and extending. So then – I was working for the phone company at the time. For AT&T. I put in for a transfer to New York. It came through and I said to Mo, we’re going to New York.

Kathy Najimy
on writing The Kathy and Mo Show
Interview PopEntertainment.com, Feb 11, 2007.