DeScripted

In this episode, Randy and Tyler take a look at the 1921 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Miss Lulu Bett by Zona Gale -- who is also the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Note: We apologize -- Tyler's mic had some minor buzzing issues in this episode as well as the last. He's got a brand new mic now, so the next episode will be better!

Synopsis from theatremania.com:  Miss Lulu Bett, a 28-year-old spinster in a small Wyoming town, lives more or less as a servant in the home of her spoiled sister, Ina, and Ina's pompous husband Dwight Deacon, a dentist who doubles as the local justice of the peace. Also living under the roof are the sisters' mother and the Deacon daughters--Diana, having a mildly rebellious (i.e. normal) adolescence, and Monona, a prepubescent given to tantrums featuring especially ear-piercing squeals. Accepting of her lowly station and adept at fulfilling its demands, Miss Lulu Bett--as she's repeatedly addressed--may long to be elsewhere, but joins in the family pact to do nothing about it.

Until, that is, Dwight Deacon's adventurer brother Ninian drops in for a rare visit, spots Miss Lulu Bett's virtues, sees through her veiled longing and, in a playful moment one summer evening, proposes to her. There's a hitch, though--and "hitch" is definitely intended as a pun in this case: Because Ninian and Lulu exchanged their mock vows in front of Justice of the Peace Deacon, their union could be viewed as official. And, as it happens, the impulsive pair choose to see it that way, packing their honeymoon bags immediately.

Hard to credit, no? But Lulu and, more importantly, her appearance-consumed family, do credit the marriage knot. So when Lulu returns from her trip with the news that Ninian already had a wife, the Deacons prevail on her to shut up about it. Indeed, they suggest that Ninian's revelation may not even be true; it may merely be his pretext for dumping Lulu. That's when Lulu decides she has to be open to neighbors about her predicament. Furthermore, she wants to establish the truth of Ninian's statement--she needs to know she hasn't been forsaken. When she gets reassuring news in the form of an old wedding announcement, she throws the Deacons' hypocrisy in their faces and strikes out on her own.

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Join us as we discuss the play “Sweat” by Lynn Nottage, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2017.  Here's a synopsis for "Sweat" from StageAgent.com: It’s the year 2000 in Reading, Pennsylvania and a group of friends go to work at the steel mill and then decompress at the bar like they’ve been doing for over 20 years. But, unbeknownst to them, their lives are about to be uprooted. Their steel mill, Olstead’s, is making some changes and the blood, sweat and tears, not to mention the generations of loyalty these workers have shown, don’t seem to amount to much. These middle class, unionized, steelworkers have made plans to save money, go on vacations and then retire with a nice, healthy pension, but when rumors start flying that the company is considering layoffs, and flyers are hung to recruit non-union Latino workers for less money, the war between community and capitalism begins, and tensions start destroying not only jobs, but also relationships. This poignant play takes a look at the de-industrial revolution through the lens of a history play, but also delves into the issues of today: the economy, immigration, race-relations in America, and politics. Lynn Nottage’s Sweat gives us characters filled with the good and the bad and asks us to reflect on our own views and the views of others. Nottage never tells us who’s right or who’s wrong, but always shows us who’s human.

Note: This episode was recorded in 2021 in the middle of the COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") pandemic.

DeScripted
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Twitter: @DeScriptedPod - www.twitter.com/DeScriptedPod
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In this episode, Randy and Tyler take a look at the 2018 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Cost of Living by Martyna Majok.

Wikipedia’s synopsis of Cost of Living: "The play examines two pairs of relationships between disabled and able persons: one between a graduate student with cerebral palsy and his female caregiver and the other between a quadriplegic woman and her ex-husband. Eddie is an unemployed truck driver whose ex-wife Ani became a quadriplegic following a tragic accident; while John has cerebral palsy and has hired Jess as his caregiver."

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Dramatists Play Service - dramatists.com
Martyna Majok - http://www.martynamajok.com/
Katy Sullivan - https://www.katysullivan.net/
Gregg Mozgala - http://www.greggmozgala.com/

******* IN OUR NEXT EPISODE *******
Join us as we discuss the play “Miss Lulu Bett” by Zona Gale, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1921. This play can be read for free online, as it is in the Public Domain: https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/gale/lulu/lulu.html

Note: This episode was recorded in 2021 in the middle of the COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") pandemic.

DeScripted
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeScriptedPod
Twitter: @DeScriptedPod - twitter.com/DeScriptedPod
Instagram: @DeScriptedPod - www.instagram.com/DeScriptedPod

In this episode, Tyler and Randy discuss the 1920 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “Beyond the Horizon” by Eugene O’Neill.

Wikipedia’s synopsis of Beyond the Horizon: “The play takes place on a farm in the Spring, and then moves forward three years later, in the Summer, and finally five years later, in late Fall. The play focuses on the portrait of a family, and particularly only two brothers Andrew and Robert. In the first act of the play, Robert is about to go off to sea with their uncle Dick, a sea captain, while Andrew looks forward to marrying his sweetheart Ruth and working on the family farm as he starts a family.”

You can read this play FREE online, as it is in the public domain. We recommend checking out Project Gutenberg where they provide many different options for reading: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58569

******* IN OUR NEXT EPISODE *******
Join us as we discuss the play “Cost of Living” by Martyna Majok that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2018.

Note: This episode was recorded in 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") pandemic.

DeScripted
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeScriptedPod
Twitter: @DeScriptedPod - twitter.com/DeScriptedPod
Instagram: @DeScriptedPod - www.instagram.com/DeScriptedPod

In this episode, Tyler and Randy discuss the 2019 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “Fairview” by Jackie Sibblies Drury.

Pulitzer.org describes Fairview as “A hard-hitting drama that examines race in a highly conceptual, layered structure, ultimately bringing audiences into the actors’ community to face deep-seated prejudices.”

You can find this play on Amazon to purchase by following this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1559369523/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_4yo4Fb2YSKGMF (Note: Purchasing via this link helps to support the show!)

******* IN OUR NEXT EPISODE *******
Join us as we discuss the play “Beyond the Horizon” by Eugene O’Neill that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1920. The full text for the script is in the public domain and can be read for free via Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58569. Read the script ahead of time and listen to our take on in episode 3, to be released on 1/31/2021.

Note: This episode was recorded in 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") pandemic.

DeScripted
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeScriptedPod
Twitter: @DeScriptedPod - twitter.com/DeScriptedPod
Instagram: @DeScriptedPod - www.instagram.com/DeScriptedPod

In this episode, Tyler and Randy discuss the very first winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama: the 1918 play “Why Marry?” by Jesse Lynch Williams.

The full script for “Why Marry?” can be found online and is free to read, as it is in the Public Domain. The script can be found on Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35389/35389-h/35389-h.htm). If you’d like to listen to an audio drama version, you can find it on LibriVox (free) (https://librivox.org/why-marry-by-jesse-lynch-williams/).

******* IN OUR NEXT EPISODE *******
Join us as we discuss the 2019 play Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2019. You can find this on Amazon by following this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1559369523/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_4yo4Fb2YSKGMF.

Note: This episode was recorded in 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") pandemic.

DeScripted
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeScriptedPod
Twitter: @DeScriptedPod - twitter.com/DeScriptedPod
Instagram: @DeScriptedPod - www.instagram.com/DeScriptedPod

Welcome to DeScripted, the podcast that explores and discusses the plays that have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama since it's inception in 1918. Our first episode will drop January 3, 2021 and then every two weeks. thereafter. Episode 1 will cover the play "Why Marry?" by Jess Lynch Williams, as was the first play to win a Pulitzer Prize. Read "Why Marry?" ahead of time online for free (link below) at Project Gutenberg and listen in to our discussion in episode one.

"Why Marry?" by Jess Lynch Williams -- https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35389/35389-h/35389-h.htm

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