THE BEAST FROM PLANET X
“You know what I do to get through the days here? I like to pretend that all my co-workers are characters in some sci-fi movie, the cheesier the better, fighting giant insects or being chased by the Blob or rocketing into the unknown … I’ve directed more cheese than Bert I. Gordon and nobody even knows.”
***How do you survive the day to day tedium of your basic corporate cubicle farm? Sarah manages by including everyone in the office in her 50′s sci-fi daydreams – snickering at the thought of trapping them on a rocket bound for galaxies unknown. But when reality intrudes in the most shocking of ways and they find themselves truly trapped in the office, can even her fantasies provide any comfort?***
I had the title for this play long before I started coming up with any idea of plot, or characters – at one point it was going to be a ‘behind the scenes’ picture of a small, struggling movie company, possibly even set in the 1950s. But the more I did research into the psychology of the sci-fi movies of that era and their reaction to a culture of (nuclear) fear – the more I started seeing contemporary parallels. I found myself starting to put together a plotline that found connections – and differences – between the fears of the 1950s and the things that frighten us as North Americans now. (And of course, I’m a huge fan of those old movies, and any excuse to cram a play with allusions to them is a definite plus.)
This play is still very much in flux – at this moment, I’m about halfway through the first act and I’ve set it aside while completing projects with more immediate deadlines – but I hope to finish a full first draft this year and start working with a dramaturge and my usual collaborators to refine it.
CHARACTERS
SARAH, female, mid 30s
ERIK, male, late 20s
CLINT, male, mid 40s
MONIKA, female, early 30s
TONY, male, late 20s
(All characters except Sarah also double in the fantasy sequences.)
