I had the joy of directing Beth Kander-Dauphin’s play, EPHEMERA, in our 2015 ONSTAGE Festival. I loved the play’s characters, the underlying meaning in their conversation, and the way the audience reacted to the play’s final image. Beth also recently had an ADORABLE baby girl, so she’s been busy with parenting duties, but I was thrilled when she sent me a one-minute play to share with the We’re Not Playing Initiative. One-minute plays are funny creatures. On the one hand, they’re so brief that they leave you feeling a bit stunned. On the other, their brutal economy forces the writer to do away with artifice and just get to the heart of the heart of the story! I think Beth’s play speaks for itself, and it left me with questions about my own complacency in the ineffectiveness of social media activism.
More about ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER from the playwright, Beth Kander-Dauphin
I originally wrote this play for the 2016 One Minute Play Festival (1MPF) in Chicago. I have written one minute plays a handful of other times, and usually aim for comedy; if I only have my audience for 60 seconds, I want to leave them smiling. But this time I aimed elsewhere. There is a glimmer of humor, but this a serious statement about how our daily distractions enable horrific things to happen in our own backyard. When no one is looking – and no one is talking – bad things happen, especially to women and marginalized populations. So hopefully these 60 seconds, instead of leaving an audience smiling, will leave them startled into paying more attention.
Check out our 2015 interview with Beth Kander-Dauphin HERE.
Check out more plays from the We’re Not Playing Initiative HERE.