Copyright held by the Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop
View Permission for Production Policy
written and performed by the company
directed by Gwethalyn & the ADs
under our own influence
Pay for a ticket. Ha! Pay money! Clean up your face and your act. Sit on your tush! Do not kick seats. Do not text message. Socialize, mingle
Welcome to this evening’s production of Cinderella. Please remember to turn of your mobile phones and pagers. In case of emergency the fire exits are there and there. Sit still! Be quiet. Don’t spit on your neighbor. Merely listen and spectate. Sit, watch, clap, cry, leave.
Have a great time!
Try not to forget. A stage, an audience, a set of some kind, lights, sound, a curtain. Structure-beginning, middle, end; bits of comedy and tragedy; some romance. A story played out before my eyes. Be attentive. Be moved. Hold it till intermission.
This is a story of cruelty, transformation, and love.
This is a story of true love overcoming hatred and suffering.
This is a story of fairy tale endings.
Cinderella is the good, quiet, obedient daughter. She is beautiful. She is mistreated by her stepsisters. They abuse her because they are envious of her beauty.
This is a story about getting your wish.
The hero of this story is the fairy godmother who lifts Cinderella out of servitude into love and wealth. The heroes of this story are the magical birds who put Cinderella in fine clothes. The heroes of this story are all of the things that make this a fairy tale.
This is a story about letting the weak conquer the strong.
Cinderella goes to the ball and wins the prince’s love.. He rides a white horse. He is handsome. He is romantic and charming.
This is a story about the bonds of love. No matter how difficult it is to find the right fit, the right fit will be found.
This is a story about living happily ever after in a castle with the prince.
There is a heavy tension and I’m wound up tightest of all; Purple, knuckly, wrinkled, beautiful. And my clothes are falling apart. I was part of a body filling up the whole universe and I felt itchy.
I remember the wolves were howling and that blood I keep inside my veins got to boiling, I found myself with all this metal fusing my bones.
I said to myself, “I gotta get me some of that.”
I wanted to create a monolith the gods would put into the stars
(And then my Sunday school teacher recommended this.)
Usually, I only use walking as a mode of transportation.
You ever heard of the killer coming back to the scene of the crime?
At home.
Ruled by a triad of black-hearted crooked noses and stringy hair falling out of hats and growing from moles.
She must pick lentils from the fire.
Pumpkin Transformation.
kicks and a combination butterballs boats blinker lemurs pie fools and schools
Birds and shoots and ribbons and circles
Poverty frivolity, depression and pity
Blood, blood and more blood
The Ball.
Cinderella: she is gorgeous and doesn’t talk. She seems like someone his parents would approve of. She is playing hard to get. The trickle down theory does not work unless you have good legs. Make decisions based on what two bodies can do. I REMEMBER WOLVES. If you break curfew, curfew will break you.
Finding the feet
Personal and possibly erotic. Feet are the ugliest part. The shoes determine who the prince will marry. Curved Shells. Squatting makes his thighs burn.
Happily ever after.
She represents an ideal that can never be reached. She needs to get nasty.
Because the prince loves Cinderella for who she is even though she’s all dolled up.
Because she doesn’t know any better.
Does she fall in love with the elegant lifestyle?
It does not bode well.
No matter how difficult it is to find the right fit the right fit will be found.
I expect you will see what you expect to see.
An ensemble of intelligent instruments, panting and bending bodies moving in and out of light.
The poetry of shapes and vicious debates.
You will be kept guessing.
You came to see a show so we’ll give you a show.
Seeing your happily ever after challenged can be uncomfortable.
Think about it, but don’t.
A minimal amount of torture: Hips and thighs, joints and fingers caked in sweat. Interlocking limbs and the fusion of bodies.
The children will most certainly cry.
