Winner! 2012 Charles M. Getchell New Play Award
By Beth Kander
Sara is wisecracking, single, broke, and secular. Neshama is serious, married, infertile, and Orthodox. When fate, God, and Sara's Episcopalian roommate bring these two Jewish women together, each must question what really matters, what they really want—and what they're willing to do to get it. As Sara considers donating her eggs, and Neshama ponders accepting them, both women find themselves unexpectedly scrambled.
The Story
Act I
Sara Reuben and Margie Snyder, old friends and longtime are discussing their lives. We learn that Margie is having a very stressful time at work. She is a lawyer and she has been working hard so that she might make partner of the firm one day. Sara, on the other hand, has been out of work for two months now. Margie has a ring on her finger and is trying to get her best friend to notice it. After a while, she gives up and just tells Sara that she is engaged. Her boyfriend, John, popped the question the night before! Sara is thrilled for Margie and insists they celebrate.
Margie remembers something she clipped out of her alumni magazine to give to Sara. It is an advertisement: A wealthy Jewish couple is looking for a smart, healthy, Jewish women to donate her eggs. They say that they will give fifty thousand dollars in return. Margie suggests that Sara think about it, the money could help her to go back to school, or at least give her some financial stability. Sara is really taken aback, and asks not to talk about it anymore.
The next weekend in the kitchen of the Reuben home; Sara’s mother, Janice, and her Grandmother, “Bubbe,” are talking. As usual, Bubbe is nagging Janice about whether or not the food she is cooking is kosher. Janice assures her that it is. Then, Sara enters and is greeted warmly. It is Sara’s birthday and her mom has been cooking for her.
The next day, back at their apartment Margie is looking through a huge stack of bridal magazines. As the girls go through the magazines Margie encourages Sara to consider donating once again. Sara thinks that it is risky and isn’t sure.
Three months later, Neshama; an orthodox Jewish women in need of an egg donor, and Sara are sitting in a coffee shop. This is the first time the two of them have met. Sara has gone through the application process for giving her eggs to Neshama. Sara is taken aback by how religious Neshama is. Neshama, similarly, is uneasy with Sara’s more liberal views. After Sara reveals that her mother converted into the faith, things get tense. Neshama questions whether Sara is really Jewish.
Sara goes home and explains what happened to Margie. She gets a phone call from her mother… her father has had a heart attack and has died.
Act II
Janice, Sara and Bubbe are in the family’s kitchen. They have just been at the funeral and are now waiting for guests to arrive. After a bit Nashama Gottlieb enters and gives her condolences to Bubbe, whom she apparently knows from temple. Sara is really put on her toes, but Nashama leaves without revealing anything.
One month later, Margie and Sara are in their apartment surrounded by boxes. They are preparing to move. Sara is going to move in with her mother and grandmother until she goes to school. She has decided that she wants to be a teacher and is going to graduate school.
Later that week, Sara meets Nashama again in the coffee shop. Nashama tells Sara that she has changed her mind and would consider her as a donor. She does request that Sara go into the mikveh before. Sara is still unsure but tells Nashama that she will think about it.
Sara delivers a monologue about fate. At the end we are aware that it is her maid of honor speech for Margie’s wedding. She lifts her glass and prays as the play ends.
Steele Spring Theatrical Licensing congratulates Beth Kander, winner of the 2012 Charles M. Getchell New Play Award! Be sure to read her fantastic interview and an excerpt of the script in Southern Theatre, beginning on page 21.
"Scrambled is funny, poignant, and relevant to anyone who has ever wondered what they're supposed to be doing with their life. The characters feel familiar, and yet the story feels fresh - a powerful combination." –Denise Halbach, Past President, Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC)
An Interview with the Playwright
Where did you grow up and how did you first get involved in theatre?
Here’s how I would describe my childhood: small town, big family, very little money, abundant love and creativity. We moved a lot when I was little, but for the most part I grew up in very rural Michigan. I became involved in theater at an early age, because my mother is also a theater person – she was the founding artistic director of Michigan Youth Theatre (now Full Impact Theatre). My debut performance was at age 5, starring in a tragically comic homemade production of “Cinderella.” I was Cinderella. My little brothers and the neighbor-kids were the stepsisters, fairy godmother, prince, and every other character. I was the oldest and, at the time, the only girl, so that was that. I was painfully shy, but theatre gave me words to say, costumes to wear, stories to bring to life, and that’s really how I found my voice.
Did you always know you wanted to be a playwright?
From a surprisingly young age, yes. I knew I wanted to be a writer by around age 4. I wrote my first full length play at 14, and it was produced by an incredibly supportive cadre of community theater folks that same year. I love writing, I love theater, weaving those passions together to create stories for the stage was just a natural fit.
What inspired you to write Scrambled?
When I was a broke college student, a friend of mine handed me an ad that said SEEKING JEWISH EGG DONOR, sighing as she said: “Man, if I were Jewish, I’d totally do this.” I didn’t wind up donating my gourmet Jewish eggs, but I saved the ad for a long time. At one point, I mentioned it to a friend who was a much more traditionally-observant Jew than I, and she pointed out that since my mother was not born Jewish, I “might not count” when it came to Jewish egg donation. The fact that my non-Jewish friend saw me so clearly as Jewish, and my Jewish friend saw me as possibly not Jewish, really raised all those questions again about identity. Years later, when I was in my late 20s, still unmarried and not a mother, someone asked me about adoption, fertility issues, etcetera – and I again recalled that advertisement. And I wondered what would have happened if I’d seriously considered becoming an egg donor. And that’s when I started working on Scrambled. The more I worked on it, the more strands began weaving together. Family. Societal pressures. How we judge one another. Wondering what we’re really supposed to be doing. Most of the characters in this particular story are Jewish, but I think all of the big ideas and overarching themes are quite universal.
Are any of the characters in Scrambled based on real people?
Ooh, definitely – but almost all of them are based on at least two people. My Bubbe, may her memory be a blessing, certainly inspired and informed the Bubbe in this show. Sara is a melding of myself and several of my closest female friends, and Margie is very much a mash-up of several other close friends. Neshama is someone I know, but not as intimately. And Sara’s mother, Janice, is not very much like my mother in personality (she’s actually more like my real-life Lutheran grandmother), though they share some biographical similarities and the same strength of conviction and love for their children. Also, though you never actually meet Sara’s dad, he’s very much a character in the play because he impacts so many of the characters – and he is very much based on my own awesome dad.
What is your favorite part of the play?
That’s a tough one. I love the comedic moments, so part of me wants to say the dinner scene with Bubbe, Sara, and Janice, while part of me is also drawn to the conflict of Neshama and Sara literally deciding whether or not to sit at the same table. I guess on the whole, my favorite part is that balance – the movement from comedy to drama, permission to laugh following a punch in the gut. I hope that mirrors reality, as intended.
What makes Scrambled unique?
It’s personal without being autobiographical. It explores really serious themes, but isn’t afraid to have really goofy moments, too. I also think it’s pretty rare to have an all-female show that manages to have five truly different and honest female characters, and I like to think Scrambled has that going for it, as well.
What do you hope audiences take away from your shows?
More questions than answers. Something that makes them keep thinking when they walk out of the theater. Something that makes them worry, and something that gives them a little more hope for the human race.
Who are the people who have inspired or influenced you as a playwright?
Cliché as it sounds, definitely Shakespeare. I read and performed a lot of Shakespeare at a very young age, and he was brilliant at interspersing meaningful and comedic moments. I also love Paula Vogel’s honesty and strong female characters. There are many other writers I admire, but it’s mostly just people who inspire and influence me as a playwright – people with good stories, people with interesting habits, and above all, my family and my theater family. I adore and number myself among those crazies who call themselves “theater people.”
What advice do you have for emerging playwrights?
Finish a draft! No matter how stuck you feel or how much you start to think “this sucks,” finish a draft. Then cook dinner (or order pizza, if you’re not a cook), and invite some friends over (they don’t have to be actors!) and have them read it out loud while you take notes. Listen to see what works, and what doesn’t. Then start revising, and you’ll be much closer to getting your script where it really needs to be. Also, I truly believe you can’t be a good playwright unless you really love the theater. You don’t have to be in plays, though there’s a lot to be said for that – but at the very least, go to the theater, support local theaters, read plays, hang with theater people, love the whole scene, and you’ll be a better playwright for it.
What’s next for you? Do you have any projects on the horizon?
I’ll be speaking and giving a workshop in conjunction with an upcoming production of Scrambled in Lexington, Kentucky, and am excited for more productions on the horizon. I also just finished taking part in the 48 Hour Film Project, being my team’s designated writer, which was awesome – our film, “The Retirement Party,” won the city-wide competition (Best Film! Best Writing! Audience Choice Award! And more!) and is moving on to nationals at Filmapalooza in March 2013. I recently completed a novel, and am shopping that around. At the moment I’m also working on two new full-length plays, a collection of short plays, two children’s books in collaboration with two different amazing illustrators (I already have one published children’s book, “Glubbery Gray, the Knight-Eating Beast”), plus I have my own blog and contribute to several blogs and publications. My biggest problem as a writer is forcing myself to really focus on just one project. I’m always long on ideas and short on time. But that’s just the way it is, right? Never know what’s around the corner, and I’d rather have too much to write than be at a loss for words! If ever you want to know what’s up next, I update my Facebook page frequently: facebook.com/byBethKander
Cast
5 Women
SARA REUBEN – Female, 28. A currently-underachieving over-achiever; witty, broke, culturally Jewish, questioning everything.
MARGIE SYNDER – Female, 28. Sara's roommate: just-engaged, lapsed-Episcopalian, successful lawyer who seems to have it all together.
JANICE REUBEN – Female, 56. Sara's mother, a teacher. Warm, supportive, converted to Judaism. A bit frazzled by her now live-in mother-inlaw.
"BUBBE" RUTH REUBEN – Female, 80s. Sara's grandmother, Janice's mother-in-law, an Old World Bubbe struggling with her loss of independence. She speaks with an old world, Eastern-European accent - or at the very least, the rhythm of that dialect (i.e. Ruth doesn't say "Those are nice pillows," she says "Those pillows, they're nice.")
NESHAMA GOTTLIEB – Female, 27. A fertility-challenged young Orthodox woman. Religious, determined, educated and articulate.
There is also a Relaxation CD Voice, which should be pre-recorded. Can be male or female. Must be almost comically Zen.
Setting
The present. An apartment, a coffee shop, and the Reuben home.
Running Time
2 Acts, Approx. 95 minutes
About the Author
Beth Kander is a writer and actor currently based in Mississippi. Named Best Jackson Writer by the Jackson Free Press in 2011 and 2009, she recently received the 2012 Charles M. Getchell New Play Award for her play “Scrambled.” Other recent honors include serving as a Literary Arts Fellow by the Mississippi Arts Commission (2009-2010), Eudora Welty New Play honors in 2008 and 2009, and the Mississippi Theatre Association Playwriting Award (2009) for her comedy “See Jane Quit.”
Her works have been produced or work shopped by venues national and international, including Spare Change Theater and Fn Productions in New York; the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England; 11:11 Theater in Boston; Magenta Giraffe Theatre in Detroit; Heartland Theatre in Illinois; Lexington Arts Center in Kentucky; New Stage Theatre and Fondren Theatre Workshop in Jackson, MS. Publications include the children’s book “Glubbery Gray” (Pelican, 2010), as well as contributing to projects such as “Stage This! Volume 3” (E-Merging, 2009) and “Spirituality 101” (Skylight Paths, 2004).
Ms. Kander is a graduate of Brandeis University (B.A.) and the University of Michigan (MSW). She currently serves as President of Fondren Theatre Workshop in Jackson, MS, and as the playwriting chair of the Mississippi Theatre Association. Possibly most interesting, she has an adorable rescue dog named Dov, who was in a viral video, which landed him on Web Soup, Attack of the Show, and even smack dab in the middle of Jay Leno's monologue on Late Night. Seriously. Thus, her life goal, along with making the world a better place, is to be more famous than her dog. To follow her work, visit www.bethkander.com or like her on Facebook: facebook.com/bybethkander.
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