LPTW Member Amy Oestreicher Is Casting Actor For 10-Minute Play!

Seeking: non-union actor for a short 10-minute play for Manhattan Repertory Company’s Short Play Contest

CASTING:

Susan, 57 years old, high strung, emotion-driven, but means well, distraught from holding her daughter’s secret from her husband and two sons, reveals the truth about her daughter’s sexual abuse as the family waits for her to wake up from a stressed induced trauma leading to a coma.

Two scenes

1. Teenage daughter reveals she was sexually abused to her mother by her voice teacher. Susan holds this information secret from the rest of the family. Susan, who has always had a close relationship with her daughter, can tell something has been wrong, as her daughter has radically changed over the past few months and her once-bubbly self now feels vacant. Susan, who would like not to believe it, has an innate motherly knowing that what she senses with distant intuition may be true: Patty was molested by her voice teacher. Susan’s reaction is naturally emotion-driven out of shock, anger, and hurt. It is Patricia who grounds her mother in the present and forces her to feel gratitude at that moment for simply being alive. The mother and daughter are now ready to bond with this secret, healing together after this man had wrecked their homes, they would share a fresh start together. It is Patricia’s positive spirit that Susan tries to keep with her when her daughter is in a coma.

2. Scene takes place in a hospital: two weeks after Patricia told Susan this secret, her daughter is rushed to the hospital where the family waits for her to wake up from a coma. Susan keeps the secret of abuse, just as Patricia had for months. She is only pushed to reveal her daughter’s secret when the stakes are high enough. Not wanting her daughter to be misdiagnosed with an eating disorder, Susan reveals the abuse to the doctor, leaving the father angry and betrayed and her sons bewildered and shocked, but mostly ridden with guilt which is misrepresented as anger.

In this season, we see an important transformation in Susan. Once she breaks with this secret, we see her turn to emotional shambles, as she makes the strong decision/risk to show the doctor the note that Patricia had written her mother about the abuse. But by the end of the season, Susan turns into a pillar of strength, finding the inner confidence to declare to her family that this was not her fault, and the entire family was equally responsible for allowing this teacher into her homes. Most importantly, we see the state of a family absorbing a difficult truth.

Knowing how difficult it was for me to speak of my own abuse (especially after waking up from a coma months later), I was inspired to write the full-length drama, IMPRINTS, a compelling, humorous and poignant portrayal of how trauma affects the family – also semi-autobiographical. The script is loosely based off of a journal my brother kept for the first 72 days I was in a coma, packed with moments of raw emotion as well as endearing humor from a Jewish family who camped out in the ICU together for over a year. Because of its themes of the themes of prevention, PTSD education, and survivor empowerment, this is also a powerful message to share with the community.

You can see my Huffington Post article about Imprints here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-oestreicher/expression-sets-you-free-_b_9998816.html

And learn more about the play here: https://www.amyoes.com/imprints/

Rehearsals will be evenings of August 9th and 16th, and the performance dates are August 17th and 20th, and possibly the 24th for the final round.

Non-union, No pay, but exposure and promotion on high traffic site.