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What's in a Name

I have just finished writing a new monologue titled "What's in a Name". This one is shorter than my other recent monologues. It would likely run little more than 30 or possibly 40 minutes. After my last production, I have been feeling that 80 or 90 minute monologues are getting to be a bit much for me to both produce and to perform. 

The play is about an older man who takes a bus trip to the east coast after his husband of 41 years has died. I am sure this one, like my others, will be amended over time as I start to learn it. That seems to be my process. 

The first reader of the script called it a whimsical piece. I was pleased with that description.

One problem with shorter monologues, however, is that they cannot make an evening's entertainment, at least one that will justify a worthwhile ticket price. 

When I performed a 45 minute monologue in 2016 at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, part of the evening was taken up with a musical performance by a local orchestra. Similarly, when I performed my first monologue in 1990, a thirty minute piece at Art Space Theatre in Peterborough, Ontario, part of the evening was taken up with a choral concert. 

So hopefully, when I perform this here in Nova Scotia or in Ontario, it will be combined in an evening with another shorter play or music. Presently I have committed to premier this work in the spring of 2023 as a benefit for the Port Royal Lighthouse restoration project.

In the meantime, I enjoy the process of learning a play. At this moment, I do not worry myself about production.

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