Theatrefolk Featured Play: Malled by Colleen Neuman

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight.  We’re excited to feature Malled by Colleen Neuman – a collection of two plays with some great parts for girls.

Many things happen in a mall. Heartbreak, uncomfortable truths, true friendship, cosmic questions with your french fries.

In ellenalicemonajune, characters share those uncomfortable truths that only close friends can tell each other, particularly regarding a boyfriend who wears red leather pants.

In Yes Virginia, There is a Virginia An ordinary shopper survey takes absurd twists and turns for Virginia as she struggles to answer the surprisingly cosmic question: Is Ann Landers real?

Why did we publish this play?
I love the contrast in these two pieces – the real world of teens and the completely absurd world of shopper surveys, Ann Landers, and Aunt Flossie. The mall is a place where anything can happen! And the fact that they both feature all female casts, these plays make for a great option if you’ve got tons of girls in your class.

Let’s hear from the author!

1. Why did you write this play?
I was a high school drama coach at the time I wrote this play. The previous year we had entered a one-act play contest with a cast of three girls. Following a performance of that play at another school, we stopped to eat. I let them choose the place and they chose the food court of a mall. It struck me how much in their element the girls seemed to be in that setting. So the following year, when it was time to write another one-act play for the competition, that memory came back to me.

2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences.
One bad day is one bad day. Only one.

3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play?
Roger and Gina. The audience never sees Roger and Gina so the actors’ comments about them and reactions to them make them real. Or not.

4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be?
Love the play. Only produce plays you love. If you like this play but don’t love it, find a play that you do love. It makes all the difference.

5. Why is this play great for student performers?
Teenage girls know about these kinds of friendships. They have these friends. They are these friends. Friends are important at every stage of life but never more so than during the teenage years. They live in that world every day and that is what brings this play to life.

1. Why did you write this play?
I had already written ellenalicemonajune and wanted to write a companion piece to it. I wanted the second play to also take place at the food court of a mall but be completely different in every other way. Which it is. It is more challenging material, I think. Harder to relate to. More cerebral.

2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences.
Again. The world doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t need to. The light of the cosmos still shines from your eyes and always will, never mind the world.

3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play?
The supporting cast of characters going from being innocuous to abruptly taking an active role and then, just as abruptly, going back to being innocuous. The transitions need to be seamless to be effective. Not easy to do.

4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be?
Love the play you produce. The only advice I ever read about playwriting that was worth reading was: Write the play that’s in your heart. So, please, produce the play that’s in your heart. And all will be well.

5. Why is this play great for student performers?
It is quirky and unexpected and frustrating and, hopefully, just a little bit transcendent here and there. Which describes most teenagers most days.