Terra Incognita
a play about the unknown
SYNOPSIS
Nadia is a recovering alcoholic who is being haunted by her dead lover.
Sheila is an aging social worker whose greatest fear is dying alone.
Initially, these women appear to have absolutely nothing in common.
But, in their counseling sessions, as the line in their relationship between the professional and personal begins to blur, they discover they have much more in common than initially meets the eye.
Terra Incognita is a play about confronting our mortality...it's also about a menacing crow, a jealous corpse that rises from its grave, and an angel that might be a savior or the herald of death.
TIME & PLACE
The present. Winter transitioning to spring in a seaside city.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
(2 women, 1 man, 1 non-specific)
ANGEL (also is ATTENDANT, BARISTA, and GUIA): gender non-specific, a shapeshifting being.
NADIA: female, black, 20s.
SHEILA: female, white, early 60s. Nadia's social worker.
SIMON: male, black, late 20s (but looks early 20s). A job placement specialist.
X.: male, black, early 20s. Nadia's ex-lover.
(note: SIMON and X. are to be played by the same actor.)
Nadia is a recovering alcoholic who is being haunted by her dead lover.
Sheila is an aging social worker whose greatest fear is dying alone.
Initially, these women appear to have absolutely nothing in common.
But, in their counseling sessions, as the line in their relationship between the professional and personal begins to blur, they discover they have much more in common than initially meets the eye.
Terra Incognita is a play about confronting our mortality...it's also about a menacing crow, a jealous corpse that rises from its grave, and an angel that might be a savior or the herald of death.
TIME & PLACE
The present. Winter transitioning to spring in a seaside city.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
(2 women, 1 man, 1 non-specific)
ANGEL (also is ATTENDANT, BARISTA, and GUIA): gender non-specific, a shapeshifting being.
NADIA: female, black, 20s.
SHEILA: female, white, early 60s. Nadia's social worker.
SIMON: male, black, late 20s (but looks early 20s). A job placement specialist.
X.: male, black, early 20s. Nadia's ex-lover.
(note: SIMON and X. are to be played by the same actor.)
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Annex Theatre (dir. Pilar O'Connell) July 29-August 20, 2016
- review by Miriam Gordon, "This is a fine first production. Benne has a great inner ear for women's voices and reflects them believably."
- review by The Seattle Times, "emotionally astute" and "possesses a number of small pleasures of its own."
- review by Arts Stage, "Edgy, thoughtful, and presented by fine actors!"
- review by Seattle Weekly, "features two powerful performances and a deft script"; "together [actors Lillian Afful-Straton and Gretchen Douma] are hypnotic, drawing toward each other and pushing away throughout a script deftly woven with the politics of race and privilege"; "it is in intimate moments like this that Benne's talents as a storyteller are laid bare".
Annex Theatre (dir. Pilar O'Connell) July 29-August 20, 2016
- review by Miriam Gordon, "This is a fine first production. Benne has a great inner ear for women's voices and reflects them believably."
- review by The Seattle Times, "emotionally astute" and "possesses a number of small pleasures of its own."
- review by Arts Stage, "Edgy, thoughtful, and presented by fine actors!"
- review by Seattle Weekly, "features two powerful performances and a deft script"; "together [actors Lillian Afful-Straton and Gretchen Douma] are hypnotic, drawing toward each other and pushing away throughout a script deftly woven with the politics of race and privilege"; "it is in intimate moments like this that Benne's talents as a storyteller are laid bare".
DEVELOPMENT HISTORY
- Workshop, Drybones Artist Collective in Shoreline, WA on August 14, 2014. (Dir. Megan Becker)
- Workshop, Drybones Artist Collective in Shoreline, WA on August 14, 2014. (Dir. Megan Becker)
AWARDS/HONORS
- Semi-finalist (top 23% of over 1200 submissions), Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2014 National Playwrights Conference.
- In response to the submission of this play, Playwrights Horizons' Director of New Play Development Adam Greenfield called it "a rich, theatrically inventive meditation on love and death."
- Semi-finalist (top 23% of over 1200 submissions), Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2014 National Playwrights Conference.
- In response to the submission of this play, Playwrights Horizons' Director of New Play Development Adam Greenfield called it "a rich, theatrically inventive meditation on love and death."
MORE ABOUT THE PLAY
This play was conceived and completed as part of Freehold Theatre Lab/Studio's Writers Series in spring 2013.
This was the 1st play in the mortality trilogy.
This play is dedicated to Jules Lawrence Benne (January 5, 1954 - February 2, 2013).
This play was conceived and completed as part of Freehold Theatre Lab/Studio's Writers Series in spring 2013.
This was the 1st play in the mortality trilogy.
This play is dedicated to Jules Lawrence Benne (January 5, 1954 - February 2, 2013).
