Show photo©Jiawen Li
Show photo©Jiawen Li
New Play In Development
DRUNK PROMISE
Written and directed by: Huirui Zhang
Show time: November 5, 2022
Venue: Tuesday Night Café Theatre
Cast
Gabrielle Germain as Amber
Maya Cornwall as Lyn
Sarah Pattloch as Kevin
Julie as Coco & Madeleine (VoiceOver)
Creation Context
It is a 15-minute play written specifically for the 24hr PlayFest organized by Tuesday Night Café Theatre. I used one full day to draft the play according to a prompt and then the script was rehearsed and performed as a workshop within a mere 12 hours the day after.
About the Play
The initial draft I wrote explores the lives of two heartbroken girls, each navigating their own breakup. The play delves into the complex process of coping with heartbreak, depicting the painful journey of detachment, the self-convincing required to move on, and the forced acceptance of a lost connection. It also highlights the often unspoken dangers of lovesickness and depression, illustrating how easily one can slip into the darker side of heartache.
Show photo©Jiawen Li
Show photo©Jiawen Li
Show photo©Jiawen Li
Interview Questions by Gaëlle Jenny Perron for Bull & Bear
1.
A tag-line/brief description of what the play is about:
Drunk Promise tries to tell the navigation/coping of heartbreak. The difficult detachment process. The convincing of self. The imposed acceptance of no longer existing bond. And the often muted danger of slipping into the dark side — lovesickness/depression.
The preliminary draft of Drunk Promise shows the intersection of two heartbroken girls from their own stages of dealing with breakup.
2. What inspired you to write about this topic?
The decision to write about heartbreak came from a very harsh breakup I personally went through. The feeling of loss almost killed me from the inside, caused me to have suicidal thoughts. While I was curing my own wound, I found another friend of mine who was also suffering on the verge of depression due to breakup. No breakup is easy for anyone. It is a universal mirroring experience for anyone who have had the intense emotional rollercoaster letting go of one’s first passionate love. Yet, we often lie to ourselves about what happened and how we really felt. So, using myself as a template, I decide to turn my emotions in. To let them be seen and shared so that those emotions can be collectively digested and dissolved.
3. How did the prompts inspire or influence your vision?
the prompts didn’t restrict what topics we can write about. They only asked us to include 2 props (book with pages fanned out and wind chimes), 1 specific line (“I’m never going to be the first choice, but at least I’m not the last.” ), and 1 sound cue (the song “should’ve been me” snippet). So the prompts didn’t influence my vision at all. The plot line and flow of the story remain the same, the prompts only alternate what stage direction or technical designs I want to include. However, the requirement of adding the two props did inspire me to add an extra character, the fortune teller at the beginning. I wanted to have flashback scenes in-between, so the integration of the required sound cue surprisingly helped with the transition.
4. How was your experience writing this play, especially considering the time limit?
I was surprised by how efficiently I finished writing the play and actually handing it in on time (I was actually the first to hand in the play for the festival, lol). The whole writing process was very smooth. I spaced out two 2.5hr focused sessions for myself dedicated solely for writing the play. In the first session I did freewriting, basically writing out everything I want to possible include on paper and then in the second session, after giving myself enough break time to think through, I type the play out on laptop. I guess it went smoothly because I already have a general idea and several scenes in mind that I know I want to write about before I get started. The actual writing process was just organizing those thoughts—figuring out a structure for the action and making technical decisions like how many characters and what kind of sets, lighting and sound to include.
5. How satisfied were you how your vision was performed?
Considering the time limit and technical difficulty, I am pretty satisfied with the final performance at the end of the festival. Full respect to all of my actors who memorize lines and reveal their emotions vulnerably in such short amount of time. In the future, If I have the chance to work on this project again, I would definitely extend the length of my script to tell a fuller view of the story. But for what we had, my vision was pretty much completed.