Free Zap by Paul Fleischman Page A

situations of maddening hopelessness? The “theater of the absurd” grew out of the two world wars’ incomprehensible slaughter and the loss of faith that life made any sense. Corpses, I noticed, often figured in these plays. I decided I’d find a place for a corpse or two in mine. Last, for something truly up-to-date, I’d put in a monologue by a performance artist, one who spits on the traditions of the theater, unaware that she’s repeating its ageless themes.
    Every few years, after a string of serious books, I’m ready to pack my bags and kazoo and take a vacation to comedy.
Zap
was my latest trip. I had a ball writing it. The question facing me when I finished was whether it would actually work.
    When I heard that nearby Pacific Grove High School in California wanted to give the premiere, I was elated. Kelly Cool, the aptly named director, invited me to be part of the whole process, giving me a fabulous education along the way. The audiences were enlightening as well. Novelists never see the reader who chuckles or underlines a passage; playwrights are right in the same room. When the crowd doesn’t laugh where you wanted, you take note. When the room resounds, there’s no better place to be. Subsequent productions by James Rayfield’s students at Blake High School in Tampa, Florida, and at New York City’s Stuyvesant High School, under the guidance of Annie Thoms, nudged me farther along the learning curve. It’s been a thrill to watch the actors add inflections and gestures that weren’t on the page. Gratitude and bouquets to all three casts, several of whose inventive touches I’ve incorporated into the text.
    My thanks go as well to Walter Mayes, Ron McCutchan, and Dan Gotch for the gift of their time and advice. And, as ever, a special ovation for my incomparably insightful and dedicated editor, Marc Aronson.
     
    Zap
was given its first public performance November 1, 2002, at Pacific Grove High School in Pacific Grove, California, with the following cast:
    EMMALINE GRAY
    Lauren Reppy
    BEETON
    Natalie Melendez
    COLONEL HARDWICKE
    Chris Deacon
    MRS. MARJORIE HARDWICKE
    Guin Rojek
    REVEREND SMYTHE
    Jessica Glen
    LADY VANESSA DENSLOW
    Catlin Seavey
    INSPECTOR SWIFT; BUCKINGHAM
    Tim Cool
    CLIFFORD GRAY
    Elliot Rubin
    IRV WEINSTEIN
    Tyler Shilstone
    SAMMY
    Matt Cool
    AUDREY MCPHERSON
    Jane Franklin
    RICHARD III
    Ryan Kendall
    LADY ANNE; PRINCE EDWARD
    Gwyneth Alldis
    NORFOLK; KONSTANTIN
    Michael Brusuelas
    NIKOLAI VOLNIKOV
    Nick Stiles
    IRINA
    Megan Alldis
    PAVEL
    Sean Muhl
    OLGA
    Paige Dwyer
    MARSHA
    Michelle Maddox
    MAN
    Khalid Hussein
    WOMAN
    Ashley Brewer
    BELLBOY
    Whitney VanZwol
    AARON PUCKETT
    Kenny Neely
    REGINALD
    Will Cryer
    CAROLINE
    Heather Seavey
    LUKE
    Ben Middlebrook
    GRANDMAMMY
    Sarah Booth-Olvera
    DIRECTOR
    Kelly Cool
    SOUND
    Dana Fleischman
    LIGHTING DESIGN
    Mark Stotzer
    LIGHTING
    Scott Rudoni
    SPOTLIGHT
    Patrick Cool
    SET ARTIST
    Margie Anderson
    STAGE CREW
    Katie Miller, Whitney VanZwol

THE HOUSE MANAGER
    The English Mystery
    EMMALINE GRAY
    CLIFFORD GRAY, her husband
    BEETON, their butler
    COLONEL HARDWICKE
    MRS. MARJORIE HARDWICKE, his wife
    REVEREND SMYTHE
    LADY VANESSA DENSLOW
    INSPECTOR SWIFT
    The Comedy
    IRV WEINSTEIN
    SAMMY
    AUDREY MCPHERSON
    Shakespeare’s Richard III
    Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III
    LADY ANNE, later married to Richard
    Duke of BUCKINGHAM
    Duke of NORFOLK
    PRINCE EDWARD, Richard’s nephew
    The Russian Play
    NIKOLAI VOLNIKOV
    IRINA, his wife
    KONSTANTIN, his great-grandfather
    PAVEL, his cousin
    OLGA, his aunt
    The Performance Art Monologue
    MARSHA
    The Avant-Garde Play
    MAN
    WOMAN
    The Southern Play
    AARON PUCKETT
    REGINALD, his father
    CAROLINE, his half sister
    LUKE, his stepbrother
    GRANDMAMMY

A single set is used throughout. Actors are in period costume. When switching from one play to another, a loud electronic sound is heard, followed by a brief blackout, during which the actors quickly enter and exit. The speed of these cast changes is