The Girl in the Lavender Glasses
In my latest book, The Jagged Edge Anthology, I’ve included a three-act play called The Girl in the Lavender Glasses. To be honest, my ideas for the play have no outside source and it came from my own creative imagination. It took a long time to write because it is difficult to create authentic dialogue that is driven by an interesting plot. The play is meant for teenagers and adults and has no sex and little violence associated with it. Here is a basic summary of the play that was published by Off the Wall Plays. Off the Wall Plays also shares a number of pages of the first act of the play to preview, in case you would like to buy an online copy. This summary leaves out the ending, so I don’t spoil it for those who may want to read the play.
Summary:
Marion Birch, the main character, in the play has a very serious eye disorder that makes her so sensitive to any kind of light that it could kill her. Because of this danger, the Birch family lives in a specially modified shaded house, and Marion can’t go outside or go to school. The family has just moved into the neighborhood.
However, the family doctor contacts an inventor who has created a pair of lavender glasses that allows Marion to go outside and attend school. She must wear them at all times and they cover half of her face. She has not been in school before so she is shy and some of the kids ridicule her calling her “goggle girl” and “the teacher’s purple pet.”
But Marion does meet Sam who becomes her only friend. Eventually she trusts Sam and tells him an extraordinary secret about herself that no one else knows, not even her parents. Marion has discovered she can “hear” the conversations of others long after they’ve left their location. All she needs to do is sit or stand where the people have been. Sam tests Marion’s claim, and he realizes she is telling the truth.
However, Marion’s family is faced with discrimination and mistrust. Neighbors worry out loud whether Marion’s disability is contagious and are concerned the school district might have paid for the expensive lavender glasses. Because of this, the family is isolated and unhappy.
But then a situation develops that changes everything. When two children go missing from the local playground, the police are sure the children have been kidnapped. They search the playground for clues, but Marion has a plan. She gets the police to follow Sam because they believe he knows an important clue about the case. While Sam is performing his ruse, Marion sits on the swings and “hears” about the children’s plan to explore an old abandoned house by the river.
I’ve included a brief discussion the play that is also on the website of Off the WallPlays:
“Like any other little girl, Marion wanted to go to school, play with her friends and be a kid. For ten months these little things that sometimes go unappreciated, became completely off-limits to Marion when she was hospitalized due to a rare eye condition. Dr Williams had the child’s eyes bandaged completely for her time in the hospital and she had no existence beyond the doors of her hospital bed in this children’s play about being different.
One day, Marion’s parents and Marion herself were presented with a donation of night eye glasses to help her see in her everyday life. She would get back to her normal routine before the hospitalization. Marion’s story then began again and ended where her new world took shape and in three acts, this drama shows that the ones amongst us who are scorned for being different, are magic.”
I hope you get a chance to read the play. It has several twist endings and is, I think pretty exciting. Off the Wall Plays has reproduced much of the first part of the play for free and it gives a good idea of the play’s plot and dialog. The entire play is also in my new book, The Jagged Edge Anthology. Thanks for your support and see you next week.
(Please remember these are my own ideas, and I’m not attempting to persuade anyone to change theirs.)
Quotes:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." — Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I am different. Not less." Dr. Temple Grandin
"See the able, not the label." Unknown
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photos by: shaylyn-rB4xEVG117U-unsplash; offthewallplays.com
