Selected play from the Eduational Theatre Association's 2010 Thespian Playworks program. Published in the collection
Thespian Playworks 2011.
Clipped tells the story of Elise, a woman aging too quickly and forgetting too slowly. She buys a parrot, thinking it the reincarnation of her flyaway father. While at first he is hilariously foul-mouthed and stubborn, her persistence works wonders. Soon, Petey the parrot becomes Glen, Elise's dad. The sudden transformation allows Elise to have the conversation and the closure she had been seeking. They, for the first time ever, get to discuss why he left Elise and her mother and what his new life was like in faraway Argentina. Elise realizes that it's not the man that she missed, but rather the idea of him. She finds strength and the license to let him go forever, allowing his memory to slip away and Glen to become Petey once again.
Clipped is a touching story of past, family, and what it means to forgive.