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PIGmalion

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  8w, 9m

Inspired by Pygmalion,Shaw’s classic drawing-room tale of language and class division, and its musical incarnation, My Fair Lady,this play tells the story of one Eliza Doolittle – the daughter of a hardscrabble Mississippi pig farmer – who sells homemade pork rinds at the Tri-Counties Fair and Livestock Show, and dreams of someday working as a waitress at “one of those nice downtown barbecue restaurants where all the tourists go.”

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    8w, 9m
  • Duration
    Duration
    120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Romantic Comedy
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Senior, Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Details

Summary
Inspired by Pygmalion, Shaw’s classic drawing-room tale of language and class division, and its musical incarnation, My Fair Lady, this play tells the story of one Eliza Doolittle – the daughter of a hardscrabble Mississippi pig farmer – who sells homemade pork rinds at the Tri-Counties Fair and Livestock Show, and dreams of someday working as a waitress at “one of those nice downtown barbecue restaurants where all the tourists go.” With the support of her best friend, a sassy transgender firecracker named Miss Tiffany Box, patroness Ida Hill and her daughter Clara; and with Ida’s instantly-enamored son Freddy nipping romantically at Eliza’s heels, Delta-drawlin’ Eliza engages the services of a “Kudzu-league” college professor named Henry Higgins to take the country out of her speech and give her some semblance of class. Devotees of Shaw’s original will delight in the transplantation of Eliza, Professor Higgins, and his colleague Pickering to the American South. But this gentle, warm-hearted comedy gives us something else as well, a question to which everyone in the play must find the answer: how do we reconcile the way we present ourselves on the outside with who we truly are on the inside?
History
PIGmalion was commissioned by the Community Theatre League in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, as part of the author's long association with this theater. It premiered on October 17, 2008, directed by Tom Ryersbach.
FAIRGOERS – A YOUNG MAN* and YOUNG WOMAN,* AN OLDER MAN* and OLDER WOMAN*
FREDDY HILL – a young man in his twenties
CLARA HILL – a young woman in her twenties, Freddy’s sister
IDA HILL – Freddy and Clara’s mother
HENRY HIGGINS – a college professor in his late forties
CAL PICKERING – also a college professor in his late forties, and Henry’s colleague and friend
ELIZA DOOLITTLE – a pig farmer’s daughter in her twenties
TIFFANY BOX – a drag queen of indeterminate age, and Eliza’s best friend
OPAL* – Ida Hill’s maid
VICKI HILL – Ida Hill’s third child; like her siblings, also in her twenties
A RESTAURANT HOSTESS*
A WAITER*
CHAD* – a different waiter and former student of Cal Pickering
GERALD* – a bartender and pool-boy
*Double-casting possibilities

There are four roles in the play that offer doubling possibilities as noted in the script. Additionally, since several of the scenes take place in public spaces (fairgrounds, various restaurants, a bar) there are also possibilities for augmenting the cast with ensemble roles.

  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
  • Additional Features Not Applicable, Drag Performance
  • Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol

Music

  • Musical Style N/A (Not a musical)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

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Authors

Mark Dunn

Mark Dunn is a playwright, novelist and non-fiction author. A 35-year veteran of writing for the stage, Mark is the author of 15 full-length plays now available for licensing through Concord Theatricals. His most popular plays – Belles, Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain, Belle ...

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