Origin
Sign In My Cart
Search
alphabetical author index
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Real Queen of Hearts Ain't Even Pretty, The

  • Brad Bailey
  • Full Length Play, Comedy, 1970s
  • 4F
  • ISBN: 9780573662072

Bailey's dialogue is clever, amusing and on the mark, surprisingly tuned to the femininity of his characters. The play is a winner.

Drama Logue

Funny and poignant.

Los Angeles Reader

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Comedy

  • Time Period: 1970s
  • Set Requirements: Interior Set

  • Performance Group:
  • College Theatre / Student, High School/Secondary
We are backstage in the girl's locker room, at the annual Queen of Hearts Beauty Pageant at a high school in a small town in Alabama in 1976 with two girls who are competing in the pageant, and two who aren't, for reasons which supply a lot of the humor, and a lot of the drama, in this much produced and much acclaimed new play. 

Feathers fly when the "new girl," Sherri Lee, wins. She is very popular with the boys, which makes her very unpopular with the girls. There are intimations of Vanities here, as well as Crimes of the Heart. There are four simply superb roles for young actresses, laden with excellent monologue material; in short, this is a perfect show for colleges and the more adventuresome high schools.
REVIEWS:

Bailey's dialogue is clever, amusing and on the mark, surprisingly tuned to the femininity of his characters. The play is a winner.

Drama Logue

Funny and poignant.

Los Angeles Reader

Deftly mixes comedy and drama.

Variety
Premiere Production:

The Real Queen of Hearts Ain't Even Pretty had its world premiere at The University of Alabama's Allen Bales Theatre on December 1, 1982.
The first professional production of the play opened in Los Angeles at The Actors Playhouse on October 13, 1983.

Characters

  • Casting: 4F

  • LIZ NICHOLS - Eighteen years old, Liz is bright, funny, attractive enough to have been First Alternate in the Queen of Hearts Pageant the year before. Very ambitious, Liz can best be described as a leader, a mover and shaper. Along with these qualities of leadership comes the ability to manipulate others to her advantage. These machinations are nothing major, just harmless, high school games. She is head cheerleader at WCHS and very popular with her classmates, but Liz doesn't find this very substantial. Of the four girls, she is definitely the most future-oriented.

  • CASS WILSON - Eighteen years old, Cass is an incurable follower. Average intelligence and average looks, but she wants the beauty, the glamour that she knows is out of reach but attainable through others. Liz is everything that Cass wants to be. Cass is firmly rooted in the present, very wrapped up in school activities. The uncertainty of the future frightens her. In order to avoid peer harassment, Cass is always ready to ridicule the nearest scapegoat, anyone she feels is inferior to herself.

  • SHERRI LEE SPEER - Eighteen years old, Sherri Lee moved to Double Springs the previous summer and began her senior year at WCHS. She is a "classic beauty" and would almost have to be tall and blonde. She has no friends -- the girls resent her and the boys are intimidated by her. Though she seems a caricatured "bitch-goddess" initially, we soon see there is much more underneath that exterior. Unlike Liz, though, her manipulatory tactics are highly honed and practiced. There is a reason for everything she does.

  • PAULA BURGESS - Eighteen years old, Paula is neither popular nor unpopular. At WCHS, she has always been "on the fringe," taken for granted, or worse, ignored. There is a touch of the innocent babe in her make-up, ultimately appealing in its way. For all her funny stories and "out of the blue" proclamations, there is something disturbing about Paula. She doesn't know it yet, but she is one of the defeated.

    • Available Material

    Name Price
    Real Queen of Hearts Ain't Even Pretty, The Script Order Now

    We are backstage in the girl's locker room, at the annual Queen of Hearts Beauty Pageant at a high school in a small town in Alabama in 1976 with two girls who are competing in the pageant, and two who aren't, for reasons which supply a lot of the humor, and a lot of the drama, in this much produced and much acclaimed new play. Feathers fly when the 'new girl,' Sherri Lee, wins. She is very popular with the boys, which makes her very unpopular with the girls. There are intimations of Vanities here, as well as Crimes of the Heart. There are four simply superb roles for young actresses, laden with excellent monologue material; in short, this is a perfect show for colleges and the more adventuresome high schools.

    		$24.95

    Related Works