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afterlife: a ghost story

  • Steve Yockey
  • Full Length Play, Drama, Present Day, Contemporary
  • 3M, 3F
  • ISBN: 9780573700866

A ghost story in the most literal sense, afterlife follows married couple Connor and Danielle as they prepare their beachfront home for an impending storm.

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama
  • 120 minutes

  • Time Period: Present Day, Contemporary
  • Target Audience: Adult
  • Set Requirements: Interior Set, Exterior Set, Bare Stage/Simple Set, Opportunity for Spectacle
  • Cautions: Strong Language, Intense Adult Themes

  • Performance Group:
  • Large Stage, Community Theatre, Professional Theatre, Shoestring Budget, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, College Theatre / Student
A ghost story in the most literal sense, afterlife follows married couple Connor and Danielle as they prepare their beachfront home for an impending storm. 

They do their best to come together and get the job done while packing up items stained by painful memories they don’t know how to talk about. But when the storm rolls in faster than expected and a great wave rises up to drag them under, it may be too late for the them to come to terms with their history and escape the haunting world of unsent letters, unexpected snow, unfinished sand castles, unrelenting birds, and unforgettable loss that threatens to swallow the pair forever.
REVIEWS:

…a play doesn’t have to be haunting, literally, in order to be intriguing and mysteriously compelling. Ghost or no ghost, afterlife aims to raise some goosebumps.

American Theatre Magazine

The haunting fright of afterlife comes not from a traditional sense of horror but from within… Yockey doesn’t present a specific view or theology or God here, but there is a sense of afterlife being a post-modern take on ‘The Divine Comedy’… ensure[s] some lively discussion on the way home from the theatre on the meaning of it all.” – New Orleans Times Picayune“…unnerving drama… There’s scant comfort but a lot of engrossing drama in playwright Yockey’s take on the afterlife. afterlife: a ghost story is a ride most people will enjoy

Edge Boston

Suffice it to say that if the explosive ending of the first act delivers chills of the oldfashioned, scary-movie kind, the final scenes of afterlife leave a lingering chill of a more ambiguous sort.

The Boston Globe
Premiere Production: afterlife: a ghost story was presented in workshop as a part of Southern Rep’s “New Play Bacchanal” January 21 – 24, 2010. It then opened in full production on October 23, 2010 at Southern Rep in New Orleans, LA, under Artistic Director Aimee Hayes and Managing Director Marieke Gaboury. It was directed by Aimee Hayes.

Characters

  • Casting: 3M, 3F
  • Casting Attributes: Expandable casting, Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle), Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle)
  • Casting Notes: The 'Black Bird' character is a puppet operated by the actor playing the Postman.
  • Chorus Size: No Chorus

  • DANIELLE - a woman, thirties, a wife, with a sharp wit and wounded heart, unrecovered and angry but putting up a front, holding a grudge epic in both scale and focus

  • CONNOR - a man, thirties, a husband, attractive, affable, even charming; doing his best under the circumstances, but sorely mistaken in the belief that things are getting better

  • YOUNG MAN - a young man, late teens, optimistic, hopeful and brave, fueled by half-memories & things collected along the way; his clothes are worse for wear

  • THE PROPRIETRESS - a woman, effortlessly assured, precise, very neat and put together, hospitable running her teahouse, she is the ocean and means business

  • THE SEAMSTRESS - a woman, a raw nerve, taunting, mocking, a guest long past her welcome and unwilling to leave; rage, regret & laughter while wasting away

  • BLACK BIRD - a large, articulate bird, black feathers, warm and gentle in demeanor, seemingly playful but only as a means to an end; a functionary, a messenger

  • POSTMAN - a letter carrier, someone who lives at sea, brusque but humane, in layers, a jacket & wool cap with a satchel; a functionary, a messenger

    • Available Material

    Name Price
    afterlife: a ghost story Script Order Now

    A ghost story in the most literal sense, afterlife follows married couple Connor and Danielle as they prepare their beachfront home for an impending storm. They do their best to come together and get the job done while packing up items stained by painful memories they don’t know how to talk about. But when the storm rolls in faster than expected and a great wave rises up to drag them under, it may be too late for the them to come to terms with their history and escape the haunting world of unsent letters, unexpected snow, unfinished sand castles, unrelenting birds, and unforgettable loss that threatens to swallow the pair forever.

    		$24.95

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