FICTION SERIES

Incomparable Fanny Barnwarmer Act I Sc. 1

An historical fiction stage play in multiple scenes

A young Fanny Barnwarmer, and her famous “curtain eye” — with scads of praise and thanks going out to Jan C McLarty

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CHARACTERS:

Fanny Barnwarmer: Eighty-five-year-old woman with plenty of spark and sizzle still in her. Has been performing at the Tavern for forty-four years.
Juniper Albright: Seventy-six-year-old woman who was Fanny’s former companion from their first years at Brady City.
Reporter: Mid-thirties. Works for the New York Times; now in Brady, Texas to write a human-interest story on the famous Fanny Barnwarmer.

SETTING: Front porch of Fanny Barnwarmer’s home. Rocking chair, DOWNSTAGE RIGHT, facing kitchen chair CENTER, and front steps behind, descending to street level with a flowerbed to the side. UPSTAGE LEFT, is like a separate SET placed at an angle to the main stage with indistinct, smoky walls (conveying a sense of unreality). A very plain cot faces DOWNSTAGE, High on the wall behind the cot is a barred window. This section is always in shadow when downstage is in full light — and vice-versa.

[Remember, dear reader, take the time to understand: this is from the ACTOR’S perspective, not the audience’s. What is “left” to the actor would be…