The Visitor in the Doorway: New one-act play about Grief (literally)
This Spring, a theater company I often work with posted a call for submissions that were inspired by specific songs (skip to my new play, THE VISITOR IN THE DOORWAY). The plays selected would be showcased in a one-act festival, and after each play, the song which inspired it would be sung by a talented local musician (Anne Carpenter). I glanced at the list sent out by the Executive Director, recognizing a few songs, then went to the beginning of the list and began playing 30 seconds or so of each song to feel how it resonated. When I got to this rendition of Mavis Staples singing Hard Times Come Again No More by Stephen Foster, it kind of took my breath away. I’d heard this song before and had always loved it, but there was something majestic, inspiring, bitter-sweet, sad, but hopeful, and so powerful about this version. I knew this was the song that would inspire my new play.
I literally closed my eyes and let the song wash over me as I began to visualize... This refrain…
'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary
Hard times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door
Oh, hard times, come again no more
I loved how the lyrics have the singer speaking to Hard Times directly, as though Hard Times is a kind of entity, a Being that is lingering around her cabin door and just won’t leave. I could feel this weary, exhausted person, who had been through so much, just begging Hard Times to finally leave. Leave her alone. Leave and don’t come back.
While this song can be about many things, to me, Hard Times, this Being hovering at the of this exhausted woman, started to morph into…well…who comes during Hard Times? Grief himself.
And the character of Grief started to form…
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