““Ah, wine is good, and confidence is good; but can wine or confidence percolate down through all the stony strata of hard considerations, and drop warmly, ruddily into the cold cave of truth? Truth will not be comforted.  Led by dear charity, lured by sweet hope, fond fancy essays this feat; but in vain; mere dreams and ideals, they explode in your hand, leaving naught by the scorching behind!”
   — Herman Melville, The Confidence-Man

The Play:

Synopsis:

Stephen teaches Jesse the finer points of confidence and picking up women at bars.

Characters:

Two characters; 2 men.

Vitals:

 Approxomately 10 min. run time. 

Writer’s Notes:

Commissioned in 2009 by Mind the Gap Productions. 

Productions:

2010 Mind the Gap Productions: Directed by Paul Kastner

“The Birthday of the Unconquered Sun,” by Shawn Pfautsch, is my favorite. Like the Ghost of Christmas Past, it reels you back to high school, where an earnest history professor encourages his students to bring Ancient Rome to life. The results? Hilarity.”   — Centerstage Chicago

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“… this funny, provacative piece about a robot experiencing existential angst explores scientific progress in terms of ego, memory, emotion, and family relationships… An entertaining, intriguing 20 minutes…”
                                                                                            — Chicago Reader

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 ”The world is awash with beautiful things
so graciously out of your reach…”
                       — The Portraitist  Read the rest of this entry »