1 performer · 20 minutes
Lifeboat Six
Margaret Brown, without the legend
Synopsis
At a fundraiser after the Titanic disaster, Margaret Tobin Brown tells the story of Lifeboat Six without the legend that later swallowed her. Fear, class, cold, and the practical communal work of surviving, redirecting the audience’s appetite for heroism toward material support.
At a glance
What a producer needs firstCast
1 performer
Running time
20 minutes
Genre
Solo monologue
Technical demand
Minimal
Availability
Script on requestLicensed through Upstage Left Press
Characters
1 performer to cast
Margaret Tobin Brown, 40s to 50s
Direct, unsentimental, practical, and very much alive to the difference between legend and labour.
Staging and technical requirementsMinimal
Minimal. A grand room with an ornate lectern, a small table, a crystal pitcher, a water glass, and period evening dress: hat, fur, gloves and pearls, gradually removed.
What you will need
- A company of 1 performer
- A slot of 20 minutes
- Technical capacity described as minimal
- A performance licence, granted separately from the script
Themes
What it is really aboutI write plays to entertain in the truest sense of the word: to give serious attention to people, questions, and histories that are too often pushed aside.Jeanmarie Simpson, artist statement
In the classroom
Twenty minutes, one performer, one lectern. The most immediately usable piece in the repertoire for a competition, an audition, a class showing, or a fundraising event.
From the archive
Select any photograph to enlarge
Performance rights
Stage it
Rights are available for universities, schools, community theatres, festivals, workshops, staged readings, and independent productions.
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