26 PEBBLES by Eric Ulloa
Directed by Mary Jo Foos, 419-680-5328 (text/cell)
Assistant Directed by George Sherwood, Jr.
Auditions are Sun July 23 @ 6pm & Mon July 24 @ 6pm at FCT
Synopsis: On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 26 innocent souls before taking his own life. These 26 innocent deaths, like pebbles thrown into a pond, created ripples and vibrations that were felt far beyond the initial rings. This is the story of those vibrations.
Similar in style to The Laramie Project, 26 Pebbles is a heartbreaking and riveting docudrama. Playwright Eric Ulloa conducted interviews with members of the community in Newtown and crafted them into an exploration of gun violence and a small town shaken by a horrific event.
Setting – Town Hall in Newtown, Connecticut, 6 months after Dec 14, 2012
The cast is flexible. It can be a cast of 19 or a cast of 7, with an actor playing several characters.
9 Leading Characters – 6 females, 3 males
10 Supporting Characters – 5 females, 5 males
Their approximate ages are listed below.
Leading Characters
Jenn (30) – Wife to Michael. Mother to six-year-old son., Lives in Sandy Hook
Michael (30) – Husband to Jenn. Father to six-year-old son., Lives in Sandy Hook
Carole (60) – Human Resource Director of Newtown, Bill’s wife, has a daughter Sally. Carole is tough, salt of the earth, no-nonsense, and has a tremendous love of her town and its constituents.
Fr. Weiss (55) – Monsignor of the Catholic church and Christian spiritual leader to the community. A bit worn out and weary by the responsibilities thrust into his life on December 14th.
Rabbi Shaul Praver (45) – Passional Rabbi and Jewish spiritual leader of the community.
Yolie (40) – Artistic-minded, divorced mother of one who is passionate about her community and how they can change the future of others.
Jeriann (40) – Spiritual healer who is new to the community. Opened a healing and angel reading shop with Starr
Starr (50) – Angel reader who is born and bred in the community, and a bit quirky. She opened a healing and angel reading shop with Jeriann.
Carrie (40) – Married mother of two girls. Lives in Sandy Hook.
Supporting Characters
Carla (40) – Married mother of two, retired airline pilot who lives on a farm and enjoys the simple life.
Darren (45) – Father of two boys and married to Georgia. Suffers from PTSD.
Bill (60) – Married to Carole and father to Sally. Retired blue-collar worker with a salt of the early mentality. Carole’s rock.
Joe (35) – Former art teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Chris (40) – Works in city hall and oversaw the collection of gifts after December 14. A straight-talking and no-nonsense guy.
Mike (35) – Blue-collar construction worker and contractor born and raised in Sandy Hook.
Sally (35) – Hometown girl who loves her community. Daughter of Carole and Bill.
Georgia (40) – Australian-born mother of two boys and married to Darren. Newtown is the first home she’s made in the U.S. with her family.
Kat (45) – Former factory worker now turned volunteer of incoming gifts to the town. Gravely voiced and tough on the outside but a heart of gold, hug-loving person on the inside.
Julie (40) – Married mother of two. Lives in Sandy Hook.
Sample Readings:
CARRIE: The thing was, people kept telling me, “Well, God gave you free will. He did this, it wasn’t God’s doing. It was his free will. He chose to do this.” But I guess my questions are, well, if he had a mental illness then it isn’t really free will. He can’t help it right?
Then my daughter asks me, “Is he in hell?” And we tried to explain, “Well you know, he was probably sick and he didn’t know what he was doing.” And then she would ask, “Well if he was sick then that means he wasn’t an evil person, so would God forgive him? What if he’s sorry? Does he still have to go to hell? These are questions that we as adults don’t have the answer for.
What does a parent do?
CHRIS: Facebook being the wonderful thing that it is, um, somebody decided it would be a wonderful idea to start sending to- to, uh, send teddy bears to Newtown. And I had seen it in the news and I didn’t think much of it. By Monday morning she had brought in a couple of bags, my girlfriend, ‘cause they were, they were giving teddy bears and toys and stuff across the way. She says, “If I could get more that would be great,” so we went to the church and they had a fourth-grade classroom full…to my waist! And you’re as big as I am. (Points to a member of the audience.)
It was just, it was just a full fourth grade classroom with thousands of bears in that one room alone, that was just over that first weekend. So, um, that opened my eyes a little bit as to what the scale was going to be like.
Dear Patrons and Auditioners,
26 Pebbles premiered at the Human Race Theatre in Dayton, OH in February 2017 under the direction of Igor Goldin. I had been to the Human Race Theatre in 2018 where I knew the late casting director. I spoke with several of the HRT’s production staff members. They highly recommended this play for any community theater or school. As a retired kindergarten teacher, I am passionate about the research of causes and solutions for decreasing gun violence, especially in the school setting.
Please consider auditioning.
Mary Jo