2008-09 Thespian Show

Trudy's Two Faces or Take A Schizophrenic to Lunch 

Pictures Below - scroll down

Trudy has only been asked out once in the last year—and that was to a funeral. Now she's trying to ask boys to go to the Sadie Hawkins' dance with her and she's getting so many sob stories "she feels like a suicide hot line." Grace, her mother, won't listen because she's too busy watching her favorite soap opera, Community Trauma. Trudy's father won't listen to her because he's too busy complaining about her mother.

Trudy finally comes to the realization that if she is going to get dates, she is going to have to change—radically. She decides the "girl next door type" is out. But how should she act? Why not act like the infamouse Sonia of Community Trauma? wIth the help of her alter ego, Trudy tries her new approach on an unsuspecting male and it works. Then something goes wrong. What started out as a ploy turns into a new Trudy, a man killer with all the subtle sweetness of a black widow spider.   

 Cast List

Trudy James                              Melissa L

Trudy 2                                      Ruth K

Grace James                              Mary B

Edward James                           Jake M

Janie                                          Molly W

Adam Taylor                               Rob B

Adam 2 & Male TV Voices           Jayme S

Dr. Philbrook                              Rachel J

Sonia                                         Missy L

My conversation with the author, Bill Gleason: 

Several cast members had questions about the script and why the play was written. I kept thinking about it and wondered why a playwrite would write about teenage angst and wanted to ask him.  So I called him.  It took some minor investigative work to find his phone number but, once I did, I called and asked "Is Bill Gleason the playwrite home?"  He came to the phone and I asked if he would mind taking my call about his play "Trudy's Two Faces" and in his Southern drawl had some wonderful things to share with me.

First, let me say DON'T YOU ALL GO CALLING HIM!  This would make a bad impression - give me a note and I will send it to him with the recording of the show.  A very busy man, Mr. Gleason is now a prominent attorney but said that he gets 2 or 3 calls or letters each month regarding one of his plays.  He enjoys knowing that people like us are still enjoying the things he wrote and doesn't mind talking about it once in a while. 

I asked him why he chose to write about a teenage girl having trouble getting a date.  He told me an interesting story about it.  Bill Gleason was in college and had written several one-act plays for his friend, Chris Sergel (president of Dramatic Publishing Co. at the time) and Chris asked him to write a full-length show but Bill didn't know what to write about.  The idea for the script was actually Chris's!  Bill told me he had fun writing it at the time, but doesn't remember much about it now, "after all, it was over 30 years ago and it was my first full-length play."  I told him we were cutting it down a bit and he gave us his blessing - he even sent me an e-mail that said "Change what you need to get the job done...break a leg." 

 Trudy and her alter ego create a disaster in the living room!

Trudy & Adam's first date!

Who will Trudy listen to?  Janie, her best friend, or her alter ego?

Or will she listen to the shrink?

Or will she listen to Sonia?