A Gulag Mouse

5 F, 1 M
Full length


CHARACTERS

Anastasia - A young war bride. Beautiful and refined. 140 Lines

Masha - Confident, intimidating, brash. 248 Lines

Svetlana - Older than the others, jaded, inured to the suffering around her. 153 Lines

Lubov - Sexy, but tawdry more than pretty - as vulnerable as she can be and still survive in these circumstances. 75 Lines

Prushka - Her nickname is "mouse", which fits perfectly. 83 Lines

Evgeny - The brutal and charming husband of Anastasia.(Double cast with Ivanov).

Ivanov - The teenage son of Anastasia. Maybe only a dream.

Guards - Russian voices. 2 Lines. These could also be pre-recorded along with the necessary sound effects. (Boots marching, etc.)


SETTING

A Siberian gulag in 1949

SYNOPSIS

A woman's arrival at a Siberian gulag destroys the intricate web of hierarchy, alliance and treachery among the other four inmates of her bunkhouse.

About A GULAG MOUSE

DRAMA - 5F, 1M - 80 MINS

Babes with Blades

A Gulag Mouse won the JOINING SWORD AND PEN competition!

From their press release:
Babes With Blades, with SAFD fight master David Woolley, announced Arthur M. Jolly as the 2009-10 winner of Joining Sword and Pen, their playwriting competition devoted to increasing the number of quality scripts featuring fighting roles for women, on April 8, 2009.
Jolly's script is a drama titled Tjurjága (pronounced Tyoor-YAH-gah, Russian slang for jail), which is set in an inmates' bunkhouse of a Siberian gulag in 1949 post-war Soviet Union.
The winning script was inspired by, and incorporates the image Film Noir by Chicago artist Kristine Borcz (pictured here). Jolly will receive a $1,000 cash prize, and a full production of the script in spring 2010.

  The title was changed to "A Gulag Mouse" during the plays development in concert with the Babes With Blades theatre, and will premiere March 29th at the Trapdoor Theatre in Chicago.

A monologue from A Gulag Mouse is available to download for free HERE.