Is love of a duck enough to get someone committed? As we hear the clock strike eleven, we learn that 78-year-old Eleanor, a feisty and irreverent retired businesswoman, has until noon to come up with evidence that will keep her daughters from moving her into a memory care unit. In flights of memory that may or may not indicate senility, Eleanor builds her case, reliving her attempts to prove her husband wrong when he claimed she “has never loved anyone or anything and never will.” But when she chooses to love a duck, it’s not as easy as she had thought. And when a sudden oil pipeline leak threatens her beloved and the entire lake habitat, the equations she had worked out for proofs are washed away. She is left to defend herself in a world where love seems impossible and her actions make us ask what sanity really means.
Characters: One woman
Run time: Approx. 40 minutes
For more information, contact Christine Kallman. DOWNLOAD EXCERPT OF PLAY.
DUCK was presented in three readings by Renaissance Theaterworks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in November of 2016 and April 2017. The part of Eleanor was read by Flora Coker. Directed by Marie Kohler.
An earlier, longer version of DUCK was given a reading on March 8, 2015 at the Northfield Arts Guild Theater, Northfield, Minnesota. The reading was sponsored by the Northfield Arts Guild and the Cannon River Watershed Partnership. This activity was made possible by the generosity of the McKnight Foundation through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council.
Photo by Cephas (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.