WIP Update: Foremothers Morphing

The play is changing its mind about what it wants to be.  Again.  I am reminded by a friend, who has talked me off the proverbial wall more than once, that this is par for the course.  Still, I sort of wish my current project would settle into it's final form.  I have set an October 18 deadline for completing a first draft.  That date rapidly approaches and I am starting to get the shakes.  Yes, I know, it's a self-imposed deadline, but I have learned that ignoring a deadline -- any deadline -- leads to complete inertia and creative chaos. 

Ironically, the play seems to be taking me back where I started with the idea back in 1994.  Yes, that's right -- 1994.  Some projects take a while to push their way to the front of the writer's assembly line. 

Following is a very brief sample of the work in progress. 
______________________________________________________________________

Hagar:  Abraham was your husband!  He loved you. He chose you and he chose your son over mine.

Sarah:  Did he?

Hagar:  You know he did.

Sarah:  He never laid Ishmael upon an alter and raised a blade above him.  (The word, God, should be said with some contempt.) That was my son he would have slain because his God commanded it, not yours!  It was never yours he wanted to destroy. How can I possibly know that he loved my son or myself?

(There are a few beats of silence while Sarah’s words are absorbed.)

Keturah:  Well, I know.  I was there after you were gone, Sarah.  I watched Abraham grieve. He was my husband then, but it was you for whom he wept.  I was with him in Hebron when he laid you to rest. He loved you and he loved your son. (Ket turns to face Hagar)  He loved you, too, Sister. Sarah was not wrong about that, though I don’t believe he ever meant to choose you over his wife.

Hagar:  Of course not.  I was his slave.

Keturah:  (sadly) You were.

(Sarah starts to chuckle.  The other women look at her.  The chuckle gradually turns into a laugh.  The other women stare at her.)

Sarah: (laughing) What?    

Hagar:  What on Earth amuses you so?

Sarah:  (still laughing) Abraham!  Us! We all danced around him like sunbirds begging nectar from a lily. But was he worthy? Was he really all that?

This work is © Stephanie Mesler 2018.