Highlighted Play

Water by the Spoonful

Synopsis

Iraq War veteran, Elliot Ortiz is haunted by a ghost from the war and is left to make funeral arrangements for his adoptive mother Ginny, alongside his cousin Yaz. Elliot’s biological mother, Odessa aka “Haikumom” leads an online chatroom for recovering crack addicts around the world, including a new addition “Fountainhead”, a businessman who struggles to accept his addiction and hide it from his family. After Elliot confronts Odessa about not helping to pay for Ginny’s funeral, and for her past neglectful behavior that killed his little sister, Odessa overdoses and almost dies.

Useful Contexts

Water by the Spoonful would be a good play to read with students of high school age and older. It could be useful to discuss topics about different kinds of families, communities, and support groups with those who may be trying to find their own community to belong. It would also be helpful to lead discussions with those who may have had traumatic experiences in the past or come from difficult circumstances. What does it mean to be successful? What does it mean to recover? The use of online communication is also important, as it is a part of the way people communicate now. This could be taught in a playwriting class, about incorporating other forms of communication into writing.

Annotated Plays

Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue

Synopsis

Young Marine Elliot Ortiz returns from the Iraq War with a Purple Heart after a leg injury and remembers details about his first kill. His father Pop, a Vietnam veteran, remembers stories of falling in love with Elliot’s mother, Ginny, a military nurse, after sustaining an injury, but refuses to reminisce much with Elliot. His Grandpop remembers playing Bach’s Fugues on his flute for his fellow soldiers.

Useful Contexts

Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, would be an interesting supplement to learning about the history, politics, or ethics of war. It would be an interesting conversation starter to understand how people talk about (or don’t talk about) war. The studying of this play would also be interesting in a playwriting class. The play is poetic in nature and rarely has characters talking directly to one another. It would be interesting to use this play to study different playwriting styles and breaks in form.

The Happiest Song Plays Last

Synopsis

Iraq War veteran, Elliot Ortiz is now starring in a documentary on the war in Jordan, while the Egyptian Revolution happens two countries away, he has romantic feelings for his co-star Shar, and he attempts to return a passport to the family of the man he first killed. In Philadelphia, Elliot’s cousin, Yaz opens her doors to the needy, and becomes an activist when her romantic interest, an older musician named Agustín goes into cardiac arrest in a hospital waiting room. A year later, Elliot and Shar arrive in Philadelphia, married and pregnant, where Elliot receives the passport back, buries it once and for all in the garden, and then plays Agustín’s cuatro.

Useful Contexts

The Happiest Song Plays Last would be useful to continue learning about communities and the roles that a person can play in them. What does it mean to be a leader? What does it mean to be an activist? The play can be used to discuss issues of social inequality. Additionally, the use of technological communication can be used to continue discussions in a playwriting class about the different ways people communicate.

Web page compiled by Marc Lussier (2017)