O Commission Me!

You may have noticed (because I may have mentioned) that little Works-in-Progress link in the right column over there. (Update: that link is no longer active.) That’s the place where I write about the plays I’m working on or thinking about working on that I’d really like somebody to commission me to complete.

I’ve debated for quite a while whether to add the one adaption I’ve always been dying to do.  The book I’d like to adapt is in the public domain, you see, and if I tell you I want to do it, then someone else might just go ahead and beat me to it (if they haven’t already).

But what the hell. I’d also be pretty happy to SEE an adaptation on stage, as long as it was done well, so why not?

The book is Willa Cather’s O Pioneers!, and I’ve written a brief treatment to inspire you to act:

Alexandra Bergson, a tough-minded Swedish immigrant, inscribes her ideals into the rocky, unforgiving Nebraska landscape. This sprawling story depicts the strength, patience, and purpose of a singular woman as she relies on wit and guile to battle the landscape, the low expectations of her neighbors, isolation, and temptation, bringing a strong, successful farm to life where no one believed the land would ever be fertile. At times tragic, at times romantic, this epic American novel—which has been filmed and adapted into an opera—deserves to become a feminist manifesto for the American stage.

I look forward to hearing from you.