Paul Bishop is Directing a Play

Poster Design by Kenzie Cameron

Mitch Murrant

Rachael Murphy

Mitch Murrant

Rachael Murphy

Michael MacNeil

Deion Perfect

Tristan Baxter

Breanna Penson

Tyler Andrews

Mitch Murrant

*Paul Bishop is Directing a Play* (often referred to simply as "Directs a Play") is a 2017 comedy stageplay produced by Tar City Productions in association with the Boardmore Playhouse.

The play details the failed attempts of Paul Bishop and his cast to stage a play he wrote entitled "Family Values" due to their incompetence, technical inefficiency, as well as the personal issues between cast members and their hapless, alcoholic director.

The play premiered at the Boardmore Playhouse as part of the One Act Play Festival on March 17th, 2017.

## Plot

The play begins with a cold introduction by actor Michael MacNeil explaining that the play which they are about to stage, entitled "Family Values", is incomplete. The writer and director, Paul Bishop, disappeared two weeks prior to the premiere without finishing the script. However, with the threat of a life time ban from the Boardmore Playhouse looming, the cast and crew decide to stage the unfinished play regardless.

An opening credit sequence is projected onto a screen, set to Chopin's "Nocturne" which appeared in *The Writer*. The credits are almost entirely attributed to Paul Bishop, with additional writing and acting credits appearing only for quick flashes onto the screen. The final credit reveals that Paul Bishop animated the opening sequence.

The play opens with Michael sitting at his desk with a laptop open in front of him and Frank sitting in an armchair reading on the other side of the room.

Sydney enters with a bag full of groceries and fails to initiate Michael in conversation. Frank insults and belittles every thing that Sydney says, but she ignores him. In the absence of conversation, Sydney pulls out a pack of cigarettes but fails to light one, which Michael mocks her for before interrogating her on which brand she bought which leads them to get into a heated argument about her admiration for Charles Bukowski. Before she storms away, Michael asks Sydney to hand him a beer, she opens a bottle, puts her cigarette out in it, then hands the soiled beer to Michael. Frank criticizes Michael for failing to take control of his relationship and helps himself to a new bottle of beer while Michael strains the one with the cigarette butt into a glass on the desk.

it is revealed that Frank is Michael's father as he reminiscences about his relationship with Michael's mother, though Michael reminds Frank that his mother left him. When Sydney returns, her and Frank simultaneously go onto a long winded rant, Michael becomes overwhelmed and yells for them to shut up which leads to another argument. As Sydney begins shaming Michael for his excessive drinking and work habits, the theatre doors burst open and a figure begins stumbling through the house before falling over with a loud expletive and screaming at the production crew to bring up the house lights. With the lights up, it is revealed that Paul Bishop has stumbled into the theatre with a bottle of beer in his hand. Paul descends the stairs to the front row of seats as the cast on stage watch in horror, he screams at an audience member, plops down in the front row and instructs the crew to "keep going" with a dismissive wave to the production booth over his shoulder.

The actors continue the scene, though they are all glaring down at Paul in the front row as Sydney storms off to bed and Michael rolls his wheelchair out from behind his desk to retrieve a rolling tray with marijuana hidden beneath the couch. Frank offers to roll a joint for Michael, but remarks that he thought he had taught him as a teen. Michael admits that he hasn't retained many memories of his teenage years due to his excessive drinking and reveals that he often stole liquor from his mother, Frank is surprised to discover that his wife was hiding alcohol in their home. Frank laughs at his wife's hypocrisy and explains that she wouldn't let Frank be around Michael while under the influence of marijuana, to which Michael remarks "guess that's why I didn't see you much". Michael begins coughing and suddenly appears to be heavily intoxicated, he rolls his wheelchair over to desk to grab his computer, but passes out. Frank helps himself to another beer, steals a cigarette from his sleeping son's shirt pocket and gives him a gentle slap on the face, bidding "sleep tight, turd blossom" before exiting the stage.

In the lights out between scenes, a cell phone is heard ringing in the front row and Paul answers it. He loudly gets into an argument with some acquaintances who came late to the play and are being held back by the usher outside the theatre doors. Paul screams at the usher over the phone and demands that they allow his guests to enter and offer him a greeting (referring to him as "Fritz") while taking a seat in the darkened theatre, he screams at them to sit down and shut up.

The play resumes but now the armchair Frank previously sat in is missing, Michael awakens in his wheelchair with his hand stuffed down the front of his pants and his friend, Rich, sitting on the couch next to him. Rich rolls a joint and bribes Michael with a case of beer to appear as his witness for court appearance in an undisclosed matter which could lead to his registration as a sex offender. Through their conversation, it is revealed that Michael has written a screenplay about an alcoholic clown (*Bigsby*)and a stageplay about his family all meeting in a waiting room that represents purgatory before being sentenced to damnation in Hell (*Damned*), thus the autobiographical nature of the play is made apparent. Micheal reluctantly agrees and the two depart moments before Sydney returns home with her friend, Andrea.

Sydney mixes a drink for both of them despite Andrea's observation that it's rather early in the afternoon to be drinking alcohol. Sydney smokes cigarettes and drinks in silence as Andrea prods her to explain why she has consistently taken Andrea from work on her lunch break to silently drink and smoke in her apartment for the past two weeks. Sydney laments that she's unhappy with her job, the apartment she shares with Michael, and their relationship. As Sydney begins to drunkenly rant about Michael, the stage lighting is suddenly changed to a red wash, causing Paul to turn and yell to the booth that the crew have used the wrong cue. Paul begins to get into an argument with the lighting operator, Mitch, as he answers him over the "god mic", which can be heard in speakers throughout the theatres. Paul angrily ascends to the booth where he and Mitch continue to argue, unaware that the god mic is still relaying their voices to the audience. Mitch reveals a rumor that Rachael slept with Paul in order to get the lead role in the play, causing her to explain that they only drunkenly "made out" but then, as Paul descends the stairs from the booth, she reveals that he in fact was unable to achieve an erection.

Paul and Rachael argue from across the theatre until she reveals the content of the scene in which she explains that Sydney would reject every suggestion that Andrea made because her character is a "spoiled, two-dimensional place holder" which was meant to negatively portray his real life ex-girlfriend in order to gain the sympathy of the audience in light of their recent break up to make Paul's biographical character (Michael) seem more empathetic. Rachael storms off the stage and Michael similarly storms down into the dressing rooms from backstage, Breanna lowers to voice to ask Paul what she should do and he screams at her to get off the stage before falling down the stairs to his seat in the front row.

Deion, the stage manager, enters and walks downstage to address Paul, explaining that Michael has refused to continue the play. Paul calls the cast onto the stage for a meeting, instructs the audience to take a five minute intermission, then tells Mitch to bring up the house lights before he systematically incites each of the cast members while dismissively excusing his prior two week absence. Michael returns on stage wearing a kimono and the two argue on center stage before Michael puts Paul in a headlock, the two scuffle before Michael declares his hatred for Paul and quits the play. Paul announces that he will assume the lead role as the entire cast groans and Michael takes a seat in the front row.

The play resumes with Paul now playing the role of Michael, he rolls his wheelchair into the living room with a case of beer on his lap and announces that Rich is now a registered sex offender, having presumably lost his court case. Tyler then enters performing the role of Frank, explaining that Tristan is in the bathroom. Paul blandly resumes the scene until he notices Tyler make a change to one of Frank's lines. Tyler begins openly describing the function of the scene, the tactics being implemented through the writing, and the purpose of their character's interactions thus deconstructing the entire concept of the play itself.

The stage lighting changes once more to a red wash and Tristan returns, explaining that the cast and crew have made some changes to the play in the event that Paul were to return for the premiere. Tristan, having portrayed a fictionalized version of Paul's deceased father twice now and presumably learned a lot about their troubled relationship, fully assumes an imitation of Paul's real life father to insult him for being "a little pussy", as well as a compulsive liar, before accusing him of ruining his marriage and their family and finally declaring his hatred for Paul, disowning his as his son.

The red wash fades and Rachael, now portraying Sydney, enters to resume the play. Sydney announces to Michael that she is leaving him, but Paul sits in the wheelchair with his head lowered and fails to respond. Rachael repeats herself until Paul tearfully begs her to stay, lamenting his personal issues and alcoholism before suddenly becoming enraged and accusing her of infidelity, violently rising from his wheelchair to grab Rachael and attempts to initiate sex with her. Rachael struggles free from Paul, retrieves a gun from her character's purse and points it at Paul who exclaims "you can't pull a gun out on stage, haven't you ever read Chekhov?"

Rachael fires the gun causing Paul to fall backwards and collapse on the stage, Rachael begins to sob before Paul exclaims "Ow!" and a single spotlight illuminates him on the stage. The cast all gather on stage and stand over Paul as he begs them for liquor and medical assistance, though they appear unsympathetic to the point where Mitch takes a selfie with Paul as lays bleeding on the stage.

The theatre manager, Todd, suddenly rises from the back of the house to stop the play and descends the stairs to the stage, apologizing to the audience. Todd kicks the cast of the stage and bans them from the theatre before dragging Paul to his feet, exclaiming "I've put up with this shit for four years!" and drags Paul out of the theatre by the shirt collar, as Paul desperately claws to get away and screams expletives at the audience before being thrown out of the Boardmore Playhouse.

The cast begin to argue on stage, revealing that their ultimate plan in the event of Paul's return would have been his assassination: each revealing the tactics they used in attempting to kill him before or during the play, everything from selling him laundry detergent as cocaine to replacing his liquor with rubbing alcohol and finally switching the prop gun for a real handgun in order to look like a tragic on stage accident. The argument extends into the audience as the cast of *Damned* all stand up to criticize Paul and Rachael as she insults them. Finally, the argument devolves into a full scale riot between cast members throughout the theatre as the lights go down and the play comes to an end.

## Cast

Michael MacNeil as Michael / Michael

Rachael Murphy as Sydney / Rachael

Tristan Baxter as Frank / Tristan

Tyler Andrews as Rich / Tyler

Breanna Penson as Andrea / Breanna

Deion Perfect as Deion, the stage manager

Mitch Murrant as Mitch, the lighting operator

H. Fritz Bishop as Paul Bishop

Todd Hiscock as Todd, the theatre manager

Maggie Musgrave as Amber

Daniel Farrow, Johnny Caines, and Jamie Oliver also appeared as fictionalized versions of themselves

## Production

The concept for the play was created by Fritz after staging his first written stageplay, *Damned*, as part of the 2016 One Act Play Festival at the Boardmore Playhouse.

Each of the roles in the play were originally written for cast members of *Damned*, including Tristan Baxter and Breanna Penson.

Rachael Murphy joined the cast after working with Fritz on a children's musical called "Bluenose".

After completing production on *Bigsby*, Fritz began writing an initial draft of the script with John Bury. After the play was picked up by Todd Hiscock for development and production as part of the 2017 One Act Play Festival, various cast members dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. These cast members included Daniel Farrow, Gabrielle Smith, Bryan Nash, Jamie Oliver, Johnny Caines, and Nathan MacNeil (all of whom appeared in *Bigsby*, with the exception of Gabrielle).

The role of the stage manager (originally Gabrielle Smith) was recast as Deion Perfect, who originally played an audience plant named "Amber", a role which would be filled by Maggie Musgrave. The role of the lighting operator (originally Nathan MacNeil) was recast as Mitch Murrant, who appeared as Shopsy in *Bigsby*.

Tar City held auditions to fill the roles of "Michael" (originally Daniel Farrow) and "Rich" (originally Bryan Nash) which were recast as Michael MacNeil and Tyler Andrews respectively.

The stageplay was written by Fritz, Bury, Mitch Murrant, and Rachael Murphy over a period of three months with frequent revisions being made to accommodate changes in the cast.

After the cast took a bow on the night of the premiere, Fritz returned to the stage in character to reveal a case of beer he had hidden on the set, inviting the cast members to join him before turning to the audience, yelling "So long, assholes!" and chugging his beer on stage with the cast. Shortly before the premiere, Fritz announced that he would no longer write, direct, or act in theatre after this play in order to focus on film, effectively ending his fifteen year career in theatre since he began as an actor.

The play was well received by the audience in attendance and festival adjudicator, Mary Vingoe, who described it as an "anti-play" with overt themes of "meta-theatre", though she noted that the play within the play, entitled "Family Values", was not as strong as the material set behind the scenes.

As part of the 2017 One Act Play Festival at the Boardmore Playhouse, the play won an award for "Best Ensemble Cast", the same award which was given to the cast of *Damned* in last year's festival.

Originally, the cast and crew had planed to re-stage the play with an alternate ending, referred to as the "Blacklisted Edition", at an event called "Tar City Takeover" in the Boardmore Playhouse which would also include a third screening of *Bigsby*. Due to low attendance at the second screening of *Bigsby* at the Highland Arts Theatre and being scheduled on the same night as a local fundraising event ("Destigmatize"), the event was cancelled. There are currently no plans to stage the alternate ending, but some cast members have expressed an interest in a full remount of the play.