What happens when a character only referenced in a script “comes to life” and barges in on a rehearsal, demanding to make the play all about her? Enthusiastic director/writer Jessica is about to begin rehearsal when Lorrie shows up and imposes her will with a new draft of the script in hand, throwing everything into chaos. Find out how Jessica and her actors cope with Lorrie’s demands in a comedy about the fine line between reality and fantasy

Lorrie, an offstage character, is responsible for a couple’s breakup, Mark and Heather, in a play called The Understudy.  Although Lorrie never appears on stage in scene one of The Understudy, the real-life Lorrie shows up unannounced in scene two at a rehearsal studio and demands that Jessica, the writer/director of the play in scene one, create her part in a subsequent production. When Lorrie gets a phone call that Glengarry Glen Ross is being revived on Broadway, she announces that she will attend the audition and demand that David Mamet create a female character in his all-male play, and she will play the female role.

When Kate, who plays Heather, and Jeremy, who plays Mark, show up for a rehearsal of The Understudy, they find Jessica befuddled by Lorrie’s appearance. Jessica accuses Jeremy of having an affair with Lorrie that Jeremy vehemently denies since it was Mark, the character, not he, the real-life person, who was involved with Lorrie. Unable to convince David Mamet of the need for the addition of a female character in his play, Lorrie returns to the rehearsal studio. She sees Mark/Jeremy and attempts to resume her relationship with him. Kate/Heather is angry because she thought that she and Jeremy were forming a relationship. Enter Tommy Z, Lorrie’s former husband, who wants her back but not before dispensing with Mark/Jeremy for destroying their marriage. Lorrie would prefer to return to Tommy Z but not at the cost of abandoning her potential career as an artist. How It’s All About Lorrie proceeds and ends is unraveled by Jessica, the director, and the characters who try to determine what is real and what is not.

A staged reading of the play was done in New York City under the direction of a play group known as Broad Views on Broadway. It was also produced as a non-AEA production at the New York Theatre Festival (formerly the Thespis festival), winning Best Play out of 70 plus plays, and ultimately produced at the American Theatre of Actors. Below is a you tube link for a video of the show that was later produced by Broadway United.

January 2017