Touched By A Handbag (or Highway To Handbag)

"but he's Captain Von Trapp and you're just a nun and now you have pee on a stick and you've got no one to talk to but drunks and talking handbags and it can all be a bit much sometimes, don't you think?" Photo Courtesy of Theatre Unbound

Play Home Page Synopsis Cast & Production Needs Monologues Scenes Production History

Synopsis

TOUCHED BY A HANDBAG (or Highway to Handbag)
written with Anne Bertram

Edwina is bringing her daughter Paulina home from the psych ward when they come across a talking purple handbag by the side of the road - a handbag with which both mother and daughter have history, and issues. Talking to inanimate objects is what got Paulina committed in the first place, so a battle of wills, and realities, ensues. Lines will be drawn, show tunes will be sung, and everyone learns a lesson about life in the end.

(There is also a version of "Touched" in verse - iambic pentameter and limerick style - no, I'm serious, it's posted here, too)

ACCESSORIES
written with Anne Bertram

A trip back in time to Edwina in her twenties, newly pregnant with Paulina but trying to avoid dealing with it. Edwina and the Handbag go out to New Wave night at a dance club, circa 1980s. Their encounters with the bartender, a perky wasted girl, aging community theater actor Max, and a well-meaning but very drunk bar fly who haunts the club (all played by the same actor) all help in their own way to enable the Handbag to talk some sense into Edwina, despite what she sees as a very uncertain future.

Another companion play, "Dog Tag" - also written with Anne Bertram, is posted separately on the site in the Short Plays section. It could also potentially be played by the same three actresses, even though the roles are written for men. Give it a look.

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The full text of "Touched By A Handbag" and its related plays, including "Dog Tag," are available for purchase as part of "Theatre Unbound's 24 Hour Play Project, Selected Plays, Volume 1" (in hard copy or download form) at

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/24-hour-play-project-volume-1/4941815

All proceeds from the sale of the "24 Hour Play" books go to support the work of Theatre Unbound - www.theatreunbound.com

Part of Matthew's online script store

http://stores.lulu.com/matthewaeverett