Beauty (Sigh‪)‬

A five act play that takes place during a beauty pageant. The ensemble piece is a dreamlike experience of the events of the pageant and simultaneously the thoughts and feelings of the characters. There is a swimsuit contest, a talent competition, a ball gown sequence and a dressing room battle. Video projections of the pageant offer contrasting views to what the audience can see, adding to our understanding of what the characters are experiencing. The pageant personnel and characters are exploring their individual issues around beauty.

EXCERPTS:

I love you so much it hurts to breathe. I am electric current wild waiting for your touch so I can flow into your flesh laughing wet leaping into forever.

But what about the unspeakable joy of existence? And our unspoken pleasure in that joy.

The bottoms of your feet touch the inside of your shoes, their soles touch the linoleum, touch the concrete of dreams, to the center of the earth roiling in fire. Your heart beats swirl with the galaxy.

My childhood was house arrest peppered with gross humiliation, random psychological beatings that kept me crippled and in my place, everything orderly. Nothing kind.

I could stake everything, not for a win; but for the beautiful, I could win. I can struggle to create and sustain the beautiful. There's nothing petty about that.