Plays By Steve Carter

This collection includes two full-length plays, DAME LORRAINE and HOUSE OF SHADOWS, a long one-act, ONE LAST LOOK, and two short pieces, MIRAGE and TEA ON INAUGURATION DAY. DAME LORRAINE: Picton and Dorcas, ancient now, came to this country with an internal, eternal love that made them blind to the fact that the darker aspects of the elusive Dame Lorraine found homes in the hearts of their eight sons. Their first-born and only surviving male child comes home today after twenty-seven years in prison. Picton and Dorcas await him, thinking perhaps they should never have come here. Perhaps they never should have fallen in love. HOUSE OF SHADOWS: Two baby-faced would-be criminals decide to rob the home of two women of advanced age who live in contention with their past, their present, their future, and each other. The brats get more than they’ve bargained for, including possible great futures behind bars in Joliet. ONE LAST LOOK: At his funeral, Eustace Baylor and his two families examine the tattered cloth of their lives. They find that if you would take one last look, you should take one first look. MIRAGE: “Mirage,” so like “marriage” in its spelling and some pronunciations, is about how much more interesting mundane situations could be if people would only apply themselves. TEA ON INAUGURATION DAY: A tragicomical look at the current state of our country, with a special nod to the American habit of mispronouncing “Nuclear,” “Acapulco,” “Realtor,” and “Inauguration.” 3