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Ladutke, Rachel Rubin (American playwright, director, 1967-____ ), “Sowing The Seeds,”

a 60-minute drama in English, set in Western Connecticut, noon, July, 1994, through noon the next day,

1m3f,

  •  © 1998 by Rachel Rubin Ladutke;  •  script/rights available from Rachel Rubin Ladutke, 30-27 41st Street, #2R, Astoria, New York 11103-3423, U.S.A., e-mail rachel@rachelwrites.com, www.rachelwrites.com, telephone (home) 718-721-6083, (work) 212-875-7785, fax 718-721-7709.  •  Cited by Rachel Rubin Ladutke, via ftp, July 7, 1998, and amended July 30, 1998; Ladutke says,

  § Dramatis Personae Grace (f), 81, widow; Catherine (f), 46, Grace’s daughter; Samantha (f), 27, Catherine’s daughter; Erik (m), 15, Catherine’s son.

  § Synopsis “It is 1994, and the family has gathered at Grace’s home for a memorial service for her late husband Joseph.  Grace’s daughter Catherine has recently been reunited with her own daughter, 27-year-old Samantha, whom she bore at age 19 and gave up for adoption. Catherine also has a teenage son, Erik, from a marriage which ended in divorce, and she is having difficulty connecting with both of her children.  Erik harbors resentment toward both his parents.  Samantha is wrestling with her mixed feelings about her birth family, and Grace tries to hold it all together.

  § Comment “‘Sowing The Seeds’ premiered at the Phil Bosakowski Theater in New York City in March, 1998. It is part of a full-length evening, entitled Grace Notes, which depicts Grace’s life over a period of fifty years and which premiered at the Gemini Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., in February, 2000, as one of the winners of the Pittsburgh New Plays Competition. Excerpts from Grace Notes appear in three anthologies published by Smith & Kraus. ‘Sowing the Seeds’ also stands on its own and offers strong performance opportunities for all four actors.”

  § Themes adoption, death, divorce, family, marriage, memorial, mother-daughter relationship, mother-son relationship, reunion, widowhood.

“Allegro,” a 40-minute drama in English, set in the kitchen of the family home in Connecticut and in an adoption agency in New York City, U.S.A., December, 1966 through June, 1967, 4f (with doubling)

“Coda,” a 10-minute drama in English, set in the kitchen of a farmhouse in Connecticut, U.S.A., June, 1978, 2f

“Coffee With Pearl,” a 12-minute drama in English, set on the streets of New York City, U.S.A., a winter afternoon, 2001, 1f

“Different Gifts ,” a 10-minute children's theatre drama in English, set in the hallway of a school, around noon on a school day, 1998, 3m or 3f or any combination

“Prelude,” a 10-minute comedy-drama in English, set in Western Connecticut, U.S.A., Sunday, July, 1946, 2f

“Rondo,” a 10-minute drama in English, set in the kitchen of a  farmhouse in Connecticut, U.S.A., an afternoon in September, 1957, 1m1f

“Wheelies,” a 10-minute drama in English, set in a studio apartment in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A., an afternoon in May, 1998, 1m1f

“The Wisest of Fools,” a 10-minute comedy in English, set in the Rabbi's study, Chelm, a town in Poland populated by fools, Eighteenth Century, 3m1f

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Page mounted July 28, 1998, and amended July 30, 1998, November 13, 1998, and March 31, August 24, 1999, January 21, February 22, 23, March 26, July 25, August 21, 2000, February 28, 2002, by the site Webmaster.