“Ashes to Ashes”

Hruby, Norbert J. (American playwright, retired second president of Aquinas College, 1918-____), “Ashes to Ashes ,”

a 10-minute peace play (tragedy) in English, set in a living room of suburban American home, the present (because it is!),

2m1f

; © 2005 by Norbert J. Hruby; • in Norbert J. Hruby’s Ashes to Ashes (Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A.: The Author, 2005); • script/rights available from Norbert J. Hruby, 245 Briarwood SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506, U.S.A., telephone (home) 616-459-1149, e-mail nordolor@iserv.net. • Cited by Norbert J. Hruby, via ftp, November 9, 2005 says,

§ Dramatis Personae Joshua Hitchcock (m), middle-aged, businessman; Lieutenant John Williams (m), young, Army officer; Margery Hitchcock (f), middle-aged, Joshua’s wife.

§ Synopsis “Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock receive a letter from their son, an American soldier serving Iraq, in which he tells them that he has traded his impending leave time with another soldier who wants to use his leave-time to meet his newborn son. The Hitchcock marriage is already fragile. The doorbell rings. It is a young Army lieutenant, serving voluntarily as the Casualty Assistance Officer, who has come to report that David Hitchcock, their son, has been killed in action. He delivers David's ashes (in a cardboard box) to Mrs. Hitchcock, who tells her husband, a superpatriot, that he may keep the empty urn, when it comes, and give it a proper military funeral, complete with flag and the blowing of Taps. She leaves her husband, quoting the words of the burial service: ‘Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.’

§ Comment “The action is continuous in real time—with no change of place or time. • Having just been written, this 10-minute play was inspired by recent newspaper accounts of American casualties in Iraq and their impact on the home front."

§ Themes antiwar, death, funeral, Iraq, letter, parental loss, patriotism, peace, swap, war.



See also Norbert J. Hruby's

• "Fungo," a 13-minute comedy in English, set in the office of The Stylus literary magazine, on two Mondays, two months apart, 2m1f
• "Hegemony," a 10-minute bare-stage satirical comedy in English, five years from now, 2m1f
• "Home for the Holidays," a 10-minute comedy in English, set in a suburban home, U.S.A., May, 2004, 1m3f
• "The Jealous Mistress," a 48-minute melodrama in English, set in a small college town, 2003, 2m2f
• "Karl's Kristmas Karol," a 10-minute satire in English, set a residence in a suburb of Washington, D.C., Christmas Eve, 2004, 2m1f or 3m
• "Matching Gift," a 25-minute comedy in English, set in the office of a college president, 2003, 2m2f
• "Peggy: The Life and Times of Mrs. Benedict Arnold," a 60-minute bare-stage drama in English, set in the Arnold home, England, 1803, 1f
• "Pen Pals," a 30-minute drama in English, set in a convent/prison, 2003, 2m2f
• "A Sonnet from the Portuguese," an 11-minute satire in English, set in a residence in a university town, 2003, 3f

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