Tomorrow’s Wish
NEW: As of January 25th 2010, my play Tomorrow’s Wish is now a published play! It is available in a trade paperback edition ($10), or only $3 to download. You can order the play by going to Lulu.com or Amazon.com.
And now, back to the original blog-entry (which was written before Tomorrow’s Wish was a published play.)
I have lots of unpublished manuscripts hanging around my office. But most of them are old novels or screenplays. I am very fortunate in that most of my plays have been published by either Eldridge Plays, Heuer Plays, or Playscripts or Big Dog Plays. There are a coupl plays that I wrote during my teens that are just plain horrible — so those will never see the light of day. However, there is a play of mine that I LOVE and it has yet to be published.
That play is Tomorrow’s Wish. It’s been a labor of love of mine since 2002 when I started kicking the idea around. It is currently being looked at by Eldridge Plays and Heuer Plays. But they haven’t gotten back to my yet. (Not with this current draft, anyway.) It’s about a teen named Megan (named after my niece) who dreads the idea of her eccentric cousin Juniper coming over for a visit.
In the first drafts, Juniper was a very loving, mentally handicapped 16 year old girl. And this is perhaps where the first major problem of the play arose — Juniper kept fluctuating from childlike to emotionally distraught, to surprisingly mature and well-spoken. So, trying to write a mentally disabled teen-age girl proved to be the wrong direction. But it took me a LONG time to understand that and be able to revise the work. Now Juniper is a homeschool student who lives on a secluded ranch with her grandmother. She is very bright, but not used to being around others– so she shifts from introvert to extrovert with the snap of a finger. (Oh, and she has a very special power — but that’s top secret.)
But I finally did! I’ve recently submitted the play to a couple places. So I’m hoping that Tomorrow’s Wish will someday be published and performed by talented high school students. I’ve gottena lot of terrific feedback about one of the monologues from the play (it’s available at my About.com GuideSite).
A few brave actresses have even posted performances of the monologue on YouTube.
And here’s another…
And this one is during someone’s drama class:
December 4th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Hi Wade,
My name’s Mindy, I’m a senior at Worcester State College. For my final, I have undertaken Juniper’s monologue. I have also done something of which I NEVER do, I’ve watched others perform this. JUNIPER IS COMPLEX AND I WANT TO NAIL THIS!!!…. What a very, VERY, special girl, this Juniper is!
I have researched and Researched for this monologue; her name, the plant “Juniper”, the full spectrum of learning disabilities and where Juniper seems to fall (which, for me at least, isn’t really anywhere….she is another type of genius-to me)…. I have read and reread the full first act…… but the embodiment of this little wonder is not happening.
I was wondering, if you wouldn’t mind, could you email me a brief description of the scene that comes before Juniper’s “I kissed a boy once”? I really just want to do this character justice.
In Solidarity,
Mindy Lawlor
December 9th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Wow – very awesome topic. I am going to blog about it as well!!
December 16th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
im am a student at whitley county high in kentucky and i am doing junipers’ “i kissed a boy once” monologue and i have to do research on her and i cant find anything on her. so if you could e-mail me and help me out that yould be greatley appreciated!
thank you so much,
shanda suzanne salvge
January 4th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
i am a high school student at richard montgomery high school and i am doing junipers “i kissed a boy once” as my final monologue. I am required to conduct research on the time period and the setting of the monologue, and i also have to write a report on the style and thematic purpose of the playwright: you. is there any way you could email me some background information that will help me answer this prompt?
thank you so much,
Julie SIlverberg
January 25th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
[...] Tomorrow’s Wish: Youtube Monologues [...]
February 4th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
I am performing Junipers wonderful monologue for my A Level drama piece, I have already downloaded the whole play and read it through but i was wondering if there are any extra notes I may have on the character of Juniper, for example where exactly she lives in America and whether or not she has shy moments etc.
This will greatly help me in performing my monologue to the best of my ability and it would be lovely to know all the minor details in order to achieve full marks for my written work as well as practical.
Thank you very much,
Grace Painter
February 6th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Hi Grace,
Although Juniper’s past is gradually revealed in “Tomorrow’s Wish”, there are still many elements about her character that remain a mystery. It’s your job as an actress to develop that character yourself — but I can give you some useful questions to steer you in the right direction.
Why does Juniper believe her mother abandoned her?
How does Juniper spend a typical day on her Grandmother’s ranch?
Has her grandmother been over-protective or appropriately cautious when it comes to raising her grand-daughter?
How does Juniper feel about her special abilities?
Why is Juniper so fond of her cousin Megan? What was their relationship like when they were younger?
Hope this is helpful! Remember, even though I am the playwright, the answers to the questions are your to imagine.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Hi, I am wondering how long your play “Tomorrow’s wish” is? I am performing Junipers monolgue for my A level Drama and the play in which the monologue comes from has to be 60 minutes long in which case if your play isn’t that long then I fear I may not be able to perform it. Please could you help by telling me how long it is?
Thanks, Kate.
February 13th, 2010 at 6:49 am
It’s about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
February 26th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Hello.
I am performing Juniper’s monolouge for my A Level in Drama and was wandering if you could tell me what juniper’s disability is and what her mental age is so that I can play her to your intentions. I love the monologue and want to do well in my exam, so I would appreciate it if you would be so kind to do this for me.
Thank You in advance and good luck for the future
Aimee Vincent
June 9th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
I did the I kissed a boy once monologue as my junior final in theatre and everbody looooved it. I think we may do it next year as a our senior play
July 22nd, 2010 at 12:39 pm
is it a overdone monologue?
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:17 am
Is it an overdone monologue? Probably not — that’s my guess. On the one hand, it’s a free monologue, so there might be a lot of people that have looked it up online. On the other hand, it’s from a new, relatively obscure play that not many folks have ever heard of… (Hopefully someday, that obscurity will transform into fame — a playwright can hope, right?)