The March People’s Choice Award goes to…

The people have spoken… The March People’s Choice Award goes to Mildred Inez Lewis for her play Louisiana Shoal, presented as a staged reading at Monday Night PlayGround on March 13th live at the Broadwater Second Stage and simulcast via Vimeo Livestream. Congratulations, Mildred!

Courtesy of Mildred, we’re pleased to share the first two pages from the award-winning script. Enjoy!

Louisiana Shoal
by
Mildred Inez Lewis

CAST (in order of appearance)

EARLENE (40s+, African American)
A sturdy, pipe smoking fisherwoman in rain gear. Her only concessions to traditional femininity
are beautifully done hair and elegant stud earrings. A light Louisiana accent.

LIVIA (20s+, open ethnicity)
A post-doctoral fellow with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She has forced the
drab disaster worker uniform, a windbreaker and khakis, into a semblance of style.

SETTING: A small lake near Paradis, LA in spitting distance of Union Carbide and Cancer Alley.

TIME: Now. Just before dawn. Fall, better known as hurricane season.

IN DARKNESS, glimmers of a flickering fire
and perhaps smoke. We hear fish roasting. A
weak DAWN lights the stage as EARLENE
stomps the ashes. Job done, she sits to enjoy
her pipe. The lake in front of her is illuminated
by the surviving fish that emit glimmering
colored light.

EARLENE finishes her pipe, grunts with
pleasure, grabs her fishing rod, wades into the
lake and casts. LICIA runs in and immediately
chokes on the smoke.

EARLENE
You all right over there?

LICIA struggles to nod.

EARLENE
Breathe shallow. Try to relax. We don’t want nothing to happen to you. Something goes
down wrong with a do-gooder, it stresses everybody out. Doesn’t change anything, but
oooo the dust flies.

LICIA
Ma’am! You’ve got to get out of there!

EARLENE
Soon as I catch my dinner.

LICIA
What?! You can’t eat that fish!

EARLENE
Why not? It’s Friday. This is Louisiana.

LICIA
They’re poisoned.

EARLENE
I took out the ones that were bad.

LICIA
(points to the embers)
The smoke?

EARLENE
I wasn’t going to leave ‘em for the deer and crows. They don’t know no better. Why
should they suffer? These in here are all right.

LICIA
It’s not safe, believe me.

EARLENE
Cancer Alley’s not safe? Now there’s some up to the minute news. You must be with the
feds.

Beat as LICIA tries to figure out her next move.

EARLENE
You got kids?

LICIA
Not yet.

EARLENE
If you had, you’d know to (sings) “Take a deep breath and count to four.” You went to
at least six with smoke starting out of your ears. (breathes) One, two, three, four. Don’t
you love you some Daniel Tiger? My grandbaby turned me on to it.

LICIA
Ma’am I appreciate … but a storm’s coming. A cat six.

EARLENE
Mmm hmm. Felt something coming on a few days ago.

LICIA
Then may I ask what you’re waiting on?

EARLENE
You mean wading on?

Join us for the season-ending Best of PlayGround-LA on April 10! For more info, click here!