Spooky Play for Halloween: Free Space, a dark comedy/absurdist thriller by Tara Meddaugh

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Even during a pandemic, Summer flies by. And in New York State, something seems to have happened in the last week as temperatures left the high 80s, brown leaves are on the ground, homegrown apples are everywhere, and there is more talk about…Halloween. And that means theater for Halloween. Which means, you can pull out those dark comedies, thrillers, weird, spooky, creepy pieces that might be engaging any time of year, but hold a special kind of place as we gear up toward October 31.

I have several spooky plays and monologues that fit this bill, but a great full-length play for this darker time of year is my absurdist thriller, Free Space. This is a play where a mother pretends she’s her daughter for a terrifying reason. A young woman tries to escape her trapped existence where loneliness and aspirations ache in her bones. It’s a story of a dominating bingo chip (yes, I said “bingo chip”) who becomes increasingly demanding—and jealous. It’s always cold, usually tense, oftentimes eerie. Desperation and stakes are high. Cruelty abounds. And yet—

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Ferret Envy on Unknown Playwrights Monologue Monday

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Okay, so I was beyond elated when I first read Ionesco’s La Cantatrice Chauve (the Bald Soprano) in 9th grade French Class, as it confirmed a name for the style of theater my teenage self had already been unknowingly writing in: Theater of the Absurd. It was weird, it was dark, it was funny. I loved the feeling of laughing then cringing, cringing then laughing, laughing while cringing. After I read through Ionesco at my school library, my teacher suggested I try Albee, and these two writers (perhaps along with the tv show, Northern Exposure) were important influences in my writing.

So huge thanks to Bryan for this nice write-up on his blog, Unknown Playwrights, about my monologue, Ferret Envy, including A through Z video performances of the monologue.

”Sometimes you see Ionesco‘s name thrown around with Theatre of the Absurd. Same deal with Albee. Nah, Meddaugh is where it’s at. Picture this: You are SO jealous of your friend’s ferret that you (probably) killed said ferret because…you want to be your friend’s ferret!!!! This is a fun, funny goofed-up piece of theatrical brilliance.”

Bryan, I am blushing that you can put me in a category with these writerly gentlemen. Thanks for the shout-out, and you can check out prolific playwright Bryan Stubbles’ work here.