Glassheart
A fairy tale ending
Images from Rorscharch Theatre (credit: Colin Hovde)
Images from the Know Theatre (credit: Mikki Schaffner)
Beauty never showed up. After centuries under the curse, the Beast and his remaining magical servant (a hopelessly optimistic lamp) move into a shabby Chicago apartment, hoping for a lower cost of living and better luck with girls. In the threatening, impossible, completely ordinary world of paying rent and taking public transportation, is a happy ending even possible? A romantic tragicomedy about facing the witch in your head, and finding the wish in your heart.
“…an offbeat, mature riff on the classic “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tale… Reina Hardy’s updating of the fairy tale is a charming and thought-provoking success.” –DC Theatre Scene
“Reina Hardy’s eerie, melancholy Glassheart sets itself apart … more than just a love story… seductive and dangerous.” –the Washingtonian
“Hardy has a flair for off-key insights… funky, poetic… the romantic “Glassheart” certainly has music in its voice.” –the Washingon Post
“Reina Hardy… has created a text featuring a beautiful matrimony between contemporary dialect and snippets of heightened language. The play drips with heart and ingenuity without being overly sappy or sentimental. Hardy has a gift for telling a story through a feminist and current lens minus beating social commentary over the head.” –Theatre Pizzaz
“Fans of speculative fiction will appreciate the simple question at the core of Glassheart,.. Hardy’s take on the fairy tale is intriguing and seems to relish in its own magic.”- Austin Chronicle
“Hardy retells the familiar tale with a feminist slant: it’s the desire of the women that drives the story… Glassheart is a study of opposites, tracing the fine line between the ordinary and extraordinary… the language is lyrical and conversational. The Beast waxes poetic about despair one minute, while Only describes an infomercial the next.” –Theater is Easy
“Hardy’s moving, clever writing is a delight… The dialogue moves fast and includes some brilliant one-liners—allowing the women in this story to own both the comic relief and the cathartic struggles behind it. … you’ll feel the emotions and existential questions raised by the play for days afterward. What’s in a name? What makes a life? What makes us human?” –MD Theatre Guide
CAST
Only: Female, intermediate age, spry. A lamp.
The Beast: Male, intermediate age. A beast, you know?
The Witch: Female, older, smooth motherly air.
Aiofe: Female, mid-twenties.
SETTING
A low-rent apartment on the north side of Chicago. Nowhere else.
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