Drama. 8-12 minutes. 2 females, 1 optional any gender (2-3 performers possible). Suitable for middle school and older.
Three Padded Walls premiered at EF International Academy (Thornwood, NY) in November 2015. It was subsequently produced at Blue Pearl Theatrics at The Bridge Theater (New York, NY) in February 2016.
The doctors want to lock Jenny away forever but her mother knows she can break the cycle. She only needs one more chance to get through to that fractured mind. But Jenny's a mess, babbling about missing walls and invisible watchers. Is she crazy? Or is she the only one who really knows what's going on?
"Hillary DePiano's latest work, Three Padded Walls, is full of twist and turns, literally! It is a play within a play—or is it? The audience is watching—or are they? The staging of this show brings up new challenges as the lead actor's face is not "seen" by the audience until much later in the script, for a very specific reason that we only find out at the end. For those that love a mystery with a bit of "play on words", this is the show for you! We did the show with simple staging, focused spots, and sound effects—works like magic! It is a show you will want to see again—just so that you can look for the "clues" as it goes along." - Ginny Borton, Educator, EF Academy, Thornwood, NY
"With the play Three Padded Walls, Hillary DePiano gave myself and the actors an exciting challenge to think outside the box to develop characters in a power play over who had the truest grip on reality: the mother who sees her daughter slipping further and further into a world she cannot see herself, the daughter who is convinced she is sane and everyone else is crazy, and the doctor who is all too familiar with this scenario, and can see the path down which both mother and daughter are headed." - Eric Leeb, Blue Pearl Theatrics
"It was exciting to work with a script I had never seen before from a talented playwright in a town so close to me. Three Padded Walls made the actors and audience alike think about what it means to break the fourth wall in a non-comedic sense." - Sarah Decker, Dover Little Theatre
"I really liked working with the script. I found Hillary DePiano's words to be clear, specific, and deliberate, which made directing the piece a joy." - Michael Jay, Dover Little Theatre