The Plays of Steve Duprey
Forgive Me, Redeem Me
A collection of six short plays all centered on the theme of Forgiveness and Redemption. Can a daughter forgive her father for his infidelity? Can a son forgive his newly discovered father for abandoning him fourteen years ago? Can a young boy turned older man forgive the priest who abused him? Are any of these people redeemable?
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A word about this play
This is the first play I wrote. It's tough. There's a thing called "Passover Acting". I use the concept with my actors all the time. The basic premise is "Why is today different from every other day". That's the first question asked at the Seder Supper. It's meant to make the actor see the uniqueness of the moment that they are playing.
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The same concept can be used in playwrighting. The playwright has to ask himself why the audience would be interested in watching this moment in the first place. What makes it's important and pivotal in the lives of these characters? How is it different?
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Forgive Me, Redeem Me is all about those pivotal moments of realization. It's meant to make the audience think about those moments in their lives which are similar and sometimes painful. The play is not for the feint of heart and definitely has a PG-13 rating.
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The Plays
A Simple Redemption​
This play, written in two parts, opens the first and second acts. It's a discussion between and older person and younger person about the fact that one cannot seem to forgive the other over some indiscretion or offense. The roles reverse in the second part.
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Breaking Up
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17 year old Emily confronts her father when she discovers that he has been cheating on her mother for years.
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Making Amends
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Three monologues that deal with the idea of making amends in the long term and the short. A hit-and-run accident decades earlier still haunts one character. The indiscretion of a fling at a work conference haunts another. The third deals with a young man's loss of faith and his failure to reveal it to his dying mother. This play is about missed opportunities.
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Fourteen Years
Dueling "takes" on the "23 and me" culture, this play looks at two first-time meetings. One between and mother and daughter, the other between a father and a son. Both children were abandoned fourteen years earlier. As the play unfolds, we watch how each parent and each child handles the situation. Spoiler: one pair does vastly better than the other!
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Reparations
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What happens when a rapist and his victim bump into each other fourteen years later? Both are in therapy, both are trying to heal. Can we see any humanity in the rapist? This play explores that question.
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Raped By God
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In this Greek chorus style piece we see the whole cast voice the pain and horror that is child abuse by the clergy. Is there any redemption for the people?
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Epilogue
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The play ends with a challenge to look inward and a charge to open our eyes to the injustice and pain in our world, in our communities and in our own lives.
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