Hannah Verdon (she/her)
Hannah Verdon is a Chicago-based playwright and educator. She was a part of the Trellis Residents at the Greenhouse Theater in Chicago; her plays have been presented at readings across the city, including Elite, which was presented at Writers Theater, and a ten-minute version of Eleanor Absolute, which was presented at Victory Gardens Theater’s College Night. Her full-length The Graces, which was also presented as a staged reading, won Northwestern’s 2014 Agnes Nixon Playwriting Competition. Other performed plays include Susie and the Mind Stealers (Dusty Theater), Super Super Bomb (Wirtz Center Ten Minute Play Festival) and Mouse (Trailblazers in TYA). She is a 2-for-2 semifinalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference. B.A. Northwestern University, summa cum laude.
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Eleanor Absolute
a play by by Hannah Verdon Excerpt for Theatre Viscera Draft 12/2019 Copyright 2019 Hannah Verdon ELEANOR
I know you’re anxious to get a story, but I don’t share details about my daughter’s life with journalists. HICK Did I overstep a boundary, Mrs. Roosevelt? ELEANOR Do journalists have boundaries, Miss Hickok? [Beat.] HICK Thank you for the invitation. And thank you for taking time out of your day to speak with me. ELEANOR Why has it taken us so long to sit down together? HICK I normally don't write about this kind of thing. ELEANOR Politics? HICK Women's issues. ELEANOR I wasn't aware I was an issue. HICK Famous women are always issues. ELEANOR And famous men are just men. HICK I have some questions about these campaign speeches, these words -- a deal, a 'new deal?' ELEANOR Putting men back to work, building necessary infrastructure. In fact, there's a proposed construction site on the Saint Lawrence river that would make for quite the story. Will you write it up? HICK Well, if I can arrange a ride with other members of the press-- ELEANOR Just you. And you can ride with me. [Beat.] HICK No thank you. ELEANOR Sorry? HICK I don't think I'd like that. ELEANOR It's just an invitation. HICK What exactly would I be writing about? ELEANOR Isn't it enough to go and see what you uncover? I thought you were someone that liked to explore. Experiment. HICK I don't experiment. ELEANOR Explore, then. HICK I've been through a lot of exploring in my day, actually, and while I was able to put up with it for a while, my heart / can't take-- ELEANOR Heart? HICK Health issues. ELEANOR Well then, shouldn’t the fresh air of Northern New York be something you want to seek out? HICK To be frank, you know nothing about what I want to ‘seek out.’ [Beat.] ELEANOR Why do you talk to everyone except me? HICK That's not true. ELEANOR At these events, these conferences, you circle and you push and you interview every man, woman, and dog except me. HICK Well I'm talking to you now, aren't I. ELEANOR Is there a reason you won't answer the question? HICK I don't know, is there a reason you've been watching me? ELEANOR Only because you've been watching me. HICK It's my job to watch you. ELEANOR And you always do such a particularly detailed job with watching? HICK When the details are relevant, yes. ELEANOR So, when you stare at my face, that is-- HICK A relevant detail. ELEANOR And my eyes? HICK Relevant details. ELEANOR And my chest? [Beat.] HICK You know what I admire about Franklin's campaign? He tells it like it is. He presents himself as he is. And I think in this interview you should do the same. ELEANOR I present myself as I am. HICK There's nothing you hide? Nothing you keep out of the public eye? ELEANOR Of course there are some things, but certain things don't need to be shared. HICK I'd like you to share. ELEANOR You know this is by far the most hostile response to an invitation to see a natural landmark that I have ever encountered. HICK I don't like spending my time with explorers. ELEANOR I'm not an explorer. HICK Then what are you? I'd like you to say it. I'd like you to say, to me, right now, that you're a-- ELEANOR Let's be clear, I could leave this room and have you banned from the campaign trail. HICK But you won't. Why is that? Would you like to comment on how you know Miss Elizabeth Read and Miss Esther Lape? ELEANOR What? That I do know them? Yes, I do-- HICK Would you like to comment on the fact that they live together? ELEANOR It’s what you call a Boston marriage, I think you know the term. HICK You spend a lot of time with women who are in these Boston marriages. ELEANOR And? HICK Would you like to comment on the fact that who one surrounds oneself with is in fact a reflection of oneself? ELEANOR For God’s sake will you cross your legs. [Hick slowly, deliberately, plants her legs wide.] HICK What exactly is happening at the Saint Lawrence river that is so exciting to you? ELEANOR I said, it's a proposed construction site, to regulate the flow of water. HICK It's a dike. [Beat.] ELEANOR It's a dam. [Beat.] HICK I think this interview is over. [End of Excerpt.] |
