Miss Pussy and Miss Stein
Characters
- Gertrude:
- Gertrude Stein—the play spans the length of her relationship with Alice Toklas, but it would probably be best to choose an actor in her late fifties or sixties.
- Miss Pussy:
- Alice Toklas
- Hélène:
- Servant and cook to Gertrude and Miss Pussy. Relentlessly French.
Set
A suggestion of the studio at 27 rue de Fleurus—the walls of paintings by Picasso and Matisse, the Renaissance table, the Renaissance chairs, the objet d’art.
Production history
There is no production history, which is a shame because this is my best play.
The Story
The play is an evocation of the writing of Gertrude Stein focusing on the lives of Miss Stein and Miss Toklas. It generally follows a chronological path from the time of Miss Stein and Miss Toklas' meeting, until Miss Stein’s death. But the presentation is anything but linear. It rejoices in repeated refrains highlighting the absurdities of events and characters, and from curtain rise to close, the “action” circles around and around like the "dance" that defines Miss Stein and Miss Toklas' unique relationship.
Using a collage of factual fragments as core material, the play is an expressionist "portrait." Much of the play is fictional (sometimes radically so)–conversations, intimate thoughts and actions, psychological motives, emotional concerns, many of the lesser events. The dialogue is highly stylized and markedly absurdist, reflecting in some way. I hope, the audacious absurdity of Miss Stein’s writing and even her life. The rhythm of the language of each character is that character—a central tenant of Miss Stein’s. Essentially, the style of the play is the content of the play. Or as Miss Stein would have it: There is no story. There is no beginning, middle, and end.