The Enunciation to Mary
A Reckoning in One Act
Two graduating high school seniors, who have been best friends since kindergarten, meet to rehearse the annual Christmas pageant at their all-girls’ prep school. One of them has been cast as Mary, and the other has been cast as the angel Gabriel.
The girl playing Gabriel, afraid of losing the friendship after graudation, has written new lines for her friend Martha who is playing Mary. It’s a test of the friendship. These are lines calling out the non-consensual, enforced pregnancy at the heart of the Nativity story. Martha refuses to read them. She does not want to see this half-century-old, pageant tradition wrecked by her best friend, who wants to turn it into pro-choice agit-prop.
Martha turns the tables, challenging her friend to switch roles, so that she, Martha, can play Gabriel. The friend agrees, and Martha improvises an aggressive scene where Gabriel demands an unquestioning acceptance of dogma. Initially, it sounds as if Martha might onboard with the protest, but Martha explains that forcing ideas on someone is also a violation of their autonomy. Her friend explodes in rage, accusing Martha of being complicit with rape culture, including forced pregnancy. Martha counters by revealing her secret abortion.
The two best friends begin to interrogate the ways in which both of them have kept secrets from each other. The play ends with the young women attempting to enunciate what has been unspoken between them.
Two women, 18
Single set
30 minutes
The girl playing Gabriel, afraid of losing the friendship after graudation, has written new lines for her friend Martha who is playing Mary. It’s a test of the friendship. These are lines calling out the non-consensual, enforced pregnancy at the heart of the Nativity story. Martha refuses to read them. She does not want to see this half-century-old, pageant tradition wrecked by her best friend, who wants to turn it into pro-choice agit-prop.
Martha turns the tables, challenging her friend to switch roles, so that she, Martha, can play Gabriel. The friend agrees, and Martha improvises an aggressive scene where Gabriel demands an unquestioning acceptance of dogma. Initially, it sounds as if Martha might onboard with the protest, but Martha explains that forcing ideas on someone is also a violation of their autonomy. Her friend explodes in rage, accusing Martha of being complicit with rape culture, including forced pregnancy. Martha counters by revealing her secret abortion.
The two best friends begin to interrogate the ways in which both of them have kept secrets from each other. The play ends with the young women attempting to enunciate what has been unspoken between them.
Two women, 18
Single set
30 minutes
