
Secret Lives of the Sexists
Charles Ludlam
Two Supreme Beings plan the beginning of the world with the relish of two slightly sadistic suburban wives decorating a living room.
Once they've decided on the color scheme of the races, a little concerned that white people will feel slighted being such a boring color, they create sex and the sexes.
Afraid women will have too many advantages, the Beings decide to make childbirth painful and to give men enormous egos as compensation.
From this moment, the audience is whisked through the outrageous universe of Kathy and Mo, where two actresses play men and women struggling through the common rituals of modern life: teenagers on a date, sisters at their grandmother's funeral, a man and a woman together in a country-western bar.
With boundless humor, Parallel Lives reexamines the ongoing quest to find parity and love in a contest handicapped by capricious gods – or in this case, goddesses.
| Character |
|---|
| SUPREME BEINGS |
| KRIS Blonde co-ed about 20 |
| JEFF Jock college students about 21 |
| THIRD WORLD FARM WORKER |
| BARB and BETTY Two menstruating co-workers |
| NICK and BUCK Two manly men |
| ANNETTE 17 year-old girl from New Jersey |
| GINA 17 1/2 year-old girl from New Jersey |
| PRECIOUS An everywoman |
| CANDIDA A prostitute (possibly black) |
| LIZZIE A people-pleasing good daughter |
| MARLA Wry mother of 5 year-old, eldest |
| KAREN Intense, new age, defensive, youngest |
| MAD and SYVVIE Two women from New York, sixty-something |
| GAY NEPHEW |
| SISTER WOMAN SISTER, HOLLY and MOLLY Two serious, feminist poets |
| DISNEY MOMS |
| TINA and TERRI |
| A WOMAN |
| LADY ANNE |
| LADY ANNE |
| PRINCE PORTOLIO |
| THE GOOD QUEEN ANNE |
| THE GOOD KING ANNE |
| BILL A sensitive man in his 30s |
Parallel Lives is a comedy play written by Mo Gaffney and published by Dramatists Play Service .
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