TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Cats with a Plan (re the Christmas Tree)

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Cats with a Plan (re the Christmas Tree) - A One Act Play

Act 1, scene 1: Two brother cats are conversing as they watch the birds outside the window

Tesla - So, Bro, here's my plan -

Che - Plan? What plan? I hate plans. I'm a Spontaneous-kind-of-cat.

Tesla - And that's what gets you into trouble, Bro. When you act at the spur of the moment, in other words when you're not thinking, that's when they get their Disciplinary water bottle to squirt not just you but us.

Che - You're always blaming me. It's not like you don't get into trouble too.

Act 1, scene 2 - The two cats are playing it cool

Tesla - Sure I also get into trouble. We're cats after all. Trouble is our middle name.
Che - OK, OK, so what's the plan?
Tesla -We have to be patient.
Che - I hate waiting!
Tesla - You have to wait, Bro. We wait until nighttime and they're both asleep. Then as quietly as we can ---
Che - What? What? What's the plan?
Tesla - As quietly as mice - ha-ha- that's a joke -- we go downstairs and we can take on the tree.
Che - The tree, the tree, I can't wait! I can't wait!

Act 1, scene 3:

So the two cats sneak downstairs and clamber up the tree and have a field day!
Because to cats this is what a Christmas tree looks like:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.