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    The Department of Soul Reclamation
    The Department of Soul Reclamation
    The Department of Soul Reclamation
    Ebook67 pages43 minutes

    The Department of Soul Reclamation

    By Courtney Kessler-Jeffrey

    ()

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    About this ebook

    The three Spirits of Christmas face their toughest assignment yet: Ebenezer Scrooge.

    It's Christmas Eve, 1843 at the Department of Soul Reclamation, and the Spirits have been assigned a doozy of a case this year: the legendary miser Ebenezer Scrooge. The Ghost of Christmas Past, self-appointed team leader, thinks this assignment is her punishment for her last disastrous mission. Christmas Future knows this case is going down in the history books as their best ever‒if he can get Past to open up to him, that is. Christmas Present... well, Present is just excited to be workng with these department legends. This holiday dramedy is the behind-the- scenes story of the Three Spirits of Christmas who must overcome their differences and work together to transform one soul from being 'hard and sharp as flint' to 'as good a man as the good old city knew.' 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMneme Press
    Release dateOct 28, 2019
    ISBN9781393621317
    The Department of Soul Reclamation
    Author

    Courtney Kessler-Jeffrey

    Courtney Kessler-Jeffrey is a playwright, dresser, and producer. As a writer, her plays have been produced by Taproot Theatre (I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Cyber Zoo: It’s Nothing Personal, and a new adaptation of O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi), Theater Schmeater (Welcome to My Secret Lair), and San Juan Community Theatre (The Dressmaker, Dear Marie Johnston, The Diagnosis). Her latest play, The Department of Soul Reclamation, has been presented as a staged reading in 2017 and 2018.  As a producer, she created and ran the Seattle Play Series, a hyper-local playwriting festival, from 2013-2016 and produced Don’t Split the Party for Transparent Storytelling Theatre in 2018. Currently, she is the Lead Dresser at ACT Theatre and has dressed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Taproot Theatre Co, Seattle Shakespeare Co, Book-It Repertory, and more. She splits her time between Seattle and Friday Harbor, WA.

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      Book preview

      The Department of Soul Reclamation - Courtney Kessler-Jeffrey

      Characters

      THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS Past: Female-identifying, any adult age, person of colour. The veteran - talented, competent, and bitter; glaring could easily be listed among her special skills. Her work is legendary, but she carries some heavy baggage.

      The Ghost of Christmas Present: Any gender identity, any young adult age, any race. The newbie - enthusiastic, bright-eyed & bushy-tailed. Goes through every phase of life throughout the course of the play.

      The Ghost of Christmas Future: Male-identifying, any adult age, any race. The recently promoted - Clever and playful, his brilliance and skill are frequently overshadowed by those around him. He has a lot of great, forward-thinking ideas - if only he could get someone to take him seriously.

      Ebenezer Scrooge: Male-identifying, 50’s to 60’s, any race, British accent. The voice is key: this is a recorded role; he is never seen onstage.

      It is the playwright’s intention for this show to be cast diversely and inclusively. It is strongly encouraged that all races, orientations, genders, abilities, and sizes be considered for these roles.

      Setting

      CHRISTMAS EVE, 1843

      The Christmas Office of the Department of Soul Reclamation, a room very much akin to a theatre green room–a couch, chairs, etc. with a smattering of Christmas decor. Three doors off to one side for dressing rooms, opposite those doors is a door leading to the hallway, and upstage center is a curtain the ghosts pass through for their visits with Scrooge. In the center of the room is a stand, upon which sits a large, ornate bowl of wassail, used to observe the subject and visits.

      Stave I

      Office Hours

      AT RISE: past enters from the hallway, fully dressed in white and silver, something practical and amalgamous of bygone eras. She sets down a leather dossier and a thick, official-looking tome. She looks around the room, mentally settling back in. Things have changed. She doesn’t like it. She crosses to the wassail, looks in, and consults the dossier. Seemingly satisfied, she exits to her dressing room.

      As she does so, future enters from his dressing room, wearing a robe over some state of I don’t want to put my costume on yet undress and humming (or whistling, or singing) Last Christmas by Wham!. He lays out some tinsel. It doesn’t go with the decor, but he enjoys it. Checking the wassail, he adds a cinnamon stick to the bowl before exiting.

      As he does so, past pops her head out. She sniffs the air. Something’s off. She crosses to the wassail. She removes the extra cinnamon stick (who would put that in there?!) and neurotically adjusts minute details around the bowl before exiting to her dressing room.

      As she does so, future enters, still humming rather enthusiastically. He carries one end of an extension cord over to a string of Christmas lights and plugs them in. Their twinkling delights him. Passing the wassail, he drops the cinnamon stick back in as he exits.

      As he does so, past enters from her dressing room, warming up vocally.

      PAST: What a to-do to die today, at a minute or two til two;

      a thing distinctly hard to say, but harder still to do.

      We’ll beat a tattoo, at twenty to two-

      During her line, she removes the cinnamon stick again. future enters, a Trapper Keeper (his dossier on Scrooge) tucked under his arm. He stops dead in his tracks at the sight of her. She does not see him immediately.

      past: (cont’d) -a rat-tat-tat- tat-tat-tat- tat-tat-tat– 

      future: Past!?

      past swings around at the sound of his voice. future is thrilled, if a little surprised,

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