The Diet Monologues by Monica Bauer

ISBN #1-933159-06-5
JAC #2005-0002

Characters*

• LACEY STEWART
• JACKIE PARR
• REV. DELPHINA NASAL
• MARY ELIZABETH O'BRIEN
• STEVE LEWANDOWSKI
• TERRY
• LISA PARENTE
• ESTELLE LEVINE
• SISTER ROSE
• LINDA STEWART

*All characters can be portrayed by individual actors... or just one!

Plot Summary

This is a comedy about self-esteem and the roadblocks in the way of self-esteem faced by "people of weight" in American society.  The format is very simple: the play begins with a monologue by Lacey Stewart, a sixteen-year-old mall rat whose best friend has a weight problem. When Lacey takes a terribly insensitive approach to "helping" her friend, she finds herself with a new "best enemy", who is spamming her email inbox with diet ads! Lacey asks her mother for advice, and her mother sends her on a trip through the many faces of life as an overweight person in America. Lacey is sent out to interview an interesting variety of folks Lacey’s mother has met through Weight Watchers.  There are monologues about anorexia, sex, gyms, the ins and out of Atkins, and what real nutritionists would love to say to both the Diet Industry and the Fast Food Industry. There are a wide variety of perspectives here: Jews, Protestants, Catholics, some who have accepted their weight and some who struggle against it. All of it funny, and all of it resonating with the ring of truth.  The last monologue belongs to Lacey’s mother, who ties the whole show together, ending with a glorious celebration of life at any weight.  This production can be performed with or without an intermission.

Author Biography

Monica Bauer is an award winning playwright, composer, and performer. A graduate of Brown and Yale, she is currently in the Graduate Playwriting Program at Boston University, where she studies with Kate Snodgrass. She has also studied with Craig Lucas as part of the Pataphysics seminars at The Flea Theater in New York City.  Monica is member of the Dramatist’s Guild, and ASCAP.