{"id":7542,"date":"2017-03-05T18:59:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-05T18:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=7542"},"modified":"2017-03-05T22:58:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-05T22:58:00","slug":"the-ronald-and-other-plays-a-political-satire-of-how-trump-won-the-presidency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/the-ronald-and-other-plays-a-political-satire-of-how-trump-won-the-presidency\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ronald And Other Plays: A Political Satire of How Trump Won the Presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheToday I\u2019m pleased to announce the release of The Ronald And Oth\u00ader Plays<\/em><\/strong>, a col\u00adlec\u00adtion that includes five short plays and my first full-length play, The Ronald<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The col\u00adlec\u00adtion is avail\u00adable now as a Kin\u00addle ebook<\/a>, and will be pub\u00adlished as a print paper\u00adback with\u00adin a week or two.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Sum\u00adma\u00adry of<\/strong> The Ronald<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFab\u00adu\u00adlous\u00adly Cau\u00adcasian\u201d bil\u00adlion\u00adaire The Ronald decides to run for Pres\u00adi\u00addent of the Incor\u00adpo\u00adrat\u00aded States of Free\u00addom\u00adland. Aid\u00ading him in his quest are his sexy genius daugh\u00adter, his accoun\u00adtant, a con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive pro\u00adfes\u00adsor, a Broad\u00adway pro\u00adduc\u00ader, his idiot sons, a TV enter\u00adtain\u00adment reporter, a piz\u00adza deliv\u00adery\u00adboy, and the Cork Brothers\u2014a pair of 1,000-year-old vam\u00adpires.<\/p>\n

The play presents a behind-the-scenes look at a cal\u00adcu\u00adlat\u00ading nar\u00adcis\u00adsist\u2019s Pres\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial cam\u00adpaign, from his deci\u00adsion to run, to the months lead\u00ading up to the elec\u00adtion, to the day before he takes office.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The Sto\u00adry Behind The Ronald<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

From the Pref\u00adace:<\/em><\/p>\n

As for what inspired The Ronald<\/i><\/b>, that is a sto\u00adry all its own.<\/p>\n

One morn\u00ading short\u00adly after the 2016 U.S. Pres\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial Elec\u00adtion, I awoke with a vision of how Don\u00adald Trump had won the Pres\u00adi\u00adden\u00adcy. His strat\u00ade\u00adgy, his tac\u00adtics, how he per\u00adsuad\u00aded the elec\u00adtorate, how he gamed the media\u2014it had all come to me in a dream. It was a mirac\u00adu\u00adlous moment of Gestalt.<\/p>\n

Con\u00adtrary to what many read\u00aders might think, these moments of divine inspi\u00adra\u00adtion are extreme\u00adly rare for us writ\u00aders. So, when a book (or in this case, my first full-length play) comes to us ful\u00adly formed, we have to drop every\u00adthing and write down the sto\u00adry unfold\u00ading with\u00adin us. In my case, I\u2019ve had short sto\u00adries, arti\u00adcles and poems come to me overnight, which I wrote down in the course of a few hours, and which required very lit\u00adtle edit\u00ading after\u00adwards; but I\u2019ve nev\u00ader had a long work sim\u00adply giv\u00aden to me the way The Ronald<\/i><\/b> was. I did\u00adn\u2019t write it so much as it wrote itself through me; I sensed this sto\u00adry float\u00ading in the col\u00adlec\u00adtive uncon\u00adscious, and it chose me to draw it out of the ether and bring it to fruition.<\/p>\n

Two weeks lat\u00ader, the first draft of The Ronald<\/i><\/b> was fin\u00adished. I put the play in a draw\u00ader and returned to my nov\u00adel-in-progress. When I took The Ronald<\/i><\/b> out again a month lat\u00ader to reread it, I found it need\u00aded very lit\u00adtle revi\u00adsion. The com\u00adplet\u00aded play appears here almost ver\u00adba\u00adtim to the ver\u00adsion that emerged from me dur\u00ading those two weeks of intense writ\u00ading in Novem\u00adber 2016.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

\"Print

Print book cov\u00ader for THE RONALD AND OTHER PLAYS.<\/p><\/div>\n

*<\/p>\n

A Short Scene from The Ronald<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the fol\u00adlow\u00ading scene, The Ronald is dis\u00adcussing his idea of run\u00adning for Pres\u00adi\u00addent of the Incor\u00adpo\u00adrat\u00aded States of Free\u00addom\u00adland with his long\u00adtime trust\u00aded advi\u00adsor, Har\u00advey:<\/p>\n

Har\u00advey<\/strong>. Wait a sec\u00adond. Are you say\u00ading The Ronald is going to run for Pres\u00adi\u00addent? I hate to break it to you, T.R., but\u2026you don\u2019t have any polit\u00adi\u00adcal expe\u00adri\u00adence. I mean none. Not even a school board.<\/p>\n

The Ronald<\/strong>. That doesn\u2019t mat\u00adter, Harv. In fact, right now my lack of polit\u00adi\u00adcal expe\u00adri\u00adence is a major asset. Peo\u00adple are tired of the grid\u00adlock, tired of feed\u00ading and fly\u00ading around those soft do-noth\u00adings, those losers. All of those Repub\u00adli\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan clowns, Harv. They\u2019re all losers<\/em>. I mean look at that fat fudge\u00adball from\u2026what state is he from?  Oh, to hell with it, doesn\u2019t mat\u00adter. Point is, he\u2019s a fat los\u00ader. Looks like the before pic\u00adture in a weight loss com\u00admer\u00adcial. Hold on, I want to get Augusti\u00adna up here.<\/p>\n

[The Ronald walks over to the gold tele\u00adphone on the desk and dials a num\u00adber<\/em>. The <\/em>Shoeshine Man scrab\u00adbles after him<\/em>.]<\/p>\n

The Ronald<\/strong> [speak\u00ading into phone<\/em>]. Get up here, Princess. And bring those new blue\u00adprints. [He hangs up and returns to the putting green<\/em>.] They\u2019re all losers, Harv. They can\u2019t win. But I can. Know why, Harv?<\/p>\n

Har\u00advey<\/strong>. Because you\u2019re a win\u00adner?<\/p>\n

The Ronald<\/strong>. Exact\u00adly. I\u2019m a win\u00adner, I know how to win. And do you know how you win, Harv?<\/p>\n

Har\u00advey<\/strong>. No, T.R. How?<\/p>\n

The Ronald<\/strong>. You lie. You lie and you keep lying, and when some\u00adbody says you\u2019re lying, you turn it around and say they\u2019re<\/em> lying, that they\u2019re part of a con\u00adspir\u00ada\u00adcy by the media. It\u2019s like Adolf said, \u201cIt is not truth that mat\u00adters, but vic\u00adto\u00adry.\u201d Win\u00adning. The only thing that mat\u00adters is win\u00adning. There\u2019ll be plen\u00adty of time for the truth once we win. But we have to win first. And to do that, we need a Big Lie, some\u00adthing\u2014<\/p>\n

Har\u00advey<\/strong>. Hold it, T.R. Remem\u00adber that arti\u00adcle about you that came out a while back?<\/p>\n

The Ronald<\/strong>. There have been so many, Harv. Which one?<\/p>\n

Har\u00advey<\/strong>. The inter\u00adview with your fifth wife, who said you kept Hitler\u2019s Mein Kampf<\/em> and a book of his speech\u00ades by your bed?<\/p>\n

The Ronald<\/strong>. Yeah, what about it?<\/p>\n

Har\u00advey<\/strong>. You said you didn\u2019t have those books.<\/p>\n

The Ronald<\/strong>. Nooo, Harv. What I said was, quote, \u201cIf I had those books, and I\u2019m not say\u00ading that I do, I would nev\u00ader read them.\u201d Unquote.<\/p>\n

Har\u00advey<\/strong>. But\u2026clearly you have<\/em> read them, T.R.<\/p>\n

The Ronald<\/strong>. No, I haven\u2019t, Harv. When you came up here ear\u00adli\u00ader, did you pass a man get\u00adting off the ele\u00adva\u00adtor?<\/p>\n

Har\u00advey<\/strong>. I did. Who is he?<\/p>\n

The Ronald<\/strong>. An Ivy League pro\u00adfes\u00adsor. Great guy. Hired him thir\u00adty years ago, when he was just a strug\u00adgling grad stu\u00addent, hired him to be my per\u00adson\u00adal read\u00ader. For thir\u00adty years he\u2019s been com\u00ading in once a month. He talks to me for an hour and gives me sum\u00admaries of great books. Look, he gave me this\u2026<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Sum\u00admaries of the Oth\u00ader Plays in the Col\u00adlec\u00adtion<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are five oth\u00ader, short\u00ader plays in the col\u00adlec\u00adtion, all of which, except The Clean-Shaven Sec\u00adre\u00adtary with the Pis\u00adtol<\/em>, have been per\u00adformed for the\u00adater-going audi\u00adences:<\/p>\n

The Clean-Shaven Sec\u00adre\u00adtary with the Pis\u00adtol<\/i><\/b>: What hap\u00adpens when a the\u00adatre com\u00adpa\u00adny attempts to stage a short peri\u00adod dra\u00adma, and the pro\u00adduc\u00aders decide, with\u00adout warn\u00ading, to insert a com\u00admer\u00adcial break?<\/p>\n

Dark and Stormy Night<\/i><\/b>: An autumn night, a des\u00ado\u00adlate din\u00ader, and a lone\u00adly, beau\u00adti\u00adful wait\u00adress. Enter a man dressed like an L.L. Bean mod\u00adel and car\u00adry\u00ading a split\u00adting maul. Is he a mur\u00adder\u00ader or her roman\u00adtic sal\u00adva\u00adtion?<\/p>\n

Front Page Above the Fold<\/i><\/b>: At a local city dai\u00adly news\u00adpa\u00adper, com\u00adpe\u00adti\u00adtion between reporters for the front page sto\u00adry is fierce. So fierce, it\u2019s per\u00adson\u00adal.<\/p>\n

Micro\u00adbrew<\/i><\/b>: Two 20-some\u00adthing slack\u00aders live above grand\u00adma June, but they aren\u2019t get\u00adting any\u00adthing past her. What she isn\u2019t pre\u00adpared for, how\u00adev\u00ader, is her grand\u00adson\u2019s bewitch\u00ading home\u00admade beer.<\/p>\n

Kansas City This is For\u00admer Air Force One<\/i><\/b>: August 9, 1974\u2013the day Pres\u00adi\u00addent Richard Nixon resigned his office. Oh, to be a fly on the wall dur\u00ading his flight home! But wait\u2026in this play, you are.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Roy\u00adal\u00adty-Free Per\u00adfor\u00admance Rights for Ama\u00adteur The\u00adatre Com\u00adpa\u00adnies<\/strong><\/p>\n

All of the plays in this col\u00adlec\u00adtion, includ\u00ading the polit\u00adi\u00adcal satire The Ronald<\/i><\/b>, may be per\u00adformed roy\u00adal\u00adty-free by ama\u00adteur the\u00adatre com\u00adpa\u00adnies (high schools, col\u00adleges and com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty the\u00adatre groups).<\/p>\n

By mak\u00ading all of the plays in this col\u00adlec\u00adtion avail\u00adable roy\u00adal\u00adty-free, I\u2019m hop\u00ading to have them reach as wide an audi\u00adence as pos\u00adsi\u00adble. A por\u00adtion of the pro\u00adceeds from the sale of this ebook or print\u00aded book will be donat\u00aded to char\u00adi\u00adties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I\u2019m pleased to announce the release of The Ronald And Oth\u00ader Plays, a col\u00adlec\u00adtion that includes five short plays and my first full-length play, The Ronald.\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247,30,18,244,56,303,8,304,14,233],"tags":[322,311,295,329,328,265,324,305,307,306,323,309,320,312,321,308,327,310,326,325,319,93],"class_list":["post-7542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amazon-kindle","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-dramaticwriting","category-ebooks","category-kindle-books","category-plays","category-publishingandthemarket","category-the-ronald-and-other-plays","category-writingexperiences","category-writing-life","tag-billionaire","tag-donald-trump","tag-drama","tag-ebook","tag-humor","tag-kindle","tag-play","tag-plays","tag-playwright","tag-playwriting","tag-political-satire","tag-politics","tag-presidency","tag-president","tag-president-of-the-united-states","tag-satire","tag-the-donald","tag-the-ronald","tag-theater","tag-theatre","tag-trump","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7542"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7556,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7542\/revisions\/7556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}