CURRENT PRODUCTION
Talking with... by Jane Martin
The Greeley Garage Sale Theatre welcomes GGST veteran performer and Production Council Member Jessica Lesko back to the Director's Chair for her THIRD GGST show! Show dates: October 31, November 1 and November 7 and November 8 at 7:00 p.m. November 2 and November 9 at 3:00 p.m.
Proceeds from the show will benefit GGST.
Talking with...Jane Martin? If only we could. The thing is, no one know who "Jane Martin" really is. There are at least ten plays published under this pen name. But, as one article notes, "There are no interviews. No pictures. No sightings. Nothing." The consensus view is that Jon Jory (or perhaps Jon Jory and his wife Marcia Dixey) is the source of the material published under Martin's name. The circumstantial evidence is substantial. Jory acts as spokesperson for Jane Martin. Jory, who directed or produced 1000 plays at The Actors Theatre of Louisville, a regional theatre he guided from 1969 to 2000, directed the premieres of nearly every script published under Martin's name. One Martin script in particular, "Anton in Show Business", delves into the art and business of contemporary theater. It is not lost on the inquisitive that Jon Jory's parents were Jean Inness and Victor Jory, veterans of stage and screen. Jory's biography is ideally suited to create "Anton..." whereas the scant description of Martin as "a Kentucky native who wishes to remain anonymous" and who "would be unable to write [these scripts]" if their "identity was made public" does little to deflect the presumption of Jory's authorship.
The monologues in this show are all female-presenting. Perhaps Jory felt the works would be more readily accepted with a feminine name on the cover. Perhaps he didn't want to explain in 1982 how he was able to so effectively ground himself in the perspectives of such a diverse collection of female voices. Perhaps he didn't need one more thing to manage in an already full and public-facing career. And perhaps Jory wanted there to be no filter between the performer and the audience--nothing to mitigate the experience of these words and personalities.
It is noteworthy that the scenes in this script are described as monologues rather than soliloquies. While both are forms of individual communication on stage, the difference is meaningful. A soliloquy is a character's inner thoughts, delivered so that (only) the audience can hear them, whereas a monologue is a speech by a single character to other characters or to the audience. In a soliloquy, the audience is privy to something the character might not share if they knew someone was listening. What you hear from the characters in this show is not what they are saying to themselves. And, as they are not speaking to any other characters, that means YOU are the intended recipient of these words and thoughts. But who are "you"? Are you a younger version of the character? A best friend? A bartender-esque stranger? A diary?
One last item to ponder: the title of the play is "Talking with..." It is not "Talking to..."
Notes
https://theatrehaus.com/2020/07/monologue-soliloquy-or-aside-the-difference/