Personals and Proposals
Four men and four women perform seven hilarious scenes about dating and marriage proposals. Three scenes highlight trying to find someone special through an online dating service called Meet-interesting-people-who-will-like-you.com. As our singles find out, however, the site doesn't live up to its name! The other scenes include some of the worst marriage proposals ever; two coaches trying to lead a couple down the path of wedlock; a Monday Night Football-style coverage of a proposal; and a National Geographic television-type look at a romantic dinner. All together the scenes prove the way to happily-ever-after is filled with heartbreak, humiliation and humor!
Productions
Behind The Scenes
Playwright Burton Bumgarner
Talks About "Personals and Proposals"
Q: WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THE PLAY?
A: An uncontrollable desire to be thoroughly silly. Nothing can be more stressful, obsessional or embarrassing than romantic relationships, so why not make them comical? I wanted to write a farce that would be appropriate and appealing for middle and high school students.
Q: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OR LINE IN THE PLAY? WHY?
A: In the first scene a young man and young women are seated on a park bench. He makes an impassioned plea for affection. She finally tells him there's pigeon poo on his shoulder. That actually happened to a friend of mine in college. Like the young man in the script, my friend wanted to rid the world of all pigeons. I also like the business called "Bobby Joe's Online Discount Engagement Rings and Taxidermy." It sounds as if Bobby Joe is trying to cover a lot of bases.
Q: WHERE DID THE CHARACTERS COME FROM?
ARE THEY BASED ON PEOPLE YOU KNOW?
A: The characters are all in various stages of romantic entanglement, or in trying to find someone to become romantically entangled with - or to become un-entangled with. Almost anyone can identify with the feelings, if not the situations, of the characters in each of the scenes.
Q: WHAT DID YOU TRY TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS PLAY?
A: I write a lot of comedies for students, and my goal is generally to make the audience laugh so hard they fall out of their seats.
Q: DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD?
A: I'm still laughing about the pigeons.