In A Memory Play Kip, (Trey Albright), a playwright, who is our narrator as well, tries to rewrite his parents' past. No simple task that. Take people you know well and recreate their lives, which in turn means erasing your own. It’s the sort of job for which schizophrenia would be considered an asset.
Specifically, our playwright sets out to recreate his parent’s wedding night, as in STOP the marriage because he knows what a catastrophe it is going to be.
Steve, an Army Corporal (who acts more like a Marine), has captured the heart of a Georgia Peach, Judy. They have arrived at their nuptial room in one of those newfangled Motor Hotels – a "motel" - to wait for the minister to make them legal before they do the nasty together. Because there is only so much dialogue you can expect when two horny people are waiting on a wedding license, our playwright has cleverly established himself as part of the goings-on right from the start. The result is a lovely layer of absurdism as Mom and Dad wrestle over her willpower in front of one of their kids who has not yet earned the status of being a twinkle in their collective eyes.
It is in this play’s conceit that we see one of Bob Stewart’s strengths as a playwright. Our author/narrator is both omniscient and vulnerable. He grants his parents free will but wishes they wouldn’t use it. He knows what is going to happen and tries to stop it. The soon-to-be wed and bedded couple argue with one another, reveal secrets, and grapple with their son over control of their fate. It is a brilliant idea, and while Stewart overindulges in exposition, the play’s concept is safe.
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