Mash Notes

3w 30s

Mash Notes is a reader's theatre production in which three childhood friends read letters they have written to one another over the years, from the ages of five to 35, during the years 1957 to 1988. Comedy and drama mix, leading to a bittersweet ending.

The three characters are Amy, who lights out at as an actress after high school; Madge, who becomes a physician with a lesbian lover; and Bettina, the daughter of a politician, who moves from public school to boarding school and back again before embarking on careers in politics and motherhood. Amy and Bettina have been at odds with one another since childhood, particularly when their eyes land on the same boy, and Madge tries to act as the conciliatory go-between.

Production requirements are fairly simple, with the reading matter being the primary props, and no set needed except three desks and a wastebasket. Emphasis should be on the acting, and three juicy roles are provided.

Mash Notes takes us on the life journeys of three women from Wilbraham, Massachusetts who, although often far apart geographically, communicate with one another through thick and thin (although sometimes only through the conduit of Madge). The bittersweet ending leaves the continuing life histories of two of the women up to the audience's imagination.