The Beginning of... by Maray Ayres

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Sitting at my computer and looking for a new original one act play to work on at Theatre West, a well-known Repertory Company...

I came across a short play called "Traces Of Memory." This play had two female characters totally opposite of each other in looks and emotions. I was taken by it and decided that this was the play for me. My chosen character was hard and lost. A very dark spirit who was looking to escape the horrible deed she scommitted in anger, which caused the death of the skank who was banging her boyfriend. The other woman in this duo, appeared rather sweet and prestine, but was also running from her life and the calculated murderous deed she also had committed.

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I proceeded to look for an actress whose characteristics were different than mine in coloring and demeanor. Being a brunette with dark eyes, earthy and a bit sexy, I wanted to find a soft, pretty blond who was warm, wholesome and feminine. After having a few actresses turn the script down because they felt they couldn't play a character who talks about killing her children and their dog, I found an actress who was excited by the challenge of this role. Saratoga Ballantine. She was a wonderful actress from Theatre West whom I had previously worked with. Our personalities clicked beautifullly on and off stage. She was perfect in all ways to play opposite me. A short time later, we performed it at Theatre West for the Monday night workshop in hopes of entering it into WestFest, a festival of one act plays. Happily we were approved by the board to participate in the Fest and enjoyed three very successful and rewarding performances.

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Here's where it all takes a turn in another direction...

Originally, I was just going to have a performance video taped and directed a bit for the camera, by Jody Jaress. The next thing Sara and I knew, we were talking about turning it into a festival short ! I contacted my friend and actor, Hal Alpert to join us as one of the producers, along with Jody and myself as Executive Producer as well as my husband Rick Honstrater. This sounded very exciting to me and I decided to invest some of my inheritance to cover the costs. Well, little did I realize just how much I'd be spending!

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