A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

The Puzzle With The Piazza

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  4w, 1m

Mark Dunn

As she’s being forced to move out of her home, septuagenarian Althea Witlin enlists the help of her friend Mattie and the new homebuyers to assemble the last unfinished puzzle in her collection.

The Puzzle With The Piazza

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 1m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • Suggested Use
    • Monologues
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for All Audiences

Details

Summary
The year is 2000, the place: the basement rec room of septuagenarian Althea Witlin. Althea’s life is about to change in a very big way. Health issues are forcing her to give up her house and move in with her sister Ina across town. Perhaps just as important: the move requires Althea to give up all of her jigsaw puzzles. Yet there is this one puzzle, described by her new friend Leif Morrell as “the mother of all jigsaw puzzles,” which she’s never had the gumption to tackle. Together, Althea and Leif decide to defy the odds and try to finish this puzzle in the hours that remain before Althea must go. They are joined by next-door neighbor Mattie, learning to be newly independent after years in a group home, and by Leif’s wife Connie, who has come face-to-face with the realization that she and Leif can’t be biological parents. Together all four members of Althea’s “puzzle platoon” push personal challenges and problems to the side as they place gondolas upon the canals of Venice and pigeons into the bright blue sky above the piazza. The play is a bittersweet comedy about tenuous family ties and the bonds of friendship that lattice and enrich the final years of our lives.
History
The play received a series of virtual stagings in 2020 and 2021. The first was produced by Torrance Theatre Company in California. Its first live staging was in February 2022 by Catch a Star Theatrical Players in Beaumont, CA. 
Keywords
Performing Groups

Althea Witlin
Leif Morrell
Mattie Pleshette
Connie Morrell
Ina Gluck

and the pre-recorded radio voices of one woman and two men.

  • Time Period New Millennium/21st Century
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

Media

“Funny, at times heartbreaking and ultimately heartwarming.” — Patch

“A gentle, bittersweet comedy about the fragility of family ties, and the often much stronger bonds of friendship that lattice in the final years of our lives.” — Broadway World

“A pleasure to watch and listen to.” — Patch

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

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Authors

Mark Dunn

Mark Dunn

Mark Dunn is a playwright, novelist and non-fiction author. A 35-year veteran of writing for the stage, Mark is the author of 15 full-length plays now available for licensing through Concord Theatricals. His most popular plays – Belles, Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain, Belle ...

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