Odd Job: Production Notes

Setting

Technically, it’s in the Palesinian desert in 2,000 B. C.. However, the styles of dress and speech are mixed between then and the modern day. 

The setting is written for a small stage, with the audience very close. Whether it is performed on a thrust or proscenium stage is unimportant, as long as there is a space for the actors to change costumes and collect props, out of view of the audience. The play is written with catwalks (for the beginning and end scenes) above the audience in mind, but they are not essential, and raised platforms may be substituted.

The required elements for the set are minimal; the set can be left very bare, or it can be embellished in whatever way the director and set designer see fit. You can have an angel come crashing through the ceiling at the end with a flaming book, but I don’t recommend it.Set & Property Notes

The central feature of the stage should be a table/desk with four legs and a drawer. One of the table legs is a pull-away, with a string attached. Inside the drawer is a Zippo lighter and a cigarette pack containing one “cigarette” which is actually just rolled flash paper. On top of the desk are a phone and a Bible. Four chairs surround the table; one near it, and three further away. No further set pieces are necessary.

As for props: a sturdy briefcase is needed, and books for Job and Zophar at various times,(see script) a flash paper cigarette, a lighter, an envelope with a blank piece of paper, a microphone, and a can of that string stuff (to be used as vomit). A smoke machine is helpful but not necessary.Cast Notes

Two men, and two women; except for Job, each playing multiple roles.

This play is written for young actors (and with a young audience in mind), but more or less any ages can play. However, the play contains small parts which children under two may choke on, so please keep it out of their reach.

In casting, my only advice is to look for comedic talent above other considerations. However, looks count — a Satan that looks like Roseanne Barr and a 5’ 2″ God sort of defeat many of the jokes of the play.

Other Pretentious Notes From the Author

There should be a definite difference — the audience should always be able to tell — between the lines written for this play, and when the characters speak the lines from the Bible. In the script, lines from the Bible are in boldface type. However, I’m too drunk to figure out what the difference should be in performance, so the director can figure that out. Go nuts.

I’m afraid that I’ve made the play hard to do right — “right” requiring to get all of the nuances and philosophical musings across, and still getting laughs. If you have to sacrifice one or the other — I’d keep the laughs and then advise the audience to go to church at the end.

The play is filled with pop-culture references. If these are “not hip anymore,” or (more likely) just “not very funny in the first place,” the director may insert whatever appropriate revisions he or she wishes, to best play to the audience.

So now I’ve written the play on my Macintosh and printed it out. My work is done. If you, the director and performers need to cut stuff, rearrange it or whatever (although hopefully not too much), go do it. You’re the poor suckers who have to perform it, and if I’ve written something you don’t feel comfortable doing or saying, work around it. When all is said and done, acting is about actors, and their directors.

So take this and make it work. I owe ya one.