A Note from Rainee Angles
Ten years ago two, timid junior high students shuffled into my drama classroom at Hillsboro High School. They wanted to
borrow a few props for a skit they had prepared for their fellow classmates. Since I did not teach middle school, I had no
idea what they were up to... nor did I care. However, I was intrigued that these boys had mustered up enough courage to
ask for anything from some strange woman rumored to be the "Shelton-Monster". This meant that having "spectacle" in
their production was very important to them.
Hhhhhhhmmmmmmm........fresh, young blood ... I mean... talent.
The next year, both of those young men were sitting in my Drama I class. That year both were involved with three
productions: Night Chills (a collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories), Hamlet Cha-Cha-Cha (a spoof of Shakespeare's tragedy),
and the musical The Secret Garden. By the end of their Freshman year, each young man had chosen a different path: one as
stage manager, the other as actor.
The actor was Benjamin Gullett.
I have been teaching and directing Ben for ten years. He aced all the drama courses I taught at HHS, created such
memorable characters as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (HHS) and Rick Steadman in The Nerd (SSCC), wrote and directed
one act plays ... I have been blessed to work with someone as talented on (and off) the stage as Ben.
And now I work with him as a peer, his co-director. As the playwright and leading actor of Squiggllydickler, Ben has put a
lot of sweat and tears (probably from laughter) into this production. I think he has something here. I liked it the first time
Ben asked me to read it. I like it now ... even after all the rewrites. It has been a learning experience for me to actually be
able to direct with the playwright in the same room. What a wonderful opportunity!
In conclusion, if anyone has what it takes to make it in this business, it's Ben ... actor, playwright, director, designer. To
Ben and our outstanding cast and crew, Break a Leg!
borrow a few props for a skit they had prepared for their fellow classmates. Since I did not teach middle school, I had no
idea what they were up to... nor did I care. However, I was intrigued that these boys had mustered up enough courage to
ask for anything from some strange woman rumored to be the "Shelton-Monster". This meant that having "spectacle" in
their production was very important to them.
Hhhhhhhmmmmmmm........fresh, young blood ... I mean... talent.
The next year, both of those young men were sitting in my Drama I class. That year both were involved with three
productions: Night Chills (a collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories), Hamlet Cha-Cha-Cha (a spoof of Shakespeare's tragedy),
and the musical The Secret Garden. By the end of their Freshman year, each young man had chosen a different path: one as
stage manager, the other as actor.
The actor was Benjamin Gullett.
I have been teaching and directing Ben for ten years. He aced all the drama courses I taught at HHS, created such
memorable characters as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (HHS) and Rick Steadman in The Nerd (SSCC), wrote and directed
one act plays ... I have been blessed to work with someone as talented on (and off) the stage as Ben.
And now I work with him as a peer, his co-director. As the playwright and leading actor of Squiggllydickler, Ben has put a
lot of sweat and tears (probably from laughter) into this production. I think he has something here. I liked it the first time
Ben asked me to read it. I like it now ... even after all the rewrites. It has been a learning experience for me to actually be
able to direct with the playwright in the same room. What a wonderful opportunity!
In conclusion, if anyone has what it takes to make it in this business, it's Ben ... actor, playwright, director, designer. To
Ben and our outstanding cast and crew, Break a Leg!
Birth of a Squiggllydickler
by Benjamin Gullett (as best as he can remember)
by Benjamin Gullett (as best as he can remember)
PROLOGUE - JULY, 2005
"What to write... what to write..." And with those words this crazy process began. I truly had no "great idea" for a story.
Generally, I had no idea at all. I just wanted to write something. I made a list of broad concepts and plots: "Boy meets girl,
mystery, comedy, etc." And from this whole page of ideas I got... nothing. So, I decided on a different approach. I would
just start writing lines of dialog to see what would come of it. The first line of my new play was:
NARRATOR
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome.
That was it. Quite basic. My play is going to have a narrator. Could I sustain a whole play on the shoulders of a narrator? I
thought I could. In my notes I wrote "Two act farce w/ a narrator that continues... randomly coming (out) on stage." And I
just wrote and wrote ideas. I established characters in this scene such as: ‘John,' ‘Jacob,' ‘Jingleheimer' and ‘Schmidt.'
They were like the four stooges arguing with the narrator over nonessential topics including a shortened version of Arthur
Miller's Death of a Salesman. A really quick and dumb scene in which a salesman is shot dead. It was weird, funny and
established that the narrator truly had no idea what was going on. I also started including activities in which we (the actors)
had been forbidden to do in the past. You see in the rehearsal process one becomes bored with hearing a script over and
over again. So you start talking about actions and/or dialogue that you feel would make the play more entertaining. "Wouldn't
it be funny it my character..." "I think I'll say _____ instead of _____." These discussions can sometimes drive a director
crazy. And the thought of driving Rainee crazy inspired me to write these things down. Once I felt I could write no more
into this scene I stopped and looked at it again. It was a little jumbled and as an entire play. I decided to make this part “the
prologue.”
To flush out (or, in other words, to actually create) the rest of the play, I went back to my list of ideas. On it was also the
idea, "mad scientist." It made me think of one of my favorite movies of all time, Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. It's one
of those movies I can watch over and over. "I'll never forget my old dad... the thing's he'd say to me... What the hell are you
doing in the bathroom day and night? Why don't you get out of there and give someone else a chance?" "No, it's pronounced
eye-gor." These lines make me laugh as I think of them. I wrote down my next idea: "Mad scientist... building the ‘perfect'
woman for his wife (or, so he says)." I’m quite sure I didn’t mean that last line as dirty as it sounds.
ACT ONE
In minimal detail, I describe the laboratory of my scientist who would be named: James? Richard? Jon? Lewis? No... none
of these sounded right. Well, Frankenstein named his creature after himself. So I needed a name like Frankenstein.
Something strange, weird. Almost catchy. I looked around my desk. Something to inspire me. I then saw a squiggly marker.
Perfect! Squigglystein? No... that won't work. I need a different name ending. And somehow (I can't explain it) I decided on
dickler. Squiggllydickler. Inexplicably I added an extra "l" to the squiggly. It just looked better. He would also have a partner
like “eye-gor.” In the original script I described the assistant as "small in stature... typical lab assistant." And for whatever
reason his name became Mr. Miller. From that point other characters followed, of course. Some of these characters even
survived to tonight's production. Other's were not so fortunate...
The story flowed very easily, until I started falling into plot holes. "How do Squiggllydickler and Miller do this or that? Well,
that doesn't make sense. What about... no." How was I going to fix these problems? Easy... I'll just have the Narrator come
out and fix it. That's when the Narrator became a much bigger role. And at that point I had also been thinking of people to
play different roles. The easiest part to cast? The Narrator. The only person I knew who could play that role was Bob
Brown. Not that... as you'll see... Bob is a pompous, self-obsessed, British actor; I just kept imagining Bob playing the part,
and I kept laughing. Luckily Bob did agree to play the role.
On August 12th I had completed the first rough draft of the play. It was all of seventy-five pages long. I went back to
rework it. I decided to focus my attention on Act One and by November 2nd I had completed the fourth draft of Act One
alone. At this point it had gotten longer, more detailed, some new scenes had been added and some characters had been
completely removed. I then started to work on Act Two. And as anybody in this cast can tell you, Act Two has gone
through many, many different versions. For a while it was even a musical. That's right. Just Act Two was a musical. I
thought it was funny, and it fit in with the silly nature of the play. But the story in Act Two didn't quite fit.
By March 2006 I had finished what I considered to be the first completed draft. On March 10, I invited friends to read
through the script for the first time. Act One (in my opinion) went over very well. Everyone was laughing, crying even. We
took a break in between acts, and the anticipation was high for Act Two to be just as hilarious. We began to read it and... it
bombed. It bombed big time. There was a laugh here and there, but nothing like Act One. I was disappointed. I, along with
my composer, Reyna Spears, had been working for a while on Act Two. To see it not get the reaction we were hoping for
was disappointing.
The next night I locked myself in a room with my laptop, all the different versions of Squiggllydickler, and my complete
Monty Python Series Box Set to inspire me. After working all night I came out with a completely new Act Two. I took ideas
from different drafts of the play, pasted them together, and then added all new dialog and scenes. I remember telling Rainee
that Monday that I'd finished a new Act Two. She was surprised by how quickly I'd written it. But it had come so quickly
to me that I knew it was right. On April 22 we had a second reading. This time Act Two went better than the first time and
we decided that we'd try to produce it over the summer. And then that May, Rainee and I decided to approach Dr.
Lawrence Dukes about producing Squiggllydickler at SSCC. He was very enthusiastic about it and wished us luck. We set
the date, cast the show, built the set, rehearsed the hell out of it, and now... here we are.
ACT TWO
Squiggllydickler, for me, is special. A lot of work has gone into creating what you see before you tonight. The many
different rewrites that I've personally gone through (before and during rehearsals) have made me appreciative of everyone
involved. It's not very easy reading something one day and doing something completely different the next. Each and every
one of these actors have brought something special to their characters and brought them to life off of the page. The
wonderful crew has worked hard to make sure that everything I envisioned (good or bad) was made. To these people:
Christa, Bob, Andy, Mounia, Adam, Billy, David, Brian, Nichole, Daniel, Reyna, Molly, Sarah, Sunni, Annie, Elizabeth,
Leona, Dr. Dukes, Brent and Rainee, I dedicate this show. Thank you!
"What to write... what to write..." And with those words this crazy process began. I truly had no "great idea" for a story.
Generally, I had no idea at all. I just wanted to write something. I made a list of broad concepts and plots: "Boy meets girl,
mystery, comedy, etc." And from this whole page of ideas I got... nothing. So, I decided on a different approach. I would
just start writing lines of dialog to see what would come of it. The first line of my new play was:
NARRATOR
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome.
That was it. Quite basic. My play is going to have a narrator. Could I sustain a whole play on the shoulders of a narrator? I
thought I could. In my notes I wrote "Two act farce w/ a narrator that continues... randomly coming (out) on stage." And I
just wrote and wrote ideas. I established characters in this scene such as: ‘John,' ‘Jacob,' ‘Jingleheimer' and ‘Schmidt.'
They were like the four stooges arguing with the narrator over nonessential topics including a shortened version of Arthur
Miller's Death of a Salesman. A really quick and dumb scene in which a salesman is shot dead. It was weird, funny and
established that the narrator truly had no idea what was going on. I also started including activities in which we (the actors)
had been forbidden to do in the past. You see in the rehearsal process one becomes bored with hearing a script over and
over again. So you start talking about actions and/or dialogue that you feel would make the play more entertaining. "Wouldn't
it be funny it my character..." "I think I'll say _____ instead of _____." These discussions can sometimes drive a director
crazy. And the thought of driving Rainee crazy inspired me to write these things down. Once I felt I could write no more
into this scene I stopped and looked at it again. It was a little jumbled and as an entire play. I decided to make this part “the
prologue.”
To flush out (or, in other words, to actually create) the rest of the play, I went back to my list of ideas. On it was also the
idea, "mad scientist." It made me think of one of my favorite movies of all time, Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. It's one
of those movies I can watch over and over. "I'll never forget my old dad... the thing's he'd say to me... What the hell are you
doing in the bathroom day and night? Why don't you get out of there and give someone else a chance?" "No, it's pronounced
eye-gor." These lines make me laugh as I think of them. I wrote down my next idea: "Mad scientist... building the ‘perfect'
woman for his wife (or, so he says)." I’m quite sure I didn’t mean that last line as dirty as it sounds.
ACT ONE
In minimal detail, I describe the laboratory of my scientist who would be named: James? Richard? Jon? Lewis? No... none
of these sounded right. Well, Frankenstein named his creature after himself. So I needed a name like Frankenstein.
Something strange, weird. Almost catchy. I looked around my desk. Something to inspire me. I then saw a squiggly marker.
Perfect! Squigglystein? No... that won't work. I need a different name ending. And somehow (I can't explain it) I decided on
dickler. Squiggllydickler. Inexplicably I added an extra "l" to the squiggly. It just looked better. He would also have a partner
like “eye-gor.” In the original script I described the assistant as "small in stature... typical lab assistant." And for whatever
reason his name became Mr. Miller. From that point other characters followed, of course. Some of these characters even
survived to tonight's production. Other's were not so fortunate...
The story flowed very easily, until I started falling into plot holes. "How do Squiggllydickler and Miller do this or that? Well,
that doesn't make sense. What about... no." How was I going to fix these problems? Easy... I'll just have the Narrator come
out and fix it. That's when the Narrator became a much bigger role. And at that point I had also been thinking of people to
play different roles. The easiest part to cast? The Narrator. The only person I knew who could play that role was Bob
Brown. Not that... as you'll see... Bob is a pompous, self-obsessed, British actor; I just kept imagining Bob playing the part,
and I kept laughing. Luckily Bob did agree to play the role.
On August 12th I had completed the first rough draft of the play. It was all of seventy-five pages long. I went back to
rework it. I decided to focus my attention on Act One and by November 2nd I had completed the fourth draft of Act One
alone. At this point it had gotten longer, more detailed, some new scenes had been added and some characters had been
completely removed. I then started to work on Act Two. And as anybody in this cast can tell you, Act Two has gone
through many, many different versions. For a while it was even a musical. That's right. Just Act Two was a musical. I
thought it was funny, and it fit in with the silly nature of the play. But the story in Act Two didn't quite fit.
By March 2006 I had finished what I considered to be the first completed draft. On March 10, I invited friends to read
through the script for the first time. Act One (in my opinion) went over very well. Everyone was laughing, crying even. We
took a break in between acts, and the anticipation was high for Act Two to be just as hilarious. We began to read it and... it
bombed. It bombed big time. There was a laugh here and there, but nothing like Act One. I was disappointed. I, along with
my composer, Reyna Spears, had been working for a while on Act Two. To see it not get the reaction we were hoping for
was disappointing.
The next night I locked myself in a room with my laptop, all the different versions of Squiggllydickler, and my complete
Monty Python Series Box Set to inspire me. After working all night I came out with a completely new Act Two. I took ideas
from different drafts of the play, pasted them together, and then added all new dialog and scenes. I remember telling Rainee
that Monday that I'd finished a new Act Two. She was surprised by how quickly I'd written it. But it had come so quickly
to me that I knew it was right. On April 22 we had a second reading. This time Act Two went better than the first time and
we decided that we'd try to produce it over the summer. And then that May, Rainee and I decided to approach Dr.
Lawrence Dukes about producing Squiggllydickler at SSCC. He was very enthusiastic about it and wished us luck. We set
the date, cast the show, built the set, rehearsed the hell out of it, and now... here we are.
ACT TWO
Squiggllydickler, for me, is special. A lot of work has gone into creating what you see before you tonight. The many
different rewrites that I've personally gone through (before and during rehearsals) have made me appreciative of everyone
involved. It's not very easy reading something one day and doing something completely different the next. Each and every
one of these actors have brought something special to their characters and brought them to life off of the page. The
wonderful crew has worked hard to make sure that everything I envisioned (good or bad) was made. To these people:
Christa, Bob, Andy, Mounia, Adam, Billy, David, Brian, Nichole, Daniel, Reyna, Molly, Sarah, Sunni, Annie, Elizabeth,
Leona, Dr. Dukes, Brent and Rainee, I dedicate this show. Thank you!