Ever since beginning our playwriting unit, I have wondered the ways in which I can incorporate magical realism into my plays. I could not help but notice that most of my plays I’ve written, weeks into the unit, have had something missing. Every prompt I wrote seemed bland and unexciting. After finishing our fiction and poetry unit, I was used to expanding on small moments; a ten minute play seemed far too daunting. So I began a mission to thaw out my prose mindset and unveil my passion for playwriting again. It was a rocky road of many short scenes full of yelling, perhaps a projection of my frustration. In our third week, the class was prompted to incorporate a magical character into a scene using subtext. I was intimidated at the idea, how could I communicate anything meaningful through something that isn’t real? Or, how could I do that and also convey multiple meanings? But then I thought of all of the ridiculous magical characters that have imprinted on me and the ridiculous real figures that I will never forget. Both of which could have fishy intentions. This prompt made me think: why not use both? I always thought I was a drama kind of gal, but drama is ten times better when it’s coming from a talking octopus. Here is a monologue prompted from magic and subtext, a dangerous mix.

BUBBLES

I am not a horrible octopus. I am very friendly, all of the fish in the sea would agree. But I must address a video of me that’s been floating around all over Fishbook and Instaclam. And I’d like to point out that I am the victim here. All of this has been taken out of context. I never meant to offin anyone with my actions, but you try reacting reasonably when a smelly fisherman picks you out with his load and starts filming you. Things may have gotten messy…but I only inked in self defense! I never intended to make anyone upset, but I also never planned on getting fished out of my house. And I certainly did not expect to be trending on Turtle for the next week! I just wanted to say to all of my sweet generous fins, thank you for all of your support in this huge sandal. I love and appreciate all of your fan mail and will be releasing my revenge music video for “Inked” next Friday so leave a like and comment and I’ll catch you Bubble Babies later. Toodles!