Supreme Dream by Frank Moher and Rhonda Trodd, featuring the music of The Supremes

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Supreme Dream, Theatre Network, Edmonton, Alberta

Musical comedy/ 1 Characters, 1 Woman, 1 Female Voice/ Full Length, Two Acts

Synopsis (From The Globe and Mail [Toronto]): “Somewhere in Calgary, some time in the mid-1960s, a little girl tuned into ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and was transported by the glamour of Motown Records’ premiere female stars, The Supremes. Twenty years later, this same girl — a white girl — became a Supreme, singing backup for Mary Wilson as the former Supreme played dives, cruise ships, and lounges across Canada and the United States.

“That, in brief, is Rhonda Trodd’s story as told in Supreme Dream.”

(From The Daily News [Halifax]): “The first half details Trodd’s rather average childhood and adolescence, cleverly planting the seed that she, like all other girls who saw The Supremes on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ in the ‘6Os, secretly wanted to be part of the most glamorous female singing group in history. She even auditions for acting school by performing a hilarious rendition of “Stop! In the Name of Love, accompanied by a torturously out-out-tune piano. A series of coincidences lead to a dinner theatre gig in a play about the music of the 1960s. Mary Wilson, the last remaining Supreme has been brought in to beef up the star power. The two hit it off and Trodd convinces Wilson to take her on as a backup singer for her Supremes revival show. It’s as simple as that: Trodd realizes her lifelong dream of becoming a Supreme … sort of, anyway.

“The second half of the play is a sobering tale of disillusion. Mary Wilson’s career has been in slow decay since the early 1970s, an endless circuit of cheap hotels, cruise ships, and lousy clubs. The majority of her musicians are black, except, ironically, for her two white back-up singers. Her manager is an exploitive creep. Welcome to the music business.

“Worse, the black musicians are openly discriminated against, especially on the cruise ships, much to the horror of the naive Calgary actress. Hard lessons are learned, but nothing can take away the one true fact that, for a the period of almost one year, Rhonda Trodd could call herself a Supreme.”

“Hilarious . . . Glinting with insights . . . beautifully written.”
– The Edmonton Journal

“A sure-fire hit . . . Funny, engrossing, and completely entertaining . . . It stays with you long after you’ve left the theatre.”
– The Daily News(Halifax)

“A fascinating picture of the joys, absurdities, and indignities of life on the fringes of fame.”
– The Globe and Mail(Toronto)

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Performance rights must be secured before production
Contact information:
Amateur and professional rights:
Single Lane Entertainment,
650 Little Blvd.,
Gabriola Island, B.C.,
Canada,
V0R 1X3.
Ph.: (in North America) 1-855-757-9216 or 250-247-9216
Email: info@singlelane.com
Playwright’s website: FrankMoher.com

About the Playwright: Frank Moher’s plays have been produced internationally, at theatres including South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, Calif.), Detroit Repertory Theatre, Round House Theatre (Silver Spring, Maryland), the Canadian Stage Company (Toronto), the Wellington Repertory Theatre (Wellington, New Zealand), Workshop West Theatre (Edmonton, Alta.), the Asolo Theater (Sarasota, Fla.), Alberta Theatre Projects (Calgary), Dodona Theatre (Prishtina, Kosova), The Mingei Theatre (Tokyo), and OmaDa Theatre (Athens, Greece). He has won a Los Angeles Drama-Logue Award for Writing (for Odd Jobs), the Edmonton Sterling Award for Outstanding New Play (for both The Third Ascent and Prairie Report,), and is published by both ProPlay and the Playwrights Guild of Canada. Frank has taught at the University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta (where he was a Distinguished Visiting Artist), and is currently an instructor in scriptwriting and journalism at Vancouver Island University. He has also worked professionally as a literary manager and dramaturg, and written for publications including The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Saturday Night magazine, The Georgia Straight, backofthebook.ca and salon.com.

Supreme Dream was premiered by Theatre Network, Edmonton, in April, 1996.

Also by Frank Moher on ProPlay: