"SUMMIT"
An adventure play by Allen Meece
SYNOPSIS: Summit is loosely based on the Everest disaster of 1996. Two commercial high altitude climbing expeditions arrived late at the summit and were punished by a storm while descending. Both expedition leaders and one guide and two clients were unable to reach camp and froze to death.
Mount Everest, called "Chomolungma" in Nepalese, is revered by the natives as representing a generous, loving Mother Earth deity and this play enhances that belief. The qualities of greed and competitive brutality are personified by the characters laying siege to the dynamic spiritual force of the huge mountain -- which awakens and sorts them out. Here is, at last, a BIG play to grace your stage with power and impact.
This one act play has 10 scenes and runs fifty minutes. The set can be four scaffolds, less than six feet high, to represent the four camps on the climb to the top of the world.
The play uses projected images to show the splendid high Himalayan scenery.
"SUMMIT" has had a reading and was completed in October 2005. It is available at modest royalty for production.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE (7)
| GUIDES |
|---|
| ROGER: Premier commercial high altitude expedition leader who must achieve multiple victories to accept himself. |
| PEMBA: Spiritually and physically robust Sherpa guide who converts to the worship of money on the peak. |
| BUD: Strong sensible apprentice guide who becomes hypoxic and unable to question his bosses lethally failing judgement. |
| CLIENTS |
| DAN: Good guy and skillful climber, this postal worker is back for another go at the summit he loves. |
| CYNDI: An attractive social-climbing mountain climber who learns you can't dance with an avalanche. |
| HERBERT: Agressive chief executive, trying to buy a hero badge, finds that simple good judgement is the most important thing to own. |
| COMPETITOR |
| GERRY: An egotist with Roger's fame and fortune in his sights. |
The playwright, Allen Meece, is a naval veteran and has written "The Abel Mutiny," a novel about the covert causes of the Vietnam War. He has published poems and short stories.
E-mail Allen Meece for more information. Playwrights on the Web - an international database of playwrights & their websites offering production & publishing opportunities.