Jule's Song
by Candace Perry
Directed by Art Devine
Dramaturge: Rita M. Bleiman

The dream of Jule Colton’s life is to perform at a large and well-known country music club.   Hard knocks have kept her from her dream, but now she has a shot and she’s going for it.  Her husband, Ray, wants her to be happy, but a wife with a career singing for strangers is more than he bargained for. Her daughter, Carrie, has her own hopes of making the world a better place, and she can’t forget that her mom’s singing and drinking used to go together.  Only Tommy, Jule’s guitar player and friend from AA, is sure that she has what it takes.  Set against the tensions of 1965 America, Jule’s Song, is the story of a family whose ambitions collide but who can’t give up on each other and the possibility of love’s redemption.

FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT
Years ago I met a woman whose Texas oil rich husband “hired her a band” so she could pursue her dream of being a country singer.  But she only sang in her backyard.  I got to thinking, what happens when she’s no longer content to sing in the backyard and wants to go on stage.  So, I wrote what happens next.  The play was originally a one act, called “Keepers,” produced by the Provincetown Theater.  My mother kept after me for years to turn the play into a full length; she didn’t like where I left the character.  Now a full length, called “Jule’s Song,” in honor of my mother, Jewell, the character now has a second act and a bunch of songs to sing.

PLAYWRIGHT STATEMENT
I like writing that aims to engage, entertain, and make a difference.  I am passionate about social justice and working with others to make change.  I’ve done this in my professional life as a social worker, working with individuals, couples and families, and working with communities in the field of AIDS, suicide prevention and health care as a human right. Like the character of the daughter in “Jule’s Song,” I entered the field of social work hoping to find a cure for alcoholism.  I didn’t.  But I remain hopeful and know, from my family, that recovery is possible.  For that, I am most grateful.  All of my life I’ve been concerned about racial justice, and the lack of it in this country.  Setting the play in 1965 Texas gave me an opportunity to explore some history that continues to haunt me.  And writing country songs, what’s that about?  Fun!

PLAY SETTING
Midland, Texas, 1965

PLAY’S HISTORY
The play was originally produced by the Provincetown Theater as a one act as “Keepers,” and did not include any songs, although the lead character wanted to be a singer.  In that version, I wanted the audience to not make any judgements about the character’s skills as a singer.  This revised version relies heavily on her singing.  A reading of the first scene was held at Cape Rep as part of a showcase for Art Devine’s playwriting class.  The play was also read in the Eventide Playwrights Lab, ETC.

ACTORS / CHARACTERS

Trish LaRose – Jule Colton, 40, dreams of being a country singer, has a strong voice and good delivery, but unsure of self, recovering alcoholic

Dennis Cunningham – Ray Colton, 50, Jule’s husband of five years, oil rich, self-made man

Susanna Creel – Carrie, 20, Jule’s daughter, college student, serious

Paul Keho – Tommy Johnson, 30, accomplished guitar player with a good voice, also recovering alcoholic, handsome in a hard-lived, cowboy

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT...
Born the oldest of three children to a Yankee jet fighter pilot and a magnolia Southern beauty, I lived in seventeen houses by the time I graduated high school.  Places I’ve called home include:

• Marietta, Ohio
• Sumpter, South Carolina
• Orlando, Florida
• Valdosta, Georgia
• Waco, Texas
• Alexandria, Virginia
• Managua, Nicaragua
• Abilene, Texas
• Fort Walton Beach, Florida
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Washington, D.C.
• New Orleans, Louisiana
• Wellfleet, Massachusetts

And though I grew up in the South, I was not of the South; rather, as a military child I became a keen observer of Southern ways and charms without the burden of having to defend what was never mine.  As an adult, I've divided my time between Wellfleet most of the year and New Orleans for shorter times, and still cannot decide if I should call myself a Southern writer.

I began my playwriting career in 1989 when the Provincetown Theatre Company produced my one act, Keepers.  Family and other career demands led me to write short stories for the next ten years, but in 1999 I returned to the Provincetown Theater’s Playwrights’ Lab, and my ten minute play, Meryl Streep, Meryl Streep, was produced featuring the legendary Julie Harris.  Since then, I’ve had more than forty short plays produced in the US and Ireland, have written four full length plays, and won several awards.  I've taught playwriting in a number of venues, including the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA.  I'm a member of the Dramatists Guild and have benefited from Cape Cod playwrights' labs with  the Provincetown Theater Company, Eventide Theater Company and Cape Rep   I’m married to Charles Thibodeau, a social worker, writer and activist. We have three sons, three grandsons, and a granddaughter who all live in San Diego.

The O’Neill Festival of New Works offers a rare opportunity for dramatists to work with dramaturges in preparation for each festival’s staged readings.