Series: The Plays of Tom Anselmo
Volume: 1
Title: Gail's Place
Subtitle: A Trilogy of Plays in Two Acts; Secret Burdens, Clues, The Place
Author: Tom Anselmo
Publisher: Red Brindle Press
Edition: First, 2006
ISBN-13: 978-0-9770794-1-4
Pages: 344
Binding: Quality Paperback
Price: US $15.95
Availability: Spring 2006. Available to the booktrade through Baker & Taylor

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Book Description:
Secrecy – and the way it may be used to maintain relationships – is central to this trilogy of plays. The protagonist in Gail’s Place speaks her mind; she has a visceral response against editing her thoughts. She craves intimacy and expects this same openness from all the significant others in her life. Is she obsessed with complete honesty? Or Is she right that secrecy and intimacy are a contradiction?

The setting of the first play, Secret Burdens, is a dinner party of eight friends and family; the occasion is the celebration of one couple’s anniversary. The honored guests ask that a secret be kept about a former relationship between two other members of the party. Through ordinary and realistic interactions, the implications of keeping (or not keeping) secrets are revealed.

The second play, Clues, begins three weeks later with a traumatic event that impacts on members of the dinner party. Faced with difficult choices of which secrets to tell and which to hold back, Gail examines her own character and her relationship with her best friend.

In the final play of the Trilogy, The Place, another secret at another dinner party is pivotal. Gail and her husband, Ron, learn about possible unprofessional behavior on the part of one of Ron’s colleagues, who is to be the guest of honor at the party. Tensions build between Ron and Gail because of their different views about the boundaries of friendship, forcing them to consider the interpersonal and ethical implications of their actions.

In these sequels, Gail increasingly harkens to an inner voice, a voice that urges her to retrieve difficult — and even painful — past experiences. The voice helps her work through the paradox of visiting major corners of one’s past in order to be fully in the present moment. Gail comes to realize that the authentic life is achieved not only in breaking through the barriers of secrecy with an intimate, but also in uncovering secrecy from oneself.

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Click here to learn the backstory of this play

Go to Volume 2: Three One-Act Plays