87 pgs. 15 female, 13 male +ensemble
Doubling is possible
Originally produced in CTC's 06-07 season
Audience Recommendation: 6+
One day, somewhere in West Texas, a girl is born. She’s got beautiful toes, a beautiful nose, all her tiny fingers and all her tiny toes but, holy puppy on a peach tree, she is something else! Something a bit like a kangaroo!! This girl is about 95% girl and about 5% marsupial. In other words, she’s got a pouch. It might seem that a built in pocket would come in handy, but it doesn’t always work that way.
The day the Marsupial Girl (MG) is born all the doctors quit and the nurses walk out. The town isn’t ready to accept this kind of different. As Dr. Pouch, the man who makes most of the sounds in this West Texas world and who talks a wonderful, wacky slang knows right off, “Ohhh…this is gonna make people nervous!” Oh, yes, and when people are “nervous,” people are mean. The Marsupial Girl and her mama live mostly on
their own out on the edge of town. MG does have a marvelous relationship with Dr. Pouch who is a little like a favorite uncle, and one precious friend, Sue, who knows some of the secrets of the wonderful pouch, but when Marsupial Girl goes to school their friendship falls on hard times.
MG’s first lessons at school happen outside the classroom. Sue betrays her to be part of the popular crowd who gossip, bully, and are just plain mean. Barely anybody tries to understand what it’s like to be so different. And she is different. She can do things - like steal the voice right out of somebody’s throat, and put in her pouch. At first, she only steals meanness, but when everybody expects the worst of her, she stops trying to be her best. She gets blamed for stealing a knife that Sue stole to impress two other girls, and soon she starts stealing whatever she can.
She steals insults, questions, bubble gum, a Barbie doll, cigarettes, and ribbons right out of a girl’s hair. She puts it all in her pouch. She insults her teacher, her mother, even Dr. Pouch and keeps stealing until there’s nothing left but her and her – big – huge – pouch. Now she’s really lonesome. But Sue comes back. She admits she is the one who stole the knife and she helps the Marsupial Girl unpack her pouch. Together they put the world back in order, and in the process help other people understand that MG’s just plain different. And that’s a wonderful thing.
“D’Amour is a complex, engaging writer known for her experimental works. Marsupial Girl…is her foray into the world of children’s theater. Its plot, about differences large and small, resonates.” – Minneapolis Star Tribune
