Turtle Soup

COMEDY. A young woman fights for her inheritance. Her "dying" uncle mocks her life and that of her actor husband. A tirade occurs over Turtle Soup and ends in the spilling of soup and the Uncle's guffaw joke that it is April first --All Fools Day--and he is playing a joke.

CAST OF CHARACTERS: (1M, 1W)
A clever man, GENE SONIAT, 69. lies on his sickbed. Deaf. He stares blankly ahead, and breathes through a partially opened mouth. When he speaks, he shouts.

His pregnant niece, LUCILLE, 29, enters with a tray of soup and calls out nervously over his rough breathing.

SETTING:
Noon, the present time, in New Orleans. A stark light glares into the master bedroom of a mansion.

1f, 1f/m

COMEDY. Turtle Soup is a short play that builds tension between a 'dying' uncle (or aunt) and a young niece who is after the family inheritance. A tirade occurs over Turtle Soup and ends in the spilling of soup and the breaking of the secret as the old invalid guffaws about a joke being played on that day, April first --All Fools Day. Note: the role of the old uncle may be cast with a femaile playing it as an aunt.

The bedroom setting in a old New Orleans mansion creates an evocative sense of place.