Max and Eileen

Critical Response 

All my friends know about my characters “Max and Eileen”. It’s because once you start creating a world like I tried to for “Max and Eileen”, it’s hard to bring yourself out of it. You begin dreaming up ways to change the plot, or develop the characters more. But by far the most challenging part of writing a script is getting that main idea down in dialogue and action. 

This was by far the most challenging and rewarding assignment I’ve done all year. I’ve never written a script before, so bare with me on the readability, and please, try to laugh at a few of my jokes. What I found most challenging with this script actually picking something to write about. I had three characters from the start; Max, Eileen, and Helen, and that was the easy part. The hard part was incorporating some little-known-facts from the course into the script. I tried my best to add jokes or descriptions that would enhance the “gender subplot” of the script. The most fun I had was adding music throughout the piece, used as a pacing technique and also as a plot enhancement. 

Where I think I fell short was towards the end. I tried my best to include Butler in the script, but wish I had more time and more pages to flush out my ideas. Helen was the hardest character to develop as she is a high femme lesbian (see http://confessionsofafemaledragqueen.blogspot.com/ for an idea of the look I was going for). The idea of adding Justin Bond in came later, however gave Helen’s character motivation for joining the “Ladies of the Horror House” in the first place. It was hard for me to find a good ending, so concluding with a few lines about Justin and Helen’s relationship was the best way I found to send the proper message of the script. Although Helen was a high femme lesbian, her ability to transform into a male figure on stage illuminates Butler’s idea of “gender performity”.