Natural Order of Petness
A dog named Charlie notices that raccoons are domesticating. It’s cultural appropriation. He believes it’s part of a plan to replace dogs and cats as pets. He fears a loss of status for dogs and urges humans to oppose this demographic redefinition of petness.
Themes and issues
Cultural appropriation, domestication of raccoons, pets, fear of others.
Production history
This play has not yet been produced.
Genre
Comedy, cultural satire.
Acts and run time\
One act, approximately 7 minutes.
Cast
One actor who presents as a dog (any race).
Playwright note on performing a dogologue
A dire warning is issued by Charlie Hound, a character with an intense dislike for raccoons. Not a surprise, given dogs instinctively see raccoons as rivals and threats.
Although Charlie’s concerns are real and based on facts as he understands them, the actor is not pensive or deliberative but passionate and emotional. This is reflected in the pacing of the lines. The delivery is quick, if not quite a mile a minute, certainly a bit frantic.
The challenge for the actor with this monologue on stage is that its humour is as much about the character Charlie as the absurd situations that are presented. Pauses should be responsive to the audience. When a line evokes laughter, the actor lets it peak but then moves quickly to the next line before it dies away.
Performance rights
You may download a perusal copy of this copyrighted play for review. Performance rights inquiries to the playwright at rights@rbws.ca or the Playwrights Guild of Canada at playwrightsguild.ca.
I’m a self-represented playwright so I generally handle rights inquiries for my plays myself. You don’t need to deal with the big guys (you know who they are). You just reach out to me and we’ll start the process and get it done very quickly. If you’re used to dealing with the Playwrights Guild of Canada already, they’re terrific too, so go talk with them because they can administer rights for all my plays.
If you’re a drama teacher working with students and not selling tickets or making money with one of my plays, then I ask for production photos in lieu of royalties. It starts with an email to me. Then we figure it out.
