The Dinosaur Within
The disappearance of ancient dinosaur footprints in the Australian outback triggers a series of mysterious events bringing together a forgotten movie star, an Aboriginal Australian elder and a haunted newsman on an epic journey of transformation. From the subway tunnels beneath Hollywood Boulevard to the vastness of the Australian desert, time bends, continents shift, and the fragile bonds between parents and children undergo a miraculous evolution. Dreamtime meets the dream factory when worlds collide in this play that ponders the depth of human loss, the mysteries of family, and the possibility of redemption in hearts willing to grow.
Read Sample
Scene Nine: Divergence
WORRU and MISS WELLS find themselves standing together.
MISS WELLS: Who are you?
WORRU: Worru
MISS WELLS: Waa-who? You certainly don’t look like an agent; I assumed you were younger.
WORRU: And I assumed you were younger.
MISS WELLS: Look, if this is some sort of trick–
WORRU: As we approach death, the mind walks-about and plays many strange tricks.
MISS WELLS: Approach death? What are you talking about? I’m not dying.
WORRU: We both are, last of a line.
MISS WELLS: Just because I’m in a wheelchair doesn’t mean I’mmmm. . . Where’s my wheelchair!?
WORRU: Gone.
MISS WELLS: Impossible! What?! I– I– I’m standing? Walking?
WORRU: How does it feel?
MISS WELLS: Strange. . . familiar.
WORRU: Terrifying?
MISS WELLS: What is this? Where am I?
WORRU: In the dreaming.
MISS WELLS: I’m having a dream?
WORRU: We are in the hollow of life’s great footprint—
MISS WELLS: Well that certainly clears it up.
WORRU —walking through the realm of the dead before entering it completely.
MISS WELLS: Is it a no smoking realm?
WORRU: I see no sign telling us not to.
MISS WELLS: Thank god for that. You want one?
WORRU (reaching for cigarette.): Mmm . . .perhaps. . .yes.
MISS WELLS: It’s menthol.
WORRU: Oh, then, no. I don’t want one.
MISS WELLS (lighting cigarette) Suit yourself. Ah. . . .
Cast Requirements
5 Male; 4 Female
Set Description
Transformative Set
Honors
• Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award recipient
• Elizabeth Osborn award recognizing outstanding new work by
emerging playwright. American Theatre Critics Association. NYC, NY
• Austin Critic’s Table “Outstanding Original Script.” Austin, TX
Publisher
This play is not been published.
Press
“In The Dinosaur Within playwright John Walch has crafted a daisy chain of loss, a ring of absence that spans continents and decades to link people of vastly different worlds…it has a thematic point of view as clear as rainwater and a wealth of compassion and wisdom where human behavior is concerned.”
--Robert Faires
The Austin Chronicle
Production and Development History
Productions
•Theatre @ Boston Court, Pasadena, CA
• University of California Santa Barbara
• State Theater, Austin, TX
Development
• Theatre Royal Haymarket (New Directions series). London, UK
• New Works Now Festival, Joseph Papp Public Theater: NYC, NY
• Marc Platt Productions, Universal Studios: Los Angeles, CA
• Austin Script Works: Austin, TX
• Shenandoah International Playwright’s Retreat: Stanton, VA
• The Playwright’s Center of Minneapolis: Minneapolis, MN
• A.S.K. Theatre Projects: Los Angeles, CA