Kate Crackernuts

Sheila Callaghan

Kate’s sister Anne, a ravishing beauty, wakes up one morning to discover a sheep’s head between her shoulders. Thus begins the journey of the two sisters in their quest to return Anne’s true head to its proper place. The journey is sidetracked, however, by Kate’s obsession with a slim raver-boy who has a nasty little addiction. Based on the British fairy tale Kate Crackernuts.

Cast Requirements

4 men
5 women
1 puppet

Press

“Strange, dense, brilliant wordplay…part poetry slam, part rave, part dog-eared storybook theater, and all edgy, infectious, ultra-theatrical entertainment. Kate Crackernuts is an adult fairy tale that, like its tough but vulnerable heroine, follows a warped dream logic while keeping its sharp-tongued wits about it.”
—Los Angeles Times

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Press

“There’s a wild terrain of words in this playwright’s head…fantastical…a primal psychological crucible.”
—Village Voice

“A pulsing dreamscape where fairy tale meets rave…Breathtaking, ingenious innovation.”
—The Trojan Horse

“Watching it is rather like viewing a Pablo Picasso exhibit—full of color, angles, movement, musicians—and if you must ask what this actually means, you’ve missed the show.”
—Herald Times

Production and Development History

Produced: Flea Theater, NYC (2004); 24th Street Theatre, Los Angeles (2003); Bloomington Playwrights Project, Bloomington IN (2002).

Staged reading: A.S.K. Theatre Projects, Los Angeles (2001).

Workshopped: Printer’s Devil Theatre, Seattle (2000).