The Average-Sized Mermaid
Be Careful What You Fish For
Written by Jessica Fleitman
THE AVERAGE-SIZED MERMAID is an original play that turns the genre of romantic comedy inside out to explore modern feminism.
THE AVERAGE-SIZED MERMAID is an outrageous parable that will have you laughing your tail off. In the classic fairytale, a mermaid gave up her fins to follow a prince, only to lose him to another woman. When Miriam, an elementary school teacher, watches her professor fiancé run off with a student, she swears off men entirely by magically transforming her legs into a mermaid tail so no man can get into her… heart. But what she doesn’t see coming is that this act sparks a national feminist movement, with Miriam as the figurehead. Toss an unconventional prince charming into the mix, and Miriam may be in over her head.
Jessica Fleitman is an award-winning playwright and graduate of UC Santa Barbara. Notable credits include Word of the Day (Sloan Foundation commission recipient, staged reading by the Magic Theatre in San Francisco) and The Average-Sized Mermaid (dir. Tracy Woodward in UCSB’s New Plays Festival, Corwin Award: Best One-Act Play). While some said New York simply wasn’t ready for a writer from a middle-class Jewish background, Jessica knew this unique life experience would add a fresh perspective to the city’s theatrical and literary scene, and she bravely moved to Brooklyn. She is now a proud member of the Playwrights Group (led by playwright and director Richard Caliban) and the Dramatists Guild of America. Her play, Deuteranomaly, was selected for the Strawberry One-Act Festival this August. For more information, check out www.fleitman.blogspot.com
We have just received The Field’s Emerging Artist Residency space grant and will be developing THE AVERAGE-SIZED MERMAID this fall. Stay tuned for more information about State of Play’s latest project!
