A Spare Me, the play I wrote for the students at the Professional Performing Arts School’s Waterwell Drama Program, is now available from Playscripts, Inc.! Order your copy, download an eScript, or license the play for performance here.
There’s also a quick and dirty interview of me on the Playscripts Blog with information about the play, how I started out writing, and some words of wisdom for other playwrights.
A Spare Me
by A. Rey Pamatmat
With Earth’s resources and population dwindling, humanity puts everything it has left into one final generation of children. They are selected for their genius and furnished with everything they could require — including genetically-engineered spare life forms that will ensure no child’s existence is ended by something as trivial as death. But when high school student Sel is replaced by his spare after a tragic accident, his friends begin to reconsider their own identities. As they uncover the dark secrets behind their own lives, both the children and the spares set out to prove they have minds of their own.
I was in this show my senior year of high school. I played Prox. I am a queer trans man and I really appreciate this play because I can see myself and my friends in it and we got to play characters who were like us for once. When it was announced that we were doing it no one really knew what it was about except that it was sci-fi and there was an mlm couple who got to kiss onstage. The next time I saw my best friend the first thing he said to me was ‘we should try and be the gay guys’ and we did end up getting cast as Sel and Prox. It was just very cool to be in a show that was so representative of the people who were in the cast and it meant a lot to me to be in it.
Sam, I’m sorry it took me some time to approve this comment. I was out of town for an extended period and had limited access to wi-fi.
I just wanted to say that I’m glad you had a meaningful experience with the play. It’s wonderful to know when people are personally affected by my work especially when they feel empowered by it.