2020 Archive

a selection from If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be A Muhfucka And Other Thoughts On The Annexation of Beauty

Reflections, Rants, and Raves
Tori Sampson

April 1, 2020

Tori Sampson

Tori Sampson a native of Boston, MA. Her plays include If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must be a Muhfucka (Playwrights Horizons, 2019), This Land Was Made (Vineyard Theatre, 2018), and Cadillac Crew (Yale Repertory Theater, 2019). Tori is a 2017–18 Playwright’s Center Jerome Fellow and a 2018-19 Mcknight Fellow. Two of her plays appeared on the 2017 Kilroys List. Her awards and honors include the 2016 Relentless Award, Honorable Mention; the 2016 Paula Vogel Award in Playwriting from The Kennedy Center; the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, Second Place; the Alliance Theater’s 2017 Kendeda Prize, Finalist; the 2018 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Finalist. She holds a BS in sociology from Ball State University and an MFA in playwriting from Yale School of Drama.

Part Four

Should happen in real time. 

Scene One

She, panting and sweating, lunges straight up in bed.
She focuses on steadying her heartbeat. This takes a while.
She gets up, turns on the light; selects a plethora of clothes from the closet.
In the mirror, she holds each article over her body until she finds the right combination. This takes a while.
She powers through her abdominal/butt exercises.
She lotions her body.
She applies a quick coat of polish to her nails.
She sprays perfume in the atmosphere and walks through it. 
She moves to grab her hair products and goes to work on that head. Done.
She reaches for her makeup (primer, concealer, blush, foundation, liner, lashes, shadow, etc.) and begins to beat her face.
She gets dressed. Checks her walk. Checks her stance.
Checks her sitting posture. Nope.
She changes clothes.
She changes clothes.
She smiles.
She looks in the mirror again. Adjusts something.
She stares right into the glass.

MASSASSI:
This is my body. I am my soul. This is my body, I am my words. This is my body, I am my actions. This is my body, I am my contribution. This is my body, I am my laughter. I am my courage. I am my intellect. I am my persistence. I am my uniqueness. I am my definition. I AM BEAUTIFUL. I AM BEAUTIFUL. I AM BEAUTIFUL. I AM BRILLIANT. I AM QUEEN.

Massassi is ready to enter the world. So she does.

End of play

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