"Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up" Written and Performed by Lucy Alibar at LCT3

Playwright, screenwriter & novelist Lucy Alibar (b Florida 1983) is wrote & performs in her one woman show at the Claire Tow Lincoln Center Theater. Alibar co-wrote the Acad. Award winning film "The Beasts of the Southern Wild" which received multiple Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Screenplay.  Alibar appropriates her southern roots & family history.  Her father was a criminal defense attorney & her mother taught painting to inmates.  These facts are incorporated into "Throw Me on the Burnpile..."  Alibar gave a preamble to the audience for her "work in progress" asking us to please bear with her as she figures what form her story writing will take.  Alibar performs her own writing in her solo, one act play.  Alibar's storytelling is masterful.  The main character is a young girl referred to as "Boss" by her dad.  Dad is a criminal defense attorney that represents clients charged with murder.  Boss is an adolescent schoolgirl who is constantly  thwarted by teachers, classmates & neighbors alike.  She is told she is "stupid" by her teacher and bullied by classmate who use her as a punching bag. Her younger brother fits the description  of an overweight dimwit.  Neither parent is overly concerned about her brother.  He is given an egg to hold onto as a cryptic source of comfort.  The attention Boss gets is mainly from her father who tries valiantly to mentor her in valuable life lessons.  The weekly show & tell in the classroom is an opportunity to shine in front of the class or more often than not, receive dismal notice.  Boss is at a loss of how to fit in & is constantly dejected.  Her saving grace are the times she runs wild with her father through fields of feral cats while being given strategic lessons from him.  Alibar paints colorful characters that are cruel & pathetic.  The "burnpile" refers to a mounting pyre of boxes with the jetsam left to her father from prisoners executed.  Most of the items were purchased by Boss & her dad for the inmates at their requests.  The inmate on death row for whom her father is fighting for a stay of execution has asked for art supplies.  He continues to paint pictures and sends them to her family.  Her father has run out of appeals for his client.  The day of the execution garners a jubilant gathering around Denny's for the promised free fries.  Boss gains deep respect for her father as she understands his heroism & the high expectations he holds for her.  Together father & daughter ignite the burnpile that has accumulated emblazoning & emboldening Boss for a life to be well lived.  Alibar's writing is masterful.  She writes with melancholy & grace. Her acting doesn't give justice to her play.  There is brilliant material here to building upon for a screenplay or novel that would better capture the poignancy of this potent "work in progress."