Selling Baby Prairie
a short play by Mark Rigney
The Play
As part of CCTA 2023, we will be producing the play Selling Baby Prairie, a play that celebrates biodiversity, vegetal politics, creating mental space for new perspectives, and allowing for plants to exist as they are. In the play, two plants that compose a naturally-occuring and gently maintained wildflower garden outside become convinced that they must conform to typical garden beauty standards so that their caretaker may sell their home to a critical public. In the end, though the plants are unable to change themselves, the purchaser of the home changes the way they view the wildflower garden–and all it takes is a simple and transparent letter from the garden caretaker explaining why they let the plants be as they are!
About the Playwright
Mark Rigney
Mark Rigney is an award-winning American author and playwright. His plays have been performed all over the US and in many other countries across the globe, including China, Australia, and Canada. His personal blog is an incredible way to keep updated with his current projects and personal life and ideologies. He is also a big collector of old beer cans!
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The Action:
Inspired by the movement of guerrilla gardening, we will be distributing seeds for people within our audience to spread around when the spring comes next year. By promoting the growth of plants outside of formally maintained flowerbeds, we will be contributing to the thriving of pollinators, which play a key role in keeping our ecosystems afloat.
Play Synopsis:
The play opens on Blake, an avid greenthumb, and their spouse Parker, who are preparing to sell their current home. While Blake is trying to neaten up their wildflower garden so that it looks attractive to potential buyers, Parker reminds them that “half the point is to just let Baby Prairie do its thing.” Despite this, Blake still feels compelled to neaten up the unconventionally untidy garden so that they can “convince some stranger that this is worth keeping” (Rigney 2).
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As Blake continues to dig, the narrative shifts over to the perspective of Coneflower and Cup Plant, two beings living in Baby Prairie. Through a quippy conversation, they discuss the reality that Blake is moving away and the looming threat of their demise in favor of a lawn. They come to the conclusion that they need to get their act together and “flourish” if they wish to stay alive (Rigney 4). At the end of this exchange, Coneflower and Cup Plant Are convert they've shaped up, but that Perception could not be further from the truth: they are still as they were.
Later, Quinn (a realtor) and Riley (a prospective buyer) enter the backyard. After Riley notices the unconventional look of the garden, Quinn reassures them that it can easily be dug up and replaced with a more landscaped lawn, if they wish. But before they can proceed with that plan, they read aloud a respectable letter left behind by Blake, explaining the significance of Baby Prairie. As the letter is read aloud, the plants are beginning to lose hope: “bloom harder!” Coneflower desperately chants, later remarking, “we’re doomed.” In a subversion of their gloomful expectations, after hearing this letter, Riley changes their mind and decides that they will carry on the role of care-taker of Baby Prairie, reflecting the idea of tangible hope, and marking the beginning of a new era.