Tale of a West Texas Marsupial Girl

Lisa D’Amour, playwright
Sxip Shirey, composer

One day, somewhere in West Texas, a girl is born. She’s got beautiful toes, a beautiful nose, all her tiny fingers and all her tiny toes but, holy puppy on a peach tree, she is something else! Something a bit like a kangaroo!! This girl is about 95% girl and about 5% marsupial. In other words, she’s got a pouch. It might seem that a built in pocket would come in handy, but it doesn’t always work that way.

The day the Marsupial Girl (MG) is born the town isn’t ready to accept this kind of different. MG does have a marvelous relationship with one precious friend, Sue, who knows some of the secrets of the wonderful pouch, but when MG goes to school their friendship falls on hard times. You see, MG can do things – like steal the voice right out of somebody’s throat, and put it in her pouch. At first, she only steals meanness, but when everybody expects the worst of her, she stops trying to be her best, and soon she starts stealing whatever she can. She steals insults, questions, bubble gum, a Barbie doll and ribbons right out of a girl’s hair. She keeps stealing until there’s nothing left but her and her – big – huge – pouch. Now she’s really lonesome. But Sue comes back. Together they put the world back in order, and in the process help other people understand that MG’s just plain different. And that’s a wonderful thing.

“D’Amour is a complex, engaging writer known for her experimental works. Marsupial Girl…is her foray into the world of children’s theater. Its plot, about differences large and small, resonates.” – Minneapolis Star Tribune

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