Idol Minds | Play Reading (2018)
Written by William Robert Carey
Directed by Tony Abatemarco
Three heads…one crime…not a thought between them.
Three young Hollywood wannabes steal a celebrity’s remains and try to ransom them back to his widow.
THE STORY: Starved for money and opportunities, Z-list actors, Scott and Ronnie, steal the remains of a celebrity, Dominic Lourdes, and try to ransom them back to his widow. Snafus snowball when Ronnie’s brash Goth-girlfriend, Lizard, demands a place at the table, and Scott’s girlfriend, Bella, opens the casket. Lourdes’ widow doesn’t cooperate and the heist goes from hopeful to horror show as the bumbling crooks try to salvage the endeavor and battle for possession of the remains.
William Robert Carey
Writer
Born in Chicago, Bill graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in English and a minor in theater. He also attended grad school at DePaul University and studied filmmaking at Columbia Film School. He subsequently worked in the advertising industry as a writer and producer at such ad agencies as Leo Burnett, Cunningham & Walsh, and Campbell-Mithun-Esty. Simultaneously, he worked as an actor in Chicago theaters such as The Goodman, Pheasant Run, Shakespeare Repertory, and Victory Gardens where he played Danny in the Chicago premiere of “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea.”
Since turning to directing and producing, he has shot over a hundred commercials for such companies as McDonald's, Pizza Hut and the Chicago White Sox, and won One Show, Mobius, New York International TV & Radio Festival, Telly, and Addy Gold awards. He recently directed Angels In Stardust, starring Alicia Silverstone, Billy Burke, and AJ Michalka, a film inspired by his novel, Jesus In Cowboy Boots. He is a member of five entertainment unions, and a citizen of the U.S. and Ireland.
William Robert Carey
SCHEDULE
Skylight Theatre; June 16
STC / INKubator Play Reading
2018
NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT
IDOL MINDS was inspired, but not based, on the theft of Charlie Chaplin’s remains decades ago. What interested me about the incident was the idea that his remains were valuable, a denial of the ephemeral currency of fame, celebrity, and adoration. The situation reminded me of the treatment of holy relics and alluded to the intersection of people’s devotion to celebrities and religious icons. Both are inspired by a wide-eyed glorification of an idol. This equivalence is particularly relevant in the celebrity obsessed culture that produced the age of Trump. It’s no small coincidence that Trump's largest base of support proceeds from evangelical Christians; and it’s no big leap for evangelicals to segue from a mantic authority figure to a mortal one. Many evangelicals believe Trump is an imperfect emissary of God, illustrating the crazy and irrational nature of idolatry.
But IDOL MINDS isn’t about Trump per se. Nor is it grave and serious. It’s mostly a black screwball comedy trying to be seriously funny. If it provokes some thought and conversation on the way home, all the better.