The third installment of the Mrs. Hawking story, Base Instruments, is now available here on the site for viewing! Click here to read it in the Scripts section.

The official synopsis:

London, England, 1883— Mary has been Mrs. Hawking’s protege for two years now, learning to the ropes of championing the downtrodden women of London with the intent of one day taking her mistress’s place. When Mrs. Hawking is injured in the line of duty, the press for Mary to master the trade becomes all the more urgent as a dancer in the St. Petersberg ballet approaches them to solve the murder of the prima ballerina. But as the team hunts down the truth, Nathaniel’s determination to be of use in his aunt’s work has consequences he doesn’t expect, and Mary begins to realize the heavy cost of taking on the life Mrs. Hawking leads. Join our team as they seek to reconcile the difficult path of the hero with the unraveling of the mystery and seeing that justice is done.

A few notes on it before you read:

The writing of Base Instruments was begun over the course of 31 Plays in 31 Days 2014, with the bulk of it structured and drafted over the course of summer and fall 2015. This version was finalized this past week.

Special thanks to Jane Becker, John Benfield, Charlotte Brewer, Matt Kamm, Tegan Kehoe, Samantha LeVangie, Shannon Moore, and Circe Rowan for their invaluable feedback in the editing process. Their time, perspective, and review made wonderful contributions to the shape of the final product. And of course, my eternal gratitude to Bernie Gabin, my partner in life and in art, who helped me figure out how the hell this idea was going to work, and without whom I’d never have been able to make it happen. Mrs. Hawking is my brainchild, but we’re very much raising her together.

It is written for ten speaking roles, five women and five men, plus a small nonspeaking ensemble. As written, Miss Zakharova and Miss Sherba are designed to be double cast. It is also possible to double cast Arthur and Lord Seacourse, or Arthur and Kiril Chernovsky.

It takes place about a year and a half after the events of Vivat Regina, the previous installment, in the autumn of 1883.

All related posts on the topic of Base Instruments can be found in this category.

With this, the first planned trilogy of our story is completed. The dream of Mrs. Hawking being a true series has become a reality. This is proof of concept that it can be done, and I can’t wait to see where we go form here. I hope you enjoy it. All comments, questions, and responses to the piece are very welcome.

Read the new script Base Instruments here.

Mrs. Hawking by Phoebe Roberts will be performed January 15th at 8PM and January 16th at 4PM and Vivat Regina by Phoebe Roberts January 17th at 1PM at the Westin Waterfront Hotel as part of Arisia 2016.