Join us for the 3rd Salon Series Reading of the 2017-2018 Season, Sunday, January 21 at 2PM.

3GT presents a staged reading

The Family Trick

By Elizabeth Appell

This dark comedy opens in the Suicide Depot where Bug, desperate to understand if it was her fault that her family abandoned her by taking their lives, shops for a way to end her own life. A frenzied Clerk, overly enthusiastic enters through a swinging door, the portal to the other side. He helped each of her family to shop for the best tool for their personal exit. Bug prods Clerk to help her, but he refuses. A bell rings calling him to the other side. Without him knowing, she slips through into the world of the dead. She meets up with her father, mother, and brother, all who deny their suicides, but her presence stirs up the past opening up disturbing family secrets. With humor and dramatic turns, Bug’s quest catapults her between love and rage, despair and hope as she stumbles through the world of the afterlife. In the end, she must make the decision whether or not to join them in the family trick.

Elizabeth Appell

3GT Resident Playwright, Elizabeth Appell.

Elizabeth Appell is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist.
Her novel, Lessons from the Gypsy Camp received rave reviews (See Amazon.com.)and was awarded Honorable Mention in both the Paris Book Festival and the Beach Festival. Appell has written award winning short stories and over a dozen have been published.
She adapted the novel, Lessons from the Gypsy Camp, to a screenplay. The script won first place in the Nevada State Film Commission Competition and placed in eleven other competitions. Eventually it was optioned.
Her feature script, Moon Walkers, (adapted from the play of the same title) placed in over ten competitions at the semi-finalist or finalist placement. Orgasms and Other Lies, a feature film, placed in over six competitions. Her full-length plays have been given directed readings in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Confessions of a Catholic Child was first produced by The Virtual Theatre Project in Los Angles and then went up at The EXIT Theatre, San Francisco, July 2016.
Appell’s play Moon Walkers placed in several competitions including as finalist in the O’Neil. James Denton (Desperate Housewives) took on the lead in a staged reading in Los Angeles.
Appell’s two short films Easy Made Hard and Warnings from the Bathtub, starring the late iconic Karen Black were official selections at over 30 festivals and were awarded Gold in Houston. Easy Made Hard was screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner.
She’s honored to be included in the amazing group of writers that make up Three Girls Theatre.