A CHATEAU IN HESSMER

A COLLECTION OF SHORT PLAYS

by David J. Holcombe


Formats

Softcover
£15.69
Softcover
£15.69

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 16/03/2015

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 6x9
Page Count : 358
ISBN : 9781496963536

About the Book

“A Chateau in Hessmer” contains a collection of short plays by Dr. David J. Holcombe. Lengths vary from ten-minute sketches, to more developed one-acts lasting an hour or so. Subject matter runs the gamut from penile implants to Christmas wreaths, with lots in-between. This collection compliments Dr. Holcombe’s previous theatrical works, “Beauty and the Botox” and “Old South, New South, No South.” Not for the faint of heart, the characters and situations reflect the best and worst our society has to offer with stomach-wrenching precision. While sometimes appearing familiar, the characters are, of course, imaginary, reflecting the best practices of confidentiality and good taste. Intrepid directors, teachers and students will find the diversity and depth of the subject matter worth exploring. Come and share a unique, if sometimes disturbing, vision of our contemporary society, played out on the stage as in life. Much as the monk, Gregor Mendel, worked in isolation in Moravia to develop the foundations of modern genetics, Dr. Holcombe has labored in Central Louisiana to create a body of work that he hopes will resist the ravages of time by incorporating universal elements. You, the reader, must be the judge if he succeeds or not.


About the Author

Dr. David Holcombe was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. After attending the University of California at Davis and the University of Florida in Gainesville, he left the United States and attended medical school at the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium. While teaching folk dancing classes there to earn some income, he met his future wife, Nicole Catherine. After returning to the United States in 1983, Dr. Holcombe did a residency in internal Medicine at a Johns-Hopkins affiliated clinic in Baltimore. He and his wife and first son, Renaud, settled in Alexandria, Louisiana in 1986, where they have remained and raised three other children, Tanguy, Joffroi and Thibault. Dr. Holcombe remains a prolific, if unrecognized, author. A dozen of his short plays have been produced in the context of Spectral Sisters Productions in Alexandria, Louisiana, over the last decade. There is a disturbing incisiveness in his works that sometimes evokes discomfort in readers and viewers alike, but which reflects the depth of his vision. His medical career has always offered a unique window into the extraordinary complexity of human behavior, sometimes admirable and sometimes appalling. Writing and medicine have co-existed somewhat uneasily over the years in Dr. Holcombe’s life. Much like Thomas Mann’s character, Tonio Kruger, Dr. Holcombe has found himself caught between the scientific and literary worlds, too much in both to be completely in one or the other. This life-long tension produces some of the most unique and vibrant literary works of our troubled times, a kaleidoscope of personalities and issues. The creative spirit continues to flourish in him, however, with or without recognition, in a most unlikely location.