Welcome to the Hard Luck Cafe
By Karin Ringheim
Music
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Script
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Score
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NOTES
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SYNOPSIS
The story of a friendship between two women intertwines with those of the colorful staff and patrons of the Hard Luck Café, owned by recovering alcoholics, Joe and Mimi. The Café, known for its friendly atmosphere and all-day breakfasts, provides employment and an opportunity for those recently out of rehab to reintegrate. Together Joe and Mimi have helped many lost souls get back on their feet. The Cafe is a favorite breakfast place for Anne, a therapist, and her lifelong friend Cynthia, a divorced mother on a downward spiral and estranged from her teenaged daughter, Katie. After Cynthia bottoms out, the Hard Luck Café welcomes her as a fragile new recruit aiming to get her life back on track. The staff of the Hard Luck, - the charmingly naïve Dan, the street-wise Hazel, and the frustrated Alexis, - support one another and shore up their patrons in recovery, even as they seek to restore love and connection to their own fractured lives. Patrons, including Greg, grieving for his partner, Tom, Alexis’s commitment-phobic boyfriend, Marcus, and the drying drunk Richard, hang out in the Café as they used to hang in bars, knowing that at the Hard Luck Café they will find support for the struggle, or, if need be, a figurative swift slap upside the head. Through shared experiences, friendship and the Cafe’s own “griddle” therapy, Cindy and her coworkers find community, learn to overcome regret and live day by day, even as they must gather to grieve the loss of their friend Greg. In an epilogue, colleagues gather to celebrate Cindy’s long delayed graduation from college. Katie reemerges, cautiously acknowledging her mother’s transformation.
Time: Present time, over the course of a year.
Setting: Unidentified urban area.
Welcome to the Hard Luck Cafe - Order of Songs
ACT ONE
1. WELCOME TO THE HARD LUCK CAFÉ…………. Ensemble
2. DIVORCED WHITE MALE .................................... Hazel, Mimi, Alexis
3. THIS HOUSE WAS ONCE A HOME ……………….Cynthia
4. LEAVE ME ALONE .................................................Cynthia
5. BE HONEST WITH ME...........................................Alexis (Mimi/Hazel)
6. PAL FOR THE NIGHT..............................................Richard
7. CHOOSIN’ ..............................................................Marcus
8. WHAT DO WOMEN WANT? ……………………… Joe, Marcus, Dan
9. NOW YOU’VE DONE IT …………………………… Cynthia
10. LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN ………………………Anne
ACT TWO
11. I TRIED TO ERASE MYSELF ………………………Cynthia
12. ONE FOOT ………………………………………… Cynthia
13. I COULD HAVE DANCED ALL NIGHT…………….Dan
14. JUST ONE LAST MAN ……………………………..Hazel
15. OBSESSED ………………………………………….Richard (Hazel)
16. Delayed Gratification ………………………………Hazel, Mimi, Alexis
18. YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER …………………… Katie
19. TODAY ………………………………………………Mimi/Joe
20. GUILTY ………………………………………………Cynthia
21. TIME AND AGAIN ………………………………… Marcus
22. Love is all you need Anne, ………………………..Cynthia
23. TIME AND AGAIN, (Reprise) ……………………..Joe, Mimi
24. Serenity Prayer ……………………………………. Ensemble
25. CHOOSE LIFE …………………………………….. Ensemble
26. MY FRIEND ……………………………………….. Cynthia, Anne
27. AUTUMN WAS OUR FAVORITE ………………… Greg
28. FORGIVE, MOVE ON, LET GO ……………………Ensemble
EPILOGUE
29. KISS for KISS………………………………………..Hazel, Dan
30. MAKING A COMEBACK ………………………… Hazel, Ensemble
31. DAY BY DAY/HARD LUCK FINALE……………… Ensemble
You can learn more about the show and watch videos of the recent performance at the Catholic University of America in DC here - http://www.hardluckcafe.info/