Made Glorious

January 15, 2024
A teen thespian launches a Machiavellian campaign to land a starring role in this fiendish Richard III homage from Eagar (The Family Fortuna). After years of fervent devotion to the Bosworth Academy drama club, which included buying her own costumes when the club’s closet couldn’t accommodate her full figure’s “sizing needs,” senior Rory King is sick of being relegated to the ensemble. With only one semester remaining before graduation, Rory takes matters into her own hands, hatching a diabolical plot to secure the female lead in the spring musical. Never mind that she’ll have to ruin some lives to make her plan work, or that these machinations might distract from her schoolwork, thus jeopardizing her chances at a much-needed scholarship. Rory has paid her dues; now it’s her time to shine. With myriad metafictional flourishes, the tale unfolds in five acts in third-person-present narration, which Eagar intercuts with scenes written like script excerpts, fourth-wall-breaking monologues from Rory, and even a musical score. An intersectionally diverse cast of nuanced characters adds depth; Rory, in particular, is a sympathetic antihero whose pain, desperation, and loneliness color every deed. Ages 14–up. Agent: Victoria Marini, Irene Goodman Literary.