The Esther STory

Set in the present day, everything was going well for CEO Mr. Verious... until his female VP quits due to his sexual advances. To recruit a replacement, he decides to hold a singing contest.  Esther, a street-wise young woman from the ‘hood, is encouraged by her Uncle Mo to compete.  To the surprise of all (except her), she wins and is appointed as the new VP.

Ham, Verious’ racist advisor, doesn’t like Esther or people like her, and slyly plots their demise.  Esther finds the courage to speak truth to power: she turns the tables on Ham, and holds Mr. Verious to account.  Esther is a changemaker, and by the end of the play, the audience realizes that they can be, too.

What does a great story need to capture your imagination?  It needs good guys and bad guys.  Love interests, intrigue, and several plot twists.  And it needs relevance to the issues of today: #MeToo, #BLM, corporate greed, the rise of nationalism, and so much more. 

When I originally read Esther – which was written thousands of years ago – I knew that this timeless story should be brought to life, today, for today’s audiences.

The story is the same, but I updated many of the Persian names to English ones.  Acheshverosh (Xerxes) the king became Mr. Verious the CEO.  Some names stayed the same, but since the paradigm is current-day corporate America, not the royal court of thousands of years ago, Esther the Queen, became Esther the VP. 

Randall Craig