Magic 8 Ball is a modern short play written by Kimberly Pau that depicts one evening in the lives of two friends. Melissa is one of the play’s two protagonists along with Elizabeth, with whom the former shares an evening experience with a magic ball that is supposed to predict the future. The young women pose questions to the novelty toy, each with her own motivation. The main conflict of the play consists of the friends’ varying perceptions of the magic ball. From Melissa’s perspective, it is nothing more than a toy that has no capacity to predict the actual future, which she is trying to prove to her friend. To her dismay, Elizabeth believes in the magic properties of the titular ball, causing Melissa to intensify her efforts.
One of the defining features of the play consist of its general lack of action as the conflict unfolds through the dialogue of the two characters mediated by the magic ball. Therefore, Melissa’s lines become the primary tool of understanding her character. In her interaction with the toy, she remains openly condescending and her questions become progressively more absurd. At one point, she even asks whether her and Melissa’s boyfriends would rather have sex with each other than with them (Pau, 2013). These suggestions are not related to the truth but serve to showcase the character’s stance on the situation. She is motivated by her desire to prove the worthlessness of the toy to her friend. Throughout the play, Melissa’s character does not change this perspective and remains a self-proclaimed voice of reason. Moreover, despite the mockery, she values her friendship with Elizabeth, which is why she makes the effort to show that the latter should not worry about the predictions of a novelty toy. Even though Melissa is not the narrator of the story, the construction of her lines makes her inner motivation clear for the audience.
Reference
Pau, K. (2013). Magic 8 Ball. In L. Harbison (Ed.). The best 10-minute plays 2013. Smith & Kraus Pub Incorporated.
Appendix A
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Appendix B
Demographic Information for Cummings et al. (2002)’s Review.
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