Text - Am I going in the right direction?

So. My mind has been turning its rusty and metaphorical gears in order to come up with some outside text. It has been a bit difficult, because the stuff I have found that might work well for my character might be unnecessary and also slow down the play. Plus, the play is about Houdini, not Margery; however, I gave it a shot. I have been looking for text in terms of both general themes of the play and in terms of my character specifically and what I believe drives her personality. What I have gathered from the text I have read about her was how active a person she was and yet how, when she married Crandon, she married a man of "high class" as opposed to her previous marriage, having to give up some of the activities she participated in. It was as if she had no outlet for the active, witty, and somewhat outlandish portion of her personality, and I imagine that this had a lot to do with her embracing spiritualism and what it brought her. Because it did allow her to concentrate on more universal things than, say, choosing a color for the parlor room rug. So with that in mind, I found this text, called 'Girl' by Jamaica Kincaid, that I transformed slightly. To me it is a bit of her reaction to the "new rules" of her life. Also it could almost mirror Houdini's rules of magic bit nicely. So here that is:

I tried to keep in mind the essential rules of conduct which my husband had carefully instilled in me: 1. Never speak to anyone unless you have been properly introduced (except in case of shipwreck). 2. You must never talk about God or your stomach. 3. Always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach. 4. On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming. 5. This is how you smile to someone you like completely. This is how you smile to someone you don’t like too much. This is how you smile to someone you don’t like at all. This is how you iron your husband’s khaki shirt so that it doesn’t have a crease; this is how you iron your husband’s khaki pants so that they don’t have a crease. This is how to sew on a button; this is how to make a buttonhole for the button you have just sewed on.

I also think that it would be interesting to try to include some quotes in the seances that I found in the research I did. They are pretty funny and might bring out the personalities of the characters. She would also speak in different languages sometimes or sing, which might add a different dynamic. I thought it was interesting that Walter called Mina "the kid" and dr. Crandon called her "psyche." So it might be cool to play with that a bit, to sort of establish relationships and the closeness of Walter and Mina.

Also direct quotes of Mina:

- “A very famous psychic researcher from Europe … came over to study the mediumship. He held many sittings. He was impressed by the independent voice of my deceased brother which always manifests itself in the séance room. He wasnted to be sure this was not my voice, so he held his hand over my mouth and nose. But the voice came through quite as plainly. ‘Now doctor,’ I said, ‘isn’t that convincing?’ And what do you suppose he said? ‘how do I know you don’t talk through your ears?’ So you see what amazing things people are willing to believe in order to avoid believing the things they don’t want to believe.” (25)

- Her friend said, ‘I’m sure they would not accuse you of knowing so much if they knew how really dumb you are.’ And mina replied, “I hope things are not quite that bad” (26)

- Walked up to Carrington, embraced him, and said, “wouldn’t you like to kiss me?” (59)

-“That’s all poppycock. My husband attends all my séances and I would have to be very rash to go around kissing” (113)

- When Crandon urged her to go into a trance: “I will do nothing of the sort” arguing, that she had such fun watching the proceedings, she didn’t want to miss anything” (21)

Okay so now that I have taken up the entire blog...
good night
..and .. good luck.
Emily