Ten years ago, local playwright Tracy Bono began writing Handsomely to the Rescue, a play about a prince who thinks he needs to save a princess but ends up realizing that isn’t the case. He learns something about himself and ends up going on a better life mission. The play was originally a short 15-minute script but over the years, Bono has kept working on it. “I started writing lyrics for songs,” she says. “I am not a musician, but I do love poetry, so I attacked it that way.”
Bono had the lyrics, but she didn’t have the melody. Then she met Michael Blackwood, an orchestra teacher in the Rockwood School District. When he mentioned how he has always wanted to write a musical, Bono offered her script, and thus began a yearlong collaboration. “He’s truly a gifted musician, and he’s just blown me away,” says Bono of Blackwood.
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They were just beginning to think about options for the play when the pandemic began. COVID-19 shuttered theaters but also complicated fundraising efforts for schools that are dependent on these funds. When Bono learned that her son’s school, Coeur Academy, was struggling to come up with new fundraising ideas, she offered her play.
Coeur Academy is a small school that prioritizes its students, putting their needs first in everything they do. For Bono’s son, who has autism and suffered from abuse in the public school system, finding this school was a lifesaver. “He is safe and appreciated in a way that we never thought possible,” Bono says. “When you talk to any other parent, you will hear an almost identical story.”
The school’s focus on inclusivity matches the message of the play. Most of Bono’s work is embedded with the messages of inclusivity, equity, and kindness—something that has been with her since she was younger and got her hands on a copy of Don’t Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England, a book that still sits on her bookshelf today. The tales spoke of value and empowerment, something that resonated so deeply with Bono that she still thinks about them, especially when she’s writing.
“When I’m writing for young audiences, I go back to that mindset of having that epiphany as a young adult reading those fairy tales,” she says. Bono, a disability rights advocate, recognizes the overlap between the Black Lives Matter movement, the Disability Rights movement, and all efforts to promote equity in our society: “We are all valuable human beings. When you do better, I do better. We all do better.”
The play’s cast consists of experienced young actors from the St. Louis area as well as some students from Coeur Academy. Bono said watching the more experienced kids step up and mentor the younger ones has been an amazing experience. “They are accommodating and accepting,” she says. “Theater kids are really special kids.”
The Kranzberg Arts Foundation provided the technical and venue support needed to record the production, which will take place at The Grandel Theater but will be available online for viewers at 7 p.m. on December 18. All proceeds will be donated to Coeur Academy.
Tickets can be purchased here.
