Here are some interesting character voices, as further examples of some of the ideas discussed in the last toot. I'm going to quote them out of context, because, again, the point is that you should be able to discern a lot about who these characters are simply from what they say and how they say it. We hope.

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Zappy from Angels Fall by Lanford Wilson

Really. I said my novenas, man, 'cause it had been like a -- not a miracle that anyone would know except just me -- but it had been like when those girls saw Our Lady of Fatima up on that hill. It was really wierd. I was like in the fifth grade and I was watching these two hamburgers on some practice court and they took a break and one of them hands me his racket. So I threw up a toss like I'd seen them do and - zap!- Three inches over the net, two inches inside the line. There wasn't nobody over there, but that was an ace, man.

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Maxine from Bordertown Cafe by Kelly Rebar

These walls tell a story, I'm not sayin' anything original -- and as far as that other goes, call me a liar but people from, say, Kansas south, are nine out of ten of 'em that come in here full-fledged porkers. It's the way they eat down there, solid lard casseroles. My mother? she looked like a size four knittin' needle towards the end, sure, but she was a pudgeball when she was young, she didn't lose that weight till she left Texas. Minnesota thinned my mother right down. What you havin' for breakfast, I'm gonna go for a bacon sandwich.

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Quartermaine from Quartermaine's Terms by Simon Gray

Well I fell into one of those dozes again -- you know how they keep coming over me suddenly -- for a minute or so -- and -- and when I came out of it, there I was, right in the middle of this -- this Melanie business . . . . Well, I can't just turn around to her now and say -- "Sorry Melanie, something much more amusing's turned up". She was so -- well -- her eyes -- I can't explain -- oh, if only Mark hadn't forgotten! -- but then I suppose he knows I'm usually free and thought -- but what do I do, Anita, what do I do?

To Toot 3