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Ellen Brigham's play 'Aliens in Sunnyvale' centers around two aliens who land in a couple's back yard. The premiere performance will take place Oct. 15 in Minnesota.

Sunnyvale aliens land playwright top prize

By Justin Berton

Ellen Brigham doesn't know if aliens actually exist, but if they did, she surmises Sunnyvale might just make for the perfect landing spot.

"When they started closing down Moffett, I thought, 'I know exactly where they're coming,' " said Brigham, a longtime Sunnyvale resident.

Brigham's theory came true, once she wrote it down in the form of an award-winning play titled, "Aliens in Sunnyvale."

The play billed as a "multiethnic comedy" was one of five winners selected in the Rochester Playwright Festival, where it competed with 670 entries worldwide including entries from Scotland, Japan, Switzerland, Guam, Singapore, and France.

Now, actors in Minnesota are rehearsing "Aliens in Sunnyvale" for a performance to begin Oct. 15 when the festival commences. Since Brigham sent off her script, she has not received word on how the production is coming along--though she's not holding her breath.

"Directors and playwrights," Brigham said, "have a very interesting relationship."

And so do humans and aliens, she added.

The entire play takes place in the backyard of a Sunnyvale home belonging to Janet and Carl Anderson. Carl is an unemployed geologist, and his neighbors consist of space-craft designers for NASA, a materials scientist and a lawyer.

When two aliens land in the Anderson's usually sedate backyard, the neighbors' response to the extraterrestrials digs up more than just laughs, but also issues of acceptance as well.

"Everybody feels like an alien at one point or another in their life," Brigham said.

Each character in Brigham's play is alien for one reason or another, whether it be by race or from physical challenges. But each character, in their alieness, has something to offer.

The only character able to communicate with the extraterrestrial is the Anderson's son Mark, who is deaf.

Mark uses sign language to make friends, where adults--stuck in their own traditional ways of communicating--are unable to make ground.

"If you can't communicate with someone, you reflect your own experiences," Brigham said. "Sometimes, they don't reflect in a good way."

Brigham's aliens hardly resemble the balloon-headed-bug-eyed anorexic physique of the modern era alien.

Instead, the playwright's aliens are small fuzzy creatures small enough to fit into a shoe box, which the audience never gets to peer into.

"Would people still feel as threatened if aliens were not so intimidating looking?" Brigham wondered.

Aside from writing plays, Brigham also works for Language Adventure, a CD ROM used to teach students new languages.

Since students from various countries from different backgrounds use the same product, the challenge for Brigham and designers was to create characters that were readily accepted by all.

The answer was to create two, race-neutral, culture-neutral space-age kids who float through outer space learning new languages.

Currently, Brigham is preparing to go on a mission of her own to witness actors take a stab at portraying Sunnyvalians.

And what will they (those who are not like us) be like?

"I won't know anything" Brigham said, "until the day I get there."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 7, 1998.
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