My inspirations for plays come from many places … the news is a big source for me.
I got interested in the issue of conflict palm oil a couple of years ago, when two Girl Scouts staged an activist campaign to get palm oil out of their cookies. These girls’ letter-writing campaign is mentioned in Act I, Scene I of “Hearts of Palm.” Our protagonist, Vi, was hired by Empire Holdings to answer the letters of protest from the Girl Scouts and Brownies.
The Girl Scouts anecdote provides backstory about Vi’s idealism and illustrates an incident of activism that works.