ekleksographia

Directed and conceived/written by Josh Fox
in collaboration with 22 actor-dancer-creators
over a six month span.

 

Pre-Show:

As the audience enters the theater, a gaunt young man (ROBERT) lays shaking and moaning in a hospital bed, Stage Right. His clothes are blue pajamas, like the bed sheets. The consistent pulse of heartbeat can be heard. A NURSE and a DOCTOR converse inaudibly about his condition at the head of the bed. Other topics of conversation might include a date from last night, solutions for taking care of spiders in the home, methods of applying pressure to flesh wounds, chatty dialogue to pass the time. The sense is that they are on break, watching over this unique individual, who is also a high school student. Directly upstage of the bed is a white scrim that separates the main space from the downstage playing area.

 

ACT I

(The heart beat stops while the DOCTOR and NURSE freeze, caught in a rift in time where action ceases to occur. The gaunt young man, or almost certainly his soul, rises slowly from the bed. As he turns downstage he notices the audience)

 

ROBERT: On the (fill in the current date) of every month, my grandmother becomes

overwhelmingly convinced that the house has a profound structural defect and will fall in on her at any moment.

 

(Lighting reveals the space behind the scrim. ROBERT’s grandmother appears, face down, spread-eagle with a lit cigarette in her hand.)

 

GRANDMA: It only moves if I move. So, I have to lie in the middle of the floor, completely motionless, not daring to breathe.

ROBERT: One time, she was there for four days. She was like that when the police finally found her.

GRANDMA: I am like this when the police finally find me.

 

(Large pause, action pauses.)

 

GRANDMA: Did you feel that?

 

(BLACKOUT. LIGHTS UP. SOUND: Car Skid. ROBERT has moved stage left. He sits on a chair, waiting patiently for his grandmother. The TV flickers in front of him. GRANDMA appears.)

 

GRANDMA: Robert, get the gin.

 

(She crosses to the seat while ROBERT pours.)

 

GRANDMA: I want to propose a toast. A toast to love. True love. Agony, always agony. Think of this when you kill a cockroach or wake up in the morning to face the sun. (They drink. She slaps the glass out of ROBERT’s hand.) You’re too young to drink! It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out! You know, I met a genius on the train today. He was only six years old. He sat beside me and as the train ran down along the coast we came to the ocean, and he looked at me and he said, “It is not pretty.” That was the first time I had realized that. Don’t be ashamed of anything. I guess God meant it all, like locks on doors. You may not believe it, but there are people who go through life with very little friction or distress. They dress well, eat well, sleep well. They are contented with their family life. They have moments of grief but all in all they are undisturbed and often feel very good. And when they die it is an easy death, usually in their sleep. Your IQ may be one-six-fiver, but you still got to know these things. You hungry?

ROBERT: Yeah.

GRANDMA: Well, we’re not going to eat anything until we finish this cut-rate, lousy gin.

 

(GRANDMA senses the house may be ready to collapse. She gets down on the floor yet again, trying to keep the house intact.)

 

GRANDMA: Oh god. Don’t move!

ROBERT: Grandma!?!

 

(SOUND: bullet. ROBERT falls to the ground next to his grandmother. In terror he rises, removing his hat to reveal a bloody bandage around his head. He staggers center stage and begins to question what has hit him. He removes a bullet, and holds it up for the audience to see. Immediately, STUDENTS from his high school move in two-by-two behind the scrim.They are doing a cheer for their high school football team, the Warriors. ROBERT backs off in terror and keeps his distance in order to watch.)

 

THE CHEER:

(SOUND: Static throughout)

 

Always talking about whatcha gonna do.

Warriors gonna do to you!

Say they ain’t gonna win this game,

Warriors gonna do their thing!

Are you ready? YEAH!

Are you ready? YEAH!

Are you ready? YEAH!

Are you ready? YEAH!

Go team go!

Fight team fight!

Win team win!

ARE YOU READY?!!

 

ROBERT: High school!

 

(SOUND: Exuberant scream of excitement from the STUDENTS. Lights dim on the high schoolers. Time begins to shift as they are caught in the flow of a slow paced river. Each STUDENT follows a series of gestures as a meditation on a typical high school day. For example: AYA, the new girl from Japan, is drinking from the water fountain. ROBERT addresses the mysterious creatures that are audience for this story.)

 

ROBERT: This is my high school. Everybody’s here, except me. I’ve been absent for 26 days, four hours and 56 minutes. (Each STUDENT waves to the audience when called.) That’s my friend Charlie, and that’s Aya, she’s the new girl from Japan. And that’s Magin and Patrick and Liz. And that’s Connie and Aaron. Hey wait a minute. Where’s Jim?

NURIT: You know!

ROBERT: I do?

NURIT: He’s suspended.

ROBERT: Suspended? (Sound cue ZAP, one third of the STUDENTS take a pose and freeze) Suspended? (Sound Cue ZAP, another third take a pose and freeze) Suspended? (Sound Cue ZAP, remaining third change pose and action freezes in an energized tableau) Somewheres in the past, not long ago, maybe a year, maybe two, maybe ten, but when we weren’t looking, something strange happened. It was as if all mankind suddenly left reality. POOF!

 

(Action dissipates in a flash. All actors clear except for ROBERT.)

 

ROBERT: It was as if everything was a bit strange, (two FOOTBALL PLAYERS run across stage in the darkness while screaming) not real like and supposedly not true. And we supposedly didn’t notice, but we did (FOOTBALL PLAYERS cross screaming again) I mean, didn’t we? Hey neighbor! You feelin’ safe? You feelin’ good? You feelin’ fine? I reckon you would!

RYAN            (Crosses the stage behind scrim): Hey ROBERT, you feeling better? You out of the hospital?

ROBERT: Hospital?

 

(Sound cue: Gun shot. ROBERT is thrown forward, his body folds in half from the impact. Once again he removes the bullet from his head and looks at it in terror.)

 

ROBERT: It’s still in there. WOW! I bet you’re wondering about this, I’ll get to it in a second.

 

(ROBERT parts the scrim and enters into the routine of his daily high school life. He joins the lunch line. The STUDENTS carry lunch trays. They file past the scrim, face forward, in presentation. As ROBERT passes by the opening he is jettisoned back towards the audience to resume the story.)

 

ROBERT: You know when you get this awful feeling that everything you do has been done before a million times over? Like when you’re looking for yourself, and it sucks to have that, like your world is being ruled by something else, something outside of you. You’re in the hospital; bullet in head, shot came from where? Huh? Well, you’re in a coma. But come on man, there’s a murder in the United States every fifteen minutes, there are thousands of you in hospitals all over the nation, bullet in head, can’t wake up, looking for YOU!

 

(Upstage action: The STUDENTS put away lunch trays and stand facing the audience with their left hands raised, as if to ask a question.)

 

ROBERT: No, no no! Fuck that shit, no! We are not here, we are not this, we are not us in fact.

 

(STUDENTS begin to ask overlapping questions out of confusion. Questions vary, including “Is this extra credit?” and “Could you repeat that?”)

 

ROBERT: No, no, no, don’t freak out. (Questions stop.) It’s yours, and yours and yours. (The STUDENTS turn upstage.) I’ve got news for you: you’re not you either. The things you say, the people you meet, the decisions you make, not yours. We’ve been working on it!

 

(Scrim is thrown open fully. The STUDENTS begin to run up and down stage in cycles. The action is that of a “Suicide Run,” a common exercise in high school Physical Education classes. Then, suddenly, they collectively run down stage screaming while the sound of a car skidding out of control propels ROBERT back to the audience. The rest slowly recede upstage and then offstage during the following. Modes of time are once again colliding.)

 

ROBERT: You just go ahead and you put in your mind two parallel lines, lines that run evenly to each other like highway lanes on Route 69 on a hot summer’s afternoon! What keeps the cars from running into each other, huh? Well, there’s a divider.

 

(Phone rings.)

 

ROBERT: Hello? I know, I’m getting to it! I’m getting to it! (STUDENTS begin to bring on high school chairs from off stage to make tableau of a classroom.) And this line that’s so deep is in your dreams when you sleep, your prayers when you wake and your hog’s jowl at New Year’s. It’s a line so deep it brings these two lines into one, like merging traffic at the bridge halfway down. And something’s bound to come from that. A man’s destiny, an open road, whatever you want to call it. (Phone rings.) Hello? You want me to do what? OK.

 

(ROBERT cocks his finger into a gun position and aims at one audience member. SOUND: gun shot. The NURSE and DOCTOR return as ROBERT falls backwards into a rolling bed.)

 

ROBERT: The possibilities are endless. The possibilities are endless.

NURSE (As they wheel him off): So, are they going to operate?

DOCTOR: We can’t operate, the bullet’s in too deep. He’s just going to have to live with it. If he makes it.

NURSE: Well, his vitals are good. Doesn’t he have any family?

DOCTOR: A grandmother, but we cant seem to get in touch with her.

 

(SOUND: phone ringing.)

 

GRANDMA (Again, face down): Robert, answer the goddamn phone! Answer the phone! Robert!

 

(BLACK OUT)

 

(Lights bump up on STUDENTS in chairs in class. Their lines cycle from student to student, in a barely audible whisper. Minimal to no movement.0

 

Cycle one:

This has been the most horrible morning of my entire life.

A dark element opens when it moves and closes when it rests.

I feel like I’m putting on weight. I feel fat.

Everyday experience is criminal.

Everything should be declared criminal.

There’s something creepy about that guy.

Don’t be a coward.

What color jerseys were they wearing?

I don’t know what they want from me.

Only pigs come here.

A little more sucking up is needed.

I don’t know.

Here, life comes to an end.

Void.

 

THE TEACHER: I think I missed my cue.

(Company resets to their original positions in the space of a deep breath. During the next cycle, each STUDENT exits with chair offstage after speaking a line.)

Cycle two:

This has been the most horrible morning of my entire life.

ROBERT(crossing downstage): If event B is independent of event A, then it also true that event A is also independent of event B. How are you supposed to root for the home team when you don’t even have a program to know the names?

So in such cases…

Bullets break the sound barrier you know.

ROBERT: We say that event A and event B are independent…

Why that strange look in your eye?

ROBERT:...or that they are independent events…

If you don’t go now you are just going to get sicker.

ROBERT: If A and B are not independent…

I’m so happy that I could just spit.

ROBERT:…then they are said to be dependent events.

THE TEACHER: That was my cue. Who said that?

 

(SOUND: school-bell ringing.)

 

ROBERT: If this is true then maybe life is in fact accidental…

 

(AYA drops her books center stage)

 

ROBERT:… then maybe death as well.

 

(The COOL GIRLS pass by AYA, picking up her books. AYA grabs NORO’s arm, in tableau. SOUND: ZAP)

 

NORO: What!

AYA: Excuse me, could you tell me where the girls’ toilet is?

NORO: It’s right back there.

AYA: My name is AYA. I came from Japan. I’ve been here three months.

NORO: Can’t you read?

AYA: Sometimes.

 

(STUDENTS begin to fill the stage in various states of action)

 

ROBERT: A boy and a girl walk past with schoolbooks under their arms. The world stops. (STUDENTS freeze in tableau) Teachers’ mouths halt in mid- sentence. A ball hangs in the air. A microsecond later the world starts again.

 

(SOUND: ZAP. Everyone unfreezes. AYA picks up the remainder of books. A brawl- rather, a catfight- begins between MAGIN and GINA. Chaos ensues as onlookers scream and prod while MAGIN pushes GINA onto the ground and prepares to pummel her. Before she does this though she lets out a lioness roar, which causes the earth to stop its rotation momentarily. RYAN, unaffected, crosses in front of the action. He wears a large dark trench coat, reminiscent of the Trench-Coat Mafia at Columbine. He begins to light a cigarette as he passes. His brush past AYA animates her.)

 

AYA: Excuse me, can you tell me where the girls’ toilet is?

RYAN: No.

 

(RYAN exits. The frozen tableau is slowly injected with life, not yet at full speed. Arms flail and onlookers scream joyously as MAGIN is pulled off of GINA. Before she’s pulled off of her though, she’s able to get in a few good slaps. Focus shifts upstage where JAMES – aka: JIM – and the PRINCIPAL discuss his recent suspension. The rest of the stage is filled with minimal slow movements. Sound: ZAP)

 

PRINCIPAL: Do you know why you’re here?

JIM: Yes, Mrs. Griffith.

PRINCIPAL: You’re here because your name is on the suspension sheet.

JIM: Yes, Mrs. Griffith.

PRINCIPAL: Do you know why your name is on the suspension sheet?

JIM: Yes, Mrs. Griffith.

PRINCIPAL: You’re being suspended. For the rest of the day and Monday. Do you know why?

JIM: Yes, Mrs. Griffith.

PRINCIPAL: You started a fire in the classroom.

JIM: Yes, Mrs. Griffith.

PRINCIPAL: In three places in the classroom.

JIM: Yes, Mrs. Griffith.

PRINCIPAL: Were you trying to burn the school down?

JIM: Yes, Mrs. Griffith.

PRINCIPAL: Are you on some kind of medication?

JIM: Yes, Mrs. Griffith.

PRINCIPAL: Are you taking it?

JIM: Yes, Mrs. Griffith.

PRINCIPAL: James! Are you listening to me?

JIM: Can you read this? I think I have an appointment on Friday. Today is Friday, right?

 

(JIM and the PRINCIPAL fade into the ether. AYA addresses the audience.)

 

AYA (Downstage center): A lot has happened that day. Friday is my free day. Monday I’m busy until 6:30. Tuesday I’m busy, Wednesday ‘til 6:30, Thursday: busy, but Friday usually all day available.

(A group of RAPPERS rap and dance their way downstage towards AYA. They have three raps going, one after the other. They surround her. First TYREN, then AARON, then STEPHEN. The raps end. Others freeze. Sound: ZAP)

 

STEPHEN: Yo, yo, yo, check it. I have this little shin diggy over at my pad. It’s going to be totally totally hype, you should check it out. We’re going to have a couple 40’s, a little puff, puff.

AYA: Puff, puff?

STEPHEN: Yo, you should definitely check it out, but keep it on the DL, QT.

 

(The RAPPERS laugh and jostle each other as they return to the background.)

 

AYA: Everyone wakes up. Everyone goes to school, everyone thinks, everyone studies and then everyone goes home. It’s easy. I can do that!

 

(Lights up on the men’s and women’s bathroom, split stage. In the women’s room there are three groups of girls with different modes of action. In the stall you find the resident PUKERS. To the side, you have the SMOKERS. And in front of the mirror are the TITTY POLICE who stuff their breasts with various apparatus for volume and perkiness.)

 

GIRL'S BATHROOM

 

AYA: Is this the girls’ toilet?

 

(PUKERS make puking sound)

SMOKERS

KERRI: Guess what. I fucked him.

GINA: You did?

KERRI: Yeah.

PUKERS

LIZ: Did you do it yet?

ALANNA: Yeh I did.

 

TITTY POLICE

NORO: Oh my god Ikuko. I can’t believe your brother did that to you. What an asshole.

DAWN: So now your boyfriend knows you stuff your bra?

 

PUKERS

LIZ: I swear my apple wasn’t even digested.

 

SMOKERS

KERRI: It sucked, it was like having a tree trunk shoved up my vagina.

 

PUKERS

ALANNA: Did you do it, Rachel?

RACHEL: No not yet.

 

TITTY POLICE

IKUKO: Yeah I’m so embarrassed. I cant see him anymore.

DAWN: Whatya mean? Everyone stuffs their bra.

IKUKO: But now everyone knows it.

NORO: Its okay, everybody does it.

 

PUKERS

LIZ: They can’t pass me up for cheerleading this year.

 

SMOKERS

KERRI: Okay this is what happened. We were at my boyfriend’s best friend’s house. We

always hang out there. We were in his little sister’s room so we decided to have sex. So we took our own clothes off.

GINA: You didn’t take each other’s clothes off?

KERRI: No.

NURIT: Was it like stripping?

KERRI: No, it was like rushed.

 

TITTY POLICE

IKUKO: This is the last day for my fake boobs.

NORO: Well you can’t just have big boobs one day and be totally flat the next.

DAWN: Yeah, you have to decrease slowly.

 

PUKERS

ALANNA: They’d be idiots to pass you up. You look so good.

LIZ: Are you kidding? I wish. Dawn and Nurit and Noro, they’re all so beautiful. They’re like under 100 lbs.

ALANNA: Yeah, but your kicks are so much better.

LIZ: You think?

 

SMOKERS

KERRI: Ok so he like gets on top of me and he can’t find the hole, so I guess he’s like fiddling with his finger so he can keep his finger there while he shoves his dick in, to guide it.

 

TITTY POLICE

NORO: She just needs some technique.

DAWN: Do you have the equipment?

NORO: Forget the socks Ikuko.

DAWN: Use shoulder pads.

 

 

SMOKERS

KERRI: But it keeps slipping out and going between my butt cheeks, and that’s just wrong.

 

TITTY POLICE

NORO: Everyone's doing it.

 

SMOKERS

EVERYONE: Oh my god.

 

PUKERS

EVERYONE(simultaneously): Oh my god.

LIZ: Rachel, how’s it going?

RACHEL: I don’t think I can do this because I don’t have a scrunchy and my hair

keeps getting in my face.

ALANNA (Exits her stall and goes into RACHEL’s): I can hold your hair.

 

(AYA enters the vacant stall to pee)

 

SMOKERS

KERRI: So finally he finds the hole and now he’s trying to like ram it in. And I’m like pulling away because it hurts and the bed collapses because it’s a little girl’s bed.

THE OTHERS: Oh my god.

KERRI: And finally I decide I can’t deal with the pain anymore.

 

PUKERS

ALANNA: Oh my god yeah, you need moral support; it’s your first time.

 

SMOKERS

GINA: What did you do?

KERRI: I say, “This has to stop.” But he’s like “I’m not even halfway in.” He says, “My head’s barely in there.”

THE OTHERS: Oh my god that’s so rude. Rude, rude, rude.

 

PUKERS

RACHEL: Guys, I think my fingers are too short to do this.

ALANNA: Are you scared?

RACHEL: No.

ALANNA: Its so not a big deal

LIZ: Yeah, I mean you’ll feel great afterwards. It’s like a purification.

ALANNA: Totally.

 

SMOKERS

GINA: So then what happened?

KERRI: So then I get up and put my pants on and go to the bathroom to pee and there’s blood all over the back of my pants.

THE OTHERS: Gross. Shit.

KERRI: If you think that’s gross listen to this. I go back in the room and there’s blood all over the bed.

ALL: Ew!

 

PUKERS

(RACHEL finishes puking)

 

LIZ: Don’t you feel better?

RACHEL: Yeah I feel great.

LIZ: You look great.

 

(The three hug)

 

SMOKERS

KERRI: He said he wasn’t grossed out but I think he was lying because he had blood all over like his dick and stuff.

GINA: Oh my god I’m so jealous.

NURIT: Are you in love?

KERRI: Totally.

 

(All squeal. RYAN, on his way to the boys’ bathroom, knocks into AYA. She exits. RYAN proceeds to the bathroom but stops quickly when he sees who is in there. THE BOYS are lined up, using the urinals. The girls’ bathroom disappears.)

 

AARON: So I was fucking this girl and I got off of her and there’s blood everywhere.

PATRICK: That’s disgusting man.

AARON: I know.

TYREN: I bet it makes good lube though.

PATRICK: Quiet everybody, we’re in the presence of virgin ears.

 

(The boys move to face downstage. They are washing their hands at the sinks.)

 

STEPHEN: You guys act like I never even had my dick sucked.

TYREN: Well, yo’ mamma don’t count.

STEPHEN: Does yours!

AARON: Hey, mister virgin boy, hey cherry boy, when you going to lose your cherry? Hymen!

THE BOYS: HYMEN! HYMEN! HI MAN!

STEPHEN: Whatever man, just because I’m not getting my hump on in the fucking courtyard.

TYREN: Man, you ain’t getting your hump on nowhere.

PATRICK (Making a gesture of masturbation): Yeah, he’s getting his fucking hump on in his hand!

AARON: It’s not like you haven’t had the chance. You’ve just got to…

ALL: SEAL THE DEAL!

PATRICK: You’ve just got to be assertive, man.

AARON: Insertive.

ALL: Dry Dick! Dry Dick!!! Dry Dick!

 

(JIM walks in with an extreme need to pee. He goes to the urinal.)

 

RAVI: Yo, yo, yo, speaking of dry dicks, I think someone needs a wedgie!

 

(The boys run to JIM who is enjoying a piss. They proceed to give him a wedgie. STEPHEN, on the other side of the bathroom, attempts to halt them.)

 

STEPHEN: Yo, seriously man. I was reading on the internet that some dude lost his balls like that.

PATRICK: Where?

STEPHEN: On the internet.

PATRICK: Bullshit! You’ve never been “in her net!”

 

(The boys rush to STEPHEN only to give him a wedgie. Meanwhile, Jim grabs his ass in pain. The boys leave STEPHEN alone to stare at his balls. Are they ok?)

 

RAVI: See you at the party sucka’!

 

(ALANNA, drunk off her ass, stumbles onstage. She and STEPHEN strike three tableaus. Tableau one: ALANNA hands STEPHEN a beer. Tableau two: ALANNA falls to the ground, one leg in the air while STEPHEN stumbles. Tableau three: STEPHEN bends over, disoriented. ALANNA pitches forward onto her hands and knees. Action resumes with ALANNA yelling and thrashing her arms and legs in drunken ecstasy. But she had jammed her foot on the way down. The pain brings her back.)

 

ALANNA: Ow!

 

(SOUND: Doorbell. STEPHEN staggers to the door. AYA, perfectly arranged with a red party dress and a box of mints for the host’s parents enters.)

 

AYA: Hi. How are you? Am I late?

STEPHEN: Hey, I’m fine, you wanna beer?

AYA: No thanks.

 

(SOUND: Click. STEPHEN breaks his fall with his hand.)

 

AYA: Are you okay?

STEPHEN: I don’t feel so good.

 

(SOUND: click. AYA joins him on the ground.)

 

AYA: What’s the matter?

STEPHEN: I’m fine okay?

AYA: Okay!

 

(The party music blasts. AYA and STEPHEN, as if in a universe of their own, freeze. The PARTYGOERS, an undulating blob of bodies moving in a confined space, appears and begins its journey across the room. Screams are frequent from both PARTY and ALANNA who is once again in ecstasy. NURIT and MAGIN join ALANNA in her game. SOUND: Sharp tinny ring. The party freezes and action returns to AYA and STEPHEN.)

 

AYA: Can I help you up?

 

(They stand.)

 

STEPHEN: No thanks, have a beer.

AYA: No thanks.

STEPHEN: Come ooooon!

AYA: Ok, just a little bit.

 

(She throws her head back and STEPHEN pours - tableau. SOUND: ZAP. Music continues. The party resumes. ALANNA is left alone to fend for herself. SOUND: Zap. AYA and STEPHEN continue while party freezes.)

 

AYA: Let’s dance.

(She dances only with her arms, moving like pistons.)

 

STEPHEN (Falls to the ground): I need a seat.

AYA (Goes to him): I think you’re nice.

STEPHEN: Thanks.

 

(She kisses him on the cheek. They freeze and the party resumes.

SOUND: Zap. JIM is goaded. The PARTYGOERS scream “chug, chug, chug” as someone pours beer into his mouth. JIM, unable to drink any more, projectile vomits and falls to the ground. Everyone pulls

back, horrified. SOUND: ZAP.)

 

AYA: This is for your parents.

 

(The box of mints is moved around in a weird sort of dance. They

stand.)

 

STEPHEN: What is it?

 

(He pulls out an item from the can and holds it above their heads like

mistletoe.)

 

STEPHEN: Mints!

 

(The party and the couple resume action, together. Finally they are in the same world and timeline.)

 

STEPHEN: I want to show you something.

AYA: Ok.

(STEPHEN drags her towards the bathroom. Jim is carried downstage by the FOOTBALL GUYS to be deposited on top of ALANNA.)

 

AYA: In the bathroom?

 

(SOUND: ZAP. Everyone’s voices can be heard now. It is a cacophony often found at parties. In the bathroom, STEPHEN forcefully removes AYA’s red dress. He pulls down his own pants and prepares to rape her. MUSIC: TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS. RYAN, the odd-man-out, is brushed aside by TYREN, AARON and PATRICK. The

PARTYGOERS fall silent as they gang begins to beat him, with their pants down around their ankles. The red dress is thrown from the bathroom and finds itself on top of RYAN.)

 

AARON: You fucking asshole!

 

(EVERYONE resumes full voice. CONNIE tries to call a cease

fire. She jumps on top of AARON. Once again the group falls silent and the beatings cease. MAGIN goes to help RYAN. Everyone else freezes.)

 

RYAN: Leave me alone. I didn’t do anything. For me you don’t exist.

 

(He clutches the red dress.)

 

MAGIN: Stop, I’m trying to help you.

RYAN: Really I don’t care if you do, they can’t make things worse for me. I’m used to being beaten.

MAGIN: It looks pretty bad. Why were you taking pictures?

RYAN: They’re all rock stars to me.

MAGIN: We are what we think.

RYAN: There wasn’t any film in the camera.

MAGIN: How can you take pictures without any film?

RYAN: Are you really here?

MAGIN: I’ve got to go.

 

(RYAN tries to stand unsuccessfully)

 

RYAN: I fell in love with you in about 30 seconds.

 

(MAGIN places her hand on his face)

 

MAGIN (Turning away): My boyfriend’s going to kill me.

RYAN: Who’s your boyfriend?

MAGIN: The one who beat you.

 

(They pause)

 

MAGIN: I’ve got to go.

RYAN: Drive carefully.

MAGIN (Standing): I don’t know how to drive.

RYAN: In this life you have to be lucky.

MAGIN: You know, in this life, most people have learned to live in the moment.

RYAN: Not me, not now.

MAGIN: Why not?

RYAN: I can’t turn off my brain, I can’t jump out of my skin and I’m afraid of women.

MAGIN: Good luck. Find a way to stop bleeding.

 

(PATRICK whistles for MAGIN to join him)

 

RYAN: I meant it when I said I love you. You shout and no one seems to hear.

Was it always like this? You can go your whole life lying to yourself and not notice anything wrong. Look around you. People thinking they're important, going to church as if their life mattered. Now I’m 17. Now I’m dead again. Now I’m 26. Now I’m dead again. Now I’m 43. Now I’m dead again. All the moments you looked back on as youthful brilliance were actually drunken ramblings. Uh, is Hemmingway dead? Yeah, I think so. He shot himself in the head. Like Kurt Cobain? Yeah. [SOUND: eerie beeps. “Be careful of my heart.”] Why do I just want to smoke and smoke until I can’t stand up anymore? Be careful of my heart. Can I go to the bathroom?

 

JOSH (From the booth): Ok.

 

(AYA, still naked in the bathroom, is wheeled downstage.)

 

RYAN: Ten o’clock news. Ten o’clock news.

 

(He knocks on the door. AYA, fearing discovery wraps herself in an old trench coat she finds behind the toilet. She gathers her box of mints and leaves. SOUND: ZAP. In a flash of light, RYAN and AYA see each other for the very first time. She grabs the red dress that RYAN has been clutching.)

 

AYA: Excuse me.

 

(AYA exits and RYAN vomits into the toilet. He magically fades into the background. A car drives onstage with no passengers. It is in park, waiting outside. The engine is off. MUSIC: a teletype / Be careful of my heart. SOUND: a regular eerie beep. All of the following is liquid, in slow motion. GINA looks at her watch. She wants to go home. NURIT is mounted in front, around TYREN’S waist, moving towards the car. Her arms flailing like a plastic bag in a gentle breeze, she hands the keys to GINA who crosses around to the driver’s side and unlocks the doors. They all get in the front seat, GINA at the wheel. GINA, the safe one, puts on her seat belt and tests the mirrors. In the rear view mirror she sees PATRICK and MAGIN emerge from behind the back seat. SOUND: car swerving. PATRICK moves behind the wheel. GINA crosses across PATRICK’S lap and exchanges places with NURIT. TYREN moves into the center of the front seat. Everyone is almost settled. TYREN decides to move to the back to be with his girlfriend and changes places with MAGIN. PATRICK yells a few times out of the rolled down window at other drivers. In a moment of inspiration, NURIT sticks her head out of the sunroof and dances, her arms waving. The others, including PATRICK who is still driving and quite drunk, grab at her dress and pull her back down into the car. She falls languidly into the front seat while GINA makes room for her by moving to the back. SOUND: crashing waves that swell over time. TYREN, searching for his girlfriend’s knee finds MAGIN’S instead and decides that that’s OK. MAGIN removes his hand and screams obscenities at him. She turns to PATRICK asking for some back up. A scuffle begins between the boys as MAGIN, the inexperienced driver, leans over to hold the wheel. PATRICK returns his attention to the wheel as the car begins to swerve out of control. The lights swell as they are synchronously pulled left from the spinning car.

Moments pass without resolution. In an instant, the car abruptly stops, unscathed. The passengers’ bodies are thrown forward and they are for the most part undamaged. They begin to look around. Everyone seems OK. PATRICK once again rolls down the window and screams excitedly. He turns to TYREN and gives him a high-five. Both car and the music begin again. NURIT has hit her head, and is obviously not all right.)

 

 

 

BLACKOUT

 

(Lights up on Convenience Store. Patrons are scattered about looking for various products or engaged in various activities. At the rear of the store are clerks of the Shop and Smile. Their red caps and shirts imply uniformity. PATRICK drops a pair of sunglasses from the rack.)

 

RACHEL: You break it you bought it.

PATRICK: I didn’t break it.

LIZ: Yeah, you break it you gotta buy it.

RACHEL: Yeah, I got it Liz.

 

(Customer one enters)

 

LIZ: Hey, uh, hi I’m Liz and uh, well, can I help you?

RACHEL: Hello, my name is Liz. Welcome to Shop and Smile. How can I help you?

LIZ: Can you write this down for me?

RACHEL: Hello.

LIZ: Hello.

RACHEL: My name is Liz.

LIZ: My name is Liz.

RACHEL: Welcome to Shop and Smile.

 

(Customer two enters.)

 

CONNIE: Hello, Welcome to Shop and Smile, my name is Connie, how may I help you?

RACHEL: Thank You Connie! Professional! Courteous!

 

(Customer three enters.)

 

LIZ: Hi. Welcome. My name is Liz. Welcome to Shop and Smile. Can I help you?

 

(MAGIN enters in search of PATRICK. He is opening a box of Oreos. MAGIN pushes him out of the door towards the pay phone outside. ARMED ROBBER enters and takes LIZ hostage. Everyone screams. Muffled moans can be heard, as the stage is washed in a red light similar to the color of AYA’s party dress. Simultaneously, RYAN and AYA are at the sunglass stand. They each pick a pair of sunglasses. Noticing each other, they begin to mirror each other as they move away from the robber. They are in their own time and space, seemingly unaffected by the events around them. RYAN and AYA then exchange sunglasses. SOUND: DAWN screams. STEPHEN pulls her back to the ground and covers her mouth. AYA and RYAN move away from each other as the ROBBER shoots LIZ and flees. SOUND: gunshot.)

 

 

 

BLACKOUT

 

(SOUND: Gunshot two times)

 

LIGHTS UP

 

(A nurse attends to a patient in the emergency room. The pair are behind curtains.)

 

NURSE: What did you mother in law stab you with?

PATIENT: A knife.

NURSE: A knife? What kind of knife?

PATIENT(Muffled): A pocket knife.

NURSE: A packing knife?

PATIENT: A pocket knife!

NURSE: A pocket knife. Well, how long was the blade?

PATIENT (Muffled):

NURSE: About this big and this long? Ok.

PATIENT (Muffled):

NURSE: About how far did it go in?

PATIENT (Muffled):

NURSE: About halfway? About halfway in?

PATIENT(Barely audible): All the way.

NURSE: You’re going to have to stay here over night. No matter what happens, you’re the only person I’m going to take care of. Ok?

 

(SOUND: low pulse. A waiting room appears. There, waiting, is a woman who cannot breathe and a teenager who has had too much alcohol. Two paramedics cart a patient into the examining room. NURIT and her fellow passengers enter and take a seat. In the back, two nurses are completing a triage on new patients. A pregnant woman waits in line. NURIT stares straight ahead. She is disoriented and there is clearly something wrong. PATRICK and MAGIN joke and chat as more patients filter in with various ailments. The room is now chocked with the sick. NURIT collapses. No one seems to notice. Moments later GINA runs to get help.)

 

NURSE: Can we get a stretcher out here?

PATRICK: She’s been drinking. And she hurt her leg. But the driver took off.

 

(NURIT is taken into the examining room. SOUND: heart beat.)

 

DR. ESHELMAN: We need some help in here.

NURSE POUNSETT: Noro, Kerri, ER.

 

(While NURIT is being attended to, PATRICK, MAGIN, GINA and TYREN are in various states. PATRICK takes the Oreos that he stole from the Convenience store and places then on his third eye. “You are all healed. Go home.” They are all joking and laughing.)

 

DR. ESHELMAN: Let’s defibrillate. Clear. Again. Clear. Again.

 

(The heart beat suddenly ends.)

 

DR. ESHELMAN: Let’s call it. Noro –

NURSE OTTITIGBE: 12:58.

 

(The examining room disappears. NURIT’s friends are the only one remaining in the waiting room.)

 

NURSE POUNSETT: Noro, who’s next?

 

(DR. ESHELMAN and NURSE OTTITIGBE go to NURIT’s friends. NURIT is dead. Their complexions change. NORO and DAWN disappear. There is some time before NURIT’s friends freeze in halflight. RYAN appears, at home. His sister is entranced by the television. She doesn’t look at him when he speaks; she’s too engrossed. At the same time, AYA appears on her bed, also at home. As if we were watching video cameras, the space is converted into three screens. We are given permission to survey the entire world of these individuals, piece by piece. Lights down on TYREN, MAGIN, PATRICK, and GINA who remain in their chairs during the following scene. Rachel is wheeled in on the couch to down stage left. AYA is wheeled in on the bed to down stage right, holding dress, bra and mints. RYAN comes home from the party/ 7-11 with sunglasses. RACHEL is watching TV on the sofa.)

 

RACHEL: Hi.

RYAN: What're you doing up?

RACHEL: Did you have fun?

RYAN: Yeah. I had fun.

RACHEL: Were there a lot of people?

RYAN: Yeah.

RACHEL: Like a hundred?

RYAN: Yeah, like a hundred.

RACHEL: Like a hundred.

 

(RYAN exits stage left. Lights down on RACHEL, up on AYA destroying her bra. AYA enters upstage with broom)

 

AYA/ IKUKO Japanese scene.

IKUKO: I don’t know who you are.

 

(IKUKO leaves her daughter. RYAN leaves his sister. Each scene fades until we are left with total darkness. SOUND: Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah. SOUND: Interview montage made from conversations with the 22 actors about their views on God, fate, hope and communication. As the song fades, lights up on NURIT’s funeral, already assembled. JAMES, the altar boy is singing Ave Maria. IKUKO exits. Alleluiah begins. During intro, lights fade up on each of the three areas of the stage, then blackout at end of intro. The stage remains dark until the end of the song. Lights up on NURIT’s funeral already assembled)

 

FUNERAL

RYAN: I'm tired of listening to this junk.

AYA:

RYAN: Why do they have to say anything.

AYA:

RYAN: What?

AYA:

RYAN: I, I'm sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying.

AYA:

RYAN: Fuck Off.

AYA:

RYAN: Do you believe in God?

 

(AYA exits the room and heads down stage center)

 

RYAN (Follows her): I should introduce you to my mother.

AYA:

RYAN: Are you gonna go back to school this afternoon?

AYA:

RYAN: What?

AYA:

RYAN: What????

AYA:

RYAN: Well, me, I haven't decided yet. Right now I've got an awful feeling like I want to smash things and kill things.

AYA:

 

(SOUND: ZAP. They both pull knives at each other and freeze)

 

RYAN: You wanna go get a burrito?

AYA: Mmmm. Pico de gallo.

 

(They put knives away and exit. Meanwhile the funeral has let out. RYAN gets pulled downstage by TYREN, AARON, and PATRICK and beaten up behind the curtain throughout AYA’s monologue)

 

AYA (In Japanese with English super titles projected on curtain):

I cannot find my voice in this weather. It's down in there but it won't come out. There is no silence at night in this country.  I just want to stay at home, my own home. I would not want to be in a helicopter flying in the rain. Flying rain or shine. I would not want to be in it. So far from the ground and so far from other people. But I am. Nobody ever wants to feel helpless. People will fight against that so hard. They cannot abide that feeling. There will be a resistance to admitting that simple fact, even though there is no other reality at all.

(In English) Be careful of my heart. Why don't you fight back?

 

(Exit AYA)

 

RYAN: I don't want to touch them.

 

(Include scenes: LIZ running across stage. DOOR BALLET

PAWN SHOP. AYA & RYAN DANCE. DINNER AT RYAN'S HOUSE / RANT. CLASSROOM WITH BETH. AYA & RYAN SCENE IN CAFETERIA. BULLET IN HEAD. BETH DINNER SONG /CAFETERIA)

 

 

ACT II

 

OFFICE

 

CONNIE: Are you ready?

ALANNA: Yeah.

CONNIE: Jim is going to be a problem. He's being a real weenie. He's playing

dumb when I heard him in the background. Didn't you? We know what he's up

to.

ALANNA: You're beautiful.

CONNIE: Thanks. I'm going to need you to go through some of your backup files.

ALANNA: No problem. Are you ok?

CONNIE: Mmmhmm. December 15. Do you think you still have a copy of the

minutes to that meeting?

ALANNA: I have a copy in my desk drawer.

CONNIE: You're a godsend. Great.

ALANNA: When do you start chemo?

CONNIE: Tomorrow.

ALANNA: So are you going by yourself? (Pause) What time is your appointment?

CONNIE: Three o'clock.

ALANNA: I have class.

CONNIE: I wasn't asking you. I mean, wow, thank you.

ALANNA: Are you scared?

CONNIE: No, they told me I have the best kind of cancer. (On the phone)

No Jim, I'm not calling you a liar, as a matter of fact. You're too much of a pussy

to be a liar. What you are is a fucking hypocrite. You did too! You knew about it all along. It doesn't matter if you agreed or not. That's bullshit. I can't believe I'm listening to all this runny diaper crap. You slobbery cocksucking mama's boy.

It's too late for that crap, you sneaky little vaginal snail. As a matter of fact its

always too late for that crap. Look I won't listen to this anymore, Jim. And you better fucking watch yourself because I'm going to have your nuts in a garlic press. Ciao!

 

CONNIE: Hey! It’s time. I know you guys are all wondering what this is all about. I

have a list of who's been naughty and who's been nice. Just kidding. Really, I just

wanted to let you know before the rumors got started that I have in fact been

diagnosed with cancer. It’s no big deal, the prognosis is good, but I will be in and

out of the office more than usual. Alanna here is more than capable of picking up

the slack when I am out. So I'll count on you guys to keep things running

smoothly. So, that's it. Keep up the good work. Don't fucking clap. (On the phone) Yeah, I've got the tickets right here. 8:00, when did you think it would start?

Okay that's fine. I'm running late, too, and I could use a few minutes to chill out.

Just meet me in the lobby at quarter of, okay? Yeah? You want me to hold your seat for you? They probably won't let you in. Fine. That's really lame. I've had a stressful day too. Look, I have to go. I have a couple of things I have to do before I leave okay? See you in a few. I guess so. But I really shouldn't. Never mind. I'll see you. (On the phone in the cab) Look, with all the time gabbing on the phone, you could have finished up and left. How is it useful to me to hear that? I'm not. I'm not upset. I really resent that word, upset. A man would never be accused of getting upset. I don't know, upset makes me think of wetting your pants or something. As a matter of fact it is better, though I wouldn't go so far as to say pissed off. I'm slightly annoyed. Whatever, get your shit together and I'll see you in the second act. It’s supposed to be good by the way. It's a Walt Disney revival. Like I said before, maybe. I have a big day tomorrow. Cut the chit chat, I'll be seeing you shortly, right? Okay, so get yourself out of there. Goodbye already! (On the phone at the theatre) Yeah, I guess I figured that out. Were you counting on me keeping my phone on

during the show or were you expecting to get away with leaving a message?

I shouldn't. If you're buying, okay. It would be unchristian of me to deny you. But it has to be an early evening. Meet me at that restaurant across from the theater, fiesta something. I already gave you the address. Figure it out. I'm missing the show. I guess around 10 or 10:30. No, be there at 10:15. I don't want to sit around waiting for you. (On the phone at the restaurant) So is this a new game. No, no, no, don't be sorry, its a great game, lets call it Richard’s a fuck. And about a B- fuck at that. What's wrong with you? It's now 10:45. You started this fun-filled phone parade at 7:15. That means you had three and a half hours to figure out what the hell you are doing and let me know. No wonder you got passed up for that promotion. Christ, I don't like people to waste my time. I have a life to live. Fuck you. You want to tell me now or would you like to call me in three and a half hours. Let's see, I can set my alarm for 2:10 so I'll be sure not to miss it.

You're moving to Florida. Whatever.

 

 

 

BAR

 

DAVE: I don’t know, but in 4 years I'm volunteering for the campaign so I can get some

of that NADER ASS.

RYAN: It’s all about those 18 year old girls voting for the first time.

DAVE: It’s like let’s just be entirely full of shit ya know like, let’s just pretend that reality is totally malleable and we can like say that you're doing all these things but you're not ya know and it’s just kinda like it just makes me go like you know you don’t care, you don’t care about you, like, you know like... they don’t think it matters about like people's right to vote and like you don’t want that most votes count like and like you're saying these things you know you'd be doing the exact same things if you were on the other side and like if you were behind by ten votes you'd be like WE NEED MANUAL RECOUNTS AND WE'RE BRINGING IN THE ARMY AND WE'RE GONNA FUCKIN HAVE IT, I mean you know that and you know the shit they say and it just drives me nuts.

JOSH: Okay. I wouldn’t have sex with anybody who voted for Bush. I could not have sex with any of those.

DAVE: I WOULD HAVE SEX WITH EVERYBODY WHO VOTED FOR BUSH.

 

(Laughter)

 

JOSH: How could you have sex with anybody who voted for Bush?

RYAN: Okay, I was in this bar in LA and JAMAL was having sex with this girl.

JOSH: In the bar?

RYAN: No no....but he was sleeping with this…with this... and we we're all hanging out in the bar (laughter) It’s true and and we were just like sitting there and out of the blue she goes like, I don’t know who to support, George Bush or or or what's his name, John McCain and it’s like.....hello.....and she was just like I don’t know and she like repeated herself and I was like you're a ....republican and it was this barrier and we started to talk about…

JOSH: And she's having sex with this Radical black man

 

(Laughter)

 

RYAN: And and like I confronted Jamal about it and he was like OH WE DON'T TALK

ABOUT IT.

JOSH: We don’t talk about it.

RYAN: And –

JOSH: I just don’t see it. I don’t see it being possible.

RYAN: I don’t see how it would be possible either, like if someone has voted for Bush

other than my grandfather.

JOSH: Just out of SPITE.

DAVE: That's pretty good. I used to not be able to talk to them but now I could talk to

them because I want to beat them up. Just kick them in the head repeatedly and

be saying I'm not kicking you in the head, I swear you know like...you’re wrong

I don’t know what you're talking about.

(Laughter)

 

DAVE: I mean you could say like –

JOSH: I just don’t want to fuckin’ look at Colin Powell. He's the death of the world.

DAVE: Is he?

JOSH: Yeah.

DAVE: Jesus I’m thinking he's the only thing that's alright.

 

(RYAN laughs)

 

JOSH: Not Colin Powell.

DAVE: I thought he was level headed.

JOSH: Yeah, he's really level headed. He conducted that war in the Gulf. He shot into

National attention because CNN likes ya know to to to...he was the spokesman

for the war, him and Schwarzkopf...but Schwarzkopf is too fat and ugly to be a

presidential contender.

RYAN: He's got a German last name or whatever.

JOSH: He can’t even fit into fatigues. He's got boils....his whole head is like a boil.

We're gonna see more of that Bush Boil. You know that boil that was on his

face.

DAVE: Walking down the street with that smirk on his face

RYAN: There's something wrong with his smile. It’s like he's trying to be happy even

though he knows he just shat his pants.

(Laughter)

DAVE: He's not trying, he is happy he just shat his pants.

(Laughter)

DAVE: It’s warm.

JOSH: It’s gooey.

DAVE: Mmmmmmmm. The worst thing that could happen is he really tries to run things.

RYAN: Nuclear holocaust

JOSH: This used to be a concern, right, that the guy with his so-called finger on the so called button was a competent person. That was a big worry.

RYAN: Reagan blew that to hell, I mean people thought that we was competent but he

had Alzheimer’s in –

DAVE: People don’t really care about Nuclear war.

JOSH: Not anymore. We've totally forgotten about it.

DAVE: And it’s still like the most unbelievable…

JOSH: Heinous…

DAVE: I’m reading this book by Martin Amis, Einstein's Monsters.

JOSH: I mean it’s CRAZY CRAZY....Every single day, every fucking day it’s like they're still there....there's no less danger... there's more danger....Because you could buy it – you want some Uranium we could trade some blue jeans for some in the Ukraine.

DAVE: We should.

(Mild laughter)

JOSH: Yeah, theatre and Nuclear arms and Brooklyn's Grand Avenue.

DAVE: There's something to pay attention to.

RYAN: It would be so easy to start a panic. I was riding over the bridge and I was

thinking about it, it was like, what if some catastrophe struck?

JOSH: Well, here is where it would happen. I mean this is New York City, what are they

gonna bomb, Washington? What, a buncha statues? This is like the primo overkill

zone all that shit is still pointed at us...

RYAN: And the germ warfare, where you ...this is why I don’t ride the subway anymore

because –

JOSH: I mean you can fantasize about a hundred million billion billion different

horrible things over and over and over again until you're blue in the face or you

know, cowering in the corner…

DAVE: But nothing has changed...I'm still on the nuclear thing...nothing has changed and

when I grew up it was an environment where everybody was freaked out.

JOSH: Yeah.

DAVE: But nothing is changed except that these weapons are in more people's

hands...and it's more comforting when at least people are terrified and they're

not terrified it’s just like there's something wrong –

JOSH: Well, I think people are terrified but they're terrified on a whole other level. I

think people are terrified in their bones not in their brains, it’s like it’s so

underneath the…I mean why do you think people are running around like

WOOBAA WOOBA WOOAA all the time...because they have no time, there is no time left, they are all hypervetilating going HA HA HYAHYAHYAHHAE... you know nobody can have a ssss…nobody can have a good time..there's no DRUG Culture.. There's no SEX culture, there's no…there's no SUB culture there's no COUNTER culture, there's no, there’s no CULTURE to SUB from there's just a lot of people walking around in a kind of unconscious blind panic. That's crazy, it’s crazy, I hate it. It’s like let’s move to Bangkok or Paris or Ouagadogou.

DAVE: Where's Ouagadogou.

JOAH: Burkina Fasso.

DAVE: Isn't there a…do you feel a sense of responsibility?

JOSH: Responsibility for whom? I feel responsible for my own quality of life which

means that the people around me have to be thinking, breathing, terrified on a

conscious level and hyperactive and awake for and it has to be supported in the

world around me or else I have no....ya know, come on.

DAVE: You could leave.

JOSH: We could leave.

DAVE: But I mean, like, even in Ouagadogou…

JOSH: Well, not Ouagadogou. We don’t wanna go there.

RYAN:With a NAME like OUAGADOUGOU it has to be…

JOSH: It has to be terrible.

(Laughter)

DAVE: I mean where can you go?

JOSH: You can't go anywhere, you can't go anywhere. We've go to improve this.

HERE. I mean I been other places. I'm talkin’ about the air you breathe.

DAVE: Everything is going to be affected.

JOSH: I'm not talking about affected.

DAVE: It’s all George W. Cunt's fault. Whether you go to Greece or –

JOSH: No fuck that.

RYAN: His finger's up his ass.

JOSH: His finger's up his ass so far he's touching his navel...it’s up to the elbow but like –

DAVE: It’s not his finger I'm worried about. It’s the fingers of the other people. The

fingers of the 50% of insane Americans, the insane fucking people who think this

is a good thing...these people are mad and they're probably perfectly happy to

jump onto another ridiculous bandwagon should we feel the need to roll out the

tanks and missiles and guns and go like take out Syria or some other country that

is like causing problems.

RYAN: But that other 50% of the people who voted democratic, they're just as willing

to roll out the tanks and guns and stuff...they're just not going to admit it straight out.

JOSH: They'll take it lying down, they'll take it right on their face. You know THOSE

THINGS ARE THE THINGS THAT THE PRESIDENT DOES, THE PRESIDENT'S SUPPOSED TO DO THAT....BOMB PEOPLE WE GOT WARS WITH SOMETIMES EVEN these liberals say this as LONG WE GOT ABORTIONS AND LIP SERVICE ABOUT RACISM and sometimes we gotta kick some ass...that's okay right, we gotta do that right, we don’t want to dislike our leaders…we can still love Bill Clinton for Bombing Afghanistani Medical supply plants.

DAVE: Abortions are okay....

JOSH: No, this place is fucked. We can't do it. This country is up to no good and it will

remain up to no good. You know you you you can’t alter the course of history.

We're fucked. This country is fucked. It’s ridiculous and stupid. We can talk

about incredible artists or hip hop or this and that of the things that we love in

culture on a very superficial level or whatever, but on a very very deep level this

place is fucked. We killed all the Indians you can’t get past the basic fact. It’s

genocide. The country is founded on genocide.

DAVE: But that's life, like the people with the better guns and weapons and more

population come in a wipe out the other ones and someday someone will come

along and wipe out us.

JOSH: But then what is history? Is it just this blind march toward a continuing

degradation of the species? There ARE places, there are countries that aren't

founded on, you know, mass extinction...I don’t know where they are…

DAVE: They haven’t been extinguished yet. AND I do think that history is a blind

March; it is a blind march but it is neither good nor bad. I mean, when is there a

case where a group of people who didn't like another group of people and had

the means to wipe them out, didn't. Just decided not to. SO I guess at some

point there’s no one left to wipe out and that would be the end to that....until

someone came from like another star system as was like, We're gonna wipe you

out and we're like SHIT WE'RE TOTALLY NOT PREPARED and then you'll get

the Martians like us sitting here in bars going like WE WIPED THEM OUT WE

SUCK.

RYAN: In THIS VERY BAR.

JOSH: The Martians sitting around in this very bar....what happens to the underclass

Martians going uh...we just moved here...uh ...we don’t know anything about

Gentrification...we're –

RYAN (Like a MARTIAN): WE ARE NOT TO BLAME.

JOSH & DAVE: WE ARE NOT TO BLAME. WE ARE NOT TO BLAME.

JOSH: My father keeps screaming at me about Nader.

DAVE: Why is he screaming at you about Nader.

JOSH: Because he is so upset that Bush has won the presidency. And I keep saying to

him, Dad, Al Gore is not your friend.

DAVE: It’s a generational thing.

JOSH: I think he's upset because Lieberman is a Jew and THEY WANT THEIR PIECE

OF THE PIE. WE FINALLY GOT A JEW AND WE LOST BY 154 Votes in Florida with all the holocaust survivors voting for Buchanan.

(Laughter)

JOSH: It's like it’s sent him over the edge. NADER, GET NADER!!!!!

DAVE: So where are we?

JOSH: Where are we? There's not a lot to hang onto. We got crappy movies made for

export to target markets in Asia, Hip hop is dead, you know Kurt Cobain is dead.

The Subway series sucked…

DAVE: THE SUBWAY SERIES SUCKED. But where's Nader?

RYAN: His website is totally empty.

DAVE: Where is he?

JOSH: Where the fuck is he?

 

(Include Mr. Ogawa text. COMING HOME. Ikuko and Ryan scene)

 

CONNIE: Hi Dad. Yeah, I know. Tell her I'm sorry. No, you tell her. Don't wake her up. There's something gorgeous in the mail, I promise. I'm fine. Great, great. It's good. Busy. How're things at home? (laugh) Oh yeah, why? Well, come on she's just a dog. I'm a big girl. Dad, I can't come home next weekend, I told you already. My plans changed. No, you know there isn't. If you choose to be delusional, go ahead. I know, Dad, I'm sorry. I don't have time for a relationship, Dad, You don't understand what my life is like. No! There's a lawsuit happening, and it’s really hard to leave right now, that's all. What do you want me to say? I can't. It's personal. I just can't, okay? No, I physically cannot. Please, you don't understand. I'm too tired for this conversation. I have a big day tomorrow, okay, I have to go. I'm sorry Dad I have to go, goodbye.

 

 

TYREN’S SHIFT

 

TYREN: West side Veterinary.

NURIT: Yes, hello...I’ve been paging Dr. Rosen all night, already 4 times and he’s supposed to be 24 hours on call and I really just don’t know what to do – it’s it’s it’s my dog…He is....o my god, yes, he’s dead. I got home and he’s dead. The dog is dead and I I I I I I I just don't know what to do.

TYREN: And you want the Veterinarian to call you back?

NURIT: Yes, of course, because well… I want to know what I should do.

TYREN: I well I can take a message.

NURIT: Can you page her?

TYREN: Yes I can page her. With what message?

NURIT: To call and that the (starts crying) the… the… I don't know what I should do.

TYREN: Ok. No problem ma'am. It’s taken care of.

NURIT: Ok, ok thanks.

 

PATRICK’S SHIFT

WAITING ROOM

 

BETH: My husband was killed in July of 1970, just a few weeks before he would have

been twenty-two. We'd been married for three years, but had gone together from the ninth grade on, from the time I was fourteen. I was nearly twenty-one when he was killed. I was pregnant, and his baby daughter was born two days after the funeral, which was thirteen days after he was killed. The way I learned of his death was sort of strange. I woke up that morning around 8 o'clock. I had had a dream that I was with him, in Vietnam. He was with the 11th Armored Cav, but I dreamed that we were in a transport plane, preparing to bail out and go into combat. I was there with him and all the other guys, and I was talking about how scared I was. I was wearing fatigues, the whole bit. He said, "Don't worry. I'm going to take care of you. Don't worry about anything, because I'll take care of you." At that instant, there was a knock on the door. I heard someone say, "Is Mrs. Stevenson here? I need to talk to Mrs. Greg Stevenson." I came out of my room, putting my robe on: "Is he all right?" He said, "How are you doing?" I was huge, carrying my daughter. "I'm fine. Is he hurt?" He said, "Are you OK?" "He's dead, isn't he?" "Yes ma'am, he is." That was it. That was it. I vaguely remember the funeral. They had a flag on his casket, I didn't want it, but I did want it. I wanted people to realize he went over there. He had a flag on his coffin, and I think that taps was played, and a twenty-one gun salute, but I don't really remember. I don't remember all of it, probably because I don't want to.

I don’t want to remember everything. Our baby was not actually due for another week or two, but all of a sudden, a few days after I found out he was killed, I went for a check-up and the doctor said, "I'm going on vacation, so I'm going to go ahead and take the baby." I feel that what probably happened is my mother went to him and told him about Greg. I think that's why they took my baby when they did, because they didn't know what I would do. I was in a state of shock.

When he left for Vietnam, he didn't know I was pregnant. But I'd told him

before, "If you do get drafted, I want to be pregnant when you leave, because,

God forbid, if anything happens to you, I want something of yours to have

always." Once, I went to his grave, at night. I sat there and talked to him.

When I was ready to go, I was crying. It wasn't his fault that he didn't come

home, but...the more I thought about it, I realized I was mad at him.

I kicked his headstone and said, "Damn you, why did you die? You promised to

come home. Why didn't you come home? How could you do this to me?

How could you let yourself get killed?"

That was twelve years after he died.

BETH: Is there anything you want to ask me?

CONNIE: I don't think so, no.

BETH: I mean specifically about what happens to your body.

CONNIE: No thanks.

BETH: I mean it's a little like puberty all over again. All these changes and new

emotions. I don't think I've felt this vulnerable and unsexy since I was fourteen.

But at the same time it makes me realize how precious my…well I know this

may sound corny, but I've never experienced my womanhood as strongly as

when I faced losing my breasts ... I mean it gave me a gift in a way. I guess what

I'm trying to say is I know how frightened you are now.

 

(CONNIE exits)

 

OFFICE

 

TYREN:  Hey baby, how're you doin?

NORO: I'm ok.

TYREN: You look good.

NORO: So do you.

TYREN: You work here now?

NORO: Just started. Yesterday.

TYREN: Nice place.

NORO: You can't be here.

TYREN: I brought you these.

NORO: You can't come in here, surprise me like that.

TYREN: What's this? I don't even get a hello? Good to see you?

NORO: How did you find me here?

TYREN: Easy.

NORO: What happened to your hair?

TYREN: Fell out. What happened to yours?

NORO: What's wrong with it?

TYREN: I don't like it.

NORO: Look, you can't be comin’ in here and tellin’ me all about my life and all

about what I should be doin’ with my time and my self.

TYREN: Hey don't get mad.

NORO: I'm not mad.

TYREN: I want you back.

NORO: What.

TYREN: Noro, I want us to be us, together.

NORO: Tyren, we can't do that, you know it.

TYREN: See this? See this? This is where it went in and this is where it went out. 3

of them. You seen this before? That's for you.

NORO: That's got nothin’ to do with me. That's because of you.

TYREN: I was trying to provide for my family, I did it for you.

NORO: So, what, now it's all better.

TYREN: Different. It's different.

NORO: Yeah, it's different.

TYREN: But. I. I. I. still love you.

NORO:  Don't. It's…Not now, ok? I'm working. I have to think about it.

TYREN: So think about it.

NORO: I didn't even know you was getting’ out.

TYREN: How's my little girl?

NORO: Ashanti.

TYREN: Ashanti. How's my baby.

NORO: Fine. She's fine. She just had her first day of school.

TYREN: School! She's not a baby anymore.

NORO: No, she's not.

TYREN: When can I see her?

NORO: Whoah, whoah whoah, stop. You can't do this, Tyren.

TYREN: What? What am I doin.

NORO: This. You can't do THIS. You can't just waltz in here like everything's cool

and do this I want you back and when can I see my baby thing.

TYREN: What? Why not? Why not.

NORO: Everything's not cool.

TYREN: Yes it is. Yes it IS.

NORO: NO, Tyren. I can't talk about this now, and, and Ashanti doesn't

even know who you are.

TYREN: Who's fault is that?

NORO: What are you saying?

TYREN: You coulda brought her to see me. You coulda made the time to

that. I know it wasn't the best set-up but –

NORO: Tyren, not now, all right? I can't do this right now. Please.

ALANNA: Noro, is there a problem?

NORO: No, no it's fine, I'm sorry.

ALANNA: The hard drive at beta-testing is acting a little funny.

NORO: I'll take a look at it. I gotta go.

TYREN: When then, when can I see you?

NORO: I don't know. Call me.

TYREN: Noro, come on.

NORO: You got my number.

(Include MR OGAWA/RYAN massacre)

 

HOSPITAL

(ALANA and ROBERT)

 

ALANNA: Robert, Robert! What are you doing? Are you living or dying? You think about it. Make up your mind. Look here. I got a Charms blow pop here. You wake up it's all yours. It’s got gum on the inside. Two treats in one. If not, I'm eating it.

HUH? Alright I got your homework. You got your history paper back.

The Cuban Missile Crisis. Dimwit Teacher gives you an A. I'm giving you a C. The facts are all there but you missed the main point. You quote well from Chrisopher Lasch's Culture of Narcissicm: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations...I'll give you that. But you’re short on key analysis.

Ok.Ok. Ok. You got: "The art of crisis management , now widely acknowledged to be the essence of stagecraft owes its vogue to the merger of politics and spectacle." This is a misquote. Reads STATECRAFT...not stagecraft owes its vogue to the merger of politics and spectacle blah blah....Anyway, apart from the typo that's a good point. That's good. But then you blow it all to hell. You write that the world was at the brink of nuclear war. And this is where I oughta sock you. Yes, it’s true there was massive panic. The churches were full of a whole nation of nail biting ninnies. But the Soviet missiles in Cuba, provocative as they were, in no way altered the true military balance of power. Kennedy risked nuclear war over it. Dip shit that he was. (Takes out flask) Drink? Just this once for old time's sake? Exaggerating the danger, working the propaganda machine, building a chronic sense of impending catastrophe in order to expand the powers of the executive branch, build up his image. Not to mention massage his enormous ego crushed by the Bay of Pigs flop. "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your...." Brinkmanship. HA. You got suckered. You watching too much of that damn Biography channel. Blow pop? Ich Bin Two treats in one. Last chance. Well, at least we got that cleared up. Cuban Missile Crisis. Don't get hysterical. So that's two demerits. Misinformation. AND failure to identify obvious hypocrisy in a mainstream appraisal of recent American History. But I'm gonna give you a chance to make up for it. Soon as you get out of here, you write me two papers The Iran Contra and the Gulf of Tonkin. Then we're all square. No extra chores and resumed TV privileges. Ok I'm eating it. (She unwraps it and puts it in her mouth. She reconsiders and puts it in his mouth. ROBERT does not move.) ROBERT! You look like a big dope with that thing sticking outta your mouth. Robert. ( She lets out a huge scream. She puts Blow Pop back in her mouth)

Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. (She gets up to leave, muttering wake up wake up as she leaves).

 

HAPPY ENDING

 

NURIT: If I could tell you all I would but there’s no one that I can tell except god

but if we could just keep talking or keep touching if we could just keep living

inside of these things that are all of us that we cannot seem to get out of all of the way because that would mean that the all is all and not us at all that these eyes must surrender back to the water that is here to torture us, how it keeps moving, how it sounds far more beautiful than any sound that we could ever make.

The water that we all flow in, the water that we can wash ourselves away in. The water that is always so cold, the water that we move through...I always thought, and any day now I could leave and not return. Any any day now the now that is this now could change forever and we cannot plan what clothes to wear and when we are to fall in love and how we are to lose over and over again what we lose and what we keep and what we have to hold on to and how far away is all of this that we wish for ? How far away is death? Just keep at it just keep at it as long as you can and don’t back down. Who are your friends? Who is telling you anything worth knowing? Who is telling us anything worth knowing? Is anybody here? Is there a god? How much harder does it have to be until it gets easier?? Don't turn back and look behind you. Don’t turn back and open that door. Don’t

open that door, it leads off the balcony and out the window and out of the now...

god makes a mess of us all, we know that here we are in this queer world that cannot even for a second look like what is actually happening. What is actually really happening is what we cannot fathom cannot know what is actually happening is that which we cannot feel even for a moment, perhaps we can, but aren’t, we're only fooling.

 

 

                                                THE END