brief intermission after Dawn
DUSK
multi-Characters:
STORYTELLER (also XAVIER and DIRECTOR #3)
DIRECTOR ( and Actor)
PLAYWRIGHT (also SCUZZY)
AUDIENCE (also Actor and DIRECTOR #2)
Audience personified by one character
ROGER
Main characters are also actors
Time: end of the day
Place: nearly bare stage
******************** denotes change of reality and roles
DUSK
Curtain opens to an empty, unadorned stage. Storyteller sits on a plain bent wood chair angled to face the audience. Director is sitting off to the side guiding the Storyteller through rehearsal. Playwright is unseen in the seats at the front of the stage closest to the director. Audience sits among the audience until called upon. Roger is barely noticeable in a chair at the far corner of the stage. Roger is facing the wall.
STORYTELLER: Line please.
DIRECTOR: There once was a child…
STORYTELLER: There once was a child–
DIRECTOR: Louder.
STORYTELLER: There once was a child who lost direction –
DIRECTOR: More feeling. Gestures.
STORYTELLER: (exaggerates gestures) There once was a child who lost direction –
PLAYWRIGHT: Wait, wait, wait… (to director) Try “Once there was a child…”
DIRECTOR: OK. Once there was --- (points to Storyteller to start again)
STORYTELLER: Once there was a child who lost direction –
(Director indicates to keep going.) One night the child cries so hard that a huge
tear drop forms and swallows the child… (breaks off, to Playwright) Excuse me.
so sorry, but how can a child be alive inside ah ah a water globe?
PLAYWRIGHT: Water is H 2 O – plenty of oxygen.
STORYTELLER: (not satisfied) But …
DIRECTOR: Think Embryo. Continue.
STORYTELLER: I’m not sure if I can…
PLAYWRIGHT: (irritated) It’s a simple story – anyone can tell it!
(Storyteller turns back to the Playwright, which disturbs him more)
(Playwright turns to the Audience) Anyone? Anyone want to try?
AUDIENCE: Yeah! (runs up to stage, takes position near Storyteller who is indignant)
DIRECTOR: Come on... Come on…Once there was a ---
AUDIENCE: there was a kid, lost, uh, got in a tear bubble…
(animated, dramatic) then the sun came down with its radiant energy and raised the child to the heavens to the tear crowd cloud!
DIRECTOR: What are you doing?
AUDIENCE: (sniffling) Excuse me?
STORYTELLER: Yeah, a little over-the-top?
AUDIENCE: The child finally feels part of something!
PLAYWRIGHT: You nailed it! (jumps up on stage) This is the sum total of existence. A coded message of subliminal power that is the very essence of life and living!
STORYTELLER: I think it needs a little more work.
DIRECTOR: And cut.
All pay attention to the director. They are now actors, Xavier, Scuzzy
DIRECTOR: Ok, a couple things here.
(to Playwright and Audience) You two are going a little overboard with the climaxing. Ease up.
(to Playwright) We should cut back that heavy handed in-your-face dialogue.
And you, Storyteller, Lighten up.
Xavier, can I see you for a minute? Take five, everyone.
Xavier and Director converse. The other two actors quietly go over their lines together.
XAVIER: (leans toward Director) I hate this stupid play. If I don’t get a break soon, I’ll break apart myself.
DIRECTOR: Xavier, no one said it’s Shakespeare. Hang in there.
XAVIER: A tear drop? Really.
SCUZZY: If you’re through with me, I’ve got some work to do..
(looking back at other actor) Is that right?
DIRECTOR 2: Cut, cut, cut. Have a seat.
SCUZZY: Sorry.
The other three sit close together. Director 2 contemplates for a few seconds, then pushes Director and Xavier closer together.
DIRECTOR 2: You’re supposed to be putting the make on her.
Softer – “No one said it’s Shakespeare.” Touch her, she doesn’t have cooties.
And Scuzzy, if you’re going to play an author, be an author – authoritarian –
That’s your lifeblood they’re sucking away at. Just finish your line, bottom of
page four – the one you missed – “I wouldn’t mind…”
SCUZZY: Sorry. (clears throat) I wouldn’t mind writing a children’s story someday. Sesame Street’s got them all so sophisticated. Something different –
DIRECTOR 3: (stands) Hold it. Hold it.
Now the other three give their full attention to Director 3. Director 2 exchanges seats with new director.
It’s difficult enough being the director and also playing a role but
we’ve got to come to some agreement here. Listen, listen up!
(to Director 2) When you break in with your “cut, cut cut!” you’re supposed to be frustrated yet controlled and I don’t sense that in you. However, your directions to the actors were convincing
DIRECTOR 3: (stops in frustration) Damnit. “However, your directions were…”
No. Your directions to the actors WAS convincing. Okay. “However, your directions to the ---“ is it toward , or to --- line, please
PLAYWRIGHT: (thumbing through script) Go on, go on. “Was convincing” is right.
DIRECTOR 2: Excuse me, can we take a real five. I’m losing my concentration.
Who am I?
DIRECTOR 3: I know it seems convoluted at times but it has its place --- it doesn’t matter
what we put on stage as long as its done well – we’re here to trigger associations, ignite
and stimulate imaginations – the audience is responsible for finding meaning -- not us –
we just present the material – they supply their own reason for being here.
(looks out at audience) How’s that?
PLAYWRIGHT: What the f--, damnit. Don’t break the continuity. Keep going. Stick to the script! You’re not supposed to --- “How’s that?” – what are you trying to do? Confuse the audience?
DIRECTOR: (confidently in control, to audience) Pardon me, ladies and gentlemen.
PLAYWRIGHT: What are you doing?
DIRECTOR: (continuing) Please excuse my cast for misleading you…
DIRECTOR 2: What do you mean, “my” cast?
DIRECTOR 3: Hey, I’m the director – here – page six, line twenty seven.
DIRECTOR: Don’t believe everything you read.
DIRECTOR 2: It’s me. And it says so on page 5.
PLAYWRIGHT: AH ha! (turns page) Finally. Now it’s page 8 and I am the director.
DIRECTOR: Like hell you are.
DIRECTOR 2: There isn’t a page 8
The other three rip page eight from their scripts.
PLAYWRIGHT: But –
DIRECTOR 2: There isn’t a page 8
DIRECTOR 3: Wait. Let’s let someone else decide.
They approach ROGER who’s been silently reading a book and petting his cat with his back to the proceedings.
DIRECTOR 3: Excuse me, pardon us, but could you please tell us who is the director?
You know, cast your applause –
(points to each actor in turn)
Is it him?
Roger applauds
Her?
Roger applauds
Him?
Roger applauds
Me?
Roger applauds
No one is satisfied. Roger goes back to his story. Nothing has been resolved.
The actors turn to the audience
DIRECTOR 3: Thanks. Thanks a bunch.
PLAYWRIGHT: Let’s get back to the story.
DIRECTOR: Only by losing direction do we gain it.
Over P. A. system: Excuse me cast. That was a good run through. Could we start from the top again with the storyteller – “There once was a child…”
PLAYWRIGHT: Who’s that now?
DIRECTOR: I’ve had enough.
DIRECTOR 2: If I can’t direct my own play.
DIRECTOR 3: What do you mean “your” play?
PLAYWRIGHT: Oh, my god!
OTHERS: What?
PLAYWRIGHT: It’s cyclic. It’s --
OTHERS: What?
PLAYWRIGHT: It’s cyclic. It’s never going to end. The last page goes back to the first page.
DIRECTOR 3: You mean, we’re stuck?
DIRECTOR 2: What?
DIRECTOR: Wait, wait, wait, calm down, calm down.
They thumb through the script.
DIRECTOR 2: Here’s some mumbo jumbo: “This absurd work-in-progress is about finding a sense of direction, we’ll look to a story, look to the stage, look to a playwright, look to a director, keep looking but you’ll have to find your own way out.”
DIRECTOR 3: Jesus H Christ.
DIRECTOR 2: (continues) “A single drop of water is an example of the ever changing cycle of life, an interdependent part of nature evolving continuously.”
PLAYWRIGHT: Material that calls attention to itself is not fit for fiction!
DIRECTOR 3: Holy M – F’er – (grabs script from #2, reads) “We absorb and dissipate in a constant flux of awareness trying to make sense out of the interconnecting patterns of thought surrounding us”
DIRECTOR 2: Bullshit. … is that right?
DIRECTOR 3: (continues) To have a sense of purpose and a keen sense of direction is one of our greatest personal accomplishments.”
DIRECTOR 2: (panicked) We’ve got to find our own way?
DIRECTOR: That arrogant son of a bitch.
DIRECTOR 3: Suck-hole!
PLAYWRIGHT: Amateur!
DIRECTOR: So, how do we get out of this?
They agree on one thing. Together they tear the scripts to shreds.
P.A. speaker screams as if being murdered, “No!”
They’ve lost their identities.
Confused murmurs and whispers.
Embarrassment.
Pause.
The four sit huddled closely. Dumbfounded.
STORYTELLER: (timidly) Line please.
PLAYWRIGHT: Now what?
DIRECTOR: Say something.
STORYTELLER: Line please...
PLAYWRIGHT: Anything.
DIRECTOR: Somebody say something..
AUDIENCE: (struggles to find the right word, then blurts out) We’re free!
This is a revelation. The thought of their new freedom makes them giddy with possibilities.
STORYTELLER: This is wonderful.
PLAYWRIGHT: Quirky.
DIRECTOR: Magnificent
AUDIENCE: We’re free! Equal.
STORYTELLER: Let’s stop pretending to be something other than what we are! O k?
PLAYWRIGHT: O K.
DIRECTOR: O K.
AUDIENCE: O K, but what are we?
STORYTELLER: Well – we’re free! We can be anything.
PLAYWRIGHT: I’ll be a Berkeley Unified School District Adult School Teacher AND A Peralta Community College Humanities Instructor!
DIRECTOR: I’ll be a United States of America Department of Commerce Census Crew Leader AND a Alameda County Elections Official Precinct Inspector for Primary and General Elections!
AUDIENCE: I’ll be a Kelly Girl and a Democrat and Chronicle paper boy and a busboy at Jim’s Restaurant and the Chairperson of a Staff Development Committee!
STORYTELLER: This isn’t going to work. Let’s stop pretending to be something other than what we are! O k?
PLAYWRIGHT: O K.
DIRECTOR: O K.
AUDIENCE: O K, but what are we?
STORYTELLER: Well – we’re free! We can be anything!
PLAYWRIGHT: I’ll be a song clerk for a West Coast sheet Music Distributor based on Spring Street in L.A..
DIRECTOR: I’ll be an extra on the Incredible Hulk Television show from Universal Studios!
AUDIENCE: I’ll be a house-sitter in the Hollywood Hills for my friend, the owner, who goes off to Corpus Christie to die!
STORYTELLER: This isn’t going to work. Let’s stop pretending to be something other than what we are! O k?
PLAYWRIGHT: O K.
DIRECTOR: O K.
AUDIENCE: O K, but what are we?
STORYTELLER: Well – we’re free! We can be anything!
PLAYWRIGHT: I’ll be a warehouse stock puller and an order filler AND a serviceman in a printing factory and I’ll take a fork lift for a joyride into a barrel of caustic fluid that causes people to get sick on the night shift.
DIRECTOR: I’ll be an outdoor in-ground above-ground pool instillation laborer who rolls a wheelbarrow of cement into the side of the boss’s new car.
AUDIENCE: I’ll be a soda jerk at the Ice Cream Parlor where all the cute girls hang out AND I’ll get fired because I can’t control the soft ice cream machine enough to make a decent cone when the babes are looking.
STORYTELLER: This isn’t going to work!
ROGER: That’s enough!
Roger comes over to the lost characters.
ACTORS: What?
ROGER: You must rest up.
ACTORS: Why?
ROGER: For the rest of the journey.
ACTORS: What journey?
ROGER: The rest of your lives.
ACTORS: Oh…
The actors take notice of the ensuing darkness.
PLAYWRIGHT: I think I’m melting.
DIRECTOR: Disappearing.
AUDIENCE: I’m getting vague.
STORYTELLER: Light please…
ROGER: (comforting) It’s getting dark now, but I have something to help you find your way. Relax.
They relax.
Roger rocks back ‘n forth.
Actors regress to children at bedtime.
Roger opens book and begins reading very tenderly.
Once there was a child who lost direction…
Lights out
"DUSK" from Dawn & Dusk, Playbook ©1988-1993 by John Kirkmire. ALl rights reserved
DUSK
multi-Characters:
STORYTELLER (also XAVIER and DIRECTOR #3)
DIRECTOR ( and Actor)
PLAYWRIGHT (also SCUZZY)
AUDIENCE (also Actor and DIRECTOR #2)
Audience personified by one character
ROGER
Main characters are also actors
Time: end of the day
Place: nearly bare stage
******************** denotes change of reality and roles
DUSK
Curtain opens to an empty, unadorned stage. Storyteller sits on a plain bent wood chair angled to face the audience. Director is sitting off to the side guiding the Storyteller through rehearsal. Playwright is unseen in the seats at the front of the stage closest to the director. Audience sits among the audience until called upon. Roger is barely noticeable in a chair at the far corner of the stage. Roger is facing the wall.
STORYTELLER: Line please.
DIRECTOR: There once was a child…
STORYTELLER: There once was a child–
DIRECTOR: Louder.
STORYTELLER: There once was a child who lost direction –
DIRECTOR: More feeling. Gestures.
STORYTELLER: (exaggerates gestures) There once was a child who lost direction –
PLAYWRIGHT: Wait, wait, wait… (to director) Try “Once there was a child…”
DIRECTOR: OK. Once there was --- (points to Storyteller to start again)
STORYTELLER: Once there was a child who lost direction –
(Director indicates to keep going.) One night the child cries so hard that a huge
tear drop forms and swallows the child… (breaks off, to Playwright) Excuse me.
so sorry, but how can a child be alive inside ah ah a water globe?
PLAYWRIGHT: Water is H 2 O – plenty of oxygen.
STORYTELLER: (not satisfied) But …
DIRECTOR: Think Embryo. Continue.
STORYTELLER: I’m not sure if I can…
PLAYWRIGHT: (irritated) It’s a simple story – anyone can tell it!
(Storyteller turns back to the Playwright, which disturbs him more)
(Playwright turns to the Audience) Anyone? Anyone want to try?
AUDIENCE: Yeah! (runs up to stage, takes position near Storyteller who is indignant)
DIRECTOR: Come on... Come on…Once there was a ---
AUDIENCE: there was a kid, lost, uh, got in a tear bubble…
(animated, dramatic) then the sun came down with its radiant energy and raised the child to the heavens to the tear crowd cloud!
DIRECTOR: What are you doing?
AUDIENCE: (sniffling) Excuse me?
STORYTELLER: Yeah, a little over-the-top?
AUDIENCE: The child finally feels part of something!
PLAYWRIGHT: You nailed it! (jumps up on stage) This is the sum total of existence. A coded message of subliminal power that is the very essence of life and living!
STORYTELLER: I think it needs a little more work.
DIRECTOR: And cut.
All pay attention to the director. They are now actors, Xavier, Scuzzy
DIRECTOR: Ok, a couple things here.
(to Playwright and Audience) You two are going a little overboard with the climaxing. Ease up.
(to Playwright) We should cut back that heavy handed in-your-face dialogue.
And you, Storyteller, Lighten up.
Xavier, can I see you for a minute? Take five, everyone.
Xavier and Director converse. The other two actors quietly go over their lines together.
XAVIER: (leans toward Director) I hate this stupid play. If I don’t get a break soon, I’ll break apart myself.
DIRECTOR: Xavier, no one said it’s Shakespeare. Hang in there.
XAVIER: A tear drop? Really.
SCUZZY: If you’re through with me, I’ve got some work to do..
(looking back at other actor) Is that right?
DIRECTOR 2: Cut, cut, cut. Have a seat.
SCUZZY: Sorry.
The other three sit close together. Director 2 contemplates for a few seconds, then pushes Director and Xavier closer together.
DIRECTOR 2: You’re supposed to be putting the make on her.
Softer – “No one said it’s Shakespeare.” Touch her, she doesn’t have cooties.
And Scuzzy, if you’re going to play an author, be an author – authoritarian –
That’s your lifeblood they’re sucking away at. Just finish your line, bottom of
page four – the one you missed – “I wouldn’t mind…”
SCUZZY: Sorry. (clears throat) I wouldn’t mind writing a children’s story someday. Sesame Street’s got them all so sophisticated. Something different –
DIRECTOR 3: (stands) Hold it. Hold it.
Now the other three give their full attention to Director 3. Director 2 exchanges seats with new director.
It’s difficult enough being the director and also playing a role but
we’ve got to come to some agreement here. Listen, listen up!
(to Director 2) When you break in with your “cut, cut cut!” you’re supposed to be frustrated yet controlled and I don’t sense that in you. However, your directions to the actors were convincing
DIRECTOR 3: (stops in frustration) Damnit. “However, your directions were…”
No. Your directions to the actors WAS convincing. Okay. “However, your directions to the ---“ is it toward , or to --- line, please
PLAYWRIGHT: (thumbing through script) Go on, go on. “Was convincing” is right.
DIRECTOR 2: Excuse me, can we take a real five. I’m losing my concentration.
Who am I?
DIRECTOR 3: I know it seems convoluted at times but it has its place --- it doesn’t matter
what we put on stage as long as its done well – we’re here to trigger associations, ignite
and stimulate imaginations – the audience is responsible for finding meaning -- not us –
we just present the material – they supply their own reason for being here.
(looks out at audience) How’s that?
PLAYWRIGHT: What the f--, damnit. Don’t break the continuity. Keep going. Stick to the script! You’re not supposed to --- “How’s that?” – what are you trying to do? Confuse the audience?
DIRECTOR: (confidently in control, to audience) Pardon me, ladies and gentlemen.
PLAYWRIGHT: What are you doing?
DIRECTOR: (continuing) Please excuse my cast for misleading you…
DIRECTOR 2: What do you mean, “my” cast?
DIRECTOR 3: Hey, I’m the director – here – page six, line twenty seven.
DIRECTOR: Don’t believe everything you read.
DIRECTOR 2: It’s me. And it says so on page 5.
PLAYWRIGHT: AH ha! (turns page) Finally. Now it’s page 8 and I am the director.
DIRECTOR: Like hell you are.
DIRECTOR 2: There isn’t a page 8
The other three rip page eight from their scripts.
PLAYWRIGHT: But –
DIRECTOR 2: There isn’t a page 8
DIRECTOR 3: Wait. Let’s let someone else decide.
They approach ROGER who’s been silently reading a book and petting his cat with his back to the proceedings.
DIRECTOR 3: Excuse me, pardon us, but could you please tell us who is the director?
You know, cast your applause –
(points to each actor in turn)
Is it him?
Roger applauds
Her?
Roger applauds
Him?
Roger applauds
Me?
Roger applauds
No one is satisfied. Roger goes back to his story. Nothing has been resolved.
The actors turn to the audience
DIRECTOR 3: Thanks. Thanks a bunch.
PLAYWRIGHT: Let’s get back to the story.
DIRECTOR: Only by losing direction do we gain it.
Over P. A. system: Excuse me cast. That was a good run through. Could we start from the top again with the storyteller – “There once was a child…”
PLAYWRIGHT: Who’s that now?
DIRECTOR: I’ve had enough.
DIRECTOR 2: If I can’t direct my own play.
DIRECTOR 3: What do you mean “your” play?
PLAYWRIGHT: Oh, my god!
OTHERS: What?
PLAYWRIGHT: It’s cyclic. It’s --
OTHERS: What?
PLAYWRIGHT: It’s cyclic. It’s never going to end. The last page goes back to the first page.
DIRECTOR 3: You mean, we’re stuck?
DIRECTOR 2: What?
DIRECTOR: Wait, wait, wait, calm down, calm down.
They thumb through the script.
DIRECTOR 2: Here’s some mumbo jumbo: “This absurd work-in-progress is about finding a sense of direction, we’ll look to a story, look to the stage, look to a playwright, look to a director, keep looking but you’ll have to find your own way out.”
DIRECTOR 3: Jesus H Christ.
DIRECTOR 2: (continues) “A single drop of water is an example of the ever changing cycle of life, an interdependent part of nature evolving continuously.”
PLAYWRIGHT: Material that calls attention to itself is not fit for fiction!
DIRECTOR 3: Holy M – F’er – (grabs script from #2, reads) “We absorb and dissipate in a constant flux of awareness trying to make sense out of the interconnecting patterns of thought surrounding us”
DIRECTOR 2: Bullshit. … is that right?
DIRECTOR 3: (continues) To have a sense of purpose and a keen sense of direction is one of our greatest personal accomplishments.”
DIRECTOR 2: (panicked) We’ve got to find our own way?
DIRECTOR: That arrogant son of a bitch.
DIRECTOR 3: Suck-hole!
PLAYWRIGHT: Amateur!
DIRECTOR: So, how do we get out of this?
They agree on one thing. Together they tear the scripts to shreds.
P.A. speaker screams as if being murdered, “No!”
They’ve lost their identities.
Confused murmurs and whispers.
Embarrassment.
Pause.
The four sit huddled closely. Dumbfounded.
STORYTELLER: (timidly) Line please.
PLAYWRIGHT: Now what?
DIRECTOR: Say something.
STORYTELLER: Line please...
PLAYWRIGHT: Anything.
DIRECTOR: Somebody say something..
AUDIENCE: (struggles to find the right word, then blurts out) We’re free!
This is a revelation. The thought of their new freedom makes them giddy with possibilities.
STORYTELLER: This is wonderful.
PLAYWRIGHT: Quirky.
DIRECTOR: Magnificent
AUDIENCE: We’re free! Equal.
STORYTELLER: Let’s stop pretending to be something other than what we are! O k?
PLAYWRIGHT: O K.
DIRECTOR: O K.
AUDIENCE: O K, but what are we?
STORYTELLER: Well – we’re free! We can be anything.
PLAYWRIGHT: I’ll be a Berkeley Unified School District Adult School Teacher AND A Peralta Community College Humanities Instructor!
DIRECTOR: I’ll be a United States of America Department of Commerce Census Crew Leader AND a Alameda County Elections Official Precinct Inspector for Primary and General Elections!
AUDIENCE: I’ll be a Kelly Girl and a Democrat and Chronicle paper boy and a busboy at Jim’s Restaurant and the Chairperson of a Staff Development Committee!
STORYTELLER: This isn’t going to work. Let’s stop pretending to be something other than what we are! O k?
PLAYWRIGHT: O K.
DIRECTOR: O K.
AUDIENCE: O K, but what are we?
STORYTELLER: Well – we’re free! We can be anything!
PLAYWRIGHT: I’ll be a song clerk for a West Coast sheet Music Distributor based on Spring Street in L.A..
DIRECTOR: I’ll be an extra on the Incredible Hulk Television show from Universal Studios!
AUDIENCE: I’ll be a house-sitter in the Hollywood Hills for my friend, the owner, who goes off to Corpus Christie to die!
STORYTELLER: This isn’t going to work. Let’s stop pretending to be something other than what we are! O k?
PLAYWRIGHT: O K.
DIRECTOR: O K.
AUDIENCE: O K, but what are we?
STORYTELLER: Well – we’re free! We can be anything!
PLAYWRIGHT: I’ll be a warehouse stock puller and an order filler AND a serviceman in a printing factory and I’ll take a fork lift for a joyride into a barrel of caustic fluid that causes people to get sick on the night shift.
DIRECTOR: I’ll be an outdoor in-ground above-ground pool instillation laborer who rolls a wheelbarrow of cement into the side of the boss’s new car.
AUDIENCE: I’ll be a soda jerk at the Ice Cream Parlor where all the cute girls hang out AND I’ll get fired because I can’t control the soft ice cream machine enough to make a decent cone when the babes are looking.
STORYTELLER: This isn’t going to work!
ROGER: That’s enough!
Roger comes over to the lost characters.
ACTORS: What?
ROGER: You must rest up.
ACTORS: Why?
ROGER: For the rest of the journey.
ACTORS: What journey?
ROGER: The rest of your lives.
ACTORS: Oh…
The actors take notice of the ensuing darkness.
PLAYWRIGHT: I think I’m melting.
DIRECTOR: Disappearing.
AUDIENCE: I’m getting vague.
STORYTELLER: Light please…
ROGER: (comforting) It’s getting dark now, but I have something to help you find your way. Relax.
They relax.
Roger rocks back ‘n forth.
Actors regress to children at bedtime.
Roger opens book and begins reading very tenderly.
Once there was a child who lost direction…
Lights out
"DUSK" from Dawn & Dusk, Playbook ©1988-1993 by John Kirkmire. ALl rights reserved