Afghanistan Eyes
by Georgia Cruz
A child wearing a mask of haunting yellow eyes
stands alone wearing a humble dress.
3 Photographers wearing huge fake glasses surround her with oversized cartoon cameras, taking her photo.
Chorus:
Afghanistan child never meant to be seen
Wondering why? O why don't they let me be?
Afghanistan child, we seek thee, we seek thee.
Afghanistan child stares at the photographers and afraid, slowly walks backwards out of the room as the photographers
also leave the room in the opposite direction.
Chorus:
Where did she go, the Afghanistan child?
The one with the haunting eyes?
An Afghanistan woman wearing a larger haunting yellow eyes mask returns back in the room, and then too, the same Photographers return and surround her again, taking new photos of her
Chorus:
They found her, They found her
The one with the haunting eyes.
They searched till they found her
And she still but wonders. Why?
Afghanistan woman:
I have yellow eyes
So they say,
And I wonder ,
Yes, I wonder all the day,
Why they put my face
Upon that book ,
And took my freedom away
Chorus:
We lost her, we found her,
The haunting Afghanistan child.
Serpent's Seed
by Georgia Cruz
Characters:
Serpent: A very handsome man
decorated as a walking tree
with big bold leaves stuck to his head and arms.
Eve: A woman wearing a dress of leaves.
Adam: A man wearing trunks of leaves.
In the Garden of Eden, Eve flirts with Satan, smiling and
whispering. Adam lies on a bed of flowers looking the other way.
Chorus:
Leave that fruit alone Eve,
God has told you so,
Satan will beguile you,
He's the most subtle of all the beasts of the field
Eve goes with the Serpent behind some bushes and then returns to Adam, and says to Adam:
Come take of this fruit I have eaten,
It's a fruit to be desired.
Adam:
Have you eaten the forbidden fruit
That was in the midst of the tree?
Eve:
Come and eat, with me
Chorus:
Eating, their eyes were opened,
To see the good and the bad,
Cast out of the Garden,
O how very sad.
And the upright serpent turned into a snake,
Thus the twins came you see,
You see?
Serpents Seed,...the murdering Cain.
Bedtime in Bedlam
by Andy Breslin
Dr. Sprocker and Nurse Nesbit are making evening rounds at the hospital
for the disturbingly abnormal.
They are clandestinely conferring, looking
over some charts on clipboards.
Nurse Nesbit begins pointing with her pencil to some of the
patients who form the chorus, announcing diagnoses.
Nurse Nesbit:
Catatonic, schizophrenic, delusional, deranged.
He’s obsessive, she’s compulsive, and that one’s just insane.
Chorus:
Just give us our medicine to ease our troubled brains
Dr. Sprocker:
Who is this unfortunate, eyes staring into void?
Nurse Nesbit:
That’s Marianne McGilcutty, she’s very paranoid
Dr. Sprocker:
I think I studied such a case in an old text by Freud
Mary Ann:
They’re all out to get me! I swear that I’m not ill!
Chorus:
No, you are imagining. Please just take your pill
Marianne spins her head around wildly as all the other patients look
away and pretend they weren’t just singing
Sprocket and Nesbit split up and dispense medicine to patients on
opposite sides of the stage
Dr. Sprocker:
Thorazine and lithium, Nembutal for you . . .
Nurse Nesbit:
A red one, and an orange one, a purple one, a blue . . .
After the doctor and nurse turn around...
Chorus:
Little do they know, we only hide them in our shoes
...chorus hides pills in shoes.
Falling
by Annabelle Mooney
Woman, suspended from above about 5 feet above the stage, front stage
right; man the same stage left.
Chorus backstage spread from stage left
to right. Wind blowing on woman. Chorus moving as though waves;
forwards and ba
ckwards a small amount, up and down from crouching to standing
. The
rhythm of the wave movement starts slowly and increases throughout. The
wave moves forward to be just behind the woman and man at end.
The woman
and man
are moved slowly across stage. At end of piece, she is stage centre.
Woman:
I have stepped out of a cold dream
Chorus:
Nothing to hold you, no-one to save you now.
this repeats
after every exchange of man and woman, increasing in volume till final entry
of Chorus below.
Man:
Embrace me lady, I have been waiting
Woman:
My eyes are held open
Man:
I have longed for the moment
Woman:
Everything stretched, relief fractured on the sky
Man:
Let me fold you softly
Woman:
I thought I would hold it in my hand
Man:
Time is your slave use it as you will
Woman:
Ears ringing, thoughts cascading down my back
Man:
Your face wears jewels
Woman:
Tell me what to think?
Man:
You shine, the moon your mirror
Woman:
I have forgotten how to feel, tell me
Man:
Nothing
Woman:
I am
Man:
Nothing
Chorus:
Now
Repeats til end, increasing in volume while man and
woman moved to meeting centre stage.
Woodland Teratology
by Bruce Conkle
Cast of characters:
Lumberjack (plaid shirt and axe)
Scientist (lab coat and binoculars)
Sasquatch (Nine or ten feet tall)
Lumberjack:
Some say he lives in the fifth dimension
And is a scout for aliens
This peaceful clever vegetarian-
Telepathic communications (with chorus)
Scientist:
You mean to say
Your monster won’t hurt me-
And communicates telepathically?
Chorus:
Hidden
Slinking
Furry
Thinking
A light fades up on Sasquatch, previously unseen, at rear of stage
Sasquatch:
Deep in Shasta*
Orbs are spinning
Giant energy vortex beacon
Shining through the Fifth Dimension
Telepathic communication (with chorus)
Lumberjack:
I have seen them on several occasions-
These great gentle beings
Astonishing permutations
Civilized and foreseeing
Scientist:
Never seen one
Looked all over
Super skeptic
Four leaf clover
Until I find one
Disbeliever
Sasquatch and chorus:
Researcher’s repudiation
Scientist:
Incredibly large footed
Mystery creature?
Preposterous distinguishing feature!
Scientist leaves stage, then Sasquatch silently enters and crosses stage.
Chorus:
Pseudo-science condemnation
Telepathic communication
* Mt. Shasta rumored home to many bigfoot.
Inspired by Stan Johnson
EAST WIND
by Gordon Phillips
...from EAST WIND, a tempera panel, by Harry Wilson, one of the Pitman Painters of Ashington, Northumberland, 1935...
'In the panel, disposed around a street corner that represents all the essentials of a two-point perspective, saplings whip in the wind, figures are tugged,
a newsboy blows on his fingers and, to leeward, three becalmed shoppers look at a shoe display.'
William Feaver, Art Critic of The Sunday Observer.
CAST: NEWSBOY - BYSTANDER - TWO SHOPPERS - CHORUS
Stage left, emerging from a CHORUS of children, a reluctant NEWSBOY is pushed forward, carrying a bag of newspapers.
He puts them down beside him and blows on his fingers, feeling the cold. Everyone is dressed for winter. Likewise, stage right,
TWO SHOPPERS, one rubbing her hands, the other has her arms inside her coat, and is wiggling her feet a little. Then stage left, the NEWSBOY, watches a BYSTANDER move her way past him, hovering stage front.
She clasps her hands around her thick coat. Meanwhile, he picks his bag up, pulls a newspaper out, before moving slowly near to her.
NEWSBOY:
Get your papers! Get your papers!
BYSTANDER:
turning to look at him
Huh! Them papers!
They make us or break us,
Whatever way they want us t' be
They just talk doon t' ye an' me.
The NEWSBOY goes to hand her a newspaper. She rummages for some coins in her deep pocket, taking her time somewhat.
BYSTANDER:
Ta, bonny lad.
She folds the newspaper in four to put it into the opposite pocket to her money.
BYSTANDER:
Aw! Me pins are feelin' bad
While ye stand cold an' snivellin'
A'm gannin' hyem a-shiverin'
CHORUS:
In that East Wind
Branches bend west,
Breakin' what's old,
Leavin' what's best.
The NEWSBOY moves back to his shelter in front of the CHORUS, stage left, putting his bag down, blowing on his fingers again. Stage right, TWO SHOPPERS wave the woman BYSTANDER over to join them. She goes to shelter with them.
TWO SHOPPERS:
But we've had t' find shelter
Roond this shoe shop corner
1ST SHOPPER:
Lookin' at shoes
2ND SHOPPER:
Just for somethin' t' do.
All move forward towards stage centre, the NEWSBOY the most reluctant again, is pushed forward, with his bag pulled around in front of him.
CHORUS:
For that East wind
It gives us trouble;
But let's not forget
It's the same for us all.
Pride and Prejudice
by Georgia Cruz
Elizabeth sits on a chair while Darcy stands nearby
Elizabeth:
Here I sit with wit, with lots of fiery wit.
But who will notice me if I don't speak?
Darcy:
All I see before me,
Still cannot tempt me.
It all seems quite a bore,
I wonder what's in store.
Chorus:
But when Elizabeth speaks she dazzles Darcy
And even the mother-in-law can't stop
The love that Darcy feels.
Elizabeth
stands
(coyly):
Perhaps I shall, perhaps I shan't,
But really,
can I afford to "can't"?
Chorus:
The witty one won his heart,
And thus they shall never part,
Though he was a snob.
And she had not a bob.
They finally found a fresh start.
It’s You
By Sara R. Haystead
Man:
What is life
Without a love
What is love
Without a heart
What’s a heart
Without someone to love
My someone is you
Chorus:
My someone
My reason for living
My someone
My reason for loving
My someone
My reason for caring is you
Ask me who I love
It’s you
Woman:
What is hope
Without faith
What is faith
Without love
And what is love
Without someone to care for
My someone is you
Chorus:
My someone
My reason for living
My someone
My reason for loving
My someone
My reason for caring is you
Ask me who I love
It’s you
In the Distance
By Sara R. Haystead
Female Trio:
In the distance
I hear love
Male Trio:
In the distance
I hear peace
Both:
Like drums of war
They beat, what for
In the distance
Female Trio:
In the distance
No more sorrow
Male Trio:
In the distance
No more pain
Both:
Like trumpets sounding
Love abounding
In the distance
Chorus:
What do you hear o'er yonder?
Free soldiers marching on
What do you hear in the distance?
Freedom's grand song
Female Trio:
In the distance
Reuniting
Male Trio:
In the distance
No more fighting
Both:
Hear the festivities
Echoing through the trees
In the distance
One Male:
Funny, I never thought I would hear
Gladness, not fear
One Female:
Peace is so near
Together:
In the distance
Einstein in Love
By
Max Velocity
Characters: Albert Einstein, in his thirties - Mileva, his first wife - Chorus
Einstein’s study, circa WWI. Young Einstein plays the violin, a slow dreamy melody. Enter Mileva, his first wife. She watches him for awhile, first tenderly then with anger and scorn when she sees the picture of Elsa.
Einstein:
What is light? How can Newton and Maxwell both be right?
Pulls a picture of Elsa out of his desk
Oh Elsa, Cousin Elsa, my love!
Mileva:
Mileva rushes over and batters him
How can you leave me, colleague and wife?
I’m no thought-experiment;
I’m the mother of your sons!
She storms from the room.
Chorus:
All depends upon where you stand.
Einstein:
What is love?
How can it be both savage and gentle?
So true, yet nonsensical as quantum behavior!
I see lovers falling, weightless, entangled, two bodies floating through fields of desire.
Fantasy means more than positive knowledge!
The study dissolves and Einstein stands among the stars.
Chorus:
Love seems to be woven into space-time itself!
Einstein:
God does not play dice with our hearts!
Chorus:
Light and love: universal constants.
Lights fade on Einstein until he is a dark silhouette against the cosmos.
Black out.
The End
top
next ten