November Playwrighting 30: (and done!) Grief, Bird, Sister Play

 I won't be posting the raw material here any more past this month, but it did keep me going and honest having the pressure to post each day. There are some things that have potential, and I'll get them into shape to see if they have a real life ahead of them. Thanks to the few faithful people who have checked the blog most days to read. Drop me a line if anything in particular you liked and think has a life beyond this month of writing.

I should find out tomorrow or Tuesday the final stats on the month and how many playwrights did all 30 entries. I did, so I should win a prize! I'll do one last blog entry on that to let you know. 

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(SAMMY and SHEILA ENTER)

                                SHEILA

Wow, you should have seen it!

                                JAMIE

See what?

                                SHEILA

Sammy, you tell them.

(SAMMY gets very excited and hops romps across the room)

I know. I know. Do you think you can put it into words? I think they’d love to hear about it.

                                KATIE

I certainly want to hear about it.

(SAMMY stops romping to speak)

                                SAMMY

It stared at me for ten minutes!

                                SHEILA

I’m glad you called me; I wouldn’t have believed it.

                                JAMIE

What already?

                                SHEILA

Patience. (to SAMMY) Keep going and tell them.

                                SAMMY

Enormous! Not supposed to be that big! Looking at me!

                                KATIE

What? What is it?

                                SAMMY

A n…n…n..northern sp..sp..spotted owl!

                                KATIE

I’ve seen owls around here.

                                SAMMY

Not the Northern Spotted Owl!

                                SHEILA

He said it is pretty rare around here. Endangered species.

                                KATIE AND JAMIE

Oh!

                                JAMIE

That is exciting.

                                SAMMY

It is!

                                KATIE

Sammy, should you tell someone, since it is endangered?

                                SAMMY

Yes!

                                KATIE

Where does it live, you think?

                                SAMMY

Outside my bedroom!

                                JAMIE

Really!

                                KATIE

I don’t think I’d want a big owl outside my window. Weren’t you scared?

                                SAMMY

No. It loves me.

                                JAMIE

Wow, loves you.

                                SAMMY

Yes!

                                KATIE

Did it do something special to indicate it liked you?

                            SAMMY

It did.

                                JAMIE

What? Tap dance?

                                SAMMY

Owls do not tap dance.

                                JAMIE

Of course not.

                                SAMMY

It would not look away. For ten minutes.

                                KATIE

Ten minutes is a long time, are you sure?

                                SHEILA

Oh, don’t challenge him on that, as his internal clock is never wrong.

                                KATIE

Ok, but that is a little weird, a bird just flies to your window and stares at you for ten minutes.

                                SAMMY

It wanted to speak.

                                KATIE

Speak?

                                JAMIE

Oh, this I’ve got to hear.

                                SHEILA

He has a theory, but that’s… He’s just excited. It’s… go ahead and tell them.

(SAMMY romps across the room and back)

                                SAMMY

Owls are known as wise in some cultures and in some stories a bad omen or a bringer of death. When a rare owl comes to your window, it is seen as a sp…sp…spirit messenger.

                                KATIE

You mean a spiritual messenger?

                                JAMIE

An angel.

                                SAMMY

A spirit of someone that gives a message to the living. Not an angel. Angels are from God to man.

                                JAMIE

Who is this from?

                                SAMMY

Papa!

                                JAMIE

Oh, Sammy.

                                KATIE

Sammy.

                                SAMMY

Yes! The owl was looking at me. It knows. I had to call Mama to see it. Papa, at the window.

                                SHEILA

Sammy, it was a beautiful owl. He seemed fascinated with you. I’m sorry I broke the spell and scared him away, but I’m glad you let me see him.

                                SAMMY

Papa at the window. He wants in. He wants in.

(SAMMY curls into SHEILA)

He wants in.

 

November Playwrighting 29 (almost done!): Grief Bird Sister Play short scene

                                 JAMIE

That’s great! I thought Sutton was driving him in.

                                SHEILA

No. Occasionally. He liked to sometimes, when things were slow, he’d take him in because he talks more in the car. It was their time to talk about something besides birds or the weather. He could ask him things in the car, and he’d answer.

                                KATIE

Did Sammy go with Sutton most of the time?

                                SHEILA

Not sure what you mean most of the time, but yeah. Sure. He transitioned over to doing a lot of the stuff I did when I went full-time time and he worked mostly from home. It just worked better that way.

                                KATIE

Sure, but…

                                SAMMY

(yelling from the other room) Mama! Mama!

                                JAMIE

Geez, he has lungs on him!

                                SHEILA

What is it, little bird?

                                SAMMY

Come! Come!

                                SHEILA

Ok, I’m coming! I’ll be right back.

(SHEILA EXITS)

                                KATIE

See? There is nothing to this.

                                JAMIE

That is what you got from her saying that Sutton was most of the time with Sammy? What about the other part of that time? Where was he?

                                KATIE

She said he was here working and often late.

                                JAMIE

Sheila goes to bed, and his office is all the way in the basement. How does she know he doesn’t leave sometimes?

                                KATIE

And go where? You have no proof. Just a rumour by a neighbour.

                                JAMIE

Neighbors. Several of them said the same thing. He has been or had been leaving a lot late at night.

                                KATIE

She had to know where he was going or what he was doing as they’ve been married, what, thirty years? It probably was a taco run or something.

                                JAMIE

At midnight and every night for the last few months? A taco run.

                                KATIE

Hey, he did say he loved those pop-up stands. He’d go on and on about them.

                                JAMIE

Yeah, he did, but that doesn’t make sense.

                                KATIE

I don’t know, for great tacos, I might go on a midnight run most nights. Who knows, people exaggerate.

                                JAMIE

True.

                                KATIE

It is probably…

(SAMMY and SHEILA ENTER)

November Playwrighting 28: Angels Weep No More

 In writing to just the 5 characters and not expanding to more, I can't seem to get out of this loop and progress the action. Hmmmm... lots rattling in my brain about it, but nothing hitting the page yet. Something is stopping me. Maybe, if I have space in my brain not worried about school planning, etc.... or getting pages out "on time", I'll find a solution. Sigh... here is today's offering.

______________________________________________________

                    PATTY

You lead us straight here, and then we read the clue. You led us here because something was leading…

                    PEARL

Janis was leading…

                    JANIS

What?

                    PEARL

Not, you, you, but your ashes.

JANIS What?

JIM Trippy!

GABRIELLE Incroyable!

 

                    JANIS

Wait! My ashes? You had my…

                    PEARL

Ashes. In a vile around my neck. They’ve been passed down in my family.

                    JANIS

So, your mother…

                    PEARL

Great-grandmother.

                    JIM

Whoa! Fuck!

(JANIS begins to laugh, pointing at JIM)

Uh-huh, can a ghost lose their mind?

                   PEARL

That’s just it. You aren’t ghosts. You can touch each other, and we can touch you. Why? The laws of physics, man. None of this should be possible.

                   JIM

Did you do some spell over my grave and sprinkle Janis’ ashes or something to get what, a private concert?

                                        JANIS

Why would my ashes raise you?

                 JIM

Chemistry, man. We’ve always had it! Boom! Your dust, baby and my magnetism that goes beyond the grave. We mingled to rise again!

                                    GABRIELLE

Non. Where is her…uh dust. Can we examine?

              PEARL

Patty has it or she did.

                                PATTY

I did, but I don’t anymore.

              JANIS

You lost me?

                                PATTY

No, I accidentally broke the vial.

PEARL You what?

JANIS Where?

 

 

November Playwrighting 27: Untitled College Play

This is something that has been rattling around in my head a long time. Why all these scenes about proposals in this month's plays---I have no idea why. 

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Untitled College Play

Setting text: A Union College dorm room in Barbourville, Ky, 1946. There is a dressing table with a mirror and a padded stool. Two single beds. It is neat and tidy.

MARIE is brushing her hair when GEORGINA ENTERS.

                                 GEORGINA

You’re going to go bald if you just sit there brushing your hair!

                                MARIE

I’m thinking.

                                 GEORGINA

Marie, you’ve got to tell him something so he can move on.

                                MARIE

Move on? My, we are sure of what I’m going to say.

                                 GEORGINA

Well, isn’t it the what sixth time he’s proposed in a month?

                                MARIE

Something like that.

                                 GEORGINA

Marie! You like it.

                                MARIE

Of course I do.

                                GEORGINA

Then why do you keep turning him down?

                                MARIE

I’m not. I’m postponing letting him know.

                                 GEORGINA

Because?

                                MARIE

He improves a little bit each time. Soon, it will be perfect!

                                 GEORGINA

Marie!

                                MARIE

Georgina!

                                 GEORGINA

You’re evil.

                                MARIE

No, not.

                                GEORGINA

So, do you want to marry him? I thought you said he was an oddball that you couldn’t be yoked to.

                                MARIE

I’ve refined my thoughts about him. He’s an acquired taste.

                                 GEORGINA

Is that what you call it?

                                MARIE

A little rough around the edges, but I can knock those off with a little shaping.

                                 GEORGINA

Oh, brother, not you, too.

                                MARIE

What are you saying?

                                 GEORGINA

Every woman on this campus is so ready to jump into marriage, but don’t see who it is that is proposing.

                                MARIE

I see him.

                                 GEORGINA

You see the proposal as you want it to be, perfect, is what you just said, nothing about him except for reshaping him. Who are you? Dr. Frankenstein? And he’s a project to bring to life, you want him to be? You know how that turned out.

                                    MARIE

I know him. We’ve spent a lot of time together this past month.

                                 GEORGINA

And that’s just it. How long have you been stepping out?

                                MARIE

If you count when we met, it will be about two months.

                                 GEORGINA

That first month, you hardly talked to him, and he spent the month asking if you would go out with him.

                                MARIE

I had to think.

                                 GEORGINA

If you have to think this much about it, he isn’t for you.

                                MARIE

Says who?

                                GEORGINA

Says me! You are smarter than this.

                                MARIE

You’re saying I’m not smart if I say yes?

                                GEORGINA

Yes!

                                MAIRE

You are jealous.

                                GEORGINA

Of what? Living a boring life tethered to a drip?

                                MARIE

He’s not a drip! I find him more and more fascinating.

                                GEORGINA

Do you hear yourself? You are convincing yourself into this and this isn’t a walk in the park for one night. This is for life! This is your life!

                                MARIE

I know!

                                GEORGINA

You haven’t said yes yet. Why?

 

 

November Playwrighting 26: Crash Sights #4

 (SECILY bends to pick up the ring as headlights swerve, brake sounds)

                                                    JEREMY

Secily!

(Scream and blackout)

                                                OLD SECILY

I can’t.

                                                OLD JEREMY

We got through it.

                                            OLD SECILY

You got through it. I…

                                            OLD JEREMY

I thought I would lose you, but I didn’t. We didn’t.

                                            OLD SECILY

I wanted to return to Italy, but this I could not.

                                            OLD JEREMY

I knew if you went, I’d never see you again. I had to see you through this if there was to be an us.

                                            OLD SECILY

Too hard, Darling, no.

                                            OLD JEREMY

Let’s continue.

(the scene shifts SECILY is in a wheelchair, and JEREMY ENTERS holding a breakfast tray)

                                            JEREMY

You’re up and in your chair. Going somewhere? You can’t go anywhere before you’ve had your breakfast!

                                            SECILY

No.

                                            JEREMY

No breakfast? That is the most important meal of the day.

                                            SECILY

No. Go.

                                            JEREMY

Go? Go where, Sweetheart?

                                            SECILY

(words slurred) Sweet…no, no, no. I go.

                                            JEREMY

(puts down tray) We’ve talked about this. You can’t just go. You have a while yet to heal. You can’t travel in this condition.

                                        SEICILY

I kn…kn…kn…know! I n…n…n…eed m..m..m..y m…m…m…other.

                                        JEREMY

She’ll be here in a couple of days. I made sure of it.

                                        SECILY

N..nooot here. H…h..h…ere not h…h…h…ome.

                                        JEREMY

It isn’t, but it could be. Secily, it was an accident. We’ll get past this. All of this will be a distant memory someday.

                                        JEREMY

No! Go home! Non capisci! Non capisci cosa voglio!

                                        JEREMY

See? Better that you speak in Italian. The doctor said that could help and your mother will be able to speak with you.

                                   SECILY

Non capisci!’

                                  JEREMY

The “no” I get. Say the other slowly and I’ll look it up.

                                SECILY

No capisci. Per capire.

(JEREMY has the Italian language dictionary off the side table)

                                JEREMY

Per “to” and cap..cap..capire. Oh. Secily. I am doing all I can to understand. When that car hit you, my world stopped. The woman I love could have died in front of me in that instant, but you didn’t. You didn’t. You are still here. We are still, I think, in love. You will heal and we’ll have everything. You and I...

                                SECILY 

No, no. no! J...j...j... Jeremy go!

                                JEREMY

No. I can’t. I won’t. I need you, and you need me.

                                SECILY

No.

                                JEREMY

This is what love is, Secily. Not all the other stuff. We have to hold on.

                                SECILY

No.

                                JEREMY

I’ll go for now, but know I am here and not going anywhere.

(Blackout on scene)

November Playwrighting 25: Angles Weep No More but maybe they should weep?

 I've hit some kind of wall where I know I'm just spinning my wheels in these scenes, not progressing, and part of it is the time I have or don't have right now. I need space to clear my head about the plot now that I've torn it apart and am trying to patch it back together. I don't know where to go. So, I just get something down on a page each night, hoping something will occur to my characters to say. I keep on swimming!

__________________________________________________

                    PEARL

How are you? What are you?

                                                JANIS

The fuck I know. He never had a heart, so that makes sense.

                    JIM

You don’t know. This. This takes power. Unimaginable power to bring us here, living yet not.

                    PEARL

Yeah, man, this is…

                    JIM

I can make the earth stop in
its tracks. I made the
blue cars go away.

I can make myself invisible or small.
I can become gigantic & reach the
farthest things. I can change
the course of nature.
I can place myself anywhere in
space or time.
I can summon the dead.
I can perceive events on other worlds,
in my deepest inner mind,
& in the minds of others.

I can

I am

                    PATTY

Who do you think you are, God?

                    JIM

Maybe. I wrote that long before this rebirth, and here I am.

                    JANIS

I think this has nothing to do with you. It is bigger, man, we are a tiny drop in the universe.

                    JIM

Not me.

                    JANIS

All of us! (to PEARL) Why are you here?

                    PEARL

Here, man?

                    JANIS

Yes!

                    PEARL

Here? Here! Because I got hit over the head by her!

                    JANIS

(to GABRIELLE) Why are you here?

                    GABRIELLE

Because I work here.

                    JIM

Do you? Did you dig my grave?

                  GABRIELLE

Non!

                   JANIS

Why did you hit her?

                                        GABRIELLE

I thought they were going to steal from Jim Morrison’s grave or were stealing from it.

                JIM

Of course! I have the good stuff brought to me even in death!

(JIM begins sorting through the things on his grave)

                JANIS

So, you work around his grave all the time. You were here stealing?

                PATTY

This is ridiculous! We weren’t stealing we are here looking for a geo cache and Pearl wanted to stop by Jim’s grave to.. to… why were we here because the clue didn’t mention him or a man at all.

               JIM

You wanted to bring me something?

                                PATTY and PEARL

No!

November Playwrighting 24: Angels Weep No More scene

 I've lost track of where in the play this goes. I'm just writing scenes now, and I'll figure it out later.

_________________________________________________________________________________

(ENTER JIM MORRISON)

                                JIM

(loud singing) Come on! Come on!

                                JANIS

Oh, come on, man, why’d you have to go and ruin it?

                                JIM

Ah, you missed me!

                                JANIS

No.

                                JIM

Let’s sing! Everybody now!

                                JANIS

Stop it!

                                PEARL

Oh, oh, this is wild!

                                JANIS

You’re telling me.

                                PATTY

No kidding. What’s the ruse?

                                JIM

You think this is some kind of joke? The joke’s on me then because I’m supposed to be dead! Oh, and Janis here has been dead even longer!

                                PATTY

We know. We’re standing by your grave.

                                    JIM

Can we step a little further away from that?

                                    JANIS

Why? Afraid it might grab ya and swallow you whole? Already done that.

                                    JIM

It ain’t got me no more!

                                    GABRIELLE

Why? How can you be there and here?

                                        JIM

I don’t know, and I don’t fuckin’ care. All I know is I’m alive, baby! Whoo!

                GABRIELLE

Impossible!

(GABRIELLE grabs JIM by the shoulders to listen to his heart)

                                        JIM

What the… well, I didn’t expect you, little lady, to…

                                    GABRIELLE

(slaps his hands)

Attend. No heart.

                                    PATTY

(shoves GABRIELLE aside, listens to his heart)

Really?

                JIM

This is more like it.

                                        PATTY

Then how?

                PEARL

(to JANIS) My I?

                                        JANIS

Knock yourself out.

(PEARL listens to JANIS’ heart)

 

                 PEARL

How are you? What are you?

                                        JANIS

The fuck I know. What are any of us? Why do we exist? We are mucking up everything by being here. Most of humanity is clinging on by their fingernails, waiting, hoping or something better to come along before we die. And some of us live hard and die young because the wait was still too long. Too many people are tearing at our existence until we are scraps of nothing good. We sing out our angsts, and no one hears it; they just sing along.

 

November Playwrighting 23: Angles Weep No More (again)

(GABRIELLE ENTERS out of breath)

                                                        GABRIELLE

Me neither!

                       JANIS             

Why are you chasing me so hard?

                                                    GABRIELLE

You run fast and you don’t belong here.

                       JANIS

How does Jim get to be here and I don’t belong? He’s a terrible human being.

                                                GABRIELLE

That is a misconception.

                                                JANIS

Ha! You’re trippin’. He is despicable.

                                                PEARL

B..b…b..b..bad to the bone! That’s why we love him! And you!

                    JANIS

I was nothing like him. He hits on anything that moves. I clobbered him the first time I met him and tonight was the second time.

                                        PATTY

You hit him hard! Where is he anyway?

                                        GABRIELLE

Chez pas. We thought if we found you, he would appear again.

                                        JANIS

I don’t want to be near him.

                                        PATTY

Then why did you return?

                                        JANIS

I have no fucking clue. I was somewhere and then ripped away from there to blow into here. I wasn’t given a lot of warning.

                                        PEARL

No, why did you come back here to us tonight? You ran.

                                    JANIS

Ah, yes. I was scared that this was all just a bad trip, you know. The more I’m awake though, the more I remember or see. And I heard my song, so I had to sing it! Nice pipes!

                                    PEARL

Thanks, it calms me down.

                                    JANIS

Mmmmmm. .. I get that.

                                    GABRIELLE

Oui, l’amour et le coeur.  It opens the heat to sing.

                                    JANIS

Heavy.

                                GABRIELLE

(sings) I'll say come on, come on
Come on, come on

… And take it!

                                JANIS

 (sings) Take another little piece of my heart now, baby

                PEARL

 (sing chant) Oh, oh, break it!

                                        JANIS

(sings) Break another little bit of my heart now, darling, yeah

                PEARL and PATTY

 (sing chant) Oh, oh, have a!

                                    JANIS and GABRIELLE

(sings) Have another little piece of my heart now, baby

Well you know you got it, child
If it makes you feel good

                                JANIS

(sings)  I need you to come on

            JANIS, GABRIELLE, PEARL and PATTY

 come on
Come on, come on

(ENTER JIM MORRISON)

                                JIM

(loud singing) Come on! Come on!