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Mary
by Tanea Lunsford '09
The following excerpt is from Mary,
a play which was a winner in the 2008
San Francisco
Young Playwrights Festival. See the archived News
page item for
May 8, 2008, for details and links.
Scene 1
Mary waits a beat before running to the
phone. She cautiously looks around so as
not to get caught on the phone by her mother.
MARY (anxiously)
Hello? Mrs.
James, may I speak with Marvin please? Oh,
it's Mary. Is he okay? Tell him it will
just be a minute. Thank you. Hey Marvin,
you sound fine, oh well I hope you get better.
I miss you... (Gary enters but Mary doesn't
notice) I know I just saw you today, but .....
okay well I'll see you tomorrow .... Hey, I think I
love you Marvin ... hello? (hangs up smiling)
GARY (drunk)
Young love... (Mary
is startled) I almost can't remember what it
feels like to be that young and stupid ... I know it
sho' did feel good though ... Mary, show me how it
feel -- (advances toward Mary)
MARY
Did they put
something in your drink tonight? You talkin'
nonsense, my mama is expecting you, she say you got
paid today.
GARY (slurring)
Ain't none left,
they laid me off ... say all the old employees ain't
no good no more. No good, Mary. No good!
I been a garbage man for seven years. SEVEN
YEARS, Mary! Sweating and stressing over that
damn job, and what they do, lay me off first chance
they get!
MARY
I'm sorry to hear
that, Gary. But I got to clean up the kitchen
and my Mama is expecting you upstairs, so --
GARY
Your Mama so surly.
She wasn't always that way though, you know .... she
used to be a soft woman (sitting down at the
kitchen table, defeated while Mary cleans).
She used to wake me up with kisses on my face every
morning, and not just my birthday like she do now.
Most days seem like she don't want to kiss me at
all. It ain't been too long we been together.
What, 'bout three years now? Feel like we
ain't going nowhere, feel like we always stuck in
the same place. I roll over in the middle of
the night and she be there looking so pretty,
moonlight hitting her face all nice. And I
shakes her awake sometime -- so full of love for
her I gets excited. I be waiting for her to
open her eyes and when she finally do her face
wrinkle up and she ain't pretty no more, be looking
just like this (very angry expression, livid)
and all I do is roll over 'cause I be 'fraid she
gone wring my neck. 'You working twelve hour
shifts, Gary? You got a son in 'Nam right now,
Gary? No ... if Jesus call, take a message,
hear? Don't you eva wake me up again!'
That's just what she say ... always so surly.
I be wondering how somebody that pretty be so mean,
and so quick-damn firecracker that lady is, guess
that's why I love her so much, she --
MARY
Listen, Gary.
My Mama is expecting you upstairs -- don't want to
keep that pretty, surly woman waiting.
Takes her diary out of
the cabinet.
GARY
You don't wanna
hear my problems.
MARY
I got my own
problems, Gary.
GARY
Them lil' problems
you write in your lil' diary about? Your lil'
problems? You living with a woman who always
make you feel like less of a man every chance she
get?! Huh Mary?
MARY
I'm living with the
same woman you talking 'bout 'cept I ain't no man.
GARY
You work a fourteen
hour shift, Mary?! You collecting people's
junk all day? You swimming in people's waste
all day?
MARY
Nope. And you
don't either, now that you dun went and got yourself
fired.
GARY
(Jumps up from the table, grabs Mary at the neck.)
Oh you little smart
ass -- that's why your little boyfriend don't love
you back. 'Cause you surly and no body ain't
ever gonna love you.
MARY (yelling)
Gary you let me go!
You drunk! You let me go -- I'll kill you, I
swear!
GARY
(Realizing what he is doing but still has too
much pride to apologize)
It's a curse in
this here house. Or maybe it's just you women.
Y'all damn women, mean as all hell bottled into two
little bodies. If it ain't no curse, I curse
you right now -- I get everything that follow with
that nasty attitude, I hope you end up old and
lonely just like your Mama gonna be once she push me
so far.
Helen rushes in with her gun, robe, and hair scarf
on.
HELEN
What's going on in
here! What's all that racket?
Mary hides under the table. She writes in her
diary there.
GARY
Ain't nothing,
Helen, go back to sleep. Put that thing away!
HELEN
I don't wanna have to shoot nobody! Where is Mary?
GARY
Looks around drunkenly confused
She was here a
minute ago. And you hush all that foolish
talk, lady. Who you gon' shoot standing there
in your night clothes?
HELEN
You if you ain't
careful. You drunk Gary?
GARY (falsely,
impatient)
That ain't no way
to greet your man! "You drunk Gary?"
What happened to "Hey Gary, I missed you"?
HELEN
Hey Gary, I missed
you where you been?
GARY
Now that's more
like it -- I been out.
HELEN
So you drunk Gary.
GARY
Yup.
HELEN
I thought so.
Where's your check Gary?
GARY
Whatever happened
to questions like "Gary when I'm gone see you
again?"
HELEN
Gary, where is the
check? You spent up that check on booze, Gary?
GARY
See I knew you was
gon' ask that --
HELEN
Gary did you spend
the money getting drunk!
GARY (quickly)
Mmhhmm. But only 'cause I knew you was gon'
ask that question and I wanted to be able to say yes
to at least one of the things you would ask me.
HELEN (not quite
appalled, disgusted)
Gary, that is one
of the stupidest things I've ever heard. You
make me sick.
GARY
What ever happened
to things like "Gary you make my heart sing"?
HELEN
Wasn't never none
of them things, Gary. You never made my heart
sing, Gary. You always busy breaking it!
GARY
Aww woman, don't
talk like that, you gon' make an old drunk cry.
Ain't nothing worse than an old drunk crying.
HELEN
Yes it is too: an
old drunk crying, broke, and homeless. That's
what you gon' be next time you decide to come up in
here causin' a ruckus without no check, hear?
GARY (dramatically)
Yes Ma'am!
HELEN
Now stop all that
loudness, come on to bed.
GARY
Now that's what I
like to hear, you gon' show me how it feel to be
young and lighthearted?
HELEN
I forgot how to do
that fo' I stopped calling my old man 'Daddy.'
Honey I am fresh out of lightheartedness. I am
a heavy old woman -- and you is a weighty old
drunkard -- we too much to even dream of something
light. Baby all I got is heartache and anger
--
GARY
I don't want none
of that, I don' had my share of that already.
HELEN
Then you better
just get ready for bed and enjoy the body heat.
GARY
You a surly woman.
HELEN
You preaching to
the choir, my brotha.
GARY
Dammit woman I
don't know what I see in you.
HELEN
I could ask the
same thing about you, but that just wouldn't be nice
now would it, Gary?
GARY
Goodnight woman.
HELEN
That's right,
goodnight man.
END OF EXCERPT
Finger-Puppets
by Eli Wolfe '09
The following scene was developed during Creative
Writing's Playwriting unit in the spring of 2009,
under artist-in-residence Isaiah Dufort. It was read
and acted on the second night of Playwriting
performances, Saturday April 18 at Intersection for
the Arts. Students Otto Pippenger '12 and Max
Peterson '10, respectively, played the roles of Phil
and Brian.
Scene begins
with Phil knocking on Brian’s door. Brian opens.
BRIAN:
Oh hey Phil,
how’re you doing?
PHIL:
Pretty good,
Brian, and yourself?
BRIAN:
No
complaints. I’ve been tinkering with a leak in the
kitchen sink all afternoon. Just another slow
Sunday.
PHIL:
Great, great.
BRIAN:
Something I
can do for you?
PHIL:
Yeah, I mean,
not you, per se, but I was wondering if I could see
Nathan for a minute?
BRIAN:
I think he’s
doing homework upstairs. Is it urgent?
PHIL:
No, no. It’s
just, uh, I was wondering if maybe at some point
today he could come over and apologize to David?
They got in a little fight and Nathan hurt David’s
feelings.
BRIAN:
Oh no, I’m
sorry. Wait here and I’ll bring him on down.
PHIL:
Thanks a lot
Brian. It’s really not a big deal. I just don’t like
seeing the boys fight without making up, is all.
Brian
goes into the house. He returns momentarily, looking
perplexed.
BRIAN:
Well, I think
we’ve got a problem.
PHIL:
Oh?
BRIAN:
Yeah, see,
Nathan says he and David were playing and everything
was fine, but then David freaked out for no reason
and kicked him out of the house.
PHIL:
Well, it
wasn’t exactly for no reason.
BRIAN:
Are you sure?
Sometimes boys just lash out.
PHIL:
No, no, David
told me what happened. Apparently your son—and
really, it’s not something he should be severely
punished for—drowned one of David’s finger-puppets.
BRIAN:
What?
PHIL:
Yeah,
apparently they were pretending to make the finger-
puppets surf in a pot of water, and Nathan
decided—as a joke—to hold it underwater, and David
told him to stop, but Nathan kept doing it, and
David told him that he needed to come up for air,
but Nathan said the puppet wasn’t real so breathing
didn’t matter, and David told him that it did and
tried to wrestle the puppet away, but Nathan pushed
him and kept holding it underwater. And now it’s
drowned.
BRIAN:
(Laughing)
Jesus. That’s
the craziest thing I ever heard.
PHIL:
(Also
laughing)
Yeah, I know!
BRIAN:
I mean,
that’s utterly absurd!
PHIL:
Completely!
BRIAN:
Just bizarre!
PHIL:
I know!
Imagine deliberately killing a puppet. That’s so
cruel.
BRIAN:
Yeah! Wait,
what?
PHIL:
I mean, I’m
not saying your son is a sociopath or anything, but
man, it takes a screwed up kid to drown another
kid’s finger-puppet.
BRIAN:
Whoa, hold on
a second. It’s not like he was drowning your kid’s
puppy. Just his puppet.
PHIL:
And you think
that’s okay?
BRIAN:
Well he’s not
hurting anybody, is he?
PHIL:
He hurt my
son, Brian. David’s had that puppet since he was a
baby.
BRIAN:
Well he still
does, doesn’t he? It’s just wet.
PHIL:
No, Brian.
It’s not just wet. It’s dead. David takes these
things very seriously. I just came back from the
funeral. David gave a very stirring eulogy. He even
said he’d forgive Nathan for what he did. If he
apologizes.
BRIAN:
This is
crazy! I’m not making my son apologize for “killing”
a finger-puppet!
PHIL:
Oh no? You
think it’s okay that your son just came into my
house, took one of my son’s favorite toys, and
drowned it in a pot of water?
BRIAN:
But he didn’t
drown anything!
PHIL:
My son has
nine other finger-puppets, Brian. What if Nathan
does it again? How many little crosses do I have to
erect in my backyard before you notice the carnage
your son is wrecking on my household?
BRIAN:
You buried
it… and put a cross on the grave?
PHIL:
Out of
toothpicks, Brian. So its soul will go to heaven.
BRIAN:
Phil, this is
completely insane. Finger-puppets don’t have souls.
PHIL:
Oh, okay
Brian. I see how it is. When it’s my son’s toys
being killed, it’s okay because they don’t have
“souls.” But I bet your kid’s toys have souls, don’t
they?
BRIAN:
What?
PHIL:
Yeah, what if
I broke into your house and sawed the heads off of
Nathan’s Power Rangers? You wouldn’t care, would
you? Because toys don’t have feelings, do they?
BRIAN:
They don’t!
And why would you decapitate my son’s Power Rangers?
PHIL:
Brian, Brian.
My god, haven’t you ever seen Toy Story?
BRIAN:
That’s a
fictional, animated cartoon for children!
PHIL:
You need to
learn how to read between the lines, Brian. That
movie taught me that toys are just like us. They
hunger like us. For vengeance. You think my son’s
other finger-puppets are really just going to sit
around and forget about what happened to their
brother?
BRIAN:
Wait a
second: are you threatening my son?
PHIL:
Just his
toys, Brian. But that shouldn’t mean anything to
you, since you don’t believe they have souls.
BRIAN:
They don’t!
They’re toys, for crying out loud! Phil, what’s the
matter with you? Are you off your meds?
PHIL:
I’ve heard
this all before. They’re just toys. They don’t have
souls. We can do whatever we want to them. We’re
superior to them. It’s all part of God’s plan.
BRIAN:
What are you
talking about?
PHIL:
Manifest
destiny, Brian. They did it to the Indians, now your
son is doing it to my son’s toys. It’s toy genocide.
BRIAN:
Phil, I’m
Jewish! That’s a terrible thing to say.
PHIL:
Did he do it
because David’s finger-puppets were made in Peru?
Does he think that because they were made out of
brown wool they’re “inferior” to the white wool
finger- puppets? What’s next, Brian? Little woolen
small pox blankets? Hunt down his finger-puppet
bison?
BRIAN:
Phil, I’m
going back inside. You need help.
PHIL:
(As Brian
goes back inside, shouting)
What’s it
going to take, Brian? How many more puppets have to
die before you realize that you’re making a mistake!
The blood of Philbert the Surfing finger-puppet is
on your hands! My son will have vengeance!
Scene
fades black.
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