So, in another blast from the past, I thought I would post a series of 3 short plays I wrote the first draft of when I was 19 that have the very 19-year-old-title of Lectures in Time.
I do still love these plays and would LOVE to see them produced.
It's interesting to go through fifteen years of short plays while I'm working on many full-length plays right now, and see how these shorter plays are really studies for the themes, plot lines, even recycled lines I use in later plays.
The things that really emerge for me in Rhymes are the themes of the transformative power of romantic relationships, both for good and bad - romantic relationships are complicated. The future role of technology in our lives and how it damages our ability to communicate with each other, and what may be lost - including poetry and stargazing.
This play also demonstrates my teenage obsession with Dorothy Parker and Shakespearean sonnets. While I always found Shakespeare's plays somehow inaccessible until fairly recently, the sonnets I can remember reading and loving in elementary school. They just always seemed to be around and in my life like the poetry of Robert Frost and the novels of Dickens.
Rhymes is also very personal for me because I wrote it at a time in my life when I was fully in love with two people (they know who they are) and it was really this amazing experience that taught me how to love. They were both so kind to me and romantic and loving, and I adored them. They both around the time I started taking a playwriting class in college said to me, 'When are you going to write about me?' Probably just a flip comment to someone who obessively wrote at that time. But I wrote this play about them and the magic that they both brought into my life - imagining what it might be like if they got together. Later they did get together which was strange but also somehow I expected it, and began my belief that I can predict the future with my writing, or at least am highlighting things in my writing that are about to happen in my life and preparing myself for them.
Here it is, please enjoy Rhymes - and the other 2 plays in the series are coming soon.
It has 3 characters in their 20s/30s and the set is a desert, a cattle spinach bush, a mailbox, and a rock. Can be super abstracted or realistic.
As always, if you end up working on or performing this in any way - email me at erinkellyb@hotmail.com
I've heard it read several times but would love to see it on it's feet so let me know if I can see it if you are working on it.
Rhymes
{part one}
[February 1999 version]
Characters:
Bethany
Alexander
Ralph
Set:
The desert
There is a large rock center stage with a coyote den carved in the middle. There is also a white
mailbox and a medium-sized (hip height) Cattle Spinach bush.
There should be no blackouts. Time and seasons change between scenes.
Scene 1 A winter morning
(Bethany crawls out of the coyote den. She is wearing
shorts, a white cotton shirt, and no shoes. She looks up at
the sun, yawns, stretches, shivers, and wraps a Mexican
blanket around her shoulders. She climbs up onto the rock.
She sits there waiting.
Alexander hikes on stage. He is wearing shorts, a shirt,
sweatshirt, a hat, hiking boots, big socks, a large watch, a
backpack, a hunting knife, and a compass.
He notices Bethany and is a little surprised.)
BETH
I have been waiting for you.
ALEX
Who are you?
BETH
Bethany. I had a dream that you would come today. A very real dream, and here you are.
ALEX
Bethany.
BETH
Yes, will you stay?
ALEX
I'm not sure were I am. Dream?
BETH
Yes, you should be in work, why aren't you there?
ALEX
I just couldn't go in today, had a drea- I was thinking about the desert.
BETH
You had a dream too. How strange, I never really believed in things like that.
ALEX
Me neither.
BETH (Standing and taking his pack from him)
So... you'll stay. Did you bring any tapioca pudding in this pack?
ALEX
No, pudding, no, I didn't.
BETH
Oh, well. Figures that you would have nothing useful.
ALEX
What are you doing here Bethany?
BETH
I was waiting for you. Will you come inside and look around?
(She takes the pack inside. Alex see nothing to do but
follow.)
Scene 2 Afternoon
(Ralph comes by dressed in a postal employee uniform with
a bag over his shoulder. He picks up mail from the box and
puts a bundle of mail in.
Bethany comes out of the den and walks over to the
mailbox.
Alexander follows her, he has shed his sweatshirt,
compass, and knife. She pulls the mail out and sorts
through the letters.)
BETH
Here is a letter for you, Alexander.
ALEX
For me?
BETH
Yes, now that you live here all your mail will probably come here.
ALEX
Mail? How does the mail get here?
BETH
Ralph brings it.
ALEX
I live here?
BETH
I'm going to take a walk.
(Beth hands Alex all the mail and leaves.)
ALEX
Can I come with you?
BETH
No.
(Alex, retreats to the cave with the mail.)
Scene 3 Nighttime
(Alex is sitting on the rock waiting, he is surrounded by
bright stars. He is upset.
Bethany enters.)
ALEX
Where have you been?
BETH
On a walk.
ALEX
For so long, and with no shoes on!
BETH
I'm tired.
ALEX
I was worried about you.
BETH
Were you?
ALEX
Well aren't you going to say you're sorry?
BETH
No... Are you coming to bed?
(Beth stands at the mouth of the cave.)
ALEX
Well, yes, I guess so.
(Beth goes into the den. Alex follows her.)
Scene 4 morning
(Beth exits the den and stretches. She looks around and
then sits next to the Cattle Spinach bush.)
BETH (To the Cattle Spinach bush)
What a temperate winter day. It's hard to imagine there are harsh summers with winters like this.
(She sits still listening.)
BETH
Trust me friend, spring will come soon and then you will remember.
(Beth listens. Alex comes out of the cave. This time he is
wearing no shoes. Beth doesn't notice him.)
BETH
I agree, this summer shouldn't be as bad as the last.
ALEX
Who are you talking to?
BETH
The Cattle Spinach bush.
ALEX
It speaks?
BETH (whispering)
Yes, but we only talk every once in a while. It's such an elitist, it only speaks in verse.
ALEX
Are you sure?
BETH
Yes, you'll see.
ALEX
Will I?
(Beth stands and reaches into the bush, pulling out a long
branch. She thanks the bush softly. Beth ties the branch
into a crown that she places on Alex's head.)
BETH
Let us all kiss the prince of the sun.
(Beth leans in and kisses him passionately.)
ALEX
Do you know that is the first time you have really kissed me?
BETH
Did I kiss you? (She smiles) Are we working in reverse order? There are no rules in the desert.
(She retrieves some mail from inside and puts it in the box and
puts the flag up.)
ALEX
Beth are you a mirage? What are you doing here, living in a coyote den in the desert? How did
you get here?
BETH
I walked here, just like you.
ALEX
Where did you walk from?
BETH
Work.
ALEX
Work?
BETH
Yes, I was at work and I couldn't take it anymore, the air-conditioning, the computer, the radio,
the lights, buzzing and singing. I decided to go out for a while. I drove to one of those all night
convenience stores, the one by the highway with the wall of refrigerators. My car, the sound of
the engine, the other traffic, it was intolerable, I thought my head might blow-up at any minute. I
couldn't breathe. I walked into the store to buy a sports drink and chips, my usual lunch, but the
thought of them revolted me. And the lights, they just got louder and louder and the cash register
grunted... So I left the store and started walking. This is where I stopped. This is where it all
stopped.
ALEX
I don't understand.
BETH
Everything talking and screaming. Saying nothing.
ALEX
But here the Cattle Spinach speaks.
BETH
I prefer what it has to say. I'm going for a walk.
ALEX
Can I go with you?
BETH
No, sorry.
ALEX
O.k.
(Beth leaves. Alex wanders around for a while looking for
something to do. He listen, he brings his watch up to his
ear. He takes it off and puts it in the mailbox. Finally he
decides to take a walk in the other direction.)
Scene 5 Nighttime
(Alex and Beth are laying across the rock staring up at the
sky.)
ALEX
I don't believe I've ever seen so many stars. It's like soup there are so many stars.
BETH
I think that I can see more everyday. I was never as excited as the day that I got glasses and could
see the stars.
ALEX
Beth, do you miss work?
BETH
No.
ALEX
What did you do?
BETH
Why do you ask so many questions Alex?
ALEX
I don't know. I guess because I don't know much.
BETH
Nobody does. I think it may rain tomorrow.
ALEX
How can you tell?
BETH
I can smell it.
ALEX
What does it smell like?
BETH
Wet chalk.
ALEX
Yes, I think I can smell it too.
BETH
Nice?
ALEX
Yes.
(Alex sits up and yawns. He and Beth go into the den.)
Scene 6 Afternoon Raining and Thundering
(Beth runs in from off stage drenched. She is happy, she
stands with her mouth to the sky collecting drops.
Alex looks out from the den, he is dry and reluctant to come
out. Beth drags him out.)
BETH
It only rains here for a few days a year.
ALEX
When I was younger we used to run in the rain.
BETH
Why did you stop?
ALEX
I don't know.
(Beth puts her mouth to the sky. Alex sees her and after a
hesitation, follows suit.)
Scene 7 Afternoon The Rain is over
(Beth is waiting by the mailbox. Ralph enters.)
BETH
Have you ever seen so much rain here, Ralph?
RALPH
No, Beth, I don't think I have. Not since I was little were there five days of rain like that. Washed
out a whole bunch of side-streets down in the valley.
BETH
Did it?
RALPH
But the sun is angry today, you can tell summer's on it's way.
BETH
But there's a nice breeze, I can here the buzz of the mall all the way up here with the breeze. It's
louder everyday.
RALPH
I saw a Roadrunner building a nest on the way here today. She knows me now though, so she
doesn't hide.
BETH
Ralph, when are you going to trade in the bag and uniform and come stay with me?
RALPH
It's tempting Beth, especially on a nice spring day like this. It's tempting. But I'm lucky to have
the best route in the whole valley and get to come here everyday.
BETH
I'll be waiting Ralph.
RALPH
Someday.
(Ralph hands Beth her letters and exits. Alex exits the cave,
he yawns.)
BETH
Sleeping late.
ALEX
What's that noise?
BETH
You can hear it?
ALEX
Yes, it's terrible. Like screaming.
(Beth smiles and goes into the den to read her mail.)
Scene 8 An Earthquake
(Beth is stretched out across the rock absorbing the sun.
Alex comes on from off stage. There is a rumbling sound
and everything shakes visibly for about four seconds.
Bethany jumps off the rock and both characters stand
frozen.)
ALEX
Was that an earthquake?
BETH
Yes, must have been.
ALEX
How big do you think it was?
BETH
About three point two. Do you think?
ALEX
I'm surprised you're so calm.
BETH
I'm surprised you're so calm.
ALEX
There are no buildings or power lines to fall here. No one who is not used to earthquakes to
scream and run in circles. Like a small earthquake at night, that wakes you up but you can't
decide whether to get up and stand in the door frame or not. By the time you have decided, it's
over so you roll over and go back to sleep.
BETH
When I lived down there in the valley, I actually liked small earthquakes. One of the few things
that can remind you that you are still on earth, a planet.
ALEX
The earth speaks.
BETH
Like the cattle spinach.
ALEX
Like everything.
BETH
Like everything.
(Beth climbs back onto the rock. Alex climbs on the rock
and stretches out next to her.)
Scene 9 An aftershock
(Beth comes out of the den and checks the mail. It isn't
there. Alex follows her out.)
BETH
It's getting hot isn't it?
ALEX
Yes.
BETH
I'm going for a walk.
ALEX
Can I come with you?
BETH
No.
ALEX
But what if there is an aftershock?
BETH
What if there is?
ALEX
Aftershocks are always worse when the first earthquake is small. What if you get hurt?
BETH
I'm not scared.
ALEX
I don't want you to go today.
(Beth begins to leave.)
ALEX
Bethany, do you love me?
(Beth turns around and stares at him.)
ALEX
Beth, do you love me?
(Beth is silent.)
ALEX
Do you love me?! Answer me!
(Beth stares. Alex stomps to the den and grabs his
backpack near the entrance and returns to his place.)
ALEX
I'm leaving! I can't believe that you don't love me. I love you.
(Beth is silent and still staring. Alex storms off.)
BETH
Goodbye
(Beth walks off stage.)
Scene 10 Summer
(Beth sits in the shadow of the mouth of the coyote den. The
sun is very intense. Everything has a very distinct shadow.
Beth lifts her arm to drink from a glass of water.
Ralph enters covered in sweat, with a large brimmed hat on
and light colored long sleeves. He waves to Beth but it
seems to take too much energy so he puts the letters in the
box and keeps moving. Beth doesn't get up to get the
letters.
Alex enters. He has no pack. He sits down in the shadow of
the mailbox facing Beth. Speaking is a big effort.)
ALEX
Can I come back?
BETH
You are back.
ALEX
I couldn't handle it back there. It made me sick. I collapsed on the golf course. I was in the
hospital for a while, they took x-rays, blood tests, but couldn't find what was wrong.
BETH
I'm sorry. Do you feel better now?
ALEX
Yes.
BETH
I don't have air-conditioning.
ALEX
I don't want air-conditioning.
BETH
I knew you would come back.
ALEX
I thought you would know.
(He gets up and sits in the shadow of the den, by but not
touching Beth. She hands him her glass of water. He takes
a drink and hands it back.)
Scene 11
(Beth walks on stage drenched in sweat, she has on a wide
brimmed straw hat, sandals, and a long sleeved shirt. She
is carrying a dead lizard in her hands.
Alex comes out of the den.)
BETH
I found a dead lizard on my walk.
ALEX
From the heat?
BETH
No a person, see, its tail has fallen off.
ALEX
Someone must have picked it up by the tail.
BETH
The lizard detached his tail but he fell too far.
ALEX
I'll dig a hole.
(They cross to under the cattle spinach bush and Alex digs
a hole.)
ALEX
The sand is too hot, it's burning my hands.
(Beth kicks off a sandal and stands with one foot balanced
on the other. Alex digs with her shoe. Alex is done. Beth
places the lizard gently in the hole and Alex returns the
sand over it.)
ALEX
I feel like we should say a prayer.
BETH
I don't know any prayers.
ALEX
Neither do I.
BETH
What should we do?
ALEX
I know part of a sonnet.
BETH
Yes, I know a poem.
(Both place their hands on the grave, despite the heat.)
ALEX
Sonnet 53, William Shakespeare,
What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you, but one,
That's all I can remember.
BETH
Nice. interior by Dotty Parker
Her mind lives in a quiet room,
A narrow room, and tall,
With pretty lamps to quench the gloom
And mottoes on the wall.
There all the things are waxen neat
And set in decorous lines;
And there are posies, round and sweet,
And little straightened vines.
Her mind lives tidily, apart
From cold and noise and pain,
And bolts the door against her heart,
Out wailing in the rain.
That's it. The End.
ALEX
Cattle Spinach, do you have anything to say?
(Both listen.)
ALEX
Very appropriate, Cattle Spinach.
(Beth and Alex lift their hands. Beth goes towards the den,
Alex follows.)
BETH
I wonder what someone was doing out here picking up lizards.
ALEX
Ralph said that the mall was closed today.
(Both exit into the cave.)
Scene 12 Fall Nighttime
(Beth wanders out of the den rubbing her eyes. She crawls
onto the rock looking at the sky, she shivers and rolls into a
ball.
Alex creeps out of the den. He sees Beth and sits next to
her.)
ALEX
Why are you awake?
BETH
Can't sleep.
ALEX
You were talking in your sleep.
BETH
What was I saying?
ALEX
You were crying.
BETH
I figured.
ALEX
Bad dream?
BETH
Yes.
ALEX
Do you want to tell me what it was about?
BETH
No.
ALEX
I've never seen you have trouble sleeping.
BETH
I've never had trouble sleeping here.
ALEX
Are you going to come back to bed?
BETH
I'm afraid.
ALEX
I'll tell you a bedtime story.
(In response Beth puts her head on Alexander's lap.)
ALEX
When I was a kid, a special comet was coming by earth. I don't remember what it was called but
it seemed to be an important event at the time. We drove out to a dark place to make sure that we
could see the comet. Away from lights. We stood there in the dark, around the car, we were cold
and silent. We were waiting. I think that I fell asleep before the comet came or maybe I saw it.
What I remember is the waiting.
(Alex realizes that Beth is asleep. Without jostling her he
lays down too and falls asleep.)
Scene 13 Morning The Fault
(Beth is sleeping on the rock. She is shivering in her sleep.
Alex walks out of the den stretching, he shivers. He pulls a
Mexican blanket around him. He sees Beth sleeping on the
rock. He puts the blanket over Beth. This wakes her up.)
ALEX
Good morning.
BETH
No, it's not.
ALEX
No sleep?
BETH
Bad sleep.
ALEX
I'm going to take a walk to the faultline, do you want to come? The palm trees there are
smoother, better for climbing.
BETH
I want to but I'm too tired.
ALEX
Bethany, are you sure?
BETH
Yes.
(Alex checks the mail and leaves. Beth looks after him, she
crawls into the den.)
Scene 14 Nighttime
(Beth is staring at the sky counting the stars. Alex comes
out of the den yawning.)
BETH
Seventy-five, Seventy-six, Seventy-seven
ALEX
Counting the stars again?
BETH
Yes.
ALEX
What's wrong Beth?
BETH
Alex, I don't know. Alex...
ALEX
What Bethany?
BETH
Will you tell me a story? No, a poem, say a poem.
(Bethany rolls into a ball under the blanket she had been
laying on.)
ALEX
I don't know any poems Beth.
BETH
Make one up.
(Alex sits next to Beth on the rock and pets her hair.)
ALEX
Sugar Sally Sleep She Weeps When Knights Come Knocking On Her Door.
Dreaming She Is Of Drownings In Her Past.
Alas The Fair Maiden Awoke To Find That One So Fair As She Was An Image She Hid From.
Running She Scram Ran Around A Door That She Found Out Later Away Wasn't Even There
Anymore.
But How Could She Just A Flea In This World Have Known.
So Sugar Sally Spent Day After Day With The Knowledge That Silly She Knew Nothing At All.
And That She'd Say Shyly Was How She Liked It.
(Beth looks up. She smiles.)
BETH
Nice.
ALEX
You're not asleep.
BETH
No, sorry. Seventy-eight, Seventy-nine,
ALEX
Eighty, Eighty-one
(They continue counting together.)
Scene 15 Beth leaves
(Alex comes out of the den and puts a letter in the mailbox.
He sits down next to the Cattle Spinach bush.)
ALEX
Buenos dias, Que Paso?
(Listens)
ALEX
Ay, muy rapido. Yo no comprendo.
(Listens)
ALEX
Si, si..
(Bethany comes out of the den in a well-cut business suit.
She has a briefcase in one hand.)
ALEX
Bethany?
BETH
Alexander, I'm leaving.
ALEX
Are you going back?
BETH
Yes.
ALEX
I'll miss you.
BETH
I'll write you letters.
ALEX
Did you ever love me Bethany?
BETH
I blame myself because I think that I turned you into me. That was never what I wanted. I don't
think that you are better as me.
ALEX
You have never made me you. You have made me understand you.
BETH
That makes me feel better.
(Beth leaves.)
ALEX
Bye Beth.
(Alex watches her leave. He is still for a minute. Then he
walks in the other direction.)
Scene 15 Morning The End
(Alex comes out of the den yawns, he looks up at the sky
and shivers. He pulls the blanket around his shoulders and
sits on the rock waiting.
Ralph enters with his bag of mail.)
RALPH
There was a scorpion in my path this morning. I am surprised that it was out so late today. The
chill must have made it think it was still nighttime. Be careful of your feet Alexander.
ALEX
I am Ralph.
RALPH
I have a letter for you from Beth today.
ALEX
Good.
RALPH
Is she coming back?
ALEX
I don't know.
RALPH
Are you lonely?
ALEX
Not yet.
RALPH
Tell Beth that I saw the Roadrunner babies today.
ALEX
I will Ralph. The Cattle Spinach Bush says, "Hola."
RALPH (Whispers)
I can't believe it learned Spanish from a tape. That's kind of tacky.
ALEX (Whispering back)
It's loosening up.
RALPH
I guess it is. I think it might rain tomorrow.
ALEX
I think it might too.
(Ralph takes the outgoing mail and leaves. Alex looks up at
the sky.)
ALEX
I think it may rain.
(Alex closes his eyes for a minute and breathes. Then he
turns and slowly wanders off in the opposite direction of
Ralph for a walk.)
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