SCENE ONE - THEATER DRESSING ROOM - EVENING

Lights come up on the FATHER sitting at a vanity table which faces out into the audience. The audience serves as his mirror. The sound of a crow cawing is heard. The Father looks disturbed. Lights come upon a head hanging from a tree.

FATHER

I'm not ready.

The sound of a crow cawing is heard again.

FATHER

What if I said no? I think my scene should be re-written. Where is the spontaneity?

The cry of the crow is heard again.

The MOTHER walks in. She is wearing a coat with brilliant colors. She will not look at him though he tries to get her attention throughout the scene.

FATHER

(Annoyed) You shouldn't be here.

MOTHER

Didn't you hear the call?

FATHER

I didn't send for you.

MOTHER

Maybe it's time for the bird to carry the serpent.

FATHER

I don't need riddles. I need a woman who knows how to handle a man's business. Are you up for the challenge?

MOTHER

I'm not into the “may the best man win” scenario.

FATHER

(Agitated) You smell like dead things.

MOTHER

I walked through a lot of shit to get to you. (Goes and sits at a chair near him.)

FATHER

(Afraid) I don't offer my heart to filth. Haven't you seen my lovers?

MOTHER

Still you want the world of skulls. When will you learn, when you peel back the flesh, you have bones. (Beat) It's been a long time since I was out of the basement. I bored with it always being night. You're not there.

FATHER

Do I look like a man who would give his love to a woman who lives in the basement?

MOTHER

You still want to make your smoke and mirrors absolute.

FATHER

(Seductive) And I still want the liquid from your loins, (Beat. Rejecting)…not the drippings from your mouth. You know, I am having company tonight. You know you're not supposed to be here unless I call for you. It isn't time yet.

MOTHER

I sat in the basement with my fears. Life is spirit. Not flesh.

FATHER

Nonsense. Who would deny pleasure? Well, you look like you could do with some pleasure. You are a bit up tight. No one stirred the pot lately.

MOTHER

So who is breaking your heart tonight?

FATHER

My lovers love me and that's all you need to know.

MOTHER

Why can't I meet your lovers? They are probably no more than urges and fantasizes clawing at you.

FATHER

You don't exist to the public. They are addicted to me.

MOTHER

You are always sleeping in someone else's house. But then again, you were always a C performer in D dramas.

FATHER

(Falls into a memory when he thinks he is being interviewed.) Of course, I choose roles that are challenging. Why would I want to play the same character over and over again? I know the public gets a certain perception of how you're supposed to be but I intend to expand my horizons, explore the depth of consciousness. I like roles that are dark, sexual and edgy. I know my looks sometimes do not get me the roles I want, but I feel I am up to the challenge to play any part. I have played a father, a hustler, a saint, a homeless, crazy man, a psychopath, an alien, a vampire, a demon and even a zombie craving life. I have been a sex god of rock, a man who has been raped by his mother and a tragic hero eaten by bugs. Yet, none of these roles define who I am.

MOTHER

Father, why won't you look at me?

He snaps out of his daydream.

FATHER

Why are you here torturing me with your presence? Don't you realize how upsetting you're making me?

 

The Mother starts pulling beautiful flowers out of her coat pocket and puts them into a vase that is sitting on the table.

FATHER (CONTINUED)

What is that fragrance?

MOTHER

The smell of goodwill.

FATHER

I don't need your flowers.

MOTHER

I've left my basement; why don't you leave yours.

FATHER

(Shivers) I feel a draft. I think you left a window, a door open. It's probably the basement door. So go close it!

MOTHER

I hate the basement. It is so confining. And when I keep knocking on the door, you don't answer.

FATHER

I've done the best I can by you.

MOTHER

I don't want to live in dark places.

FATHER

The likes of you have confined me to roles that aren't challenging. I don't want to be a bit actor. I am someone who commands the stage. Your presence regulates me to second bit player. I will not have it! I am the actor! I am the father. I am all the roles; every character that exists is me.

MOTHER

I want to be like you. I want to act.

FATHER

The stage is for me. You have no business here.

MOTHER

Can you take your face away from the mirror long enough to see, there are no suitors lined up; there is no adoring public, there is you stuck in front of vanity mirror.

FATHER

(Defensive) I play all the roles men want me to be.

MOTHER

(Methodical) The face is a strange vehicle isn't it Father. It can capture a person's attention and transport that attention to any place that the face wants. A face can be youth. A face can age. A face can be serenity. A face can be a monster. You, Father, you want my face to be a monster because you are the monster who cannot look at their own reflection.

FATHER

(Angry) You are disturbing my concentration! You're making me feel like I'm losing my head. Don't look at me like that. Your eyes, your words are torturing me.

MOTHER

I love what is behind the face, the appearance, the skull.

FATHER

I need to be the star of stage and screen.

MOTHER

Stop losing me like people lose a waking dream!

FATHER

I need a bathroom break.

MOTHER

You have been a prodigal heart.

FATHER

I am a star.

MOTHER

Come back to me.

FATHER

You haven't given me a reason to share the stage with you. The spotlight is supposed to be on me.

MOTHER

What has self satisfaction and gratification got you?

FATHER

The world isn't ready for its monsters.

MOTHER

Look at me man!

FATHER

You need to leave, I need to finish dressing.

MOTHER

Look at me Father!

FATHER

I must find another role to be in. (Pretends he is being interviewed.) Yes, I have just agreed to play the part of a man who wants a life outside the social structures he was born into. He wants the life of a man who challenges his day-to-day life; he makes his daydreams into musical numbers, he wants to be a living fantasy. In pursuit of his out-of-the-box lifestyle, he eventually finds he has no heart, no hope, and basically is still lost in the game of success. I will find this role challenging because I think somehow he must resolve issues of sexuality and also the longing to have a mind that is independent of the dominant culture.

MOTHER

Father, I am here. Look at me.

FATHER

(Snaps out of his daydream) Keep crazy in the basement, can't have you blocking out Father's performance. There are always lovers crouching at my door waiting to pay me tribute.

MOTHER

You don't own your face.

FATHER

You are so jealous of my suitors.

MOTHER

I see your mythologies.

FATHER

Ah, my lusty lovers.

MOTHER

Stop this dance of madness.

FATHER

They love me. They really love me!

MOTHER

Do you like dancing with these creatures that have feathers, scales, fur, claws, hooves or tails?

FATHER

You don't understand my needs; you never understood my needs.

MOTHER

We are two longing to be one.

FATHER

What nonsense.

MOTHER

The basement still possesses your mind. Then let light be a torch.

FATHER

I travel with my own spotlight. Go away. You are hurting my eyes.

MOTHER

Why are you ashamed of me?

FATHER

Your existence has put time upon my face. I am a star. I am what the movie is about. I will go on in celluloid, in the minds of the public.

MOTHER

I read where a thought can become parasitical.

FATHER

Are you saying I am a parasite?

MOTHER

Fiction is not reality.

FATHER

(Sarcastic) So now, you think I am not aging well?

MOTHER

I just think maybe your fiction, and I'm the one reading the fiction.

FATHER

(A bit hysterical) Your part will never be written. This role will not ever see the stage.

MOTHER

Because of your limited range, you keep up this pretense.

FATHER

I am a star. Stars are like stars in the heavens, we go on forever.

MOTHER

Did you know Father that the light we receive from many stars may be from dead stars? It just takes so long to reach us we think they are living stars. Am I playing with the dead?

FATHER

So now I'm dead? Do I look like a fucking corpse? How dare you call me dead? Is this how you honor your Father? The Father must be perfect. The Father must be obeyed. The Father is the movie, the last word.

MOTHER

I will not go back to the basement.

FATHER

(Screams) I must be obeyed. I must be adored. I must be loved.

MOTHER

Father, look at me.

FATHER

Do you think I'm a receptacle for your unfavorable qualities? Get over yourself and let me go. Laying down playing dead to my affections isn't natural.

MOTHER

(Shoves him to the floor) You can't stray outside the boundaries!

FATHER

I've aborted you.

MOTHER

Yeah, I know, I had a problem with that. Well, I think I want to abort you now. I am ready to take the stage. It's my turn to be in the spotlight.

FATHER

(He looks at her and is afraid.) Sex between us will always be adversarial. Top/bottom. Good/bad. Male/female. Female/female. Male/male. I want to be more than a miracle survivor to sexual oppression. So, sex and spirit - we haven't found a bridge yet.

MOTHER

Sometimes we must destroy our Frankenstein face! It's your turn to go to the basement.

FATHER

You act like you're a privilege. I will not be policed and controlled.

MOTHER

It's my turn to face my adoring public. It's time Father, for the Moon to set.

FATHER

(Walks slowly off the stage) I didn't accept this role. This role wasn't made for me. I can't play this part. I can't but I must…dammit to hell, again, the sun must rise.

MOTHER

As the moon must set!

The Mother goes and stands center stage. There is a spotlight on her. She smiles and bows to the audience as she hears thunderous applause.

BLACKOUT

 

THE END