Mr. Burns and Other Plays. Anne Washburn

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СКАЧАТЬ Then, tentatively, they start up again, cautiously at first, but soon regain their original vigor.

       A bit of a (Human) silence.

      PT (Sincerely): That’s amazing. You creeped the frogs out.

      EMILY: I didn’t creep them out. I . . . impressed them.

       She switches off her light.

      PT: The frogs were like: what is that.

      EMILY: Hey,

       She jostles his arm.

       Turn yours off okay.

      PT: Why?

      EMILY: I want to see what the dark is like.

       He does so.

      PT: You’re the Frog Mama.

       She sings just a bit, low.

       You’re going to give them a heart attack, you keep after them like that.

       She continues singing low, a little louder; the frogs continue, undisturbed.

       (Pursuing the joke a little longer than is amusing) Because how often are they visited by the Froggie Goddess, like it’s got to be stressful.

       She pursues the song a little longer, ends it mid-verse, or, at any rate, before the song is done.

       Silence. Frogs.

       Seriously though, I don’t think I can hack this dark. I’m a city boy. I’m used to being lit up from above at all times.

       Bit of a beat.

      EMILY: There are the stars.

      PT: They’re pretty. They’re not really doing it for me.

      EMILY: There are comets.

       A flash of light across the stage, and a whoosh; fades out. Another flash of light and whoosh; fades out.

      PT (Not convinced): Mmmmn.

      EMILY: There are fireflies.

       A swarm of fireflies enters, and performs a beautiful luminous dance. The laws of nature are repealed.

       Emily starts to sing a low firefly song to accompany them.

       The Heart of the Summer

      ALL WOMEN:

       is shot through with Stars

      EMILY (Continues alone):

       Dazzles of Forever

       Abducted in Jars

      THE AIR RESPONDS (The Air is masculine in character . . .):

       More wonderful

       than fire

       is the air!

       without which

       nothing glowing

       would be there!

       The fireflies exit, the frogs fade out.

      CHAPTER 3

      THE NON-PROPHET: I was continually being tackled and wrestled to the ground by an angel. I had to be on my guard wherever I went. My eyes always darting about, on the watch for a flick of a feather whisking behind a corner. A suspicious glimmer from behind a parked car. A flock of doves rose up just to my left and I freaked out.

      CHAPTER 4

       Hananiah is speaking.

      HANANIAH (Luminous):

       When God comes to you . . .

       and he does come to you—

       you say: he hasn’t come to me

       you’ll never hear his voice

       You’ve been awake in the night

       in the dark listening

       for a word a touch,

       (you’ve been desolate)

       you’ve said: I am alone

       you’ve said: I am abandoned

       he will not speak to me . . .

       He does not speak to you.

       While you are writhing

       in your hot, still, brain God

       has visited you

       and visited you again

       falling into your heart

       like a soft cooling rain

       Your heart is a garden

       blooming, and replete

       God has rippled though

       you, you are complete.

      CHAPTER 5

      BARUCH:

       And on this day waves of soiled air

       rising from the pavement; sparks of glare

      C: Don’t forget—you gotta go towards the East side. This is the West. When you get up on the street—go East!

      D:

       The chariots shall rage in the streets

       they shall justle one against another in the broad ways

       they shall seem like torches

       they shall run like the lightnings

      C: Oh, shit. She shoulda got out at the next stop.

      E: If I don’t hear from him. I will die—there’s the D! Mwah! Go! Mwah!

      JEREMIAH:

       The heart is deceitful above all things,

       and desperately wicked—who can know it? Thus saith the Lord. Saith the Lord:

       I remember thee,

       thy kindness, the love of thine espousals, when thou went after me in the wilderness,

       in a land that was not sown

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