|
  |
Issue 13 • Spring 2005 • Featured Writer • Drama
VesselsKim YagedPre-War(ALL stand in a circle, each turning as she speaks.) 12-17 I am birth AGED I am death 25-54 I am what happens in-between. (They stand back to back to back forming a triangle of sorts.) AGED Women were not admitted to universities in Germany until 1908. (Photos of female German intellectuals FLASH.)
12-17
A woman is -- 25-54 woman AGED woman 12-17 woman -- 25-54 less than. AGED Women were prohibited from political organizing until 1908. (Photos of protestors FLASH.) 12-17 woman 25-54 woman AGED woman 12-17 Less than 25-54 A lesbian is (Photos of nothingness FLASH.) 12-17 woman 25-54 woman AGED woman 25-54 Not a woman AGED Vessels 12-17 Just a place to put my -- 25-54 Triangles AGED Pink -- 12-17 homosexual men AGED Black -- 25-54 asocial behavior AGED Red -- 12-17 political dissidents AGED Green -- 25-54 criminal activity AGED Triangles 12-17 Lesbians 25-54 Didn't even rate our own 12-17 Triangles AGED Unequal status 25-54 Paragraph 175 illegalized homosexual activity between men 12-17 Sickness, crime and sin 25-54 But not women AGED Why bother? 12-17 Not a threat AGED Lesbians were not hunted and persecuted as much as men 12-17 No legal basis 25-54 Don't take lesbians too seriously 12-17 Temporary 25-54 Curable AGED Condition 25-54 Mostly gay men were targeted 12-17 Vessels AGED Merely vessels (12-17 toes the party line.) 12-17 "You should not associate lesbians with the Holocaust." (25-54 lines up next to 12-17.) 25-54 We were all so surprised (AGED lines up next to 25-54.) AGED -- Not all -- 25-54 We shouldn't have been. (AGED transforms as she breaks out of formation.) AGED At first I tell myself, "I am not ashamed. I wear star." Then we hear about the triangles. And this, well, it did not resonate, not so much. I still remember. "What comes next?" I wonder. Patches for woman, mother, bitch, whore -- all the appropriate nomenclature for female lined up on my sleeve like military personnel. My badges of dishonor. This way, don't look at me, don't talk to me. You know my place immediate -- no words, no thought is necessary. Ease, acceptance, passivity -- the tranquilizer of a society so that hell can burn around you -- registrations, interviews, people gone missing -- no explanations, small articles on the bottom left corner of the Saturday evening news, but you do not have to acknowledge -- patriot, loyalist -- support the troops! Your mission is acceptance. 12-17 It was clear from the very beginning 25-54 Financed AGED Military finance 12-17 Lobbyists 25-54 Put him in office AGED Shrewd 25-54 Propaganda 12-17 Shrewd AGED Play off the fear 25-54 Defend ourselves to death 12-17 As long as we win the war 25-54 Terror AGED Whose war is it 12-17 Terror 25-54 "Mass power of suggestion" AGED And who would go against it? 25-54 "Climate of fear" AGED What's a person to do? 25-54 I'm not political. AGED Platform -- 25-54 Law and order 12-17 Traditional values AGED Forced to vote 25-54 I didn't even want to AGED "Election" in quotation marks 12-17 Rigged the ballot box 25-54 Avoid confrontation AGED "Didn't have the nerve to vote against" 12-17 Others did AGED New 25-54 What in the world 12-17 Order AGED Is happening? 25-54 "More than three million votes registered against" ALL And still they came to power (ALL turn to face the Führer. 12-17 transforms as she breaks off from the others.) 12-17 To be a man. To fight. I never wanted to be a man. Don't get me wrong. But to be part of something. I know there's the Reich Labor Service for Female Youth. But they're not as important. Don't get me wrong. We're all important. I just want to contribute. Do my part. Play my role. 25-54 Instruments 12-17 of persecution 25-54 Extraordinary authority AGED To employ 25-54 Survey 12-17 Suspect AGED Seize 25-54 Detain AGED Intern 12-17 Confine AGED Preventive custody 12-17 Without legal recourse 25-54 Unlimited preventive detention 12-17 Without legal proceedings (25-54 interrogates 12-17 and AGED.) 25-54 State AGED your name 12-17 March! 25-54 State 12-17 the truth AGED March! 25-54 State AGED sponsored tyranny 12-17 March! 25-54 State 12-17 of hypocrisy (25-54 lifts her legs high, marching in place.) AGED March! (12-17 raises her arm, "Heil Hitler," and joins the marching.) 12-17 Manipulation AGED So afraid ALL March! (ALL march in place, arms raised.) 25-54 I wasn't Jewish... 12-17 "We were left in peace." AGED As long as we were very careful about what we said. (ALL fall silent. Stillness.) AGED (CONT'D) Germany wasn't always like this. (MUSIC. A sultry female voice sings. 25-54 transforms as she steps out.) 25-54 We would dress up. I don't mean dresses. Suit and tie always for me. We were all so young we had to sneak into the bars. We would save up all our wages for the week, beg or steal to get there. Saturday night was the night. Not to be missed. We would go and break hearts -- or have our hearts broken. All competing for the same girl. Always older. We wanted her to show us the ropes. She would strip me down -- (12-17 begins undressing.) 25-54 (CONT'D) -- piece by piece. My own special education. And, I'm naked in ways I've never experienced before. (AGED and 12-17 dance together closely.) AGED There were more gay bars in the Weimar Republic before the war than now -- still 12-17 Golden Ball "Bowling Club," Cloverleaf "Savings Club," the Violetta... 25-54 The most vibrant gay culture in the world in the 1920s 12-17 Poets 25-54 Actors AGED Singers 25-54 Artists 12-17 Stars -- AGED Anita Berber 25-54 Susu Wannowsky 12-17 Zarah Leander 25-54 Celly de Reydt AGED Lene Ludwig 25-54 Erika Mann 12-17 Margo Lion AGED Claire Waldoff
25-54
Oh, Claire Waldoff!
12-17
"A sweet and charming little creature;
25-54
Her little bobbed head is her cutest feature.
AGED
No one can even clarify
ALL
If you're a lady or a guy!" (ALL LAUGH.)
25-54
Claire Waldoff... AGED She even taught Marlene Dietrich.
25-54
How much, I won't say -- if you know what I'm saying. AGED But, women's places began to shut down 12-17 ...the Mali and Igel Club, the Eldorado, the Taverne, the Dorian Gray... AGED Lesbian places began to shut down 12-17 ...Zauberflöte, the Geisha Bar, the Monocle... AGED There were secrets and hiding and raids. 12-17 ...Verona Hall, the Jolly Joker, Monbijou Ladies' Club... 25-54 We were freer during the Weimar Republic
AGED
Freedom? There were more bars, more booze, more parties... 12-17 Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin AGED But what means bars? What about centers -- signs of civilization? Real means to express ourselves, not forget ourselves? (12-17 puts on a prisoner uniform.) 25-54 We were freer than even today. AGED If you call censorship 12-17 Bernburg Nursing Home AGED Avoidance 25-54 Ravensbrück Women's Concentration Camp AGED Silence 12-17 Flossenbürg, AGED Acceptance -- 25-54 Moringen AGED Allowing the discrimination -- 12-17 Then it was freer. 25-54 More bars, AGED perhaps, 12-17 ...Charlottenburg Rowing Club, Leibniz Den... AGED But freedom? Next Page: Outside the Camps (page 3 of 8 pages) All Pages: See the entire play on one page Table of Contents: Vessels
Go To: Issue 13 or Lodestar Quarterly home page |
|
|
|
||
|
© 2001-2024 Lodestar Quarterly
|
|
|
||
