Lodestar Quarterly

Issue 13 • Spring 2005 • Featured Writer • Drama

Vessels

Kim Yaged

Outside the Camps

(SIRENS, a CRASH, BREAKING GLASS. A SEARCHLIGHT.)

25-54

Yes, they were my customers -- Jews.

(The LIGHT finds 25-54. She is handcuffed.)

25-54 (CONT'D)

Not only Jews. But also Jews. I have no preferences. But, I love my country. I believe in my country. So, you see, it's my obligation. What would you do? My allegiance is to my country. So, when they named names, I gave a nod. It was pre-emptive. Them or us. Them or me. I never named names. Just a nod. Here or there -- Only here or there. As the need may be. Never thinking they would come back -- for me.

AGED

"In National Socialism, the individual does not count as far as society is concerned."

25-54

They don't take lesbians too seriously. A woman "retains her usability in terms of population policy." Except for repeat offenders. I was helping them. Patriot, loyalist, party supporter. Me, a so-called repeat offender.

(12-17 interrogates 25-54 and AGED.)

12-17

Radical

25-54

punishable

12-17

Radical

AGED

criminal

12-17

Radical

AGED

sexual

12-17

Radical

AGED

"The police were moving to criminalize lesbian relations during the war."

12-17

Radical

25-54

interaction

12-17

Radical

25-54

content

12-17

Radical

AGED

conformity

25-54

I was sent to a camp. An all-male camp. See, this is my punishment for how I look, dress. They knew. They all knew. Why else would a woman be there? Lesbian equals man. I am among my own kind. So the thinking goes. They were not yet weak. And although lesbian equals man, I still looked woman enough to a camp full of dehumanized males. Or maybe they're just tired of each other by this point.

AGED

This is where they sent her.

25-54

I remember thinking to myself, "Oh, God, this is my punishment." And wondering if it could ever be punishment enough.

AGED

And the truth is, I was glad for it.

12-17

Children turned in their parents

25-54

Women left their lovers

12-17

Exile

25-54

Married men

AGED

Disappear from view

25-54

Sometimes gay men --

AGED

for pretense, protection

12-17

Marrying for camouflage

25-54

But you had to have children

AGED

Desirable births

12-17

Increase the rate

25-54

Of desirable births

12-17

Propagate the race

25-54

Otherwise it was a treason of sorts

AGED

"Subversion of the national defense"

12-17

Woman

25-54

Only woman

AGED

Tool

25-54

Vessel

12-17

For reproduction

25-54

Sport

(A wave of CHEERS.)

AGED

Truthfully, women didn't matter.

25-54

The Gestapo came in

(12-17 acts girlish and flirty.)

12-17

Hide and seek

AGED

We had talked about what we would do

12-17

She's in the barrel, the barrel, the barrel -- point, point, point -- wink, wink, wink...

25-54

My girlfriend and I

12-17

Check under the bed, the closet, the storage space...

25-54

They had lists

12-17
(singing)

One, two...

AGED

The owner of one of the bars was turning people in

12-17
(singing)

...buckle my shoe

25-54

Everyone turning people in

12-17
(singing)

Three, four...

AGED

We prepared ourselves for rape.

12-17
(singing)

...shut the door

AGED

I was a pretty girl

12-17
(singing)

We don't wanna fight no more.

AGED

Not so much now -- you can't tell.

25-54

But, the Nazis could be bought for a price.

12-17

I am not so naive.

25-54

Keep them entertained.

(12-17 begins tap dancing.)

12-17

But just naive enough.

25-54

As long as you keep them entertained.

12-17

They won't hurt me if I keep them entertained.

AGED

It's a war.

25-54

It's a crime.

AGED

"You're such a beautiful girl."

12-17

He says,

AGED

"It's such a waste."

25-54

Follow the rules.

(12-17 stops dancing.)

12-17

And he touched my cheek.

(AGED and 12-17 are back to back. They raise their arms in unison touching their own cheeks.)

AGED

And we're left

25-54

To find the heroes

12-17

the role models

25-54

the women who look like me

12-17

Jew

AGED

Dyke

25-54

Bore

AGED

Whore

12-17

Lesbian

AGED

Butch

25-54

Can't make up her mind

12-17

Bi

25-54

Freak

AGED

Self-loathing

12-17

Cheat

25-54

Can't find them anymore.

AGED

Lack of images

12-17

Invisibility

25-54

Lack of memories

AGED

The sphere subordinate to men

12-17

Lack of meaning

25-54

Girl

AGED

freak

25-54

foreigner

12-17

Without

AGED

girl

25-54

land

12-17

hope

25-54

Socially maladjusted

AGED

Anti-social

12-17

I prefer not to think of myself as "anti."

25-54

"Asocial"

AGED

-- when there is no offense to speak of

25-54

Behavior which may not in itself be criminal

AGED

Lack of conformity, perhaps.

12-17

Individuality -- being out of fashion.

25-54

This is what we were condemned for.

(AGED holds a protest sign.)

AGED

Not everyone was willing to conform. Skills. Political or otherwise. To keep my identity. Never surrender. My camaraderie. Companionship. Loyalty. Admit to nothing. I don't have to hold up a sign. To stage my protest. I have my own production quotas to meet. Do not dwell on demise. Live my life. Escaping. Help others escape. Even just momentarily. They can not invade me.

12-17

It was not illegal to be a lesbian

AGED

An "acquired vice"

25-54

Eradicate

AGED

Contagious degeneracy

25-54

Threatened

12-17

the nation

AGED

Terrorize

25-54

Social conformity

AGED

Non-criminalization of female homosexuality

25-54

My diagnosis

12-17

My disease

25-54

Legalities, trivialities

AGED

It does not affect reality.

25-54

Lesbians were not systematically rounded up

12-17

Eliminated

AGED

They just turned up missing

25-54

Left

12-17

dead

AGED

Left

25-54

shattered

12-17

Left

AGED

the resistance

25-54

We were disappeared

12-17

Banned

AGED

Arrested

12-17

Hid

25-54

Returned

AGED

Different

12-17

Or not at all.

25-54

What would you call us?

12-17

Enemy combatants

AGED

Such guilt

25-54

Over not being persecuted

12-17

Fleeing

25-54

Conforming

12-17

Not fighting enough

AGED

I was proud to be arrested

25-54

Showed we were opposed to the goings on

12-17

Active resistance

25-54

Trials

12-17

Afraid

AGED

Interrogation

25-54

Of ending up in jail

12-17

Again

25-54

Can't forgive myself

AGED

"We paid our rent, looked respectable, and behaved ourselves."

(12-17 takes the protest sign from AGED.)

12-17

People had to get on with their day to day

AGED

Help where they could

25-54

Others lived in exile

12-17

Run

25-54

Stay

12-17

Helped

AGED

Migrate

25-54

Favors

12-17

Freed me

AGED

Not all Germans were Nazis

25-54

Forged border passes

12-17

An opportune door left ajar

AGED

A stamp on an expired passport

12-17

Spare food ration cards

25-54

Small signs of resistance

AGED

To help you survive.

25-54

Outside Germany it was often no better

12-17

England --

AGED

"Arbitrary criteria"

25-54

For "justified internment"

12-17

France, Switzerland --

25-54

"Threatened with deportation"

AGED

"Protective custody" for the Jews. This is what they called it.

12-17

Lesbians could get by

25-54

Isolate yourself

12-17

Exercise caution

25-54

Not a threat

AGED

"Conduct yourself accordingly"

25-54

Some just stopped having relations during the war.

12-17

Not me --

Next Page:   Love & Sex   (page 4 of 8 pages)

All Pages:   See the entire play on one page

Table of Contents:   Vessels

Kim Yaged is an award-winning playwright whose work has been performed throughout North America. Her chamber opera www.love was showcased by the New York City Opera and subsequently performed in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This production won four Best of 2001 Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Production, and was runner-up in two other categories. Kim was a recipient of the Kennedy Center's Meritorious Achievement Award for the Diego Rivera Theatre's production of her play America. She was also an ArtServe grant recipient. Kim has written children's books for Disney Publishing. Her short stories and poetry are included in anthologies published by Ballantine Books, Cleis Press, and Arsenal Pulp Press. (Photo credit: Sarah Grace Shierson Dumser)

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