Lodestar Quarterly

Issue 4 • Winter 2002 • Featured Writer • Drama

Half-Light Dances

Brian Thorstenson

A beginning: descent

A beginning: descent

DARYL
We're sticking to sidestreets tonight, streets perpetually under construction. Maybe there's a light on the corner or maybe there's none.

DEREK enters and passes DARYL. They cruise each other.

DEREK exits.

DARYL takes in a breath.

Your breathing. Check your breathing.

WINIFRED
I don't detect a difference.

DARYL
And your heartbeat? Check that.

WINIFRED checks her pulse.

WINIFRED
A healthy pulse.

DARYL checks his pulse.

DARYL
Keep moving.

WINIFRED
Where are we...?

DARYL
Down a street meant for the dark. With shops seeping motor oil, signs for metal parts and venetian glass, Complete Auto Service in English and Mandarin.

WINIFRED is trying to get a note written.

DEREK crosses the stage, cruising DARYL.

DARYL
Not now. Keep moving.

WINIFRED
It will only take...

DARYL
No.

WINIFRED
But...

DARYL
Keep moving.

DEREK enters and blocks DARYL.

DEREK
Your footsteps stink of obsession.

DARYL
They're... they're...

DEREK
I like that. That stink. Don't you?

DARYL
I don't think that/ they...

DEREK
Oh, yes they do. You can smell it around the block.

to WINIFRED

Can't you?

DARYL
Derek.

WINIFRED
I'm not sure...

DARYL
Why are you asking her?

DEREK
Why not?

DARYL
She doesn't know this walk. She's never been down/ this street.

DEREK
Well Winifred?

DARYL
Derek!

DEREK
Let's just see.
Well?

WINIFRED
What exactly am I supposed to be turning my olfactory facilities towards?

DEREK
That stink. Of obsession.

WINIFRED
I see.

DEREK
Can you smell it?

WINIFRED
Yes.

DEREK
Describe it.

WINIFRED
Umm...momentum, not entirely controllable. A grey smell: concrete, ash and soot, iron.

DEREK
Yes. And steel barbed with crimson. Yes?

WINIFRED
Yes.

DARYL
Don't do that again.

DEREK
Can't help it. I'm lured by crime.

A far away tango starts to play

Aren't you sometimes?

DARYL
I...

DEREK
Aren't you?

DARYL
No.

DEREK
Yes you are.

The tango gets louder

DEREK
Tell me, Daryl.

DARYL
No.

DEREK
About the boy.

DARYL
No.

Tango up full. DIAMOND appears.

DEREK takes DARYL and they dance a tango.

DIAMOND sings.

DIAMOND

Mi Amor del Oscuro (My Love of the Darkness)

Mi amor del oscuro
anda por las calles rotas
Mi amor del la noche
llama de las sabanas
Ven, ven, baja con migo
Ven, ven, baja con migo

Mi amor del oscuro
no temes
Mi amor del la noche
solo aislado
Ven, ven, baja con migo
Ven, ven, baja con migo

Te llevaré
adonde quieras ir
Te llevaré
adonde quieras estar
Ven, ven, baja con migo
Ven, ven, baja con migo

Mi amor de oscuridad
no temes
Mi amor del la noche
llama de las sabanas
Ven, ven, baja con migo
Ven, ven, baja con migo
Ven, ven, baja con migo
Ven, ven, baja con migo

The dance ends.

DEREK and DARYL step apart.

DEREK
Now, tell me.

DARYL
My place, it's close to here...

DEREK
Please.

DARYL
One or two blocks. Maybe three. No more than five or six.

DEREK
I need to...

DARYL
Would you like to... like to...

A trumpet plays the first bar of "What'll I Do."

like to come...

DARYL stops, hesitates, then exits.

DEREK starts to follow DARYL.

DIAMOND
Stay here.

DEREK
No, I want to ..

DIAMOND
Stay! With her. I'm going.

DIAMOND exits after DARYL.

WINIFRED looks after them.

WINIFRED
Where does he keep going?

making a note

Strange departures. Just disappears.

DEREK
Yes.

WINIFRED
Very confusing.

DEREK
Very.

WINIFRED
What?

DEREK
Let me see what you're writing.

WINIFRED
No.

DEREK
Why not?

WINIFRED
I never share my findings in progress.

DEREK
Why?

WINIFRED
Skews the results. Influences the population being observed. Negates the necessity of analysis.

DEREK
I know where he goes.

WINIFRED
I thought you might.

DEREK
At least I think I know. I could tell you.

WINIFRED
Can you show me?

DEREK
Maybe. Can you show me?

WINIFRED
Where he goes? Of course not.

DEREK
No. Why you came here.

WINIFRED
That's of no consequence. To you at least.

DEREK
But it is to you.

WINIFRED
Possibly.

DEREK
Possibly and Maybe. Well, that's a starting point.

DARYL enters.

WINIFRED
Where do you keep going?

DEREK
He won't tell you.

DARYL
It's not important.

DEREK
He won't tell me.

WINIFRED
Strange disappearances? Seems important.

DEREK
Not the whole story.

WINIFRED
How am I to make any of this into a coherent whole if you don't show me everything? Can you tell me that?

DEREK
Have you Daryl? You haven't told me...

DARYL
Derek! It's none of her business.

WINIFRED
You do want me to make some sense of this don't you?

DARYL
Of course.

DEREK
What about me? And Diamond, huh? Does she know? What about us? Is it our business?

DARYL
That's between the three of us.

WINIFRED
I need to be able to explicate my experiences here with some modicum of clarity.

DEREK
So why'd you ask her to stay?

WINIFRED
From now on I want clear, succinct, and cognizant events upon which to base my findings. All of the events in one direct line.

DARYL
She's got nothing to do with it.

DEREK
I'm not stupid.

WINIFRED
Nothing is as charming as a man walking in one line. Charm me.

DARYL
Where did you get that insane notion?

WINIFRED
I extrapolated.

DARYL
We went over the...

WINIFRED
Enough! Enough of your rules, your guidelines. From now on I shall extrapolate if I feel like it. I shall take photographs if I feel like it. I shall...

She opens her purse and takes out a lipstick.

wear as much makeup as I like!

She applies the lipstick.

There!

DEREK
A rather tasteful and moderate color.

WINIFRED
Yes, well. Some transgressions I simply won't make.

DEREK
Well, thank god for that.

WINIFRED
Now I want you to proceed. Be clear. Be succinct. Be direct.

Beat

DARYL
It's a day, like many other. A day that begins...

WINIFRED
No. No more days.

DARYL
Fine. It's a night,/the smell of ..

WINIFRED
No more nights either! One line. I want it in one line.

DARYL
A line bends. Becomes a spiral, turning back onto itself.

WINIFRED
Determined aren't you? To obstruct my work. Move on.

A trumpet plays the opening bar of "What'll I Do."

Damn that trumpet.

DARYL starts to leave.

Oh, no you don't. You stay right here.

The trumpet plays the next bar.

WINIFRED
Stop that trumpet playing.

DEREK
Stay here and tell her.

WINIFRED

about the trumpet

For god's sake.

DEREK
And tell me.

DARYL
No.

to WINIFRED

Your time is up. Derek will show you out.

DEREK
No. I won't.

DARYL
Then you can find your own way out.

WINIFRED
But...

DEREK
She's not done yet. I'm not done.

DARYL
Three days isn't long to get to Madagascar. You should leave now.

DEREK
I'm not done with her.

DARYL
She's leaving.

DEREK
You asked her to stay/ you can't...

DARYL
And I'm telling her/ to leave.

DEREK
just kick her out.

DARYL
Yes, I can.

to WINIFRED

Goodbye.

DARYL starts to exit.

WINIFRED
Wait.

DARYL
I'm done. It's over. No more.

WINIFRED
A minute. Please.

DARYL
Nothing you say will change my mind.

WINIFRED
Noted. But this work, here, now, this work is... I mean I...

DEREK
What?

WINIFRED
I need to finish my work here.

DARYL
Go someplace else. Go to Zurich or Istanbul or Cleveland. I don't care. Find someplace else, someone else, some other work.

WINIFRED
Some other work. Yes, well... I don't have any other work.

DARYL
You've got Madagascar. In three days. Then your lecture tour.

WINIFRED
Hyperbole. All of that... before. Puffery. There is no lecture tour. No expedition to Madagascar. I have no future engagements.

DARYL
Puffery and subterfuge.

WINIFRED
I need to make a splash. If I don't...if I don't... I will be retired. Forced to retire. Permanently. Never to hear the clicking of indigenous tongues. No more maps and mountain mist. Or machete maneuvers. Oh, those magnificent machete maneuvers! Gone. All gone. Lock up my monogrammed paddle, my compass, my notebook. I shall be relegated to a brick cottage by the sea. Forced to tend trellised tea roses, potted geraniums, and tomatoes. Forced to put up preserves. Oh, god, those endless days of canning. Forced to look out across the sea and occasionally, just occasionally, pick up the scent of a foreign shore on the breeze.

DARYL
Heartbreaking. Just heartbreaking. Send us some chutney.

WINIFRED
I had given up hope. I couldn't see any Ah-ha's! heading my way. I had started packing. Why not? My retirement seemed inevitable. The seashore seemed inevitable. Then I found that door and...

DEREK
Ah-ha!?

WINIFRED
Yes. No. I was hoping. All I did was...

DEREK
Take a leap.

WINIFRED
I had to. I had no choice.

DEREK
I know that one.

DARYL
There's no reason for us to care about your imminent retirement.

WINIFRED
I am fully aware of that.

DARYL
So there's no reason I should let you stay.

WINIFRED
No altruistic reason, no.

DEREK
But there's a selfish one.

WINIFRED
Of course.

to DARYL

You want to hear my findings. My conclusion.

DARYL
A turn in the spotlight for the scientific diva? I don't think so.

WINIFRED
Why else did you have me stay?

DEREK
She could be useful. That's what you said.

DARYL
Could be. But I was wrong. She's done nothing but interrupt and extrapolate.

WINIFRED
I can still be useful.

DARYL
To yourself.

WINIFRED
Please, one more chance...

DARYL
Go, please go.

DEREK
What would it hurt?

DARYL
There's nothing more to show her.

DEREK
That's not true.

DARYL
Please, please. Go.

DEREK
Her findings. At least let's hear that.

WINIFRED
But I haven't...

DEREK
Not now.

WINIFRED
I haven't collected...

DEREK

to WINIFRED

I'm trying to help you here, so shut it for a minute.

DARYL
It won't make any difference.

DEREK
You don't know that.

calling off stage

Diamond!

to DARYL

Let's just see.

DIAMOND enters.

DIAMOND
Yes?!

DEREK
Winifred's going to give us her findings.

DIAMOND
Really? Well, won't THAT be scintillating.

to WINIFRED

OK, lay it on us, honey.

DARYL
Derek, I don't want to hear...

DEREK
Sort it out, Winifred. Sort it out.

The lights start to fade

WINIFRED
I don't think I will be able to... I don't do...

A spotlight on WINIFRED. The others have receded into the darkness.

Is this light really necessary?

DIAMOND
Typical. Of sensible shoes. Find your light, Winifred! Find your light! Jesus.

WINIFRED

trying to find her light

Oh! Where are... I can't see...

DIAMOND
Sort it out, Lady! Sort it out!

WINIFRED

shuffling through her notepad

Um... um... singing... and um... dancing... and... ah here: names thrown around randomly... and... and... boys in blue, boys in towels. A day. Another day. And another. And then night. And um... um... I can't do this extemporaneously!

DIAMOND
Figures.

WINIFRED
And without conclusive data!

DEREK joins WINIFRED in the light

DEREK
You've arrived.

WINIFRED
I'm quite aware of that fact.

DEREK
No.

prompting

You've arrived...

WINIFRED
Stop repeating yourself!

DEREK
No no no. You've arrived... How did you arrive?

WINIFRED
I arrived by foot.

DEREK
Good. And then... ?

***

Next Page:   Sorting it out   (page 11 of 13 pages)

All Pages:   See the entire play on one page

Table of Contents:   Half-Light Dances

Brian Thorstenson lives in San Francisco. His first play, Heading South, received a Bay Area Critics Circle Nomination and was part of the 1996 Berkeley Art Centers' performance series. His play Summerland was selected for the 2000 Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the 2000 Z Festival of New Performance, and opened in New York City at Wings Theatre Company. The play is included in the anthology Plays and Playwrights 2002. His poetry has been published in Transfer and Six Thousand Five Hundred. Brian has received writing fellowships from the Djerassi Resident Arts Program and Blue Mountain Center. He currently is a lecturer in playwriting at San Francisco State University and Santa Clara University.

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