Lodestar Quarterly

Issue 4 • Winter 2002 • Featured Writer • Drama

Half-Light Dances

Brian Thorstenson

Winifred Arrives

Winifred Arrives

An abandoned ballroom. In its day it was the height of grandeur, but now the paint is chipped and peeling, the walls drip water, the floor splintered and cracked.

A waltz plays.

Stage lit for dancing -- low with pockets of color.

DIAMOND enters, vocalizing with the music. She walks the stage, then exits.

DEREK and DARYL enter dancing. They pass DIAMOND as she exits. DEREK and DARYL continue dancing across the stage and exit.

A corridor of harsh light, as if a door has been opened, shines from stage right. A long shadow stretches across the stage. The light goes off, as if the door has been shut. Footsteps from heavy, brown, sensible shoes. WINIFRED enters. She is dressed in a brown tweed jacket, brown tweed skirt and a brown hat. Think Margaret Rutherford. She carries a carpet bag in one hand. A handbag rests on the opposite forearm. She listens to the music, surveys the ballroom, sets the carpet bag down, takes a small pad and pencil out of her handbag and makes notes.

WINIFRED
Hmmm...

DIAMOND walks across the stage, vocalizing. WINIFRED makes a note in her pad.

A woman singing.

DIAMOND hears WINIFRED and stops. She turns towards her.

DIAMOND

yelling off stage

Daryl!

WINIFRED and DIAMOND staring at each other.

Daryl!

DARYL and DEREK enter waltzing.

WINIFRED

making another note in her pad

Two men dancing.

DIAMOND
Daryl!

DEREK and DARYL stop abruptly. They step apart, the music stops. The lights change. Full stage lit.

DEREK, DARYL, DIAMOND and WINIFRED stare at each other.

Silence

WINIFRED

making a note in her pad

I have made my first contact with the indigenous population.

DARYL
Who are you?

DEREK
She looks lost.

DARYL
Is she alone?

DIAMOND
I haven't seen anyone else.

DARYL
Are you alone?

DEREK
Definitely lost.

DIAMOND
Then again she could be an omen, a herald, a messenger.

DEREK
Or just lost.

WINIFRED
I'm not lost. I'm an anthropologist.

Silence

An anthropologist.

Silence

An-thro-pol-o-gist.

DIAMOND
Why does she keep repeating herself?

WINIFRED

making a note

Direct communication is proving difficult.

DEREK
Look at those shoes.

WINIFRED
I shall have to rely on the distanced, observative approach.

DEREK
And that handbag.

WINIFRED
Not my ideal, but it seems a necessary succumbing to currently perceived cultural differences.

DIAMOND
What's she talking about?

DEREK
I don't like her.

DARYL
What are you doing here?

WINIFRED
Then again maybe not. A direct question.

DEREK
I told you. She's lost.

WINIFRED
From the leader? The chief?

DIAMOND
She got lost? Here? How?

DEREK
I don't know. But look at her face.

They all look at WINIFRED who is lost in thought.

See? Lost.

WINIFRED
Possibly.

DARYL
Are you lost?

WINIFRED
Then again I may be wrong.

to DARYL

No.

DARYL
How did you get here?

WINIFRED
Through that door.

DIAMOND
Oh.

DEREK
Yeah, that clears things up.

DARYL
How did you find that door?

WINIFRED

loudly, startling DARYL, DEREK and DIAMOND

AH-HA!

DARYL
What?

WINIFRED
Ah-ha! Instinct. Synapses firing, signaling: AH-HA!

DIAMOND
Stop that. For christ's sake. AH-HA! Jesus.

DEREK
Yeah and follow your instinct back out the door.

DIAMOND

threatening WINIFRED

AH-HA! AH-HA! AH-HA!

DEREK
Right back out the door.

DIAMOND

singing a la Joanne Worley

AH-HAAAAAA!

WINIFRED has been backed towards the door and looks like she is about ready to bolt.

DARYL
Wait!

beat

Why are you here?

DEREK
Daryl!

DARYL
Let's at least find out why she's here.

DEREK
What for?

DIAMOND

singing

AH-HAAAAAAA!

DARYL
She could be useful.

DEREK
I doubt that.

DIAMOND

singing

AH-HAAAAAA!

DARYL
Stop that!

to WINIFRED

Tell us why you're here.

DEREK
And how soon you're leaving.

DIAMOND

singing

"back out the door. Just turn around now."

DARYL
Stop it. Both of you.

DIAMOND
But...

DEREK
What are you doing?

DARYL
Give me five minutes alone with her.

DEREK
She needs to go. Now.

DARYL
Five minutes.

DEREK
Five. No more.

DIAMOND

singing softly yet vehemently in WINIFRED'S direction as she exits

"cause you're not welcome anymore."

DEREK and DIAMOND exit.

DARYL
Don't mind her. She's prone to fits of outburst. They suit her somehow.

WINIFRED
I see. Thank you.

beat

You are...?

DARYL
A docent. I'm a docent.

WINIFRED
Really? I've never met a docent. Not officially. One member of a group will naturally assume a docent-like role. But I've never encountered a culturally codified position, especially in such early stages of field work.

DARYL
I like to be prepared.

WINIFRED
Once, on an expedition to the Mergui Archipelago, I was looking for the Black Rock caves, caves only accessible by sea kayak. There I was paddling the islands, exhausted, dehydrated, despondent. Round and round the cliffs of the rock I navigated. To no avail. None. One more time, I said, then back to shore. And that's when it happened. A boat emerged straight out of the rock! The Moken! The last sea-gypsies in the world! Of course they would know the location of the caves. I don't know that I like the idea of having a second pair of eyes, of ears, another hand directing my attention. I've found it skews the results. I like to rely on my own instinct.

DARYL
Why are you here?

WINIFRED
To complete a thorough and detailed survey.

DARYL
Really?

WINIFRED
Another trophy for the shelf, feather in my hat, rung on the ladder. Another book jacket photograph.

DARYL
I see.

testing

Would you like to dance?

WINIFRED
Do you know the fox-trot?

DARYL does the fox-trot, WINIFRED makes notes in her pad. This continues, DARYL doing each dance, WINIFRED making notes.

Cha-cha?

DARYL dances.

Tango? Swing? Hustle?

DARYL dances.

Go-go? Square dance? Pasa dobles?

DARYL dances.

DARYL
Would you like to dance?

WINIFRED
Cunningham? Fosse? Tharp?

DARYL dances.

DARYL
Would you like to dance?

WINIFRED
Two-step?

DARYL
No. Derek knows the two-step.

WINIFRED
Derek. The other man?

DARYL
Yes.

WINIFRED
This place... this place...

DARYL
A good place to dance.

WINIFRED
For you and Derek?

DARYL
He's the perfect height. Since the first moment we met he has always been the perfect height. I looked at him and thought: "He's the perfect height."

WINIFRED

writing

"The perfect height." I thought him a little on the short side. For you that is. Not in general. Only as a dancing partner. For you.

DARYL
I usually lead. That makes the difference.

WINIFRED
Ahh yes. I suppose it would.

DARYL
Would you like to dance?

WINIFRED
Not just yet.

DEREK enters, followed closely by DIAMOND.

DEREK
She's still here.

DIAMOND
Why is she still here?

DARYL
I said five minutes.

DIAMOND
Probably still Ah-haing. Is that it? AH-HA!

DARYL
A minute!

DIAMOND
A minute he says. And that becomes ten, then twenty, then an hour.

DARYL
She might be staying.

DIAMOND
She's going to stay?!

DEREK
No she's not.

DIAMOND
She's going to stay?!

DARYL
Might. She might be staying. Give me a minute to sort it out.

DIAMOND
A minute. A minute. He keeps saying that.

DEREK
Look at those shoes. Really. There's no excuse for those shoes.

DARYL
You should be prepared...

DEREK
Or the handbag.

DARYL
Derek, please. You both should be prepared -- for her to stay.

DEREK
I don't see what she could possibly...

DARYL
I know what I'm doing.

DEREK
You better.

DEREK exits.

DARYL
Just a few minutes. Really.

DIAMOND
It takes some work you know to put This all together. This -- doesn't just happen. It's the culmination of hours and hours of...

DARYL
I know.

DIAMOND
Well! You just better hope I'm ready when you want me to be.

DIAMOND exits.

DARYL
There are some things you should know if you want to stay.

WINIFRED
I've done my research. I'm quite prepared. As always.

DARYL
That might be so, still...

WINIFRED
I would prefer to dismiss with any preliminary instructions and proceed as quickly as possible. I'm due in Madagascar in three days. Then off to Zurich for the start of a lecture tour. Paris, Stockholm, Madrid, Prague.

DARYL
Things you should know before we embark.

WINIFRED
Is this really necessary?

DARYL
Hair must be clean and neatly combed. Makeup should be tastefully applied and moderate. Condoms must be used at all times. Photography may be limited.

WINIFRED
Limited!

DARYL
Or not permitted at all.

WINIFRED
Not permitted!

DARYL
I use my own discretion.

WINIFRED
I'm finding this all quite impossible.

DARYL
I'll show you out then.

WINIFRED
No. Wait.

beat

One roll of photographs.

DARYL
Only if you agree to...

WINIFRED
One roll. No restrictions.

pause

DARYL
One roll. No more.

WINIFRED
Good.

making a note

I have successfully completed my first negotiations with the local population.

DARYL

yelling off

She's staying!

***

Next Page:   A beginning: geography lesson   (page 3 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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