May 22 Play: FIELD

A Field.

HE is baling hay.

A car door slams, off. A WOMAN enters, stands nearby. Middle aged, flowered dress. She has a camera.

HE keeps working. In time, SHE snaps a photo.

HE
You get my good side?

SHE
Wasn't looking at you.
I came for the field.

HE
Just a field.

SHE
-

HE
Too many folks, that's their problem.
They can't see the people for the field.

SHE
That so?

HE
Sure. Here, you goa young buck. Handsome guy. Some say.

SHE
Do they.

HE
Browned by the sun.
Made strong by work,
hard work. Heavy work.
Look good in the pages of a magazine,
or in a Hollywood movie.
You City Folk, you come here,
think we're hicks.

(HE keeps baling.)

I'm no hick, Miss.

(HE keeps baling.)

I got stories.

-

SHE
You know.
-
I'm no City Girl.
Born a mile from here.
Lived on this land till I was.
Thirteen.
-
Something happened here.
I mean.
Here. In the field.

(HE stops baling.)

HE
When.

SHE
I was twelve.
-
Sometimes I think I'll always be twelve.
I got stories too.

-

HE
Alright then, Miss.
I'll let you be.

SHE
Thanks.

(She turns to go. Hesitates. Turns back.)

Hey.

HE
?

SHE
Here.

She raises her camera.
He poses. Loud SNAP adn flash.
The photo is bright and the light burns,
haloing him and the scene in gold for a moment.
In the lights,
he's beautiful.

The camera flash fades. Back to normal lights.
In this light, the field is drab.

HE
Thanks.

SHE
Thank you.

They stand.
Lights fade.

End of play.

Olympic Mascot Fail

I love the Olympics.  I mean, I LOVE the Olympics.  I cheer.  I get choked up.  I harangue everyone who'll listen about triple axles and curling and athletes who I would otherwise never hear of. 

And though I'm admittedly more of a Winter 'lympics fan, I do love me some Summer Games.  And that's why I'm pretty alarmed... at THIS:

I'm even more alarmed than I was at THIS.  (I won't bring up Lisa Simpson vis a vis this logo.  Google it if you need to.)

Wenlock and Mandeville, you are an Olympic Fail.

Testing, testing....

Just checking something out.... Posting from a new source. More to come later....

May 12 Play: MAMOOT

PLAY #?: MAMOOT - by Ed Valentine
© May 12, 2010 * ed@edvalentine.com

LIGHTS UP: It’s SeaWorld – or a SeaWorld type of place. A trainer (F) stands at the edge of a pool. She has a bucket. The water in the pool is dark and black. A maintenance man stands at the back.

TRAINER:
Here, Mamoot.
Here you go!
Feeding time.
Come and get it.
Mamoot?
Mamoot?
Momoot.

She leans over the water.

MAINTENANCE MAN
He dead?

TRAINER
You SCARED me!

MAINTENANCE MAN
Sorry lady.

TRAINER
I didn’t know you were there!

MAINTENANCE MAN
Sorry.

TRAINER
I thought I was all alone.
-
Except for him, I mean.

MAINTENANCE MAN
Him?

TRAINER
Mamoot.

MAINTENANCE MAN
Maybe you are all alone.

TRAINER
I don’t know.
Sometimes, some mornings I come out here
and there’s nothing there in the water.
You’d swear there was nothing there.

MAINTENANCE MAN
He sleeping?

TRAINER
Waiting.

MAINTENANCE MAN
Creepy.

TRAINER
Waiting for me.

MAINTENANCE MAN
Someday he
Will
be dead.

TRAINER
Or I will.

MAINTENANCE MAN
How long do they live?

TRAINER
No one knows.

MAINTENANCE MAN
A long time?

TRAINER
A Long long.
Long.
Time.
Longer than we know.

MAINTENANCE MAN
He has time then.


TRAINER
Time?

MAINTENANCE MAN
Time to wait.

TRAINER
I guess he does.
Well -


Something swims back and forth in the pool.
It is not a whale.
They both start.


MAINTENANCE MAN
Jesus.

TRAINER
There.

MAINTENANCE MAN
That how it happens every morning?

TRAINER
Pretty much.
He likes to surprise me.

MAINTENANCE MAN
I wouldn’t get in the water with that.

TRAINER
Sometimes I have to.

MAINTENANCE MAN
How is that?

TRAINER
(shrugs.)

MAINTENANCE MAN
Good luck, then. I better get on with my day.

TRAINER
Me too.

(She holds out a fish over the water, reaching out a little too far. Sing-song and nervous:)

Here you go, Mamoot.
Mamoot.
Mamoot.


The thing swims. She holds the fish. The Man does not go.

Lights fade.

END OF PLAY.

Holy Wooly Mammoth, Batman!

Shoot, people - has NO ONE seen "Jurassic Park"????