Playwright Portrait Project
peter sumner walton bellamy©2021
peter sumner walton bellamy©2021
Christopher Shinn 2018 |
Where Do We Live
by Christopher Shinn --> Stephen: And he said, “Ooh, you don’t want to be a caretaker.” Patricia: Oh. Of course. Stephen: And I thought -- I mean, the guy’s missing a leg, what?… Patricia: Of course you did. Stephen: And he knew the facts. Patricia: What are the facts exactly? |
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ATHENA
By Gracie Gardner My sister’s the DJ. MARY WALLACE That’s so cool! ATHENA She sucks. I’m wearing her clothes. I hope she doesn’t see me. MARY WALLACE I thought you hated music. ATHENA Sure but I love the vibe. MARY WALLACE You love the VIBE!? What are you, forty years old? ATHENA Oh my god back off! MARY WALLACE I think someone stepped on my toe. I think it’s ruined. ATHENA Don’t be classist -- this is general admission. |
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Gracie Gardner 2018
BLUE DOOR
Simon:
"The day be blazin full-sun wit shadows made purple from the heat. I walk down to the river and I keep walkin and I walk like a man that got no name and I walk til the sun jes a cold cinder fallen in the sky. I walk through the water and I walk and walk as night come over me and I walk past the light that wake tomorrow and I walk and walk til I cant tell the day from darkness."
Tanya Barfield 2006
Why can't you set up your camera in my brain? Bore a hole in my skull and let 'er rip. (Lurid sound effect) There's no plainness here, but heaving oceans ringed with pearls and ancient cities rising in the mist… Grab your tripod, wonders are at hand… Holy men calling the faithful to prayer as women shed their clothing at the river's edge… Click! Jeweled elephants splash beside them, their reflections shiver and merge -- slender arms dissolving into rippling tusks -- loosened hair painting bashful flanks… Click! Now you see them, now you don't… A breast, a tail, a jeweled eye… Click! Macaws scream over head (sound effect), or is it the laughter of the women as they drift further from the shore, their shouts becoming hoarse and strange… (Sound effect) Aim your camera here, Mr. Hugo. (Tapping her temple) This is where beauty lies… Mysterious, inchoate and out of sight! Click!
Tina Howe, 2008
From Act IV of Hydriotaphia, or The Death of Dr. Browne DR. BROWNE (Glaring at Pumpkin,trying to make him squirm:) I want to be buried deep. Very deep but...not too deep. Apart from the mob, but not in a lonely place. Avoid the usual cliches, no willow trees, though I’d like a view, for summer evenings. No pine box. Flimsy. Use that urne. Toss out the previous occupant, or better yet, throw me in there with him and let us mingle. (Little pause) No markers, or, well, maybe just a little unpretentious stone. Maybe... “Here lies Sir Thomas Browne, scientist.” “Here lies Sir Thomas Browne, who made his wife miserable.” “Here lies Sir Thomas Browne, no grandchildren ... BUT A GENIUS! SHAKESPEARE HAD NOTHING ON HIM!” (He is now bellowing at Pumpkin with wild hatred and immense pride:) Or maybe an obelisk! Or a pyramid! A pyre! A sea-burial, or... GET OUT OF HERE! PUMPKIN I han’t following dis, Dr. Browne. DR. BROWNE (Great delirious newfound certainty!) I don’t need you, wretch! I’M NOT GOING TO DIE. It isn’t... conceivable! I can’t ... IMAGINE it. IF I DIE... THE WORLD ENDS! And... (The certainty is dissipating, the hatred of Pumpkin remains:) And we’ll have no need of gravediggers then. PUMPKIN Ef dat happens, Dr. Browne, I findet another job. |
Tony Kushner 2010 |
excerpt from 10 Things to Do Before I Die
VIDA: Hello, it’s me and I am leaving you a message. You know what I hate? What I hate about you? I hate the fact that you drip sweat all over me, it’s disgusting, not sexy. I hate that you say the word fucking while you’re fucking me. I hate it when you go down on me. I lie there and wait while you think you’re actually doing something, then I pretend to come cause I’m worried that I might hurt your feelings. I hate that you don’t call me enough, that you don’t think about me enough, that you don’t love me. And, I hate the way I feel when you walk out the door. I hate you for making me hate.
Zakiyyah Alexander 2007.
VIDA: Hello, it’s me and I am leaving you a message. You know what I hate? What I hate about you? I hate the fact that you drip sweat all over me, it’s disgusting, not sexy. I hate that you say the word fucking while you’re fucking me. I hate it when you go down on me. I lie there and wait while you think you’re actually doing something, then I pretend to come cause I’m worried that I might hurt your feelings. I hate that you don’t call me enough, that you don’t think about me enough, that you don’t love me. And, I hate the way I feel when you walk out the door. I hate you for making me hate.
Zakiyyah Alexander 2007.
Anna in the Tropics.
Marela:
Everything in life dreams. A bicycle dreams of becoming a boy, an umbrella dreams of becoming the rain, a pearl dreams of becoming a woman, and a chair dreams of becoming a gazelle and running back to the forest.
Nilo Cruz 2006
GROUNDWORK OF THE METAPHYSIC OF MORALS:
FAH LO SEE:
Everything is fairly clear and straightforward, like on a balcony in bare feet with the stone of the balcony against your face, shot in the back, fallen to the ground with an arrow sticking out of your head.
And I’m sorry to have been such a disappointment to you. I mean that sincerely. But I also feel kind of like, fuck you.
Young Jean Lee 2007
FAH LO SEE:
Everything is fairly clear and straightforward, like on a balcony in bare feet with the stone of the balcony against your face, shot in the back, fallen to the ground with an arrow sticking out of your head.
And I’m sorry to have been such a disappointment to you. I mean that sincerely. But I also feel kind of like, fuck you.
Young Jean Lee 2007
THE RUNNER STUMBLES
(excerpt)
RIVARD: Loneliness is not contagious, you know, yet people stand by and
willingly watch others suffer as if they were afraid they'll catch it
by intervening. It makes me wonder if we are naturally cruel. Something,
here, inside, makes us, unlike God, revel in misery.
Milan Stitt 2006
Andrea Lepcio 2009
GET IN THE CAR
Our JACKSON
Want to ride in my convertible Oldsmobile Coupe.
OUR EDITH
Mama told me not to ride with strangers.
OUR JACKSON
Jackson Pollock.
OUR EDITH
Edith Metzger.
OUR JACKSON
Now we're not strangers. Hop in.
OUR EDITH
That's not what happened. You had no need to charm me. And you didn't. I was your lover's friend. Here at her invitation.
OUR JACKSON
Visiting. Everyone's always visit. Ing.
OUR EDITH
When one visits a famous person, one is especially courteous. Whether or not one actually fawns, one certainly acts aware of the other person. Of their needs and mood. It's hard to feel more significant than the father of abstract expressionism. It's hard enough for a woman to feel more significant than a man. Imagine an unknown woman, known man. Abstract expressionism.
When one visits a famous person, one is especially courteous. Whether or not one actually fawns, one certainly acts aware of the other person. Of their needs and mood. It's hard to feel more significant than the father of abstract expressionism. It's hard enough for a woman to feel more significant than a man. Imagine an unknown woman, known man. Abstract expressionism.