The Early Portraits
The Playwright Portrait Project
peter sumner walton bellamy©2021
 Crystal Skillman 2006
Birthday
LEILA In my building. When it was snowing out of nowhere here last month. All these seagulls fl y past my windows. Fucking weird, right? Right in the snow. The way they moved, right up to the windows, glide their bodies right by, then raise up, that’s grace I thought. I’d like to move like that. Some people make mistakes but can move through them, let them go and they don’t hurt. They don’t cry in hallways and look like shit. They sit in corners and keep it all inside. But I can’t. I have this wish, the way I want things to be. And when I see it, in my head, it’s good, it’s good but how can I make that… I dream about it. Being that. I wake up. It’s a feeling. Alive like… Like there are all these possibilities. But I wake up. I lose it Crystal Skillman 2006 
Tom Bradshaw 2006
Tom Bradshaw 2006
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Courtney Barron 2006 Jean Reynolds 2006 Kitty Chen 2006
A VERY COMMON PROCEDURE
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DANCE WITH ME (Ruth and Grace drink tea) RUTH It was on our honeymoon. (RAY enters during speech) Raymond and I were at a small hotel on a point overlooking a lake. One night there was a gathering. A crowded room. I was by a window looking out into the night. I saw the room reflected in the window. A woman watched me. I had seen her on other evenings playing cards. I watched her watching me. I was afraid to turn around, afraid to see, afraid of what she would see. She crossed the room and stood behind me. Our eyes met in the glass, caught. She whispered something. Her breath was warm. It was a foreign country. RAY What foreign country? (He waits for an answer) What foreign country? RUTH Raymond. RAY What are you up to? RUTH Up to? GRACE/RUTH Talking. RAY Talking. Ah, talking. I envy you. Women know how to talk to each other. |
BLESSINGS OF CHAIRMAN MAO
Prologue Bare stage. Night. The lighting suggests a hilly forest landscape. A woman enters, carrying a heavy burden on her back. She makes her way slowly uphill. Blackout. Act 1 Scene 1. At center, a body lies on a table in a body bag. Lighting is bright, artificial. A barely audible drone of an air conditioner. Shivers sits at a table knitting, suddenly looks at watch, goes to body, bows deeply 3 times. Announcement (loudspeaker) Attention, attention: It is now time to show your love and respect. Shivers (to the loudspeaker, with a lewd gesture) Hah! Beat you to it! She hears someone approach. Babelov enters. Babelov Oh me oh my. I thought I was on the sub-sub-sub-ground level, when the whole time I was only on the sub-sub-ground level. Shivers What was the vote? Babelov I can't breathe. I’d better bring down some fans and more ice. Shivers BABELOV! WHAT WAS THE VOTE?! Babelov They told me to rush right down and they'd beep me the instant they had the count. Shivers WHAT'S TO COUNT?--THERE'S ONLY 20 MINISTERS. And what's with the friggin' air-conditioning? Babelov The generators are old. Russian leftovers. Why don't you just go ahead with the prep. Shivers IDIOT! WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR? A good prep is like BREATHING to a good embalmer--it's the first thing you do! Babelov Okay, okay. I thought maybe you'd have to do something special, or different, if he was a god. Shivers He's a god? Oh my god--he's a god! Babelov (cutting in) I didn't say that! Calm--down. I said "IF he was a god." IF! Shivers When are they going to know? Babelov After they count the votes! |