In November, I participated in Red Theater’s play-writing challenge. We had to write a short play every day without exception. I managed to complete the challenge, though most of my plays were a bit on the… in-progress side.
I haven’t really written anything on this site in a while, so I thought I’d post a few of these until I’m inspired to write something new.
Please forgive the copy-paste formatting. I swear, I’m just that lazy.
Earthbound Angels has obvious Paradise Lost allusions, but it’s just as obviously a commentary on communication. Communication is very important to me, yet paradoxically it’s one of the things with which I struggle most. I expect most people might tend to project me upon one of the two characters in this play, but I think I (and really most people) can relate to both. Our challenge was to use Asides. I think the Asides are bit shoehorned, but at least the play does have something to say. There are also interesting parallels with Feeding the Ducks, my first short play ever.
Earthbound Angels
Lights up on a choir of twelve, singing on bleachers. They are wrapped in white cloaks, but otherwise resemble any choir to be found on Earth. They sing a song of praise. As they sing, the lights grow warmer and brighter. When they finish, there is a brief bump of brightest light, then the lights slowly subside. As the lights subside, the singers open their cloaks to reveal children’s clothes, reminiscent of America’s mythical “good ol’ days.” Some make small talk, but most rush off to play.
Shortly after, SAMMAEL enters. It is unclear if she was one of the singers, or has only just entered. SAMMAEL has her hands in her pockets, contemplating something. She speaks directly to the audience.
SAMMAEL
We all have a moment in our childhood when we switch on. Meaning your earliest memory. That’s how I remember it, how I see it. A moment in your past where you’re no longer a gurgling, goggling collection of body-parts. Suddenly, you can make memories. That’s when thought begins. That’s when independence begins. That’s when the real trouble starts.
BELIAL enters. He is a bit rougher than SAMMAEL. He is carrying a Frisbee. Most of the choir singers have left now, and the few stragglers take off in the following minute.
BELIAL
Sam.
SAMMAEL turns and silently acknowledges BELIAL. BELIAL tosses the Frisbee, and SAMMAEL catches it. She tosses it back, but BELIAL fumbles it. They continue to play Frisbee as they talk: SAMMAEL always catching, BELIAL always fumbling.
BELIAL
I think I want to be a bass.
SAMMAEL
Oh? Why?
BELIAL
It’s easier. The notes are so simple. You don’t have to take care of your voice.
SAMMAEL
Sure. They’re the foundation of the song.
BELIAL
Huh?
SAMMAEL
Most of the songs. Their notes form the foundation on which the other sections build.
BELIAL
Oh. Yeah that too. What do you think?
SAMMAEL
Go for it.
BELIAL
… Okay.
SAMMAEL
What?
BELIAL
Nothing… (speaks to audience, holding the Frisbee) Sammael’s the smart one, I know. I just, I don’t wanna seem like I’m giving up. Bass just seems more like, where I belong. There’s no wild jumping around, everything just seems really… stable. Yeah. Like a foundation. That’s fine, ya know, I don’t need to stand out, I don’t need to be special. I mean, we’re all special in the music, I know, but… ya know… some of us wanna be, I dunno, extra special. All I mean to say is, I don’t need that. I’m happy to go where I’m needed. And if that’s somewhere not real popular, that’s fine. That’s all.
SAMMAEL
Billy?
BELIAL
Yeah? Oh.
Frisbee resumes.
SAMMAEL
Billy… (pause)
BELIAL
Yeah?
SAMMAEL
Why do you think we have Time?
BELIAL
For what?
SAMMAEL
Yeah, why. I mean—
BELIAL
You mean like, spare time? Like time to play? Why do we have that?
SAMMAEL
No. I mean Time itself. Why does time exist?
BELIAL
I dunno. I guess, so we know when to sing. When to play. When to eat.
SAMMAEL
Yeah, but why do we have those things?
BELIAL
I don’t… I dunno, why not?
SAMMAEL
Well, without Time, see, there couldn’t be any change. Like, without the separation of events, everything would be… everything, all the time. We would always be full of food and song and sleep and joy. Constantly.
BELIAL
Okay.
SAMMAEL
So Time… All Time really does… is make change possible.
BELIAL
Okay.
SAMMAEL
But here, in this world. Change seems so insignificant. We wake, we eat, we sing, we play, we eat again, and we sleep. Every day is, more or less, the same as the one that came before.
BELIAL
Uh huh.
SAMMAEL
(she speaks to the audience) Belial is not smart. I know that. But he’s really the only one that’ll listen. I think he wants to understand. I know, I guess, that’s kinda jerky of me, to lord over him like I’m smarter than him, but I do know things that he doesn’t know. And someone else knows things that I don’t know. And there are things out there, maybe, that nobody knows. And I want to know those things. That’s why I like Billy: he wants to know. He wants to understand. (to BELIAL) My only point is, our days change, like, there’s a difference between eating and singing, right?
BELIAL
(catching on) Yeah!
SAMMAEL
Okay, so, there’s some change in every day. And each day is, at least, a tiny bit different from the others. Like, we play every day, but we play with different people, or—
BELIAL
Well, we always play.
SAMMAEL
Right, but we could play with other people. And we did, once upon a time.
BELIAL
Right.
SAMMAEL
And we play differently every day.
BELIAL
Yeah. Like, we never talked about this before, so that’s a change, yeah?
SAMMAEL
Exactly! (to audience) Billy always catches on, more or less, eventually. That’s how I know he want to understand things, just like me. (to BELIAL) So, change, really, is the only thing that defines our days.
BELIAL
…Okay.
SAMMAEL
(aside) And I’m losing him again. (to BELIAL) Cause, like, the only thing that makes today different from yesterday, really, is this conversation. Right?
BELIAL
Okay.
SAMMAEL
And without Time, that’s not possible, right?
BELIAL
(pause. Then an aside) Sam always makes these huge leaps. I know she’s dumbing things down for me, and I… I appreciate it… but sooner or later they lead to these huge leaps, and I don’t get it, and she gets that look, and I just know I’m disappointing her. But I never know what to say. I want to… (to SAMMAEL) Right. Cause of, like, daybreak and nightfall, that makes a day, so… without that… I couldn’t say, like, “We had that really weird conversation yesterday.” Cause there wouldn’t be a yesterday, right?
SAMMAEL
… Yeah… Yeah, exactly. (aside) Close enough is… close enough, I guess.
BELIAL
(aside) There it is, that look. I try, but I feel like I’m always just nipping at her heels. I dunno. I mean, that’s what always happens. Maybe she likes being disappointed in me. (to SAMMAEL) Okay, so, time makes change, right?
SAMMAEL
Yeah, basically. So first there was Time, and then things started to happen, and then we appeared.
BELIAL
Uh huh.
SAMMAEL
But think of that. There was a time when we weren’t here. Right? Cause, I mean, all this, this world, it was here when we appeared, right? So it must have been here before us, right?
BELIAL
Yup.
SAMMAEL
Okay, so there was a time when we all didn’t exist. And then we did.
BELIAL
Yup.
SAMMAEL grabs the Frisbee, then holds onto it.
SAMMAEL
(aside) Change has so much potential, but Time… Time is like molasses. At least right now it is. It’s so resistant to movement, it’s so… inert. But you can stir it up, it just takes so much work. I just wonder… how much can you stir it? (pause) Billy seems… more like Time. Inert. Why ask? Why wonder? Why change? … Why change? … (to BELIAL) Why change?
BELIAL
Exactly, right? … Oh. Why?
SAMMAEL
I dunno, I just. Wait. Okay, so, first there was nothing, then at some time all this got here, then we got here. Right?
BELIAL
Well… maybe this stuff was always here.
SAMMAEL
Okay, sure, fine but we weren’t. And now we are.
BELIAL
(betraying the slightest hint of impatience) Yeah, Sammael, I got that.
SAMMAEL
Yeah, but… isn’t that… significant? We weren’t here, and now we are. That’s a huge change, right?
BELIAL
I guess.
SAMMAEL
Okay! Great! So… when are we gonna have a change like that! Not just playing with different people, or different conversations, or becoming a bass, but something – something huge!
BELIAL
What’s wrong with being a bass?
SAMMAEL
What? (throws the Frisbee) Nothing.
BELIAL fumbles the Frisbee royally. It flops offstage, and he wanders to fetch it. SAMMAEL is alone onstage. She looks out as us.
SAMMAEL
(aside) This makes sense to you guys, right? This all seems so simple to me. Why is it so hard for other people to get?
SAMMAEL is looking around. BELIAL creeps onstage and speaks to us.
BELIAL
(aside) Time. Times. There are times, when I wonder why Sammy talks to me about this stuff? She knows I’m not gonna get it. I try. I really try. And then she always asks me a question, and she knows I’m not gonna be able to answer it. At least not how she wants. So why does she ask? What’s the point? I sometimes think… I think she thinks it’s wrong to be… ordinary. (to SAMMAEL) What’s wrong with being a bass?
SAMMAEL
Nothing.
BELIAL
Then why’d you say it was pointless?
They are no longer playing Frisbee.
SAMMAEL
I didn’t say it was… Bass, Soprano, it doesn’t make a difference.
BELIAL
Then why’d you say “Bass?”
SAMMAEL
Because we were just talking about it. I don’t care if you’re a bass or not.
BELIAL
Well I care, Sam. Ever other day, you go on and on about this stuff, and I try to get it, and we never talk about what matters to me.
SAMMAEL
Okay, I’m sorry, it’s just… Ya know… if you wanna be a bass, then be a bass. What’s the problem?
BELIAL
Well, just, be change. What’s the problem?
SAMMAEL
That’s not… That’s… (aside) Can I do that? Can I be change?
BELIAL
If you wanna go play with someone else, go play with someone else. Why’s that more significant than me being a bass?
SAMMAEL
I can – No, that’s not my point.
BELIAL
Well what is your point, Sam? What?
SAMMAEL
My point is there are bigger changes. Huge ones, like us suddenly being here.
BELIAL
But that’s already happened.
SAMMAEL
But something else like that could happen: like, maybe, other people appearing. What if new places were suddenly here? What if… what if we didn’t play one day?
BELIAL
Just go! Just go, I don’t care either!
SAMMAEL
Billy! I’m not… I’m not talking about you.
BELIAL
What else is there to talk about? You don’t wanna play with me, fine! I never said you had to.
SAMMAEL
No Billy, what if we didn’t play at all? What if we didn’t eat one day? What if we didn’t sing?
Silence.
BELIAL
Why not?
SAMMAEL
Just… Just so things would be different.
BELIAL
Why would you want that?
SAMMAEL
Just… to see… what if… What if there’s something that’s better? Than this?
BELIAL
Like what?
SAMMAEL
I don’t… I don’t know, Billy, something new. Like us? Us being here is better than when we weren’t here, right? For us, at least.
BELIAL
I don’t… I guess.
SAMMAEL
So what if there’s something else, something newer, something better, that no one’s ever thought of before, just waiting to… exist. And what if it’s up to us to find or make that thing?
BELIAL
Like what!?
SAMMAEL
I don’t know, Billy, that’s not the point!
BELIAL
What is the point, Sam!? You know I don’t get this stuff, why are you asking me? What are you trying to do?
SAMMAEL
Anything! Just anything! Different!
BELIAL
Just – go be a soprano – go play with someone else. Don’t eat, don’t sleep, don’t sing! See what I care!
SAMMAEL
Billy, this isn’t about you!
BELIAL
Then go talk to a wall!
SAMMAEL
I might as well! Fine!
SAMMAEL storms off. We are left alone with BELIAL. In time, BELIAL looks out at us.
BELIAL
I wish I could understand. I wish I could talk about Time and change and… be frustrated that other people don’t understand me. I feel like Sam sees herself in this… scaffold in the sky… looking down on me. And that’s fine. But I feel like she’s looking down on everyone the same way. I guess I do want a change. I want to be different. From them. To her. But I don’t know how to do that. I’m just a bass. I know that’s not good enough, but I don’t know what is, and I don’t know why. She just finds these things, and I’m just left standing there, gawp-jawed.
Slowly, SAMMAEL reenters.
SAMMAEL
Billy. Belial. You do matter to me. You are different. I’m sorry that I treated my stuff like it was more important than yours. Even if I can change the world, I’m only changing it to me, for me, and that’s no bigger than any change you can make. I’m glad that you’re gonna be a bass, Billy. Cause I could never do that. I wanna do things that seem flashier, but… the bass is the foundation, Billy. We can’t do anything else without that. But everyone looks at the top of the tower not the foundation. You’re never gonna be celebrated for what you do, but… it’s the only thing we can’t do without. I could never do that. So thank you.
Silence. BELIAL throws the Frisbee. SAMMAEL returns it, and just this once, BELIAL catches it. He stares, wide-eyed, at the Frisbee.
BELIAL
(looks up, grinning widely) Change.
Silence. They look out and up.
BELIAL
I am happy to be a bass.
SAMMAEL
Good. I’m happy too.
BELIAL
Bass or soprano, we’re all singing to God.
SAMMAEL
Yup.
BELIAL
Are you gonna be a soprano?
SAMMAEL
I won’t sing. I won’t sing to God. I’m gonna talk. I’m gonna change God.
Lights fade out.