NWC #28- "HOPE and
CHEESE" Nov 29th at 8am
CHALLENGE- create a
powerful image of coming together, of people helping people, of hope.
What if it's cheesy? *It'd
better be!*
What if it's not cheesy
enough?
*Add more cheese!*
Why do you keep bringing
up cheese? *I'm really hungry!*
Do I really have to make
people feel happy and hopeful and wonderful?* Yes.
Try it. You might like
it.*
What if I start hating it
and it becomes about the opposite of what it's supposed to be about and I can't
help but destroy all things beautiful even as I create them?
*I don't know! You
probably have something wrong with you.*
Can I make this children's
theater?
*You can do whatever you
want, but maybe try to make adults happy too? We all deserve to be happy.*
I don't know how to do
this.* It's not really a question, but maybe the reason you don't is that it's
a rare and scary thing to try to do well. We really punish artists for being
happy and failing to make us happy. Why do we do that?*
(I slather on the cheese
all the time, but I've been trying to push one more, possibly very sentimental,
bus play idea out of my head and on to the page, so I'll try that...)
BUS PLAY #4
A
woman in her late 90s sits on the bus, waiting.
A
seven year old girl approaches.
GIRL
May
I sit with you?
WOMAN
I
would like that very much.
GIRL
I'm
sorry we never got to meet.
WOMAN
By
the time I was on my way out, you were still very young.
GIRL
I
probably wouldn't have remembered you.
WOMAN
I
probably wouldn't have remembered you either.
GIRL
My
brain was still forming.
WOMAN
Mine
was deteriorating.
GIRL
I'll
remember you now.
WOMAN
And
I you.
GIRL
It's
good that he could tell me stories about you.
WOMAN
This
is him remembering me when I was still in full control.
GIRL
Is
it hard to start forgetting?
WOMAN
You
know, I thought it would be, but I was remarkably OK with it.
GIRL
I'm
still learning so many things.
WOMAN
There's
a lot to learn. It's a big world.
GIRL
Did
you ever travel?
WOMAN
Not
like you already have. I'm not sure
whether I even had a passport. I
certainly didn't need one.
GIRL
I
was born in Montana.
WOMAN
I
was born in Pennsylvania.
GIRL
We
were both born in the states.
WOMAN
Something
else we have in common.
GIRL
My
little sister was born in Slovakia.
WOMAN
I
can't imagine.
GIRL
It's
not that different from here, really.
WOMAN
But
it's so much older.
GIRL
Parts
of it are older. A lot of it is pretty
new.
WOMAN
He
went to visit you over there for the first time shortly after I died.
GIRL
He
was sad.
WOMAN
I
know. I'm sorry about that. You probably cheered him up quite a bit.
GIRL
Yes.
WOMAN
Was
your little sister born yet?
GIRL
Just. Five months.
WOMAN
Oh
my.
GIRL
One
morning, she spit up all over him.
WOMAN
Oh
dear.
GIRL
It
was mostly milk.
WOMAN
Of
course.
GIRL
He
laughed and laughed.
WOMAN
Really.
GIRL
We
rushed around getting towels, and he stood there in a big white puddle in the
middle of the floor. Holding my sister,
and smiling at her.
WOMAN
That
sounds like him.
GIRL
Things
are more crowded there.
WOMAN
Yes.
GIRL
There's
so much space here.
WOMAN
Yes.
GIRL
It's
a wonder anyone runs into anyone else at all sometimes.
WOMAN
I'm
glad we ran into each other.
GIRL
I
have three grandmas.
WOMAN
Goodness.
GIRL
You
would be my great-grandmother.
WOMAN
Yes,
I guess I would. I never had any
great-grandchildren. That I met.
GIRL
The
first time I play Scrabble with him, he's going to talk about you a lot.
WOMAN
Don't
let him win.
GIRL
I
won't.
WOMAN
I
never did.
(to be continued)
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