Wednesday, November 22, 2017

November 2017 Writing Challenge - #22 - The Futurists

The Futurists are a fun group to turn to for inspiration - not the politics part.


Entranced by the idea of the “dynamic,” the Futurists sought to represent an object’s sensations, rhythms and movements in their images, poems and manifestos

And the idea of the synthetic play


Challenge:
Create an object or persona on stage.

Maybe compress all of Hamlet into one and a half pages of images.

Compress and represent its sensations, rhythms, and movements in a concise, poetic ATTACK or exposure of the subject. (or worship)

Just as we build to the thing you've made us want... deny it.

End the play.

The object/person does not begin to move, fall to its destruction, take flight, speak, cry, etc.

********

Auggie proposes to Sarah, but before she says yes, they need to have a little talk...

********

SARAH stands, holding a broom out to AUGGIE.

AUGGIE, kneeling with an open ring box in his hand, having just proposed marriage, is a little dumbfounded by what she just said to him.

                          AUGGIE
You're... ?

                          SARAH
A witch.
Practicing Wiccan.  Pagan.  Neo-pagan.
To be technical.

AUGGIE gestures to the broom.

                          AUGGIE
So... this... ?

                          SARAH
A joke?
I'm "coming out of the broom closet".
To you.

                          AUGGIE
Oh.

                          SARAH
I wasn't asking you to sweep anything.

                          AUGGIE
Uh huh.

                          SARAH
Just trying to lighten the mood.

                          AUGGIE
When I proposed to you just now, this wasn't where I thought the conversation was going.

                          SARAH
You should probably get up off your knees.

                          AUGGIE
You scurry off and get a broom.

                          SARAH
Doesn't that hurt?

                          AUGGIE
I thought I might have scared you off.

                          SARAH
Auggie, seriously, stand up.

                          AUGGIE
You didn't say yes, you didn't say no, you just said "hang on" and left the room.

SARAH sets the broom aside and gets bewildered AUGGIE to his feet.

                          SARAH
But I came back.

                          AUGGIE
And told me you were a witch.

                          SARAH
Yes.

                          AUGGIE
Are we going to get back to my marriage proposal at some point?

                          SARAH
Yes, of course.
And yes, by the way, is my answer to that.
I realize part of you might have been worried about that part of the conversation, so just to put that part of your mind at ease, yes.

                          AUGGIE
Oh.  Good.

                          SARAH
But you can see why I might want to have this conversation with you, immediately.  You should know what you're getting into.  I completely understand if you're rethinking the whole thing.  It's a lot to take in.

                          AUGGIE
You're... ?

                          SARAH
A witch, Auggie.  Keep up.  Whatever this is, shake it off.  We need to talk.

                          AUGGIE
I was going to sing a song.
Then I thought, "No, that's corny.  That's too much.  Just a straightforward proposal.  Nothing flowery."
I should have gone with the song.

                          SARAH
We'd still be having this conversation, Auggie.
Although I might have slept with you first.

                          AUGGIE
I definitely should have gone with a song.

                          SARAH
Back to the conversation at hand.

                          AUGGIE
You being a witch.

                          SARAH
Yes, and to get the tedious, racist, offensive crap out of the way, no, we don't worship Satan, sacrifice Christian babies, drink goat's blood or turn people into frogs.

                          AUGGIE
That's racist?

                          SARAH
Well, prejudiced, I guess, technically, would be more accurate.

                          AUGGIE
All of that is a big relief, though.

                          SARAH
Which is why I thought I should get it out of the way.

                          AUGGIE
I wouldn't have asked.

                          SARAH
But you still would have wondered.

                          AUGGIE
Yeah.

                          SARAH
So you can see why I might not have brought it up before now.

                          AUGGIE
It is a lot, yeah.  The broom closet.

                          SARAH
Second thoughts?

                          AUGGIE
What?  No!  About you.  Hell no.
Oops.

                          SARAH
Relax, I didn't think it was a Satan reference.

                          AUGGIE
But it wouldn't matter because -

                          SARAH
- we don't worship Satan.  Actually we don't even believe in Satan.  That's a Christian thing.

                          AUGGIE
Does this mean we can't get married in a church?

                          SARAH
No.  Actually my mother would love you even more than she already does, which is saying something, if we got married it a church.  It might allow her to convince herself I've passed through my Wiccan phase at long last.

                          AUGGIE
But you haven't.

                          SARAH
We just don't talk about it.
                         
                          AUGGIE
She's just happy when you don't bring home a warlock.

                          SARAH
Wiccans don't use the term warlock.
Warlocks are witches who broke an oath and has been ostracized from the community.

                          AUGGIE
So what are male witches.

                          SARAH
Witches.

                          AUGGIE
I don't have to become a witch, do I?

                          SARAH
No.  We have mixed marriages all the time.  It's tricky, but doable.

                          AUGGIE
Like most marriages.

                          SARAH
Exactly.

                          AUGGIE
Wow.

                          SARAH
I can give you some books to read, if you want.  Or you can just ask me questions.  I want you to be comfortable with this.

                          AUGGIE
Can I tell Micah?

                          SARAH
I'd prefer you didn't.

                          AUGGIE
Why?

                          SARAH
One, because I'm not marrying him.

                          AUGGIE
Well -

                          SARAH
OK, he's kind of your family, I get it.  But let's you and me get ourselves straight on this before we start dragging other people into the middle of this.

                          AUGGIE
OK, fair point.

                          SARAH
There will be things - Wiccan or not - in our marriage that are just going to be between you and me.  Not Micah.  That's part of what marriage is.  Things just between us.

                          AUGGIE
OK.

                          SARAH
We'll probably bring him in on the Wiccan thing eventually.  For now -

                          AUGGIE
Not the time or place yet.

                          SARAH
No.

                          AUGGIE
So, you worship - ?

                          SARAH
Nature, basically.  The life force within all things.  We try to live in harmony with nature, take care of the environment.

                          AUGGIE
So there isn't a God?

                          SARAH
Not a deity who lives "out there" somewhere, no.  It's an energy within all living things, including human beings.  The All.  We might split it up into a male and female spirituality, a goddess and god.  But they're equal.  Neither the male or the female is stronger than or above the other.  It's a partnership.  Some pagans are just atheists and commune with nature and their place in the living world.  It varies.

                          AUGGIE
But you - ?

                          SARAH
I grew up in a church.  The whole Goddess/God thing helps me a little.

                          AUGGIE
So magic - ?

                          SARAH
Just focusing on the energies inside of us.  Channeling that energy, ideally to do good, make life easier and better, for us and those around us.

                          AUGGIE
Like praying?

                          SARAH
Kind of, yeah.  I mean, not really but -

                          AUGGIE
Just wrapping my head around it.

                          SARAH
Yeah.
So - ?

                          AUGGIE
So - ?

                          SARAH
You and me?  We're good.

                          AUGGIE
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Just gotta -

                          SARAH
Wrap your head around it.

                          AUGGIE
Yeah.

                          SARAH
If it's any consolation, your music?  That's a whole other world, language, way of using your brain that I don't fully understand either.

                          AUGGIE
The way I channel my energy.

                          SARAH
Yeah, so, you could teach me about your world, I could teach you about mine?  Sound fair?

                          AUGGIE
Yeah.

                          SARAH
I completely understand if you don't want to -

                          AUGGIE
Stop giving me an out.  I don't want an out.  Really.

                          SARAH
Marriage.  That's big deal.

                          AUGGIE
Yeah.
If we have kids - ?

                          SARAH
Yeah?

                          AUGGIE
Could we still do Christmas, and Halloween?  Or is that offensive?

                          SARAH
Again, my mom would love you if we keep Christmas.  Wiccans have holidays, too.  We can mix traditions, give 'em all the information, and when they're old enough -

                          AUGGIE
They can decide for themselves.

                          SARAH
Yeah.

                          AUGGIE
I gotta admit, I imagined a lot of different ways things could go when I proposed -

                          SARAH
This wasn't one of them?

                          AUGGIE
This wasn't one of them.

                          SARAH
I think it worked out remarkably well, all things considered.

                          AUGGIE
You wanna put on the ring now?

                          SARAH
I would love to put on the ring now.

                          AUGGIE
Looks nice.

                          SARAH
Yeah.  Yeah it does.


(to be continued)








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