Monday, March 25, 2013

LITTLE MARY (cont'd) - It's funny, when I have seen this play done well (in NY production and in about half the readings), it is wonderful. When done badly, it is painful to watch. There is no doubt it is a polemic on overpopulation. Sometime about ten years ago I decided that among my comedies and twisted screenplay adventures, I had to write about things in the world I wanted to change. Some friends have told me that it a waste of time and to entertain people is enough as I will not be able to change them. Well, who knows. We do what we must. Here is Scene Three:


SCENE THREE

The vestry in a cathedral, a few days later. Organ music-- the tranquil pre-mass sort, plays quietly from outside the room.
                                               
Tivoli and Gian are putting on garments for Sunday Mass.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    “That would indeed be a great miracle, Christina.”

                                   
                                                GIAN
                                    I have told you, Peter. My heart broke for her.
                                    This has clearly caused some imbalance.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Then why didn’t you say that?
                                    That it’s the voice of post-traumatic
                                    stress disorder.

                                                GIAN
                                    You have spoken with her doctor yourself.

TIVOLI
The hymen is not always broken by the
first intercourse.

GIAN
She believes what she is telling us, Peter.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Which confirms that she’s traumatized.
                                    Or being influenced. She’s a wonderful, brilliant girl,
                                    for her to suddenly make this claim--

                                                GIAN
                                    It is not my place to speak out on the matter.
                                    I am not a detective, this is not my diocese.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Fifteen-years-old and obliged
                                    to raise the children of her rapist,
                                    who is probably you know who--
                                    and I don’t mean Our Father.
                                                                                   
                                                GIAN
                                    Christina must bear the children, not raise them.
                                    Hand me my biretta.
                                                (Tivoli does so)
                                    Why  do you suspect her father?

                                                TIVOLI
Jose? I don’t trust him.  He’s irresponsible, self-serving—
Five children from three mothers. And
everything I teach Christina, he
tries to unteach.


GIAN
That makes him a fiend?

TIVOLI
Christina has no boyfriend, we keep
the young people as segregated as possible.
Jose would have had the best opportunity.

            GIAN
But her father.

TIVOLI
Why  else would she keep running
                                    away from her house at night?
I’d like to hear what the police think.
                                               
                                                GIAN
She hasn’t asked for an investigation.

TIVOLI
Of course not, if Jose is coercing her—

GIAN
Do not draw any  more attention to the
mission, Peter. You’re  in enough trouble in Rome
                                    for promoting your “reforms”.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    I teach family planning because
in my heart I know that is what
Jesus would do. By raising awareness,
the birth rate among families we serve at the Mission
                                    has dropped from 5.1 to 2.7.

                                               
                                                GIAN
                                                (beat)
                                    Hand me my  sincture.

Tivoli straightens Gian biretta.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Be fruitful and multiply.

                                                GIAN
                                    Yes.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Even if it kills us.

                                                GIAN
                                    “Be fruitful and multiply”
                                    is not a slogan, Peter. It is the will of God.           

                                                TIVOLI
                                    How do you know? How do you know
                                    the will of God hasn’t changed?
                                   
                                                GIAN
                                    If you feel that way, why remain in the church.

TIVOLI
I don’t want to leave the church, I want to
change it.  The world has changed.
We’re not serving man by refusing to change
with it.

GIAN
Our calling is to serve God and teach the Gospel,
                                    not to make it up as we go along.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Jesus showed us there was salvation
                                    in self-sacrifice. St. Francis showed us
                                    there was fulfillment in self-denial.

GIAN
You are a born Jesuit.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    I am a born enigma. The Arch Bishop
of unknown origins .The thorn
                                    in the Holy See’s crown.

                                                GIAN
Abandoned by your parents, saved by me..

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Saved by you.

                                                GIAN
                                    So be more grateful... and humble...
                                    and silent.

Gian smiles, ready to laugh. Tivoli smiles back. Gian ruffles Tivoli’s hair, like a father would do to a young son.

                                                GIAN
                                    To change things, Peter, you need power and
                                    influence.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    I know.
                                                (beat)
                                    I suppose that’s why I press you
                                    on the population issue. 300 families look to me
for guidance. One point one billion look to Rome.
The word of Cardinal Gian-- The word of our next pope--

                                                GIAN
                                    What? Don’t talk such nonsense.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    You know that you’re the next choice of the Sacred College.


                                                GIAN
                                    I know nothing of the kind.
                                                (Tivoli looks at him, skeptical)
                                    His Holiness is very much alive.
                                                (beat)                                   
                                    If people think you’re going to be
                                    the next Pope, they stop inviting
                                    you places. They don’t want to appear to be currying favor.
                                                (Tivoli laughs)
                                    If you want the power to change things,
                                    Bishop Tivoli, keep silent. His Holiness will never
                                    support you, but the College of Cardinals might.


TIVOLI
Support me how?

GIAN
The younger ones like you.
                                    The older ones will respect my wishes.
                                                (pause)
                                    Do you understand?

                                                TIVOLI
Yes, sir.
                                                (beat)
                                    But if they  support me, they must support my cause?

                                                GIAN
                                    Your cause is a myth. There
                                    is enough food and land for everyone.
                                    That mankind does not have the compassion
                                    or Godliness to distribute it....

                                                TIVOLI
                                    This isn’t a question of opinions, Papa,
                                    its math. Have you read the reports I sent you?

                                                GIAN
                                    They are on my desk.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    World population has more than doubled in the last fifty
years. Consumption of resource has increased seven fold--

                                                GIAN
                                    Any report, I can show you contrary reports on the
same subject. The population is declining in Europe.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    By 2050, its expected to double again in Nigeria,
                                    Pakistan, Iraq, Ethiopia--

                                                GIAN
                                    Why are you obsessed with this?

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Because no one will do anything to stop it!
                                    The government won’t touch it, it’s too unpopular.
                                    The left doesn’t want their individual rights
                                    infringed upon. The right points to God.

                                                GIAN
                                    You will not sermonize on this, Peter.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    I’m sorry if I sound didactic--

                                                GIAN
                                    It will not be part of your sermon today.
                                    Or ever.

                                                TIVOLI
                                                (pause)
                                    This is my cathedral, Papa.

                                                GIAN
                                                (beat)
                                    Then I will give the sermon.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    It’s my cathedral.
                                               
                                                GIAN
                                    And I am the Cardinal Dean.
                                   
The organ music rises in volume and tempo, signaling that the procession is soon to begin.           

                                                TIVOLI
                                                (pause)
                                    Rumors about Christina Naverez have already
                                    spread through the congregation.
                                    What will you say  about it?

                                                GIAN
                                    I have said all that I mean to say.

Lights fade to a spot that Christina steps into.


Sunday, March 17, 2013


  With the selection of a new Pope, it seemed timely that my next work for the Scene-a-Week blog would be from LITTLE MARY. I have long felt that overpopulation is one of the gravest and most elemental problems facing mankind. I have also long been fascinated by the concept of faith and how often it is used as a tool by those seeking personal glory, power and profit. I wanted to approach these topics with something very theatrical and perhaps a bit sensational. LITTLE MARY was first produced as an Equity showcase in NYC at the Sanford Meisner Theatre. It had a marvelous cast (including my good friends Monica Raymund, Ron Orbach and Nelson Avidon) as well as a great director, Jessica Kubzansky, and was produced by my wife, Diana, and Patricia Jones, with the financial backing of another friend and fan. We had two reviews: an online review  in which the critic seemed to recognize everything I was attempting to do with the script (thought-provoking, challenging) and  loved it. The second from the New York Times (alas, the only one that matters) which dismissed it as a flawed and failed attempt by a talented playwright.  And so it goes. LITTLE MARY, about a 15-year-old Mexican-American girl who claims to be carrying the seven unborn children of God.                                       




Little Mary

                                                Scene One

TIVOLI in street clothes.

                                                TIVOLI
The Earth is a place of abundance. How
that warms my heart and raises my spirit.
What joy there is in children. What profound
contentment there is in the love and support
of a grand, large family.
(pause)
But I have prayed on it and prayed on it,
and I can’t embrace that any more.
(pause)
If the ills of the world were an anthill, overpopulation would be its queen. Global warming, depletion of resources,
starvation—I can trace them back to one source.
Too many of us, consuming too much.
            (pause)
The population on Earth is growing by
                                    2% per year. Doesn’t sound too bad.
But if there were only 100 of us and we had
saved up enough food, water and gasoline to last
us for 900,000 years. If our little population
grew by just 2% per year, we would exhaust our supply
and be starving not in hundreds of thousands of years,
but in a very brief 500. Absurd. But mankind is reaching
a point of mathematical absurdity.

Behind Tivoli, Gian enters quietly with MOTHER LULIT (LOO-LEET), an African nun wearing a habit. Gian wears a black cassock with scarlet button and trim and his scarlet water-silked zucchetto. He observes and listens closely to Tivoli.

On the other hand,
if we reduced the current birth rate by just 10%,
we could sustain creation long into the future.
Our great great-grandchildren will look back
on our times as a Golden Age. Will they curse
us for our greed and selfishness, or praise us for
the depth of compassion and forethought that I know
is within us? That is up to
all of us here today.
(beat)
Now… Where does God fit in?

            GIAN
That’s what I wondered.

Now, Tivoli sees Gian for the first time.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Papa!                       

                                                GIAN (in Italian)
                                    Salve! Pietro!
                                    Hello, Peter!

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Papa!
           
Tivoli moves to Gian, kneels to kiss his ring. Gian instead hugs him.

                                                TIVOLI                                                                                   
                                    Benvenuto a California.
                                    Welcome to California.

                                                GIAN
                                    Grazie.
                                    Thank you.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Come era vostra lo zolo?
                                    Bisogna essere esausto.
                                    How was your flight? You
                                    must be exhausted.

                                                GIAN
                                    At my age, I am always exhausted.             
                                   
                                                TIVOLI
                                                (laughs)
                                    No! You look wonderful!
                       
GIAN
                                    As do you, my son. God has been merciful.

                                                TIVOLI
                                                (laughs, then, lightly reprimanding)
                                    Lulit! You should have announced
                                    His Eminence properly.

                                                GIAN
                                    Mother Lulit told me you were at the pulpit speaking to an
empty church. I wished to surprise you, Pietro.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    “Peter” these days. If you don’t mind.

                                                GIAN
                                    Peter.... What do you feel, Mother Lulit, about our
                                    friend’s outcry against new life?

                                                LULIT
                                                (beat)
                                    I agree with much of it, Your Eminence.

                                                GIAN
                                    Much?

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Except where Africa is concerned.
                                    Then my reforms are racist.

                                                LULIT
                                    I said “insensitive”.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    No, you changed it to insensitive[s1] .

                                                LULIT
                                    The fertility rate must be high because
                                    the mortality rate is high.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Which equates to more and more people living
                                    shorter and shorter lives.

                                                LULIT
                                    You cannot make a general rule--

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Imposed fertility limits must be
                                    universal, all countries, rich or poor,
                                    otherwise they are racist.

                                               
                                                GIAN
                                                (smiles)
                                    You sound like a politician, Peter.
                                                (then)
                                    Doesn’t that concern you?


                                                TIVOLI
                                                (pause)
                                    I can’t believe His Holiness allowed
                                    you to leave the Vatican to see me.
                                                (Gian smiles slightly/makes no answer)
                                    Wait til you see what we’ve accomplished
here.

GIAN
I saw the wind mills.

TIVOLI
Wind turbines. Once they’re finished, we’ll be
completely self sufficient.

            LULIT
We were basically a homeless shelter
                                    fifteen years ago.

TIVOLI
Now, an environmentally sound community
serving over 300 families.

                                                GIAN
                                    Through the Grace of God and the largess of our church.
                                                (beat)
                                    You should be very proud, Mother Lulit. Both of you.

                                                LULIT
Thank you, your Eminence.

As Tivoli starts to lead Gian out.

            TIVOLI                                               
Everyone is so excited about you coming, Papa.
                                    My congregation at the cathedral in Los Angeles,
                                    the people here at the mission--... one girl in particular.

                                                GIAN
                                    Good!

                                               
Lights fade out.






                                                Scene Two


Chapel of St. Mary, a small chapel connected to the mission. There is an arch shaped window opening. The chapel has a few faded dusty benches. Her father, JOSE, 40’s, Latino, in the clothes of a farm worker, paces. The Girl, 15, Latino, is a radiant beauty.

As Tivoli, Lulit and Gian enter. Tivoli sees the GIRL and his face lights up.
                                                           

                                                TIVOLI
                                    There she is!

The Girl, CHRISTINA, turns and sees them. She runs to Tivoli and hugs him.  Jose makes a move toward them, perhaps to break them up, then looks to Gian and in deference, holds still. Gian takes in all of this.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    Christina, this is Cardinal Gian.

Christina takes Gian's hand-- another surprise to him.

                                                CHRISTINA
                                    Your Eminence!

                                                TIVOLI
                                    She couldn’t wait to meet you.

                                                GIAN
Hello, Christina.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    This is her father, Jose.

Jose tries to flatten down the hair on top of his head, looking a bit anxious. He kneels at Gian’s feet, averting his eyes.

                                    JOSE
                                    (in English)
                        Your Eminence. Hola . Thank you...
                                    (Gian motions him to rise)
                        Er... er... Mio... My...
                                    (turns to his daughter)
                        Christina?

Christina translates.

                                                JOSE (cont’d)
                        Nos da honor. Es la voluntad the Dios que
                        usted ha venido a California.

                                                CHRISTINA
                        “You honor us. It is God’s will you have come to California.”

                                                GIAN (in Spanish)
                        Gracias Jose. Es un lugar bello. Bastante different a Italia.
                        Thank you, Jose. It is a beautiful place. Quite different from Italy.

                                                JOSE
                        Su Eminencia, Habla usted espanol?
                        You speak Spanish, your Eminence?

                                    GIAN
                        A little.

                                    TIVOLI
                        El cardenal Gian habla nueve lenguas.
                        Cardinal Gian speaks nine languages.

                                    JOSE
                        Nueve? Fenomenal!
                        Nine? Wow!
                                   
LULIT
We have been tutoring Christina since she was a child.

TIVOLI
She is our light. Our future. She preaches with me
to our youth group.

GIAN
What do you like to preach about, my child?

She looks to Tivoli, he nods to go ahead.

                                    CHRISTINA
                        About self denial and self self-sacrifice. I even took the vow.

GIAN
                        What vow have you taken?

Christina suddenly looks anxious and bows her head.

                                    LULIT
                                    (with a disapproving look at Tivoli)
                        She has taken the vow of celibacy, Your Eminence.

Gian also looks at Tivoli.

                                    TIVOLI
                        Quite independently. To lead by  example.

                                    GIAN
Be fruitful and multiply, Christina. That is God’s command.

TIVOLI
                        That was His command 2000 years ago.

GIAN
We’ll discuss it, Bishop Tivoli.

Christina makes a sudden move toward Tivoli.

                                    CHRISTINA
                        Something wonderful’s happened, Peter.

Jose moves between Christina and Tivoli and moves her toward Gian.

JOSE
Su Eminencia, Cristina era mi tesoro.

Jose nudges her to translate.
           
                                    CHRISTINA
                        I was his treasure.

                                    JOSE
                        El tesoro de todos mis hijos.

                                    CHRISTINA
The treasure of all his children.

TIVOLI
                        Jose has five.

                                    GIAN
                        Cinco hijos? Maravilloso!
                        Five children? Wonderful!                                   
           
                                    JOSE
                                    (proudly)
                        Si! Cinco.

                                    GIAN
                        I look forward to meeting their mother.

                                                TIVOLI
                        Mothers.
           
JOSE
                        Su Eminencia--
(dropping to one knee at Gian’s feet, bows his head)
Su Eminencia , tengo miedo que manden a
                        mi familia fuera del pais.
                        Your Eminence, I am frightened they will make my
                        family leave this country.

                                    GIAN (to Christina)
                        Why would they want to throw you out of the country?

                                    CHRISTINA
                        If they find out about me.

Christina opens the blanket, pressing one hand lightly on her very slightly distended stomach. 

CHRISTINA
I’m pregnant.

                                    TIVOLI
                        No…. Oh, Christina.

LULIT
Child, how did this happen?

Tivoli looks at Jose.


TIVOLI
It’s all right, Christina.
                        Who did this? One of the boys?

                                    CHRISTINA
                        No. I didn’t break my vow, I promise.

                                    TIVOLI
                        I’m not angry. Just please tell us the truth.

                                                CHRISTINA
                                    About two months ago, I was sleeping alone
here in the Chapel of St. Mary.

                                                GIAN
                                    Sleeping?

                                                LULIT
                                    She has been in the habit of leaving
her home at night.

Lulit shares a concerned look with Tivoli.

            GIAN
Why?

                                                CHRISTINA
                                                (looks at statue)
                                    I have good dreams here.

                                                TIVOLI
                                    You’re saying you were… asleep when it happened?

                                                CHRISTINA
                                    I don’t know. I think so.

                                                            GIAN
                                    Are you not--? Were you not
                                    pure, my child?

                                                CHRISTINA
                                    I am, your Eminence. My hymen’s still intact.
                                                (covers her mouth, bows her head)
                                    Forgive me.  That’s what the doctor said
today.


                                                TIVOLI
Why  did you keep this from me?

            CHRISTINA
I wasn’t sure. Until today, I thought it was a dream.

                                                TIVOLI
There was no sign of… no blood?

                                                CHRISTINA
                                    No... No anything. No-- uhm....
                                                (she makes a frowny face)


                                                TIVOLI
                                    And you are certain that
                                    you’re with child, Christina?

                                                CHRISTINA
                                    Children. Seven.

                                                LULIT
                                    Seven?

                                                CHRISTINA
                                    They were in the pictures at the doctor’s.

                                                GIAN
                                    Seven.

                                                CHRISTINA (to Gian)
                                    Bishop Tivoli has taught me all about you.
How you found him abandoned as a baby
in Tivoli Fountain and saved him.
All the great things you’ve done for the needy.
I think you must be closer to God than any
man on Earth.

                                                GIAN
                                    Is there something you need to confess to me, Christina?

                                                CHRISTINA
                                                (pause)
                                    I think He spoke to me.

                                                GIAN
                                    Who?

                                                CHRISTINA
                                    God.
                                                (beat)
                                    The babies I carry are His.

                                                GIAN
                                                (pause)
That would indeed be a great miracle, Christina.

Light change.
                                   

 [s1]More like a husband and wife in discussion