The Plays
Big Love [sample]
by Charles L. Mee
THYONA
Men.
You think you can do whatever you want with me, think again.
you think that I'm so delicate?
you think you have to care for me?
You throw me to the ground
you think I break?
[she throws herself to the ground]
you think I can't get up again?
you think I can't get up again?
[she gets up]
you think I need a man to save my life?
[she throws herself to the ground again]
I don't need a man!
I don't need a man!
[she gets up and throws herself to the ground again and again as she
yells]
These men can fuck themselves!
these men are leeches
these men are parasites
these rapists,
these politicians,
these Breadwinners,
[she is throwing herself to the ground over and over,
letting her loose limbs hit the ground with the rattle of a skeleton's
bones,
her head lolling over and hitting the ground with a thwack,
rolling over, bones banging the ground,
back to her feet,
and throwing herself to the ground again in the same way over and
over
music kicks in over this—
maybe J.S. Bach's "Sleepers Awake!" from Cantata No. 140
and, as she hits the ground over and over,
repeating her same litany as she does,
Olympia watches her
and then she joins in,
and starts throwing herself to the ground synchronously
so that it is a choreographed piece
of the two women throwing themselves to the ground,
rolling around, flailing on the ground,
banging angrily on the ground,
rising again and again]
THYONA [yelling simultaneously with Olympia]
these cheap pikers,
these welchers,
these liars,
these double dealers,
flim-flam artists,
litterbugs,
psychiatrists!
[And now Olympia starts to yell, too,
simultaneously with Thyona, on top of her words,
as both of them continue to throw themselves to the ground over and
over.]
OLYMPIA
These men!
These men!
All I wanted was a man who could be gentle
a man who likes to cuddle
a man who likes to talk
a man who likes to listen
THYONA
Men who speak when they have nothing to say!
These men should be eliminated!
These men should be snuffed out!
Who needs a man?
Who needs a man?
I'll make it on my own.
I'm an autonomous person!
I'm an independent person!
I can do what I want!
I can be who I am!
OLYMPIA [still yelling simultaneously with Thyona]
And I don't think it's wrong
to lie in the bath
and curl my hair
and paint my nails
to like my clothes
and think they're sexy
and wear short skirts
that blow up in the wind
I don't think it's wrong
for a man to love me
to like to touch me
and listen to me
and talk to me
and write me notes
and give me flowers
because I like men
I like men
And, I like to be submissive.
[and, finally, Lydia joins in, too,
until all three women are yelling their words
over the loud music
and throwing themselves to the ground over and over]
ALL THREE WOMEN TOGETHER
Why can't a man
be more like a woman?
LYDIA
Plainspoken and forthright.
Honest and clear.
Able to process.
To deal with his feelings.
To speak from the heart
to say what he means.
Because if he can
I don't have a grudge
or something against him
we couldn't work out.
I think it's wrong
to make sweeping judgments
write off a whole sex
the way men do to women
we could talk to each other
person to person
get along with each other
then we could go deep
to what a man or a woman
really can be
deep down to the mysteries
of being alive
of knowing ourselves
to know what it is
to live life on earth
[the women work themselves, still in choreographed sync,
to a state of total exhaustion
until one by one, they sprawl on chairs, panting.
