The Plays
Life is a Dream [sample]
by Charles L. Mee
.
1
Silence. A light up very slowly on Dawn, entering up left, hanging up her hat on the hook, coming toward the center and downstage, as she speaks:
We were in bed
making love in the daylight
there were sounds of voices and movements around the house
but I was not so attentive to them
I heard him whisper in my ear
—teasing me—
to come again
but this time
be very quiet.
Music on this last word.
2
Rolling slowly upstage, with music, in contorted torment andpleasure.
3
Dawn speaks (underscored with music):I thought:
My house was collapsing toward one side,
the roof had slid off,
and the whole house was leaning against the house next door, my father's house,
or
my lover's house
and I thought:
this can't go on.
4
Piano solo,while Dawn sits quietly, and the lights come up behind the scrim to reveal the musicians.
5
Summer afternoon light suffuses stage,and Dawn slips out of her suit as she speaks:
We slept in the room at the Inn,
there were two fans
bringing air on our bodies
each fan with a different rhythm
he was holding me,
my back up against his body, his stomach
he slept and I listened to his breath in my ear
sometimes it seemed he would stop breathing for a moment
I would pull him closer to me
hoping to hear his breathing restored
and I would have a brief feeling of panic
until I heard him breathe again
