Super! We have a deal! So here is scene 1. For those of you who have been out of the loop, all I'm going to say is that this is an odd sequel to Stars just like Stars was an odd sequel to Rain. I changed some things about the characters and didn't always follow the rules of the previous play (as you'll notice right away with Reul being alive). So I guess this means these aren't necessarily sequels but more of an odd little cycle of plays with many things in common but that also completely stand on their own. Basically I just kept imagining things about these characters and tried to let the themes progress from the last plays. I'm curious to hear your thoughts and questions as you read! Lay em on!
And yes, there's going to be a reading of the first act of the play at Nextfest this year as well as a workshop of some kind in June here in Chicago. All the more reason to stay tuned in!
Et... voila...
A Taste of Sunlight in December
by
Janis Craft, 2008
1. Afterglow
REUL is in her hospital bed. She has just woken up and is examining her hands with a peaceful amazement. BETH enters and is startled to see REUL awake.
BETH
You’re awake…
REUL (still looking at her hands)
They’re still shining.
BETH
Your parents stepped out to talk with the doctor. Should I--
REUL
There’s still a bit of light coming from the tips of my fingers. Do you see it?
BETH
What?
REUL
My fingertips. Can you see the light coming from them?
BETH (rubbing her eyes)
I’m not sure what I see anymore.
REUL (concerned)
Do you see me right now?
BETH
Of course.
REUL (holding out her hands)
Touch them.
BETH (hesitates a moment and then touches her friend’s hands).
(With immense relief) They’re warm.
Tears begin to fall silently down BETH’s cheeks, she does not let go of REUL’s hands.
REUL
I saw the most amazing things, Beth. I saw the Earth from a gazillion miles away. It glows… did you know that? I think it must be all of the life radiating an energy the darkness can’t swallow up. None of the other planets glow like that. I wish you could have seen it. Oh, and I met Bolo out there, the real Bolo! He was a star too! Neither of us knew it at first but when we looked at each other through his telescope, our bodies disappeared and we saw that we were entirely made of light. It was so intense and bright you couldn’t see anything else and you didn’t want to because suddenly everything was connected and our eyes weren’t playing tricks on us any longer, telling us that it wasn’t. It was like we were on the other side of the darkness. The part that’s all light. And then there was this whooshing sound and we were sucked deeper in, to an even warmer, brighter place, and then, like we were in a giant slingshot, we were flung across space, and sprinkled back into the darkness with hundreds of other specks of light, all of us soaring past entire solar systems and galaxies … and that’s when I lost him. There were too many of us and everything was going so fast. He called out to me and I tried to look for him but it happened so quickly and the next thing I knew, the glow of the Earth was so close, I could feel it, like electricity. I was scared at first and I wanted to find Bolo, but then I heard people singing and the memory of being human started flooding back and all I wanted to do was sing, but I couldn’t find my voice. I couldn’t find that part deep in my stomach where the sound starts. And then everything went silent and dark. Except for my hands, they were still glowing. So I just kept staring at them. And now here I am… in this weird little room… (looks around, amazed) … and my voice is back. Will you sing with me?
BETH
Now?
REUL
Yes.
BETH
What do you want to sing?
REUL
Anything. Something happy… and French! Sur le pont d’Avignon!
BETH
We were singing that last night…
REUL
You and Kaiya were.
BETH (paling)
How did you know that?
REUL
I’m not sure. It feels like a memory. (beat) Are you okay?
BETH
Weird things happened last night, Reul. We thought you had…
REUL
Died?
BETH nods. A moment.
REUL
I probably did.
A full moment. REUL wanders far away. BETH tries to reel her back.
BETH
We don’t know that and it doesn’t matter if you did. You’re here now.
REUL
Maybe I’m not.
BETH
That’s not funny.
REUL
I feel different.
BETH
Maybe I should get the doctor.
REUL
Why?
BETH
He’d want to know you’re awake.
REUL
Is this awake? Are you sure?
BETH
I’ll get him…
BETH exits and REUL starts singing. An intense light shines down on her (as if in surgery)and a voice speaks to her from her memory.
VOICE
I want you to slowly count backwards starting at—
REUL
-- one hundred. I know the drill.
VOICE
Begin now, please.
REUL
One hundred. Ninety-nine. Ninety-eight. Ninety-seven.
VOICE
Reul? Can you hear me?
REUL
I’m not asleep yet.
VOICE
Keep counting, please.
REUL
Why does it always have to go backwards?
VOICE
Ninety-six, Reul. Continue from there.
REUL
Ninety-six…. Ninety-seven. Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine. One hundred…
VOICE
Reul?
REUL
Still here.
VOICE
We need you to keep counting.
REUL
What happens if I pass one hundred? Will I wake myself up?
VOICE
Count, Reul. Down from one hundred.
REUL
One hundred… one. One hundred two. One hundred…three. (slowing down) One… hundred… four…
Five comments from different folks is the going price of the next scene....
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11 comments:
woah.
my first thought was that i like that the play starts with Reul looking at her hands. i dont know if this was intended but it was a mighty connection for me because it reminds me of the start of Rain with Rainboy is studying his hands; rainboy at the end of his life and Reul at the beginning (well sortof) of hers. And they're both thinking about life and energy and connections in space and time. And the fact that the energy and life comes out of their hands is interesting for me too because our hands are so complex. Our opposable thumbs and fingers are what make us able to do all the amazing things we do as human beings. Our hands are what we use to touch and hold one another. maybe it's a stretch but interesting...
im thinking of a time when we were doing some warm-up for hsr and it wasn't working and somebody was like lets all put our palms up. i remember saying out-loud "this is so dumb" but then janis said something like "i dont think its dumb. it makes sense. think of all then energy that comes from the palms of your hands" or something....
woah, and now im reminded of all this stuff like the way people hold hands in prayer and just when they want to tell somebody that they like them. My friend, when she was little and she used to walk to school with her dad but she was old enough that it was uncool to tell your dad you love him in public they had this secret signal where she would squeeze her dad's hand three times for 1-I 2-love 3-you and he'd squeeze back four times for 1-I 2-love 3-you 4-too. they still use the secret signal now. one of them will say "3" and the other will respond "4."
ok the last two paragraphs are just my connections and don't have anything to do with anything. but i do think that glowing hands is a really cool image. is there anything like that in stars? i dont remember. if these three were movies i think itd be cool if each one stated with somebodies hands: rainboy's with the raindrop, sydney's with the computer, and then reul's with the glowing. that'd be cool i think.
one thing that was a bit unclear to me was the flashback to surgery but i might have just been reading too fast because then i read it again and i was like "oh this is a memory". why did you decide to add that? is that setting up the fact that she just had surgury? is it setting up the fact that she's had surgery before?
ps sorry the last one was so long. i didn't realize. if you dont want to read it all just read the first and last paragraphs. :z
So I have been away from this for about a year and I'm a little lost. I'm not to sure who Reul is so if someone could fill me in that would help me greatly.
I like the bitter happiness that occurs in this scene. Reul has a sense of becoming re-born where as it seems Beth is concerned she is slowly losing Reul. I don't know if that was intended but I enjoyed that contrast.
I also enoy the semi-comic relief at the end. Although the scene has a sad touch to it the whole counting element makes it alot lighter.
I may be completly out of context with this all becuase it has been so long but those were my initial thoughts.
I enjoyed it.
the little bit at he end definatly reminded me of Reul...how she's so used to being in a hospital that she finds a way to find light in those situations..
to answer your question jasmine Reul (pronounced Ray-Al-Cha) has been in the hospital for a while. she was best friends with two girls (Beth is one, the other is Kaiya which i spelt wrong). At the end of stars she ends up dying in surgery and going up to join Elliot who is also dead. thats it in a nutshell anyway.
i'm sorry i cant spell
I really enjoyed that.
I think my favourite part was the "will you sing with me"... i'm not sure if that's the exact quote.
and the idea of wanting to sing but not finding the voice
Hi! It is so great to read all of your thoughts. Really, truly. It makes it all come alive.... which is the idea for theatre so thank you!
Jasmine, no worries. Really. This play needs to stand on its own. Most of the audience won't know anything about the other two plays so you can be the eyes and ears for them. Reul is from Stars. Elliot is Rainboy from Rain (in case you'd forgotten). Your comments are very much in context. I was definitely going for a contrast between Reul and Beth. You put that very well.
Dani, what an observation....wow. This is one more of those things that happened in the magic of the creation process that I was not cognizantly aware of, but obviously something in the universe was and directed me to write it this way. I'm so glad you pointed this out. Yes, of course we'll have to make Stars starts with hands too...
Don't ever worry about being irrelevant, any of you. I love the personal connections and stories. It's what makes this whole process so important and makes the plays so real. Even if your stories and thoughts don't make it directly into the script they are part of the play -- they are your investment in it and you are what makes the play resonate.
As for the last part of the scene with the surgery, yes it is a memory. I'm not going to say more at this time because it weaves in and out of the script and I want you to read more first and see if that answers your questions/confusions.
We just need one more person to comment for the next scene to be posted!
I really liked this as well...
It's funny that she talks about such an out of body crazy spacey experience but then what her memory takes her back to isn't that, but the memory of the surgey. :) I'm excited to read more!
I would be curious to see how an actor would portray Beth's reactions to all the sensational things Reul is revealing. It's probably unlike anything Beth has ever heard before, and besides the crying, there are probably hundreds of other thoughts running through her mind as Ruel relays all of this.
hmmm. you're elizabeth. that is kind of odd. but i think the memory of surgery is the portal for her getting back to that place of crazy spacey experience. it's something to keep an eye on though...
and marnie. you're right. i put the crying in there because i wanted to make sure the emotion beth shows was physical and big, but i think she would have a ton of other things going on with her as well that she can't communicate at this point.
so, yay! 6 commentators! Here's the next scene... i hope no one feels cheated... it is the shortest scene in the play, but that's how deal or no deal works, right? hopefully this will give us a chance to get more people on the blog and caught up.
I agree with the majority. I relly like how this play starts. I also really like how you are not completely disregarding the things that you set up in stars. I agree with Marnie I would also be curious to see Beth's reactions. I like that this is a somewhat new Beth we are seeing. Beth in stars at the start is rather sarcastic and in the next scenes we see a more emtional Beth. I think this a great way to make there be a clear line between the plays. Even thought the characters are the same we get to see different sides but not all sides because when can you ever see all the sides of a person?
It's true, Luke. There are seemingly endless sides of people. I think that's why I keep writing about the same people! There's always so much more to explore about them...
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