Sunday, May 31, 2009
Introduction
Neptune’s Child
A Play by Aviva Michelle (April) Lee written and presented at Warren Wilson College during the 1993-94 Academic year.
Newly dedicated to my GGG Grandfather “PeeDee” and my GG Grandmother, M. May they flourish in their newfound freedom.
Also dedicated to the Jewish ancestors on my maternal Grandfather’s side, and to all the Jewish people who were my reflection and guides during my many years of questioning. You were indeed a life-affirming Light, a safe house for me on my journey. I hope you learned from me as well.
Since the time of this play, my questions about the Nothing that was absolutely there have been answered. Years of sincere questioning and living true to my unexplained yet firm identity, the fidelity and diligence of my family in keeping our history alive to the extent that was prudent and possible for their times, and the growth and accessibility of genealogical and historic information on the Internet have allowed those behind the Barricade to be liberated.
Commentary on newly discovered serendipities between this play and African Traditional Religion has been added.
See my blog http://sweetchariotsjourney.blogspot.com/
Recently I learned that the African people are associated with the planet Neptune due to their connection with the Orisha Olokun, the Ruler of the deep seas.
Cast: HaShem (God)
John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt-age 25
SuperNova (A giddy and flamboyant “star”)
Neutron Star (A mouse)
Black Hole
A Play by Aviva Michelle (April) Lee written and presented at Warren Wilson College during the 1993-94 Academic year.
Newly dedicated to my GGG Grandfather “PeeDee” and my GG Grandmother, M. May they flourish in their newfound freedom.
Also dedicated to the Jewish ancestors on my maternal Grandfather’s side, and to all the Jewish people who were my reflection and guides during my many years of questioning. You were indeed a life-affirming Light, a safe house for me on my journey. I hope you learned from me as well.
Since the time of this play, my questions about the Nothing that was absolutely there have been answered. Years of sincere questioning and living true to my unexplained yet firm identity, the fidelity and diligence of my family in keeping our history alive to the extent that was prudent and possible for their times, and the growth and accessibility of genealogical and historic information on the Internet have allowed those behind the Barricade to be liberated.
Commentary on newly discovered serendipities between this play and African Traditional Religion has been added.
See my blog http://sweetchariotsjourney.blogspot.com/
Recently I learned that the African people are associated with the planet Neptune due to their connection with the Orisha Olokun, the Ruler of the deep seas.
Cast: HaShem (God)
John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt-age 25
SuperNova (A giddy and flamboyant “star”)
Neutron Star (A mouse)
Black Hole
Scene One: School Library
Some in Santeria tradition link the library to the Orisha Oya, in charge of the safe passage of the dead, and reincarnation.
A sign says ”Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” Supernova enters, singing the children’s camp song “John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt, his name is my name too.” (S)He sits nearby and begins reading. John enters and begins making toe prints with the office ink pad.(I believe this was omitted in the WWC performance. I don’t think there was any significance except to convey the character's impulsivity.)
John: God-
HaShem: (from out of sight) What is it, John?
John: (looks around) Working in the library has gotten on my last nerve. It’s so quiet I’m starting to hallucinate. Sensory deprivation.
HaShem: That’s what you think.
John: Good Grief!
HaShem:-is the kind that leads to creative reparation!
John: AAAAAGH! (Puts on a walkman (headset) and picks up a book) Reincarnation. Far out. Well (laughs) this goes downstairs. I’m gonna ride down in the dumbwaiter!
John leaps, screams and dies. Cross lights up, crash sound. Neutron Star appears briefly.
I’m wondering about a correlation with Oya and Neutron Star. Oya is the Orisha who oversees the safe passage of the dead from one world to another, as well as wind and storms. Oya and the Orisha Oshun (fresh water, fertility, love, wealth and the arts) are sometimes seen as rivals.
SuperNova: Whoopsie baby!
HaShem: It figures. None of those schlemiels I created ever got around to repairing that dumb damwaiter. I sometimes think I over-delegated by giving humans Free Will. If you want something done right do it yourself!
John: (climbs out of dumbwaiter, holding “Reincarnation” book, shocked) Damn!
HaShem: I try to avoid doing that.
John: (Shakes his head, looks around) Where am I?
HaShem: HaShem.
John: What? (looks up the word in his book) That means “The Name” in Hebrew. Who are you?
HaShem: Ha Makom. The Place. Look it up. Studying is a Mitzvah.
John: I’m too hungry to study. Do you have a pizza?
HaShem: Don’t you remember when Bill Cosby drank wine in “Ghost Dad”? Food and drink goes straight through. Splosh! Face it, John. You’re dead as a doornail.
John: (reading book) Sh, please. I’m trying to find HaMakom. Aha! Hebrew name for God, meaning “The Place.” Now what did you say?
HaShem: You’re dead as a doornail.
John: But I’m so aware! I see You (looks at HaShem) I see my body down there! Ick! (Ick was removed for WWC performance. However I was probably tuning into the actual responses of a soul to a traumatic death. Reality is what it is.) If this is doornail dead I’ll never look at doornails in quite the same way again!
HaShem: We need to discuss that, John, about how you plan to look at doornails. You have not seen enough in twenty five years of doornails or anything else for that matter.
(to audience) Non-linear time allows John to simultaneously understand everything he is missing by being dead as a doornail.
John: Good grief!
HaShem: -is the kind that leads to creative reparation.
John: This sucks! When the hell am I going to graduate?!?
Supernova starts humming “12 Days of Christmas”
After five episodes of mania, four episodes of depression, three distracting relationships, two stays on a commune in the Azores Islands and a medical leave of absence due to a bout of salmonella contracted from a contaminated partridge in a pear tree I had finally reached the last semester of my third and final Senior year at Warren Wilson College and I just got done in by a dilapidated dumbwaiter!
HaShem: Well we just can’t have that now, can we?
John: No!
HaShem: No way?
John: (Chants protest style) No Way! I Won’t Stay! No Way! I Won’t Stay! Furthermore..(Withdraws a piece of paper from his pocket) I plan to get every last Cherub and Seraph in this Place to sign this petition to…..
HaShem: Hold it! No need for a tsimmes. I’ll let you go back. Oy! I hate it when my beings don’t reach their destinies but instead come back in an envelope stamped “Return to Sender”!
Neutron Star runs onstage and delivers a letter, then runs offstage.
SuperNova (reads letter) The answer exists in the act of questioning. Your loving siblings, Neutron Star and Black Hole. Dorks.
John: I’ll have to grow up again, won’t I?
HaShem: What’s this “again” crock? After all, your last action in your previous incarnation was trying to take a ride in a dumbwaiter.
John: You know what I mean! Diapers, drooling, spitting up…suckling I can deal with. (Suckling omitted for WWC performance)
HaShem: Yes, yes, yes…(and yes.)
John: Learning to read? Losing baby teeth? Learning not to punch and bite?
HaShem: Yes, yes and hopefully. Frankly you could use a little work on that last one.
John: (leans forward) High school? (Holds his head) Puberty?????
HaShem: I’ll guarantee you a sports car if you go back anyway.
John: Great! Can I see some of your available wombs?
HaShem: Sure. Just watch.
John: Oh, cool. Videos.
HaShem: If you check into this one you can live as a dumb waiter.
John: Forget it. He just put a booger in the salad.
SuperNova: Eeeeewwww!
HaShem: Good, John, take control. Take control! Do not lose it just because you died due to someone’s screw-up. Best not to reincarnate immediately. I’m really glad we have this time to confer. Here’s a chance of a lifetime: Successor to Jim Bakker. (Corrupt televangelist of the 1980s)
John: Good grief!
HaShem:-is the kind that leads to-
John: Excuse me but I’ve already gotten that message. That’s why I’m waiting for a more substantial existence than what You just offered. C’mon!
SuperNova: La-di-DAH!!
HaShem: Hotza Matzoh in a potza! I think by Myself he’s got it! Good going Johnny! You’re getting brighter every minute! Of course this is Divine Standard Time.
SuperNova looks at watch.
John: I like this Place, or Name, or whatever. Lots of advice and buttering up. But -there! That’s it! That’s the womb I want!
HaShem: But they’re not planning on having any more children.
John: Who cares? Let the sperm wiggle through the diaphragm. ( Supernova make wiggle motions) I’m going! (John jumps up.)
HaShem: It does look exceptionally good. This person works his way through college by repairing elevators and dumbwaiters.
John: Does he graduate?
HaShem: In four and a half years. He spends a semester on a commune in the Azores Islands.
John: Good grief!
HaShem: -is the kind-
John: Yes I agree totally, but this guy doesn’t contract salmonella from a contaminated partridge in a pear tree does he?
HaShem: No, but-
John: Whoopee! I’m going! (Jumps and lands in fetal position)
Supernova: It always begins with whoopee.
HaShem: But…but….
John: in fetal position, sings
John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt
His name is my name too!
Soon I will come out
The people all will shout
Hey! John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt!
“His name is my name too.” In ATR, people are often believed to have bloodline reincarnations, and to share the spirit of an Ancestor.
HaShem: But-
John: It’s time! (Changes position as in birth) I’m being borned!
I do not know why I chose to write “borned” in dialect. In retrospect this choice in interesting.
HaShem: But-
John: (Crawls forward on stomach) Hello again world!
SuperNova: Hey baby!
Oshun is the Orisha of childbirth as well as the things mentioned above. I wonder about a correlation between SuperNova and Oshun.
HaShem: -but this person is burdened with an all consuming sense of mission toward the accomplishment of a compelling purpose-
John: (stands and yells) Keep your dumbwaiters in good condition FOR GOD”S SAKE!!
runs off stage
Neutron Star: Good grief!
Lights out, Sweet Honey’s “Something Begins”
-Intermission-
A sign says ”Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” Supernova enters, singing the children’s camp song “John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt, his name is my name too.” (S)He sits nearby and begins reading. John enters and begins making toe prints with the office ink pad.(I believe this was omitted in the WWC performance. I don’t think there was any significance except to convey the character's impulsivity.)
John: God-
HaShem: (from out of sight) What is it, John?
John: (looks around) Working in the library has gotten on my last nerve. It’s so quiet I’m starting to hallucinate. Sensory deprivation.
HaShem: That’s what you think.
John: Good Grief!
HaShem:-is the kind that leads to creative reparation!
John: AAAAAGH! (Puts on a walkman (headset) and picks up a book) Reincarnation. Far out. Well (laughs) this goes downstairs. I’m gonna ride down in the dumbwaiter!
John leaps, screams and dies. Cross lights up, crash sound. Neutron Star appears briefly.
I’m wondering about a correlation with Oya and Neutron Star. Oya is the Orisha who oversees the safe passage of the dead from one world to another, as well as wind and storms. Oya and the Orisha Oshun (fresh water, fertility, love, wealth and the arts) are sometimes seen as rivals.
SuperNova: Whoopsie baby!
HaShem: It figures. None of those schlemiels I created ever got around to repairing that dumb damwaiter. I sometimes think I over-delegated by giving humans Free Will. If you want something done right do it yourself!
John: (climbs out of dumbwaiter, holding “Reincarnation” book, shocked) Damn!
HaShem: I try to avoid doing that.
John: (Shakes his head, looks around) Where am I?
HaShem: HaShem.
John: What? (looks up the word in his book) That means “The Name” in Hebrew. Who are you?
HaShem: Ha Makom. The Place. Look it up. Studying is a Mitzvah.
John: I’m too hungry to study. Do you have a pizza?
HaShem: Don’t you remember when Bill Cosby drank wine in “Ghost Dad”? Food and drink goes straight through. Splosh! Face it, John. You’re dead as a doornail.
John: (reading book) Sh, please. I’m trying to find HaMakom. Aha! Hebrew name for God, meaning “The Place.” Now what did you say?
HaShem: You’re dead as a doornail.
John: But I’m so aware! I see You (looks at HaShem) I see my body down there! Ick! (Ick was removed for WWC performance. However I was probably tuning into the actual responses of a soul to a traumatic death. Reality is what it is.) If this is doornail dead I’ll never look at doornails in quite the same way again!
HaShem: We need to discuss that, John, about how you plan to look at doornails. You have not seen enough in twenty five years of doornails or anything else for that matter.
(to audience) Non-linear time allows John to simultaneously understand everything he is missing by being dead as a doornail.
John: Good grief!
HaShem: -is the kind that leads to creative reparation.
John: This sucks! When the hell am I going to graduate?!?
Supernova starts humming “12 Days of Christmas”
After five episodes of mania, four episodes of depression, three distracting relationships, two stays on a commune in the Azores Islands and a medical leave of absence due to a bout of salmonella contracted from a contaminated partridge in a pear tree I had finally reached the last semester of my third and final Senior year at Warren Wilson College and I just got done in by a dilapidated dumbwaiter!
HaShem: Well we just can’t have that now, can we?
John: No!
HaShem: No way?
John: (Chants protest style) No Way! I Won’t Stay! No Way! I Won’t Stay! Furthermore..(Withdraws a piece of paper from his pocket) I plan to get every last Cherub and Seraph in this Place to sign this petition to…..
HaShem: Hold it! No need for a tsimmes. I’ll let you go back. Oy! I hate it when my beings don’t reach their destinies but instead come back in an envelope stamped “Return to Sender”!
Neutron Star runs onstage and delivers a letter, then runs offstage.
SuperNova (reads letter) The answer exists in the act of questioning. Your loving siblings, Neutron Star and Black Hole. Dorks.
John: I’ll have to grow up again, won’t I?
HaShem: What’s this “again” crock? After all, your last action in your previous incarnation was trying to take a ride in a dumbwaiter.
John: You know what I mean! Diapers, drooling, spitting up…suckling I can deal with. (Suckling omitted for WWC performance)
HaShem: Yes, yes, yes…(and yes.)
John: Learning to read? Losing baby teeth? Learning not to punch and bite?
HaShem: Yes, yes and hopefully. Frankly you could use a little work on that last one.
John: (leans forward) High school? (Holds his head) Puberty?????
HaShem: I’ll guarantee you a sports car if you go back anyway.
John: Great! Can I see some of your available wombs?
HaShem: Sure. Just watch.
John: Oh, cool. Videos.
HaShem: If you check into this one you can live as a dumb waiter.
John: Forget it. He just put a booger in the salad.
SuperNova: Eeeeewwww!
HaShem: Good, John, take control. Take control! Do not lose it just because you died due to someone’s screw-up. Best not to reincarnate immediately. I’m really glad we have this time to confer. Here’s a chance of a lifetime: Successor to Jim Bakker. (Corrupt televangelist of the 1980s)
John: Good grief!
HaShem:-is the kind that leads to-
John: Excuse me but I’ve already gotten that message. That’s why I’m waiting for a more substantial existence than what You just offered. C’mon!
SuperNova: La-di-DAH!!
HaShem: Hotza Matzoh in a potza! I think by Myself he’s got it! Good going Johnny! You’re getting brighter every minute! Of course this is Divine Standard Time.
SuperNova looks at watch.
John: I like this Place, or Name, or whatever. Lots of advice and buttering up. But -there! That’s it! That’s the womb I want!
HaShem: But they’re not planning on having any more children.
John: Who cares? Let the sperm wiggle through the diaphragm. ( Supernova make wiggle motions) I’m going! (John jumps up.)
HaShem: It does look exceptionally good. This person works his way through college by repairing elevators and dumbwaiters.
John: Does he graduate?
HaShem: In four and a half years. He spends a semester on a commune in the Azores Islands.
John: Good grief!
HaShem: -is the kind-
John: Yes I agree totally, but this guy doesn’t contract salmonella from a contaminated partridge in a pear tree does he?
HaShem: No, but-
John: Whoopee! I’m going! (Jumps and lands in fetal position)
Supernova: It always begins with whoopee.
HaShem: But…but….
John: in fetal position, sings
John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt
His name is my name too!
Soon I will come out
The people all will shout
Hey! John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt!
“His name is my name too.” In ATR, people are often believed to have bloodline reincarnations, and to share the spirit of an Ancestor.
HaShem: But-
John: It’s time! (Changes position as in birth) I’m being borned!
I do not know why I chose to write “borned” in dialect. In retrospect this choice in interesting.
HaShem: But-
John: (Crawls forward on stomach) Hello again world!
SuperNova: Hey baby!
Oshun is the Orisha of childbirth as well as the things mentioned above. I wonder about a correlation between SuperNova and Oshun.
HaShem: -but this person is burdened with an all consuming sense of mission toward the accomplishment of a compelling purpose-
John: (stands and yells) Keep your dumbwaiters in good condition FOR GOD”S SAKE!!
runs off stage
Neutron Star: Good grief!
Lights out, Sweet Honey’s “Something Begins”
-Intermission-
Scene Two: Metaphorical Uranus
“Sweet Pea” A container in a baby carriage, is wheeled to center stage. Uranus hangs on the back wall. Neutron Star sits on the wall. Music stops before lights come on. Neutron yells.
“Sweet Pea” now makes me think of an Orisha pot, especially related to Egungun, Ancestors. Since I do have Jewish ancestry on my maternal Grandfather’s line, I wonder if that indicates that I was under the protection of Egungun during the long time of my questioning. That coincides with the message I received at the time of my paternal Grandfather’s death,”The Jews are your people. For now go with them, but always remember you come from ALL peoples.”
John: They were all born tremendous stars. In the final days of their history, each possessed an iron core of fire, which induced them to explode, creating all the known elements in the universe. Then they each responded to the gravity of the situation in a unique manner.
SuperNova: Star Stuff! Star stuff! I’m making everything star stuff!
Black Hole: (enters)
Neutron Star: You talking about me?? You have no right to talk about me, not after what…..
Black Hole: Is balance indeed in the stability of neutrons? I think not. You have allowed the gravity of the situation to alter your elements beyond recognizable form.
Neutron Star: But what else can gravity lead to?
Black Hole: To a question, and after all, why not? We are all children of Sweet Pea, delivered into a life of creation by means of the Big Bang…
SuperNova: Sort of like the Baby Boom!
Black Hole: -but how did Sweet Pea originate? Frankly I’d be shocked if the truth were ever discovered. So, I question and I find answers in the act of questioning.
Neutron Star: Everything’s in there! That’s where it all came from! Everything sucked into nothingness! Sweet Pea came from there! There is still nothingness and everyone wants out and….
SuperNova: Shut up, Neutron Star! Nobody wants to listen to your oh-so-heavy super-gravity psycho-shit. Shape up and have some fun!You have totally lost your cookies. You are such a tightass that you crushed their protons and electrons into neutrons!
Neutron Star: But-
SuperNova: And furthermore, everyone knows that Sweet Pea was dropped when god was preparing pea soup! You bitch and moan about this horrible collapse into nothingness and try to drag everyone into your mission of peace through reparation when everything begins, continues and ends in pea soup preparation!
Black Hole: Both of you! Get a grip immediately! Like me. I’ve got an infinite grip. Getting a grip is what it’s all about. And what do I do after getting a grip, besides keep on getting a grip? The answer exists in the act of questioning.
From what I’ve read, this would be a typical Eshu/Legba/Ellegua type answer. This Orisha is the Gatekeeper, and the guardian of choice, also a trickster, and a protector against deception.
Neutron Star: But I know there is Nothing. Nothing is there, and they’re in the Nothing! I don’t like it. It’s dark and dusty and creepy in there and they don’t want to be in there and why did you leave them in there?
SuperNova: Cheap storage space you no-charged nincompoop. You think that Sweet Pea came from there, and we all came from there and we are all going back there, don’t ya? I’ve told you once and I’ll tell you again. God chased Satan out of Paradise with a B-B gun. One of the b-Bs rolled away...Viola! Sweet Pea!
John: Just a suggestion. If you want to know about Sweet Pea, perhaps you should examine your own behavior. Neptune was found by irregularities in the orbit of Uranus. The planet Uranus was influenced by Neptune. That is how Neptune made its presence known.
Neutron Star: (leaps off wall) And look at me! Listen to me! Just as Uranus was influenced by Neptune…
SuperNova: Your anus might have been influenced by Neptune, but mine certainly wasn’t! I’ll tell you once and I’ll tell you again: Sweet Pea was shit out by a constipated Seraph!
John: SuperNova, it’s time to allow Neutron Star to speak. There is a time for creating and a time for wondering. A time for inventing answers and then if that fails a time for allowing remaining questions to create. Time is passing, SuperNova.
SuperNova sucks John into nothingness.
Black Hole: I always knew you had black hole potential, SuperNova. You have a strong grip.
SuperNova: Now we are two! Slurpy Durpy Duo! And what does our behavior indicate? All this exploding, creating and collapsing…Indeed it seems our Universe had its genesis in a Nothingness so powerful it transmuted to a creative force...Whoosh!
Oshun is the Orisha of renewal.
Neutron Star: Yes! Yes! The nothingness! It is there, and everything is Sweet Pea, hidden in the nothingness. It is there! Absolutely it is there!
Black Hole: No, Neutron Star. We do not know anything. All there is -is questioning. You have always searched for an answer, a response to your realization that the Nothingness is there. But all I can tell you is that, as John indicated, Yes. Something Somewhere influenced us, as Neptune influenced Uranus. I will never be able to explain it, but we will find the answers through the act of questioning. Perhaps someday soon our questioning will grow into a force sufficient to liberate everyone trapped in the Nothingness.
“Sweet Pea” now makes me think of an Orisha pot, especially related to Egungun, Ancestors. Since I do have Jewish ancestry on my maternal Grandfather’s line, I wonder if that indicates that I was under the protection of Egungun during the long time of my questioning. That coincides with the message I received at the time of my paternal Grandfather’s death,”The Jews are your people. For now go with them, but always remember you come from ALL peoples.”
John: They were all born tremendous stars. In the final days of their history, each possessed an iron core of fire, which induced them to explode, creating all the known elements in the universe. Then they each responded to the gravity of the situation in a unique manner.
SuperNova: Star Stuff! Star stuff! I’m making everything star stuff!
Black Hole: (enters)
Neutron Star: You talking about me?? You have no right to talk about me, not after what…..
Black Hole: Is balance indeed in the stability of neutrons? I think not. You have allowed the gravity of the situation to alter your elements beyond recognizable form.
Neutron Star: But what else can gravity lead to?
Black Hole: To a question, and after all, why not? We are all children of Sweet Pea, delivered into a life of creation by means of the Big Bang…
SuperNova: Sort of like the Baby Boom!
Black Hole: -but how did Sweet Pea originate? Frankly I’d be shocked if the truth were ever discovered. So, I question and I find answers in the act of questioning.
Neutron Star: Everything’s in there! That’s where it all came from! Everything sucked into nothingness! Sweet Pea came from there! There is still nothingness and everyone wants out and….
SuperNova: Shut up, Neutron Star! Nobody wants to listen to your oh-so-heavy super-gravity psycho-shit. Shape up and have some fun!You have totally lost your cookies. You are such a tightass that you crushed their protons and electrons into neutrons!
Neutron Star: But-
SuperNova: And furthermore, everyone knows that Sweet Pea was dropped when god was preparing pea soup! You bitch and moan about this horrible collapse into nothingness and try to drag everyone into your mission of peace through reparation when everything begins, continues and ends in pea soup preparation!
Black Hole: Both of you! Get a grip immediately! Like me. I’ve got an infinite grip. Getting a grip is what it’s all about. And what do I do after getting a grip, besides keep on getting a grip? The answer exists in the act of questioning.
From what I’ve read, this would be a typical Eshu/Legba/Ellegua type answer. This Orisha is the Gatekeeper, and the guardian of choice, also a trickster, and a protector against deception.
Neutron Star: But I know there is Nothing. Nothing is there, and they’re in the Nothing! I don’t like it. It’s dark and dusty and creepy in there and they don’t want to be in there and why did you leave them in there?
SuperNova: Cheap storage space you no-charged nincompoop. You think that Sweet Pea came from there, and we all came from there and we are all going back there, don’t ya? I’ve told you once and I’ll tell you again. God chased Satan out of Paradise with a B-B gun. One of the b-Bs rolled away...Viola! Sweet Pea!
John: Just a suggestion. If you want to know about Sweet Pea, perhaps you should examine your own behavior. Neptune was found by irregularities in the orbit of Uranus. The planet Uranus was influenced by Neptune. That is how Neptune made its presence known.
Neutron Star: (leaps off wall) And look at me! Listen to me! Just as Uranus was influenced by Neptune…
SuperNova: Your anus might have been influenced by Neptune, but mine certainly wasn’t! I’ll tell you once and I’ll tell you again: Sweet Pea was shit out by a constipated Seraph!
John: SuperNova, it’s time to allow Neutron Star to speak. There is a time for creating and a time for wondering. A time for inventing answers and then if that fails a time for allowing remaining questions to create. Time is passing, SuperNova.
SuperNova sucks John into nothingness.
Black Hole: I always knew you had black hole potential, SuperNova. You have a strong grip.
SuperNova: Now we are two! Slurpy Durpy Duo! And what does our behavior indicate? All this exploding, creating and collapsing…Indeed it seems our Universe had its genesis in a Nothingness so powerful it transmuted to a creative force...Whoosh!
Oshun is the Orisha of renewal.
Neutron Star: Yes! Yes! The nothingness! It is there, and everything is Sweet Pea, hidden in the nothingness. It is there! Absolutely it is there!
Black Hole: No, Neutron Star. We do not know anything. All there is -is questioning. You have always searched for an answer, a response to your realization that the Nothingness is there. But all I can tell you is that, as John indicated, Yes. Something Somewhere influenced us, as Neptune influenced Uranus. I will never be able to explain it, but we will find the answers through the act of questioning. Perhaps someday soon our questioning will grow into a force sufficient to liberate everyone trapped in the Nothingness.
Scene Three: Breaking the Barricade
Sweet Pea sits in a baby carriage center stage. Black hole and Neutron Star enter one from each side. Black Hole wears something indicative of youth and carries a picket sign with Uranus and question marks on it. Neutron Star is wrapped in a quilt and carries a sign the exact size and shape as Black Hole’s but it is a reproduction of Art Spiegelman’s February 15, 1993 cover of the New Yorker. The message should be unity, not strife, so the sign can be modified so that the people are touching a dove of peace rather than each other if necessary.
This magazine cover shows a Hasidic Jewish man and a black woman kissing. It was aired near Valentine's Day at the height of the Crown Heights strife.
Black Hole and Neutron Star mirror each others’ movements (walking, sign holding) and stand one on each side of Sweet Pea.
Black Hole: A misty, musty dusty smell, secrets we may no longer tell
Neutron Star: Unanswered questions of if God died. Who is standing by my side?
Black Hole: A rainbow I was searching for while among the first to stop the war
Neutron Star: A newborn nation’s hopeful pride. Who is standing by my side?
Black Hole: (faces Neutron Star,Urgency of speech increases) In innocence, in shattered youth I walked the forest and found the truth!
Neutron Star: Questions burn-we cannot hide. (Faces Black Hole. Urgency of speech increases) Who is standing by my side?!
Black Hole: Questions burn, remain unknown. WHY ARE THOSE OF YOURS MY OWN??
Black Hole and Neutron Star (together, facing audience) No matter what’s concealed, denied (Cross lights up) MAY ALL NOW STAND UP BY OUR SIDE!
Sweet Honey’s “Patchwork Quilt” plays softly as the quilt scene proceeds slowly, thoughtfully, tentatively.
Black Hole: Your quilt…it reminds me of something…
Neutron Star: You have a quilt like mine…but it’s lost on Neptune.
Black Hole: That makes sense…but it’s crazy. Anyhow I can’t ever get back to Neptune.
Neutron Star: As you are so fond of saying, the answer exists in the act of questioning. In memory of the one you lost on Neptune, make another. (Hands of the Forgotten are seen waving through the Nothing) Look for the Forgotten you find here on Earth. Bring them together and let them speak out. (Points to where the Forgotten are concealed)
Sound effects, Cross blinks, strobe light inside the Nothing. SuperNova comes running from behind audience with barricade tape and tries to wrap up Black Hole. Neutron Star helps Black Hole resist, and they prevail. SuperNova runs off stage, laughing demonically.
SuperNova’s (Oshun’s?) role here is paradoxical: to trigger resistance through the threat of assimilation and continued concealment. The action draws Neutron Star (Ancestors) into resistance. She thus creatively manipulates the situation to allow the liberation of the Forgotten by drawing Neutron Star into cooperation with Black Hole. I believe this is flat out prophetic of what happened as a result of my experiences with the Missing Yemenite Children’s Affair, which led to my return from Israel and investigation of my family history.
Sweet Honey’s “I Be your Water” begins. Black Hole and Neutron Star bring out the Forgotten, (ideally seven, six with candles and one with a globe, representing the Forgotten in society) and wash them off. The Forgotten sit in front of Sweet Pea. The music stops and Neutron Star reaches inside of Sweet Pea.
Black Hole: What…what are you doing?
Neutron Star: Creating a new world. I need you to join me.
Supernova tries to grab a Forgotten. Black Hole prevents it. SuperNova dwindles down. Blackout.
At the time of the play, I knew nothing of the concealed history on my father's side of the family. Since I believed the Forgotten to be Jews on my mother's side, this portends my actions against the assimilation of Jews. SuperNova;s action is intended to elicit Black Hole's reaction.
The Forgotten move into the audience, six in and around audience, one center with globe.
Forgotten and Cast: The end-or the beginning-the answer exists in the act of questioning!
Sweet Honey’s “Babethandaza” begins loudly. Everybody dances and throws confetti out of Sweet Pea.
This magazine cover shows a Hasidic Jewish man and a black woman kissing. It was aired near Valentine's Day at the height of the Crown Heights strife.
Black Hole and Neutron Star mirror each others’ movements (walking, sign holding) and stand one on each side of Sweet Pea.
Black Hole: A misty, musty dusty smell, secrets we may no longer tell
Neutron Star: Unanswered questions of if God died. Who is standing by my side?
Black Hole: A rainbow I was searching for while among the first to stop the war
Neutron Star: A newborn nation’s hopeful pride. Who is standing by my side?
Black Hole: (faces Neutron Star,Urgency of speech increases) In innocence, in shattered youth I walked the forest and found the truth!
Neutron Star: Questions burn-we cannot hide. (Faces Black Hole. Urgency of speech increases) Who is standing by my side?!
Black Hole: Questions burn, remain unknown. WHY ARE THOSE OF YOURS MY OWN??
Black Hole and Neutron Star (together, facing audience) No matter what’s concealed, denied (Cross lights up) MAY ALL NOW STAND UP BY OUR SIDE!
Sweet Honey’s “Patchwork Quilt” plays softly as the quilt scene proceeds slowly, thoughtfully, tentatively.
Black Hole: Your quilt…it reminds me of something…
Neutron Star: You have a quilt like mine…but it’s lost on Neptune.
Black Hole: That makes sense…but it’s crazy. Anyhow I can’t ever get back to Neptune.
Neutron Star: As you are so fond of saying, the answer exists in the act of questioning. In memory of the one you lost on Neptune, make another. (Hands of the Forgotten are seen waving through the Nothing) Look for the Forgotten you find here on Earth. Bring them together and let them speak out. (Points to where the Forgotten are concealed)
Sound effects, Cross blinks, strobe light inside the Nothing. SuperNova comes running from behind audience with barricade tape and tries to wrap up Black Hole. Neutron Star helps Black Hole resist, and they prevail. SuperNova runs off stage, laughing demonically.
SuperNova’s (Oshun’s?) role here is paradoxical: to trigger resistance through the threat of assimilation and continued concealment. The action draws Neutron Star (Ancestors) into resistance. She thus creatively manipulates the situation to allow the liberation of the Forgotten by drawing Neutron Star into cooperation with Black Hole. I believe this is flat out prophetic of what happened as a result of my experiences with the Missing Yemenite Children’s Affair, which led to my return from Israel and investigation of my family history.
Sweet Honey’s “I Be your Water” begins. Black Hole and Neutron Star bring out the Forgotten, (ideally seven, six with candles and one with a globe, representing the Forgotten in society) and wash them off. The Forgotten sit in front of Sweet Pea. The music stops and Neutron Star reaches inside of Sweet Pea.
Black Hole: What…what are you doing?
Neutron Star: Creating a new world. I need you to join me.
Supernova tries to grab a Forgotten. Black Hole prevents it. SuperNova dwindles down. Blackout.
At the time of the play, I knew nothing of the concealed history on my father's side of the family. Since I believed the Forgotten to be Jews on my mother's side, this portends my actions against the assimilation of Jews. SuperNova;s action is intended to elicit Black Hole's reaction.
The Forgotten move into the audience, six in and around audience, one center with globe.
Forgotten and Cast: The end-or the beginning-the answer exists in the act of questioning!
Sweet Honey’s “Babethandaza” begins loudly. Everybody dances and throws confetti out of Sweet Pea.
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