PLAY #4: Getting By

There are two men on stage, standing very close to one another, as if they were on a crowded bus.

ESTRAGON (to the other man): “Are you trying to get by?”

OREGON: “Yes.”

ESTRAGON: “What do you do to get by?”

OREGON:  “Nothing.  I ask you to move. ”

Estragon moves slightly

OREGON: “See, I’m getting by now!”

ESTRAGON: “What’s it like?”

OREGON:  “Getting by, you mean?”

ESTRAGON: “Yes.”

OREGON: “It feels much the same as before I got by.”

ESTRAGON: “Why bother then?”

OREGON:  “Oh I don’t know.  It’s another place to stand.  A new viewpoint.”

ESTRAGON:  “Maybe I’ll try getting by without you.”

OREGON: “Can you do that?  Well, I suppose it’ll be easier than before.”

ESTRAGON (moving slightly): “Yes, I’m getting by fine now.”

PLAY #3: ONE SIDE

Scene: a living room, early evening

WIFE:  “I’m ready to go.”

HUSBAND:  “I can’t seem to move my left arm. It’s as heavy as lead.

WIFE: “What about your right?”

HUSBAND: “As light as cloud.”

WIFE: “How could this have happened?”

HUSBAND: “It must be that therapist I’ve been seeing.”

WIFE:  “Doctor Atlas?”

HUSBAND: “Yes.  He told me to put all my troubles to one side.”

WIFE:  “And you chose….?

HUSBAND: “The left side, yes.”

WIFE: “You’re being a bit literal, aren’t you?”

HUSBAND:  “Bodies ARE literal.”

(curtain)

Play #2: GOLDEN AIR

Sunlight floods the stage.

DARK POLLUTED MAN: “What is this golden air?”

RADIANT LITTLE GIRL: “It’s what we use for money.”

A bird lands on her upraised palm

BIRD: “You can’t fly through it.”

RADIANT LITTLE GIRL: “You have to cut it into cubes and stack it like bricks.”

DARK POLLUTED MAN (to bird):  “Light is too hard.”

BIRD (to the Dark Polluted Man): “Yes, too hard.”

(curtain)

Play #1: Conic Section

There is a large metal cone on stage.
Two men, the sculptor and a gallery-goer,
stand on each side of it, both on tiptoes in
order to see one another.

Gallery-goer (pointing at the cone): “It doesn’t seem enough.”

Sculptor:  “No, it’s enough. Actually, it’s too much.”

Gallery-goer: “How do you mean?”

Sculptor: “My wife and two children are under there.  And my dog,”

The dog barks. They both gaze balefully at the cone.

(curtain)