A.D...D
(FINAL-revised 3/08/06)
By Carol
Marshall
Characters
AD
(artistic director) aka Jason, 30’s/40’s maybe, and director of latest
production of “Death of a Salesman”)
Rick:
40ish playing Biff in Death of a Salesman.
Dave:
40ish Playing Willy Loman
Donna:
Playing Linda Loman-30/40ish
Props:
table and chairs. Cell phones and
newspapers
Opening, this is the first
rehearsal of a small theater production of “Death of a Salesman.” The Director,
AD, is talking about his ideas for the play.
As he is talking, he should be out there and sweating and speaking very
dramatically.
AD: Ok, the thing here is, not only do
I want you to dot your i’s and cross your t’s.
I want you to BE a crossed i…er....I mean a crossed t. Do you see?
Be like the edge of the petal of a rose, not JUST the rose. Ok? What I am
trying to say here is it’s easy to be the ...the soft part of a rose. It smells
nice, it’s appealing. But the essence of the rose isn’t the sweet smell,
or the lovely color. That’s like the false front of life, the mask we all
put on to look pretty to ourselves and the world. The essence is in the thorn
and the base and the stamen. (pause) Now we want to dive into rehearsals
like a crazed monk who hasn’t had a meal in weeks and smells like dirt.
Ok? Do you hear me? We want to rip them up by the sleeves and nail
them. Am I getting through people? Does anyone have any questions?
(Rick raises his hand. The AD ignores it. The
others nod. )
AD: (more
calm) Of course... Well... does one really have to explain why one does
Death of a Salesman ever? It’s an
American classic; it’s the meat of the rose, the stamen. I know that many people say it’s about
unbridled capitalism. I say yes...but
it’s also about Love. Unbridled Love that touches the soul, love of family,
love of the future. And the most
enigmatical kind of love, the love that comes from some irrepressible parts of
ourselves and the universe. The parts we can’t control. Like the wild animal baying for the moon,
like the bank teller yearning for the voluptuous bar maid, like me for that new
guy on General Hospital.. . (laughs to
himself!)
AD: Any questions?
(Rick raises his hand but
the AD ignores it)
AD: Now let's all sit in a circle and get to know each other a little
bit. (points to Dave) You start
Dave:
Ok, well my name is Dave Edwards. I’m playing Willy Loman, in my
last project I was Kevin the dancing bull on a local kids TV station.
AD: (points
to Donna) Great, now you.
Donna: Hi, I’m Donna Grason, I'm playing
Linda Loman. I’m excited about playing this character because I feel she
is an unsung- (AD cuts her off)
AD:
Ok, well we will talk character later, now you (points to Rick)
Rick: I’m Rick, Rick Mines. I’m playing Biff, Biff Loman. As you might also know I am the local weather
man on KTVU channel 2.
AD: Great...and of course you all of course
know me, I’m Jason Jones. I’m the Artistic director of this
establishment. This is my 4th season with this company. During my
tenure we have taken this place, from dare I say it, the sticks to some
respectability. I mean we may be small but I have gotten us reviewed again
and again by the Chronicle, and well reviewed I might add. Before that I
worked for the West Nile Theater company, where I was managing Director.
Before that... oh that reminds me, those idiots in marketing need my bio again,
like I haven’t given it to them a hundred times. Ok, I gotta run. Let's
take a quick five.
(AD exits)
Rick:
Didn't we just start?
Dave:
I just had a vision of the next four weeks of my life and it made “No
Exit” seem like a Baby Shower
Donna:
Come on it’ll be fun, we can explore our characters and the play itself
is beyond brilliant. (pause) I'm
gonna go grab a snack, see you shortly.
Rick: Do you think I should wear a piece
or dye my hair?
Dave: Dye your hair?
Rick: You know darker, Jay wants me to
Dave: Doesn't it strike you as odd that they
cast you?
Rick: What do you mean?
Dave: I mean, um...your playing Biff
Rick: Right...and?
Dave: You’re not a spring chicken Rick
Rick:
So and like you are
Dave:
But I’m playing Willy, it makes sense. In fact I really should be
older. I’m playing old. You are supposed to be the youth of America. Hi son!
Rick: Hi Dad….Well that’s the magic of
theater.
Dave: It will require more than illusion to
make you look like some high school jock, more like a complete hallucination
Rick: Thanks for the encouragement.
Dave: For this part to work the
audience isn't going to just have to displace reality, they are going to have
to hunt it down and kill it cold.
Rick: Very funny.
Dave: Oh
never mind. Let’s get some coffee
(They exit, and on the other side of the room,
we see the AD and Donna talking-it’s a few rehearsals later)
Donna: (starts
in midsentance) I mean rehearsals
are going great, the past few days I have learned so much, all I am saying is I
think Linda is longing for her kids to have more than she does-
AD: (not fully paying attention) Right sure, that works. Just
remember, that things are not what they seem. Its America, it’s life,
it’s the petals and the stamen of the rose.
Donna: Right, but do you think she is motivated
by her need to protect her kids or her husband.
AD: Good question...good
question...This reminds me of when Brent and I broke up last year. I kept
trying to get him to talk, “Brent, don't you want to go to the secret garden
with me." And he just would walk
out of the room, now how can someone work with that? So you see, it’s all
subjective here.
(Donna looks confused)
Donna: But wait, I want to talk about
character-
(AD interrupts)
AD: Just
grab some coffee and we will see how the scene shakes down ok? Let’s just do
it. All this idle talk will lead us nowhere...Look why don’t you just
take a little break.
Donna: (to the audience): Shouldn't
attention be paid to character?
(They go over to the other side of the stage
where Dave & Rick enter again and are starting to get ready to rehearse a
scene)
AD:
Ok, like I was saying yesterday, so the kitchen is like the passing era
they want to cling to. Willy is like a
lost pigeon in a sky filled with gray clouds of doubt. And Biff is like...trying to bring him home
in this scene. But Rick now remember to
play him forlorn, and yet with a touch of (searches
for words) American splendor. Yes,
he is lost in his own American Splendor.
(Cast starts to go to their
spots and AD gets lost in thought again)
Rick: Ok, so Willy has just returned home... So are they tense together
at this point?
AD: They
are father and son
Rick:
Right, but should I have the tension build up slowly do you think? But do I want him to make this obvious?
AD:
Define obvious! Ok don't be
afraid to dive into a moment of change, its startling and real for Biff,
perhaps for the first time in his life. It's not a slow muddy transition, it
happens bam on stage. Ok, take it from
“Then hang yourself…”
AD places actors in their
places-he's very exact; they begin doing a scene from Death of a Salesman
Dave: (as
Willy Loman): Then hang yourself! For spite, hang yourself!
Rick: (as Biff): No! Nobody's hanging himself, Willy! I
ran down eleven flights with a pen in my hand today. And suddenly I stopped
....I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw - the sky. I saw the
things that I love in this world. The work and the food and time to sit and
smoke.
AD: (raised voice to Rick) Wait wait
dammit. Didn’t I say fifty times that
you should stand here and go closer to him as you talk. I mean how many times do I have to say this?
Rick:
Ummm Ok, so you want me here, and not here… (short distance pointed
out)
AD:
Yes, that’s right, I said that last time. Alright, start again.
Dave: (again as Willy) Then hang yourself, for
spite hang yourself
AD: (to Dave) What are you doing with your
hand?
Dave:
What am I doing with my hand?
AD:
You are holding it like you are left-handed, see. Willy is NOT left-handed. That would make him unique. Willy is certainly NOT left-handed.
Dave:
I don’t see how the way I was holding it.
(AD interrupts)
AD:
So you want to sit and argue or do you want to do the scene?
(They go back in position
to do the scene)
AD: You know seeing you two there reminds
me of when I would go fishing with my Uncle. I hated to fish but I couldn’t
bring myself to tell him that. So I
would go and muddle through it. Ok,
well let’s get back to it.
Dave: (as Willy and obviously agitated by the last
story) Then hang yourself...
(AD interrupts again)
AD: Wait.
Dave: What? I need to just go
through it once. Do you have to stop me every time?
AD: (goes nuclear!!!) I’m trying to honor an American classic but
this is all about you! Ok, so you want to run the show? So let me get this straight, this is all
about you right? Paying attention to
the hand marks the difference between the hack and the artist ok! Am I making myself clear?
Dave: (Obviously sucking it in) Yeah...
AD: Look, I have the vision ok?
I call the shots, the hand is important.
Dave:
Fine fine...
AD:
Anyway- let's take a quick five.
(AD exits)
Rick:
Didn't we just take a break?
Dave:
I’m going to hang myself. Can
you tell me what I was doing with my hand?
Rick: I
don’t know, just forget about it, just forget it. You’re doing great. Let’s
just rehearse.
Dave:
Who the hell will notice whether Willy is left or right handed? What some Kindergarten teacher in the first
row?
Rick: Look it’s not important, just let it go.
Dave:
You know he called me last night.
Rick: He did?
What about?
Dave:
He wants me to play Willy with a slight limp. He says that he might have
had some sort of injury. He thinks it
could symbolize the injured soul he is.
Rick:
So maybe that could work.
Dave: I can’t do it, I mean if I walk with a limp
it's going to distract everyone from everything else I’m doing. I’m gonna look like a cross between Richard
the third and Jerry Lewis. I knew I
shouldn’t pick up the phone. I’m never
gonna get through this show if I don’t learn how to let the machine pick up...
(fade to black, Lights come up on Donna on
other side of the stage on the phone)
Donna: (on
the phone) Mom, Mom, sorry I haven't called, I have
been in intense rehearsals for a couple weeks. I’m playing Linda Loman. Hey and it’s actually giving me new focus
for my thesis. Yes, yes I’m getting
insights into the part I never had before.
Linda is this amazing woman, she really is. She is more than just a
wife. (pause) No of course there’s nothing wrong with
being a wife Mom. (pause) I didn’t say that.
(Pause) I didn’t mean that at all. (pause)
why do you turn everything into an issue about my reproductive
identity? Mom (pause) Mom (pause)
You’re giving me a headache you know that?
Can you let me talk about the thesis for 5 minutes? What do you mean I've been talking about it
for 5 years? Now was that nice? Ok I gotta run. Bye, mom.
(AD, Rick and Dave are rehearsing other side,
Donna enters)
AD:
Ok, so I want Dave here, and Rick here.
Donna you be sitting... (Donna
interrupts him)
Donna:
I don't know what this is--marketing just gave me this to give to you.
AD: What the fuck is this? (He reads
it) I have to what? (To Donna,
blaming the messenger) Why do *I* have to take some lines off my bio?
I'm the fucking artistic director. Why is it ME that has to do that? (pointing to Donna, she is backing off)
It should be some low paid loser in the front office. Who asked me to do this?
(Donna is freaked out by now)
WHO? (back to the actors) Alright I gotta go, God I’m an asshole at
times. I can be such an ass, why do you all put up with me? (Smiles and exits)
Dave: (loudly
to the door after he exits) CAUSE WE WANT THE PART DICK BRAIN
Rick: Dave, come on, calm down.
Dave: It would just be nice to have one
normal rehearsal, just ONE. That is all I ask. Where we get through an
entire scene without a tantrum or a personal bull shit story, just ONCE!
IS THAT ASKING TOO MUCH?
Donna: Look, let's just work on this ourselves
ok?
Dave:
I’m thinking of quitting
Rick: the show?
Dave: No, I wouldn’t do that to you guys, no I
mean the theater...I mean altogether. I
can’t take this anymore. The demands on
your time, the rejection, the total idiots.
I mean...I don’t need this you know?
Rick: Oh come on, you say this every year
Dave: No I mean it this time, this is my last
show. That’s it
Donna; Right, and I’m going to finish my
Doctorate, I mean come on everything in life involves frustration.
Dave:
It’s more than that, I mean I wake up in the middle of the night afraid
he is going to decide some weird new thing he wants me to do. Like he wants me to play Willy wearing Lycra
Spandex, or that he has a foot fetish or wears garlic around his neck for
kicks. I can’t predict this guy and his
ideas come out of nowhere... Do you
know in my last play with him, he made me wear women’s underwear cause he thought
it might help me get in touch with my feminine side? I forgot I had it on once and I went to gym and dropped trou and
you should have seen the guy’s face next to me. No, I can’t take this anymore. I just want a God damned normal
life!
Rick: Oh you won’t quit, what the hell else
are we going to do? Go to our day jobs,
come home, feed the goldfish? You’ll be back.
Dave:
No really he has drained every creative juice out of my body. It’s all that I can do to read the script
anymore. I feel like a man on the run,
ducking corners so he won’t see me and tell me some new directional!
(Dave goes and sits down face in his hands.)
Rick:
Look, I know it takes some, well patience, but doesn’t everything that
matters? Remember how we got through
that production of “Thelma and Louise-the Musical,” We just laughed remember?
Even through the alleged shop stopper “Drinking and Driving Their Way to
Love. (singing part of the song now) “they are drinkin’ like fishes, tired of
just doin’ dishes” We said if we
survive this we can survive anything? You were my trooper then. What’s our credo? Come on, what’s our credo?
Say it....
Dave:
(Quietly) “When they are
completely nuts, just drink more”
Rick: What?
Dave: (Louder) When they are completely nuts
just drink more.
Rick: That’s my guy! Look we’ll be back. We’ll always be back, I mean what the hell
else are we going to do on our weekends?
Now come on let’s just rehearse this scene, this is our last chance
before the opening show.
Fade
to Black…Lights come up. It’s the
next day after opening. Rick, Dave and
Linda are all sitting around.
Newspapers everywhere. Rick is
on the floor with a newspaper covering his head. Dave’s holding a newspaper. They’re tired. The play has opened.
Rick:
It’s hard to have a show after opening, you always are nervous about the
upcoming reviews.
Donna:
They can change an audience like that. We have all the reviews
here, the San Jose Merc, the Chron, the times…
Rick: I
still have a headache from the Opening Night party
Donna:
Listen to this (reads from a newspaper) “Dave Edwards reaches
levels of tragedy with Willy Loman that even Dustin Hoffman didn’t explore.”
Dave:
Well yeah!
Donna:
And then (reading again from the paper) “Edwards deft use of a
slight limp adds to Willy’s slip from his hold on reality”.
Dave: It worked, of course I MADE it work but
it worked...they liked it, they all liked it, I can’t believe it.
Donna : See I told you, if you hold on he’s a
good director. Like here, look at this
quote, “The production was superbly choreographed with the precise touch of a
master glass cutter.”
Dave: (stares at her and says VERY angry
pointing his finger)
Don’t
say that, don’t ever say that. With the indignities I have suffered to have to
hear he is a “good director” is more than I can bear.
Rick: Ok, true, this becoming a hit is the moral equivalent of the success of
Microsoft. But admit it, Dave, it’s a
good production. As much as we hate the
guy we love our careers....and the theater more.
Dave:
You know I saw a documentary on PBS about a big time Director who was
this great guy, he volunteered for the army in World War 2 before anybody, and
everybody loved him.
Rick:
That’s PBS, this is real life
Dave: Here’s the part of about you Mr. Real Life: (reads again from the paper) “Rick Mines
looks a bit old for the youthful Biff, his mature mien sitting uneasily on the
character's youthful impetuosity at first. But he soon rises above that
impression, drawing us in.” So you look a “bit old”.
Rick:
Fuck you.
Dave:
I don’t get it, is there no justice in the Universe? How the hell did this turn out to be
good? I haven’t slept in days. I started smoking again.
Donna: Look, it’s a great play, we’re good actors. The audience has no idea how crazy he
is...it makes sense it would turn out ok.
Rick: You
know I was thinking about it, it’s like he doesn’t exist without the audience.
Donna:
What do you mean?
Rick:
Well it’s like he experiences his compassion through them, like we are
part of his ...I don’t know, his...dream life and his real life is through
them.
(AD enters quickly,
clutching a newspaper)
AD: Thanks again guys. I know I did my speeches at the party but I
really can’t tell you enough how well opening went. Thanks, love you. Really do.
I know I don’t say it enough, but you gotta realize....I’m a lonely,
love starved son of a bitch...and yet oddly brilliant.... well you knew
that. But you really were
splendid. (He makes a yummy noise holding his paper)
(AD exits quickly)
Dave:
Where the hell is that left over champagne (he hunts for the bottle)
Donna:
You know next summer they are going to do Bus Stop.
Dave: Really, man.... I want to
audition for Bo
Donna: Aren’t you a little old?
Rick:
Around here I would say he’s just about right.
THE
END