MonoBROW Part One

This is something I've been meaning to post for a while now. Back in May I participated in a Monologue Slam as part of Intrepid Theatre's UnoFest. The concept appealed to me so I wrote and performed this piece:

Lillian and Vera (working title)

Lillian: Why can't you people just mind your own business? Why can't you all just hush? Hush up, I tell you! I won't stand for it anymore! Just shut up and play the damn game.
Natter-natter all night long. Some of us came here to play Bingo. Nothing but a bunch of sour old bitties. I can hear you! I may be going deaf, but I know when someone's talking about me. You think I haven't noticed? Not a one of you so much as says hello. Not to me nor to Vera. Not even you, Sophie. Shame on you! She's your sister. Used to be people came to Bingo to see their friends and family. It was a good night out. Now it's nothing but your gossip and greed. Oh, I know if it weren't me and Vera it would be somebody else. And don't think I don't see the way your eyes cut through me. You act like I've done something sinister.
Well, you will not chase me out. I have earned my place here. That's more than I can say for some of you. I have been a member of this legion for over 35 years. Both my brother and my husband served in the war. We worked hard to see this place become a community. But you wouldn't know what that is, would you? These young folks come in and you treat them like family, while Vera and I... You know there hasn't been anyone even sit near us for months. Look at you! All crammed into one side of the room so you don't have to be near us. We're not diseased you know!
Norma-Jean Foster, you shut your mouth! How dare you call yourself a Christian, spreading your hate around like that? Every time there's a rumor going around this place I don't have to look farther than you to know where it started. You think you're such a saint? You gossip and natter, spreading nothing but poison. Every last one of you is just as bad. You call yourselves a community! Bah! You wouldn't know community if it bit you.
You have got no sense of support of decency. What goes on in peoples' homes is their own business. You really think we're so different? I have worked hard all my life, I raised a family and made my contribution. My husband died. There isn't a day that passes that I don't wish the Lord had taken me first. My children have grown and moved away. It's only human that I wanted company. I was lonely. Lorraine married after Terrence died, didn't she? Moira's got her kids. I didn't have anyone. Well, nothing but a good friend. A best friend. And is that sin? I haven't done anything wrong. And I am not ashamed. I love Vera. Did you hear that? I love her. Love, the greatest gift God ever gave us. And you want to hate me for it? Well, it isn't me judging you at the end of the day is it?
***

This piece was inspired by a documentary I'd seen years and years ago about older women finding themselves in same-sex relationships after being widowed or divorced. These women seemed to be caught between worlds. Not many of them identified as lesbian, but the people around them labeled them as such. They simply loved each other and found comfort in each other's company.

I was also inspired by a night of Bingo with my parents. The small town legion hall was packed with retirees gambling away their pensions. There was also a lot of gossip, falseness and nasty looks going around. At one point a woman began screaming at the woman across the table from her to mind her own business. The hall was dead quiet for a few restless moments and then flared up as everyone began gossiping about what had just happened and the women involved. My parents had nasty nicknames for most of the people there. It was supposed to be a community, but they were all only there to win money or talk about each other behind each other's backs. It was frightening and sad.

I hope to develop this piece further, maybe into a full length script. There are so many stories here. This piece did not win the slam, I didn't even place in the second half. The competition was fierce and mine was the only dramatic piece. I am still proud of it and the conversation it started there. It will be interesting to see where it goes.

If this sort of event interests you stay tuned for MonoBROW Part Deux as part of this year's Victoria Fringe Festival. I'm already signed up and have started writing.

Some Interesting Things

I first heard about Polly Morgan at work the other day. My boss mentioned something about Courtney Love freaking out over a moving crew throwing out an expensive piece of art which happened to be a taxidermied chick in a match box. I was instantly enthralled. Not by another of Ms. Love's tirades, but rather by the macabre and alluring idea of fine art taxidermy. Call me creepy, but I like it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polly_morgan/
(too bad her website doesn't seem to be working... http://www.pollymorgan.co.uk/ )

Another artist I came across was Guilherme Marconi, a Brazilian illustrator. You may recognize some of his art from various ad campaigns including Nike and Absolut Vodka. While I am not a fan of advertising in general, I still enjoy Marconi’s style and intricate images. I have always had a fondness for images in which I can see others. You know, things that look like other things? The abstract, perhaps. I also dig repetition and manipulations. Or maybe I just like weird art (and if we consider who I've dated... well, that's another story isn't it?).


http://www.marconi.nu/



And finally, I had a thrilling and fulfilling experience after Atomic Vaudeville last night. The show was a success and the usual merriment began, but just as I thought it would be the same old Saturday with AV a young lady starting teaching everyone how to Double Dutch. Now, I am not a very athletically inclined person (nor am I terribly coordinated) so the idea of jumping over two skipping ropes that are turning in opposite directions had me backing slowly away. Sure, I used to jump rope like it was nobody’s business, but that was 1989. I’d also never been successful at Double Dutch, even at that tender age, and I just took it as my lot. I mean, we can’t be masters of everything, right? Well, twenty years later the crowd is cheering and the ropes are turning. The pressure is building as everyone asks, “are you going to try it?” and I realize I’m the only one who hasn’t.

Call it peer pressure, exhibitionism or being a little bit drunk, but I suddenly had to do it. The hypnotic rhythm of the ropes clicking against the floor awoke the nine year old in me and I flung myself at their mercy. Our instructor was concise, the crowd was supportive and I was nervous as hell. My first attempt was a disaster with me running into the fray and getting tangled in the ropes, but by attempt number five I was flying!! I ran in and suddenly my feet lifted and there was no turning back. I was caught up in the magic spell, and it was easy. I was nine years old again with the spring breeze blowing my hair triumphantly behind me and the patter of school yard rhyme dancing on my lips, no one could stop me!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Dutch_(jump_rope)