Plays

Fear Junkies

a play in one act

Lee Strauss

CAST OF CHARACTERS

THE GROUP (JOHN, SALLY, MARGE, PETER, MICHAEL, CINDY, AND MAX)

A TALL ECTOMORPH

A BEAST OF A MAN

AWITCH DOCTOR

A LITTLE FELLOW

SYNOPSIS

The entire action takes place in one scene, punctuated by two blackouts. The stage is bare of furnishings throughout the play.

ACT ONE

Scene One

House lights out, stage lights dim, THE GROUP, onstage, seated in semi- circle facing downstage, is in a pose of suspended animation.

Music: The song “Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)” by Bob Dylan is heard in its entirety. Next, after the briefest pause, “You Keep Me Hanging On,” by The Vanilla Fudge (be- ginning, not with the initial drumbeats, but with the subsequent, mournful wail of the organ) is heard in part:

“Set me free, why don’t ya, babe Get out my life, why don’t you, babe You really don’t want me, Ya just keep me hanging on You really don1t need me, Ya just keep me hanging on

“Why do ya keep comn’ around Playing with my heart Why don’t ya get out of my life And let me try to make a new start

Let me get over you, the way you’ve gotten over me …

Set me free … “

At the second chorus of “set me free,” lights come up to reveal THE GROUP,

a broad semi-circle of hippy types,

on the young side, somewhat shaggy, maybe a little tired but still hope

-ful. The impression they should give is not one of disaffection or rebel- liousness but rather a combination

of nervous expectanty.and calm reso- lution. They have joined in the song at the second chorus of “set me free,”

go through the same lyrics just;: heard from the record, once again,

but without any musical back-up. The main components of their singing should’ be a wistful longing and a slight but clearly marked sense of weariness, as

if this is not the first song they’ve sung tonight, that they’ve been here singing for quite some time, and that each of them secretly wouldn’t mind terribly if they were to stop. As

they finish singing “Let me get over you, the way you’ve gotten over me,” they do stop, rather abruptly and with mild surprise and bewilderment at their own cessation.

Pause

John

(In tones of confident leadership) He’s coming. I’m sure of it.

Sally

(A little whiny) But when?

Marge

(Echoing)

Yeah!?

Peter

(Coming to John’s aid and the aid of the group calmly, stolidly, reassuringly)

He’s coming.

They fall into silence, exhibiting any and/or all expressions along the spectrum between certainty and doubt.

Offstage left is heard a whish of sound.

John

(Looking in the direction of the sound)

There!

.-;

Michael (Concurring, torn between doubt and hope) Something.

Cindy

(Exuberantly) He’s coming!

Max

(Can be either a man or a woman) He’s here!

A tall, ectomorphic, wide-eyed young

man enters from downstage left, wheeling a bicycle. He need not necessarily be charismatic, but neither is he unattrac- tive. He is casually dressed and has brown hair worn unconventionally long.

He is clearly a fellow used to keeping his own counsel. Slowly, deliberately, and pleasantly, he walks his bike across the front of the stage while THE GROUP watches his progress mutely, attentively, and gratefully. He parks his bike down- stage right and quietly crosses back to downstage center, where he turns to face THE GROUP, his back to the audience.

There is a moment of silence while THE GROUP waits and watches, expectantly. The young man, pleasantly and gently, seemingly uses the time to relax. His hands hang loosely, easily at his sides. When he finally speaks, the majesty of his intonation should come in striking contrast to the informality of his bear~

ing.

Young Man

Om!

Immediately following the young man’s utterance, his word is echoed, first from offstage left, then from offstage right—whether achieved mechanically or by human voice, the delivery of the three “oms” should be swift and and the effect reminiscent of Chinese gongs.

At this point the faces of THE GROUP “light up” and begin to “glow in rapture.” But just in the middle

of this the stage lights go out

and the room is plunged into dark ness. The following dialogue, played in the dark, takes on a general char- acter of strident mournfulness.

Cindy

Where is he?

Marge

(In the voice of an abandoned child) He’s gone!

Cindy

He can’t be!

Sally

We’ve waited so long!

There is the sound onstage of the bicycle kickstand being kicked up

and the bicycle being wheeled back offstage from right to left. This

is followed by a moment’s pause.

Then the sound of heavy, methodical footsteps is heard to cross the stage, starting down and offstage left and stopping downstage center. There is another brief pause and then, sud- denly, blazingly, the stage lights come on again. The scene is ident-

ical to that upon which the lights went out, except that the bicycle

has disappeared and in the place of the first fellow stands a hulking beast ofa man, hairless and naked from the chest up. He wears tight bulging black pantaloons and a wide red sash. His huge bare back is turned to the audience and he is

bald except for a tuft of black hair that rises in a spout above the center of his head. He wears a thick gold

ring in his right ear and holds a dazzlingly efficient-looking long thick black whip in his right hand. He gives the impression of Taras Bulba transported to the galley of a slave ship.

Upon seeing him, THE GROUP, caught off guard by the suddenness of his appearance, the bright lights, and the switch, reacts suspiciously.

The new man waits until he feels “this has gone on long enough.” His attitude here, like that of the former fellow, is one of a certain nonchalance. Then, just as they seem about to rise up against him and speak, he falls to his knees, bows his head, and begins to sob. The reaction of THE GROUP is immed- iate, utter surprise. Wide-eyed, open-mouthed, and mute, they sit and watth as the lights slowly fade to black.

There follows a pause just long enough for the room to catch its breath, after which, as gradually as the lights went down, the beat of a drum wells up into room. As technically difficult as this may be for some theaters, the effect should most closely approximate that

of the sound of a subway welling up from underground. The exact location of the sound’s origin should be as hard to determine as possible. Rather, it should pervade the room, insidiously rather than pointedly. Similarly, the beat at first is slow and merciless, almost luxuriously so. (As it speeds up, it retains its luxurious quality.)

Abruptly once again, the lights come up. THE GROUP is still there, but their entire demeanor is changed. They are still waiting expectantly, but as an, audience would for a movie to begin. Somebody is even holding a box of pop- corn and munching.

Center stage left A WITCH DOCTOR enters, naked but for a grass skirt and wearing a mask. The mask should be as terrify-

ing as possible, with one condition— it should be so constructed that the

natural expression of THE WITCH DOC-” TOR’S eyes and mouth are fully visible.

In his right hand he holds a red “baton”

with thick black feathers loosely but

firmly tied, like miniature headdresses,

at either end. He handles the “baton” like a rattle, at times flicking it expressively back and forth, with various wrist and arm action.

At first, however, the terror of THE WITCH DOCTOR’S countenance is belied by the movement of his body and the expression of his eyes;” for there is something very gingerly about the way

he crosses to downstage center. The drums continue to pour out their fate- ful ambiance, but there should initially be something about this guy that makes us look at him askance.

Reaching downstage center, he turns, but this time to face the audience, with THE GROUP at his back. For a moment he looks out at the audience disconsolately; then, in the attitude of a small boy asking his father if it’s all right to go out and play with his friends, he asks:

Witch Doctor

(To the audience)

Is it ok? ”

The Group

(Immediately, altogether, and with the urgency of an audience having been kept waiting too long for the show to begin)

Yes!

At this THE WITCH DOCTOR whips his

head back frantically over his shoul- der to look at THE GROUP. They return his fearful stare mutely and motion- lessly, but looking for all the world at that moment like loving, approving, expectant parents. THE WITCH DOCTOR swings his head back around with a blank look on his face and again stares

out into the audience.

Suddenly, he breaks into an eager-to-please grin and begins to do a soft shoe. As he does so, he alternately looks down at the audience, grinning more and more broadly, constantly “checking” himself and then their reaction, back and forth. These shenanigans are suddenly cut short by THE GROUP.

The Group

(Shouting in unison, in the spoiled, angry, slightly fright- ened voice of a little girl telling her brother he’s doing something the wrong way)

No!

At this THE WITCH DOCTOR stops as though kicked. For a moment he looks sheepish. Then, as though he just thought of something, he once again throws his head back over his shoulder to look at THE GROUP, but this time angrily. But THE GROUP, in every way, remains stolid in it’s spoiled, angry “little girlness.” Slowly, still angrily,

but still defeatedly. THE WITCH DOCTOR

brings his head around to face the audience again. When it is all the way back around,

it is lowered.

After a beat, he lifts up his head to look murderously out at the audience, and, slowly, methodically, like the drums, he again begins to_dance. But there is no longer any endearing pathos to his efforts. Everything about him now is as slow and merciless as the

drumbeat His expression and movement now intensify rather than mitigate the frightfulness of the mask. And, seemingly, just as he catches on to the flavor of the previous beat, the drums speed up,raising the lntensity of the dance. This pattern continues until THE WITCH DOCTOR is really moving.

From the start of THE WITCH DOCTOR’S second dance, THE GROUP may help in various ways to egg him on. But their single marching order here is that whatever they say must have as its sole intent the wish to “drive” sTHE WITCH DOCTOR into an ever-increasing bundle of sweat and threat.

meanwhile, they must remain wholly and “single-mindedly “audience” and never become “performers” themselves.

”

As the dance intensifies, THE GROUP lapses into silence. Between this point and the end of the play, they are transitioning toward an ultimate state of “suspended animation,” al- though they may variously project

a certain amount of fascination, hor- ror, etc., along the way.

Then, after the dance has reached its peak, a little fellow, plainly dressed and wearing a Mickey Mouse mask, enters from offstage right and crosses to about halfway between the left edge of the stage and centerstage. Slightly upstage of THE WITCH DOCTOR and well downstage of THE GROUP, he stop~ turned toward THE WITCH DOCTOR. In his hands he carries a set of big brass cymbals.

For another few moments, he indulgently watches THE WITCH DOCTOR, who has taken no notice of him. Then, without further ado, he loudly crashes the cymbals to- gether and unobtrusively turns and walks offstage right.

Immediately after the crash of the cym- bals, simultaneously, the drums stop, THE GROUP goes utterly and unanimously into a pose of suspended animation, and THE WITCH DOCTOR falls gratefully to

his knees. He then whips off his_mask, no longer “playing"" in smy,yray to any audience, to reveal a tired, sympathetic face. He sighs and gratefully wipes

the perspiration off his brow by cros- sing it with the back of’ his ‘fatigue- heavy right arm and hand, and there is a:

Blackout

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