Matt Freeman’s Genesis updates five medieval mystery plays to tell some of the most familiar stories from the Bible with an ingenious mix of old and new sensibilities. Freeman directed the play in a very particular, pointed way in its premiere, under the aegis of Handcart Ensemble, and happily he’s notated some of his staging ideas along with the text presented here.
MATTHEW FREEMAN was born in Bryn Mawr, PA in 1975, and was raised in both Boyertown, PA and Maplewood, NJ. He is a playwright who was inspired to enter the theatre after discovering the works of Samuel Beckett. He first trained as an actor at Emerson College in Boston, MA, where he received a B.F.A. in Acting. He is also a freelance writer and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
EXCERPT
Lucifer. Yea, why believest thou not me?
I would by no kind of ways
Tell nought but truth to thee.
Eve. And this truth thou tells -
Lucifer. That you have heard-
Eve. That it will bring no hurt
And eat safely I may.
For peril none lies inside
But advantage and good tidings.
For as my God I will be wise
And peer to Him in everything.
Lucifer. Yes, Eve. Thou listen
As well as a serpent can teach.
Eve. Ay, as God will we be
Of ill and good we may have knowing.
Lucifer. If you be as wise as he.
Eve. Then will I to thy teaching trust
And take this fruit unto our food.
Lucifer. Bite on boldly, be not abashed.
And make Adam too amend his mood
And enlarge his bliss.
(Exit Lucifer)
Eve. Adam, have here of fruit full good!
Adam. Alas, woman, why took’st thou this?
Our Lord commanded us both
To beware this tree of his.
Thy work will make him wroth:
Alas, thou hast done amiss!
Eve. Nay, Adam, grieve thee not at it,
And I shall tell the reason why:
A worm has given me to wit
We shall be as gods, thou and I,
If that we eat
Here of this tree. Adam, thereby,
Fail not this worship so to get,
For we shall be as wise
As God that is so great,
And also of the same great price.
Therefore, eat of this meat.
Adam. To eat it I would not eschew
Might I be sure of thy sayings.
Eve. Bite on boldly, for it is true:
We shall be gods and know all things.
We must to the sticking-place
Be stuck, and not ‘I dare not’
Wait upon ‘I would’ be new.
Adam. I will do that which becomes
A man and be thy mirror.
To win that name,
I shall taste it at they teaching.
(He takes and eats the fruit.)
Alas, what have I done? For shame!
I’ll counsel, woe worth thee!
Ah Eve thou art to blame,
To this hast thou enticed me –
And my body now fills me with shame.
For I am naked, as I think –
Eve. Alas, Adam, right so am I!
»
Greek myth and legend is represented here by David Johnston’s Eumenides, a startling take on the final play in Aeschylus’s Oresteia. It was originally conceived as the concluding third of an evening drawn from three playwrights in three different styles.
DAVID JOHNSTON is a playwright and actor. He was born in 1964 in Lexington, KY, and raised in Richmond, VA. He says he cannot remember a time when he did not want to be involved in the theatre. He earned a B.A. from the College of William and Mary, and a certificate of completion from the Professional Workshop at Circle in the Square Theater School. Johnston received a 2003 Arch & Bruce Brown Foundation Award for Candy & Dorothy, and a 2005 GLAAD Award nomination for Best Off-Off Broadway Production for Busted Jesus Comix. He has also received playwriting grants from both the Berrilla Kerr Foundation and the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation.
EXCERPT
PRIESTESS: Now let us praise the Goddess of the Earth, giver of all that is life sustaining.
(The EUMENIDES sniff the air and whisper, surrounding ORESTES without touching him. CLYTEMNESTRA watches silently from the darkness.)
ORESTES: Think of the net, Orestes.
PRIESTESS: Praises to the Law, which gives order to our mortal lives.
EUMENIDES #1 (a whisper): Matricide.
EUMENIDES #2: Matricide.
EUMENIDES #3: Matricide.
(They circle ORESTES.)
PRIESTESS (making the offering): Praises to the Law.
ORESTES: Think of the net. Away from his home. All those long years. My father. A hero. Fighting for his brother, his honor, his whore of a sister-in-law. Ten long years by the city walls. Ships wrecked heads split friends dead health shattered youth gone. And then home. Home. Think of the net, Orestes.
EUMENIDES #2: Matricide.
ORESTES: Think of the net.
PRIESTESS: And finally all honor and praise to Glorious Apollo.
(Lights up on the frozen figure of APOLLO. He smiles beatifically.)
Praise to our Glorious Lord Apollo!
EUMENIDES #1: Snake.
ORESTES" Home kingdom fire hearth servants who smiled at him Yes sir no sir. A hearty meal wine maybe his dog. A good faithful dog. Everyone loves dogs. Dogs are faithful.
EUMENIDES #2: Mother killer.
ORESTES: His children. Do they still love him? After all these years? Oh yes they love him. And let’s not forget…
EUMENIDES #3: Matricide.
ORESTES: The little woman.
CLYTEMNESTRA: Mother.
ORESTES: What did he want? A bath.
APOLLO: All will be well.
ORESTES: Hi honey I’m home. A nice warm bath. Don’t think of her.
CLYTEMNESTRA: Mother.
ORESTES: Don’t think of her.
CLYTEMNESTRA: And how much she loves you.
ORESTES: Don’t think of them.
EUMENIDES #1: Hi honey I’m home.
ORESTES: They’re not here. Don’t think of them. Don’t think of her.
APOLLO: All will be well.
ORESTE: I’m right. I’m right. I did right.
EUMENIDES #2: Right.
ORESTES: Nothing can harm you if you’re right.
APOLLO: All manner of thing will be well.
ORESTES: Just think of the net.
APOLLO: Go to sleep.
(The EUMENIDES collapse in a heap on the floor, snoring.)
»
The last of our “sacred” plays is from a much newer source: Michael Maeillo’s Principia is based, in part, on the mid-20th century phenomenon known as the Principia Discordia.
MICHAEL MAIELLO is a playwright and a very amateur stand-up comedian. He was born in College Point, Queens, and raised in Albuquerque, NM. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre, with a minor in English, from the University of New Mexico. He is a staff writer for Forbes Magazine, and lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn. ANDREW RECINOS is a composer and sound designer. He was born on September 11, 1971 in Vienna, VA, a suburb of Washington, D.C.. He attended Indiana University, where he received both a Bachelor’s degree in Composition, with a minor in Trumpet Performance, and a Master’s degree in Arts Administration. He is also a Senior Consultant for a technology company that supports performing arts organizations and other nonprofits across the country. Recinos lives in Portland, OR.
EXCERPT
(The exceedingly ordinary office of the America Can Company. KERRY is onstage. His fellow employees, here called Crewman #1, #3, #4 are busily working as Kerry reads a spreadsheet. We HEAR ambient office noise.)
CREWMAN 1: So, can we make quarterly earnings? We have to make quarterly earnings, you know. Your data will tell us if we’ll make quarterly earnings.
KERRY: I’m thinking. I’m trying to think.
CREWMAN 3: We’ve never missed quarterly earnings. Not once in twenty years.
CREWMAN 4: Kerry? Do you think we’ll make quarterly earnings? Do you, Kerry?
KERRY: I’m so sick of this. Do all of you find this interesting? (Nobody answers.)
Crewman 4: If we don’t make quarterly earnings then I think we should have a paradigm enhancement meeting.
CREWMAN 2: Sure, sure. A business strategy session where we can develop outside the box answers for our solutions team.
CREWMAN 3: I’ve always believed that we can more effectively leverage technology to enhance the stickiness of our on-line MRO portal.
KERRY: I think I need to look at these numbers again. I’m gonna have some lunch first. (Kerry grabs his lunch. He starts rooting through the bag.)
CREWMAN 2: Will you go to lunch? Will you go to lunch?
CREWMAN 1: You know, Kerry, if we make earnings they’re sure to buy us pizza.
(The MANAGER enters.)
MANAGER: How are those numbers looking, Kerry?
KERRY: My eyes are glazing over. I’ll let you know after lunch.
CREWMAN 2: Will you go to lunch?
MANAGER: I know what’ll speed you up. Let’s do the company cheer. Everybody! (Cheer) Who can?
CREWMAN 1, 3, 4: America can!
MANAGER: Who can?
CREWMAN 1, 3, 4: America can!
MANAGER: Now how you doing with those numbers, Kerry? What do you think they’ll look like when you’re done?
KERRY: It’s looking tight. It’s looking real tight.
MANAGER (With a sigh.): I see. I see.
(From his lunch sack Kerry removes a sandwich, a banana, a bag of chips, a soda and... to his surprise... a golden apple that says kalliste on the side of it. The apple amazes him.)
KERRY: Guys, look at this.
MANAGER: Is it the numbers? It’s the numbers.
KERRY: It’s a golden apple.
CREWMAN 4: A golden delicious?
KERRY: No. A golden hunk of... gold.
MANAGER: Delicious.
(As Kerry stares at the apple, transfixed, the scene undergoes an eerie change. The ambient office noise is replaced by the clicks, beeps and whirs of sounds from a 60s era science fiction show, okay, from Star Trek. The Manager takes his place on stage as if it’s the bridge of the Enterprise.)
MANAGER: Steady as she goes, Mr. Kerry.