The Smallest Wolves
Character Descriptions:
JOSEPHINE - She/her/hers. Any race. 19, goes by Jo. LGBTQ. Resilient, physically strong, a group leader. In a pack of wolves, she is the stoic alpha. Sporty. A tennis player.
MAX - She/her/hers. 20, goes by Max. Sensitive, stoic, longing for success, quietly perseveres against all odds. In a pack of wolves, she is the one who would find shelter and food for the others. A ballerina and a star academic.
STEPHANIE - She/her/Hers. Any race. 19. Goes by Stevie. Comes from a devout Jewish family, but is secular herself. Cruel yet kind. She’s a broken soul with a cynical attitude and a lust for the darker things in life. Has a bit of a drinking problem. Is battling with a past that haunts her. In a pack of wolves, she’d be the one to save the pack from a bear. No skills that she knows of yet...She’s still figuring her shit out.
DANNIELLA - She/her/hers. Any race. 19. Suffers from Torticollis, a rare back and neck condition. Goes by Danny. Unnoticed, funny, kind, loves the beauty of the natural world. In a pack of wolves, she’d take the caboose and make sure no one is left behind. The visual artist.
ALEXANDRA - She/her/hers. Any race. 20. Goes by Alex. Dreamy, lost in her own mind, hears the world instead of see’s it. Searching for validation in all the wrong places. In a pack of wolves, she’d howl into the night to send a signal to others. The singer/songwriter.
ANNA PAVLOVA/SWAN - She/her/hers. A version of Anna Pavlova...The swan is symbolic of Anna Pavlova, but not exactly her. Elegant and ethereal with a bite. Prima Ballerina.
ANNE FRANK/WOLF - She/her/hers. Jewish. A version of Anne Frank...The wolf is symbolic of Anne Frank but not exactly her either. Sweet and childlike, but when the wolf appears, powerful and frightening. Just a young girl with a wise and curious soul.
BILLIE HOLIDAY/SINGING LARK - She/her/hers. Black. POC. A version of Billie Holiday...The singing lark is symbolic of Billie Holiday. Wise, worldly, see’s the world for what it really is. Heart is open and listening. Has had her cross to bear. Knows what pain feels like. speaks through prose and song. Singer.
BILLIE JEAN KING/FLYING SQUIRREL - She/her/hers. LGBTQ. A version of Billie Jean King...The Flying Squirrel is symbolic of Billie Jean King. Energetic, A-type personality, a fighter and a champion. Tennis Player, advocate for women’s rights.
FRIDA KAHLO/MONARCH BUTTERFLY - She/her/hers. Latina. POC. Coyoacán, Mexico City. A version of Frida Kahlo...The Monarch Butterfly is symbolic of Frida Kahlo. Fearless, thoughtful, strong in the face of adversity, optimistic. Visual artist.
Setting:
A campsite in Taos, New Mexico. A place in the woods where magic mixes with nature and darkness mixes with light. About 30 - 40 minutes outside of the town they grew up in.
Time:
Summer, 2018
Note on Casting: Although all of the characters are female identifying, feel free to cast however you’d like. The identities of these characters are very entrenched in the essence of the fem experience, but this can be portrayed by any binary or non-binary identifying person.
The actors playing the five shadow women, aka, “Anna Pavlova, Anne Frank, Billie Holiday, Billie Jean King, and Frida Kahlo,” also play the animals that represent them. These animals are not necessarily the exact representation of these women, but rather encompass similarities to them. They are not necessarily the women re-incarnated, but they are symbolic of them.
Note on the world of the play:
This play stems from a place of realism. The characters are real people facing real issues. The magical surrealist elements are there to enhance and magnify the triumphs and tribulations of their lives and shouldn’t overshadow the arcs of these characters, but rather act as a metaphor and as an illumination of what they are facing. There are so many elements of our lives that we can’t explain and this is where magic mixes with reality.
Feel free to create this play with as much or as little design and production! It does not have to be literal! For instance, the animals can be played by actors, puppets, cgi, REAL LIFE ANIMALS! Whatever! This goes for the moths, as well. As for setting, that is also up to interpretation. It can be outside in the woods at night...On top of a mountain, inside of someone’s bedroom, or on a stage. The possibilities are endless!
SCENE 1: LADY SINGS THE BLUES
(Jo is chopping wood. An orange moon hangs over her. Max comes in holding a bundle of sticks in her arms. Stevie runs in holding a handle of Jose Cuervo. She opens the bottle and hollers “Wooo!” and then takes a pull. Danny comes in, sits on a log, and lights a cigarette. She pulls out a notepad and draws. Alex comes in humming. She gets a text. She angrily looks at her phone. The fire ignites, finally. A shift in atmosphere. Reality slows. Five moths fly around them. One flies into the fire and burns up. Another one falls from the sky and dies. The two other moths fly into the fire. Embers fill the sky. Anne Frank, Anna Pavlova, Billie Jean King, Billie Holiday, and Frida Kahlo enter behind the girls as if they are shadows of them. They speak out towards the audience.)
MAX
I wanna run away. I wanna run away from everything. I had so much “potential.” I look at my mom, drunk and stumbling, and I wonder if it would just be easier to follow her lead?
ANNA PAVLOVA
In Russia, the men always lingered around us, staring at the hem of our skirts. But we were too focused to care. Too meticulous in our practices. We built castles with our hopes and dreams, while they objectified us, belittled our dreams, and spat at our hopes.
ANNE FRANK
On my thirteenth birthday, my father bought me my first diary. I thought “Now, this is what it means to be a real teenager.” I’m going to document my life...I’ll draw hearts around the names of boys who I fancied.
ALEX
(Singing)
Waves are like an engine, fueling my veins with saltwater like an island lost out at sea. I try to remember when we had no shoes, we stuck together like glue.
Waiting for the snow to freeze our tiny bones.
Waiting for the snow.
JO
We’re hiking up this mountain...Because our friend Marley died, and she loved these mountains.
STEVIE
I’m scared, a lot of the time, that I’m a monster. That there’s this thing inside of me fueled by fire...But really I’m just a young person, who made a mistake.
JO
Because she always wanted to hike these mountains with us. And so, we planned this trip. I brought her ashes up here...To spread them at the top. Marley was my universe, pretty much.
BILLIE JEAN KING
I realized I wanted to do something great with my life. Something bigger than cooking and cleaning and popping out babies.
MAX
“I’m an academic. I’m a vessel for greatness. I’m going to do amazing things”….Bullshit. I’m a baby born from a gin soaked womb.
DANNY
When I was born, I came out crooked.
FRIDA KAHLO
At first, I am just a passenger on a bus...And then CRASH. The bus collides with a trolley. I was confined to my bed for three months.
DANNY
I later found out that I was twisted permanently. I couldn’t join the soccer team, or dance ballet. So I painted instead.
FRIDA KAHLO
My father placed a mirror above my bed so I could study myself, study my condition, and then paint it.
BILLIE HOLIDAY
(Singing “Lady Sings the Blues”)
Lady sings the blues
She’s got them bad
She feels so sad
Wants the world to know
Just what the blues is all about.
ALEX
I’m always seeking validation. Mostly from men. I’ll be at a party and I’ll look across the room and see this guy, indistinguishable from the rest, and he’ll look at me with this twinkle in his eye, and I feel really desired...And also, I hate men at the same time...It’s very confusing.
BILLIE HOLIDAY
I search for escape in the darkest places. The world feels different when I’m wrapped up in a warm blanket of heroin. Like I’m erasing the past. The motherfucking past is a bitch. Keeps biting me in the ass.
STEVIE
“Stevie failed her test AGAIN. Stevie didn’t get into a school. Stevie can’t do anything. Stevie should probably just give up”...So I did. I really have no skills.
BILLIE JEAN KING
So I had an epiphany. And like a ball floating through the air, I soared.
FRIDA KAHLO
I paint flowers so they will not die. Nothing is absolute. Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away.
DANNY
I don’t want to burden anyone with my pain, so I keep quiet about it.
BILLIE JEAN KING
White men in white tennis shoes in white tennis shirts holding the court like they were kings of the castle...I wanted to make a change. Wear bright yellow, hot pink, crimson red, on a court filled with women. Like queens of the castle.
JO
Before Marley died, I played tennis. I wanted to be stronger than all of the boys on my team. I used to hit the tennis ball so high in the sky people would gasp.
MAX
I’m a dancer! That’s what they always said! Now I can’t even muster the strength to get out of bed in the morning.
ANNA PAVLOVA
When I got Pneumonia, the doctors wanted me to undergo surgery. They said I’d never dance again, so I told them “If I can’t dance, I’d rather die.”
ALEX
I’m a singer...I even write my own songs, but I’m too afraid to share them with anyone...I’ll never be under a spotlight at Carnegie Hall...Right now my biggest audience is in my head.
BILLIE HOLIDAY
(Singing “Lady Sings the Blues”)
The blues ain’t nothing but a pain in your heart
When you get a bad start
BILLIE JEAN KING
When I'm on the courts, I’m an equal. My body is my own. I don’t belong to anyone.
BILLIE HOLIDAY
My body is not mine. My body belongs to Hollywood, to the glamorization. My body was never mine from the moment I was born.
MAX
And my heart?
STEVIE
The heart is just a vessel pumping blood.
MAX
My heart feels locked up.
JO
I was taught to keep it hidden.
MAX
We’ll figure it out...Maybe this is just what it is for now?
(The shadow women exit. Time begins to speed up again. The fire almost goes out.)
SCENE 2: IF YOU’RE THE MOON, I’LL BE THE MILKY WAY
JO
Fuck.
(Jo runs to the fire and blows on it till the flames re-ignite.)
MAX
Do we have any lighter fluid?
JO
We didn’t pack it.
MAX
That’s dumb.
JO
It wasn’t my responsibility! I was in charge of the food! Remember the spread sheet… “Jo equals food. Max equals campsite necessities, including but not limited to: Tent, trash bags, first aid kit, LIGHTER FLUID.”
MAX
Jo, can you please get off my back about the damn spreadsheet…. (Under her breath.) We’re going to die out here. We’re going to die out here from hypothermia. Great.
(Stevie paces back and forth, looking up at the moon.)
STEVIE
Something about this moon makes me feel really primal, like I’m an alpha wolf...I feel like I’m like-
(She stops and howls at the moon like a rabid animal.)
STEVIE
(Cont’d. Speaking to the girls.)
Where are my wolves?! Don’t you hear me calling for you! Owwwoooo!
(Stevie howls. The others, with the exception of Jo and Max, howl at the moon. Max and Jo give up and join in.)
STEVIE
(Cont’d.)
I am the Alpha wolf! And you are my pups! No, no, I am the moon, and you all are my stars.
(Jo runs to Stevie and howls in her face.)
JO
No, I’m the alpha wolf!
STEVIE
No fucking way, I’d rip you to bits with my sharp teeth in seconds.
(She bites Jo on the shoulder.)
JO
Jesus Stevie...You just drew blood.
STEVIE
Told ya. (She spots the lake in the distance.) I’m taking my clothes off and getting into the lake.
(She takes a swig from the bottle of Tequila. She takes layers off.)
DANNY
I will not be going skinny dipping.
STEVIE
Don’t be so prude!?! Free. the. NIPPLE!
(Stevie takes her top off.)
DANNY
Stevie, put your shirt back on.
(Stevie rolls her eyes and puts her shirt back on.)
STEVIE
You guys are like-like nazi mormons...What should we do? Make a prayer circle and read scripture?
MAX
Ya know Stevie, if you’re the moon, I’ll be the milky way.
ALEX
And I’ll be a giant comet that crashes into the earth obliterating everything.
MAX
That’s really grim.
(Stevie and Max drink from the bottle. Alex walks over to Jo. She whispers to her so that the girls can’t hear. The others keep running around like animals.)
ALEX
Do you have Marley’s ashes?
JO
I put them in the food bag.
ALEX
The food bag?
JO
Just- Stevie still doesn’t know that we brought her up here...I intentionally didn’t share the spreadsheet with her, because I didn’t want her to like freak out about the ashes and think we were like trying to attack her, ya know?
ALEX
I think we should tell her.
JO
She didn’t even show up to her funeral. Every time we bring up Marley’s death, she thinks it’s a personal attack on her.
ALEX
Well, it kinda is on some level.
JO
Please don’t tell her.
(Jo walks away from Alex. Stevie’s phone goes off. She hushes everyone and answers it.)
STEVIE
Hi, mom...Mommmmmmm? (Aside.) God this woman. (She takes a swig from the bottle.) MOM, CAN YOU HEAR ME? No, we’re fine! Yes. We have a fire. Yes, I put on the sunscreen. I reapplied! Mom, it’s night time...Yes, I’ll put it on first thing in the morning. (Danny runs over and howls into the phone. Stevie playfully slaps her away.) I’ll talk to you later!
MAX
How’s Janice?
STEVIE
Still neurotic. Still has a major stick up her ass...Still controlling my every move.
JO
She definitely planted a chip in your brain.
STEVIE
Whatever...She can’t track me out here. (Takes another swig.) I’m like a legally adult person, ya know? If she doesn’t stop controlling me now, what then? Will I be forty-five with a curfew? It’s probably because I’m missing the seder. “Oy gevalt, are you mashugana, Stevie! Leaving your poor old baba on what could be his last Pesach (Pay-sock) ever!”
MAX
She cares is all. You’re lucky she cares.
STEVIE
She doesn’t trust me is what it is! She fills me with all of this guilt...Like, sorrrrry I’ve never had to face something as tragic as the holocaust, it doesn’t make my problems any less.
MAX
You’re overreacting.
STEVIE
Oh, really Max? Coming from you, that’s unbelievable.
MAX
What is that supposed to mean?
STEVIE
Well, you’re perfect….And you’re always freaking out about your life. You’re the one who overreacts.
MAX
No, believe me, I am not perfect.
STEVIE
Yes. You are. You’re this perfect specimen. You’ve never done anything wrong and you’re like this star academic.
MAX
I have my dark shit to bear with just like everyone else.
STEVIE
I don’t buy it.
MAX
I have to drop out.
JO
What?
MAX
Yup...Something about my dad being laid off. Something about paying my mom’s rehab bills. Something like that.
(A silence lingers. Stevie starts fake weeping.)
JO
Stevie! Stop!
STEVIE
Ohhh, perfect little Max, can’t go to her perfect little ivy league school…You’re a fucking prima donna! YOU’VE NEVER FACED ANYTHING REAL IN YOUR LIFE!
(Max stands and runs towards Stevie and pushes her down.)
MAX
Shut the fuck up, stevie! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!
(Max storms off. Stevie sits on her ass laughing. Alex starts to chase Max. Her phone goes off. She checks it.)
ALEX
(Aside. To herself.)
Stop texting me!
JO
Alex, what’s going on?
ALEX
He keeps texting me.
DANNY
Who?
(Alex looks at her phone. A moth floats by. She stares at it.)
JO
Alex?
(No answer.)
JO
(Cont’d.)
ALEX? What are you doing?
(Beat. Alex re-focuses.)
ALEX
I-I- Sorry, I just uh-
DANNY
You did that weird thing where you just like, go away.
ALEX
Yeah...I-
JO
Where do you go?
ALEX
I don’t know…...Sorry.
JO
Come here. Come sit with us. I’ll go find Max soon. Give her some time to decompress.
(Alex sits next to them.)
STEVIE
(Aside. Under her breath.)
High strung fucking Prima Donna.
DANNY
Stevie, that was really uncalled for. All that stuff you said to Max. You know you don’t have to always be so vicious.
STEVIE
Lighten up! Max is way too sensitive! That’s how I joke! You all need to grow a pair.
(Beat. Stevie looks at the fire with a fury. Something overtakes her. She runs full throttle and jumps over the fire pit.)
STEVIE
(Cont’d.)
Woah.
DANNY
You are incredibly bad shit crazy, you know that right? Like psychologically ill.
STEVIE
I’M HAMMERED!
(The girls laugh. They sit around the fire passing the bottle. Alex’s phone goes off again. She gags loudly.)
DANNY
What now?
(Alex shows Danny her phone.)
DANNY
(Cont’d.)
OH MY FUCKING GOD. THAT’S DISGUSTING!
(Stevie and Jo go to see what it is.)
STEVIE
Ahhhh! It looks like a baby's arm!
JO
In what world would you ever want that sent to you? I’m so glad I’m gay.
ALEX
He won’t leave me alone! He keeps texting me! And now I have a collection of dick pics from him. I could make a collage of penises.
JO
Block him! Men are disgusting. Also their genitalia. Disgusting.
STEVIE
That’s what you get for randomly hooking up with people you meet on Tinder.
(Silence. This hurts Alex. The girls sit awkwardly around one another.)
ALEX
(Aside. Under her breath.)
They're not random...All of the time.
STEVIE
(Cont’d.)
I’m bored...Lets play “Fuck, marry, kill.”
ALEX
Really? You know I hate this. Why do we have to expose each other?
STEVIE
You’re already exposed. Alex: Fuck, marry, kill….Robby Goldstein, Principle Greenberg, Donald Trump.
ALEX
Stevie... I don’t wanna.
STEVIE
It’s just a game.
ALEX
Fine….Ok, I guess. I already fucked Robby, so I’d kill Principle Greenberg for suspending me Junior year, and I’d marry good ol’ Donny...Be the next Melania...make sure no more pussies could be grabbed.
(She makes a face and a gesture like she’s “grabbing pussy.” They burst into laughter.)
DANNY
You really fucked Robby? Noooo. Tell me you didn’t fuck Robby Goldstein.
ALEX
Yeah, I knoowwww. When you get past the mullet and the camo vest, he’s kinda cute. Whatever, it’s not a big deal.
STEVIE
Alex will fuck anything that breathes.
ALEX
No!....Yeah…..Pretty much. Marley was always the one who stopped me from finding random men to straddle. Marley was my choice of contraception.
JO
I miss her. A lot.
ALEX
I’ve had an all time record of one night stands since she’s been gone.
JO
I don’t get it...Just don’t. Do. that. Celibacy is amazing. I highly recommend it.
ALEX
I don’t know, it helps me feel better sometimes. Or, ya know that’s how I rationalize it.
JO
How do you rationalize something like that?
ALEX
I’m insecure...My dad left us when I was four...I’m filling a deep dark empty hole inside of me...Is there anything else you’d like to hear? I have a pamphlet from the youth center I could read from.
JO
Alright...I’m not judging you……………… Just curious, is all.
ALEX
Yeah. It’s whatever.
JO
I’m gonna go look for Max.
(Jo stands, grabbing a flashlight. Alex’s phone goes off, again. She throws her head back in despair, and then dials the phone. She exits. Danny lights another cigarette. She takes a drag and tosses it into the fire. She exits. Blackout. )
SCENE 3: ONLY WOMEN BLEED
(Lights up on Billie Jean King, Anna Pavlova, Anne Frank, and Billie Holiday. Anna Pavlova moves around the women like a drill sergeant.)
ANNA PAVLOVA
When you are a squirrel, you move like a squirrel, you blink like a squirrel, you fly like a squirrel.
(Billie Jean King demonstrates their squirrel movement, and sounds.)
ANNA PAVLOVA
(Cont’d.)
Good. When you are a bird...You sing like a bird.
(Billie Holiday begins to tweet like a bird.)
ANNA PAVLOVA
(Cont’d.)
Well done. When you are a wolf you must fight like a wolf. You must howl like a wolf.
(Anne Frank sheepishly howls and bites the air.)
ANNA PAVLOVA
(Cont’d.)
Too soft...I do not believe you are a wolf. We will work on that. In the Soviet Union we acted as spies. Anne, what have you seen from these girls?
ANNE FRANK
That...well that they’re hiding from each other...from the truth….That they have to stop hiding.
ANNA PAVLOVA
They will. That’s where we come in.
ANNE FRANK
I feel like we’re getting so close. When I talk to Stevie, I’m going to-
ANNA PAVLOVA
You don’t talk to Stevie.
ANNE FRANK
I wonder if talking to her as a wolf is a mistake? Don’t I need to help her face the truth...About Marley...About how she just left her there in the car wreck? Don’t I need-
ANNA PAVLOVA
Stevie is like a wolf. She needs to feel the fear of what’s happened...You are soft, and sweet, like a little mouse. You will speak to her as a wolf. The wolf inside of you.
BILLIE HOLIDAY
Stevie is a motherfucking Alpha wolf….Alex is a songbird.
ANNE FRANK
I think I can do that...I think that I can be a wolf...And not a mouse.
ANNA PAVLOVA
We’re speaking to them through animals, to help them to move on. From the loss of their friend.
From their own strife...Each one of us has to push them forward, so that our legacies survive. They have bright futures, they just don’t know it yet.
BILLIE HOLIDAY
There’s something about nature that brings us outside of ourselves. We live in a time that’s so drenched in believing in only what you can see.
BILLIE JEAN KING
Listen, Anne...Stevie is still a child who was stripped of her innocence, so now she fights like a wolf. Our pain is in our flesh and in our bones.
ANNA PAVLOVA
It’s true. Only women bleed.
ANNE FRANK
I really don’t think they’ll make it to the top of the mountain.
BILLIE HOLIDAY
It’s about the journey...Not the destination.
BILLIE JEAN KING
Where did you read that? On a box of Trail Mix?
BILLIE HOLIDAY
What?
BILLIE JEAN KING
Trail Mix...Like nuts, and raisins and such...Do you not know?
BILLIE HOLIDAY
What do you think I am, a squirrel? I don’t eat nuts.
BILLIE JEAN KING
I don’t eat nuts either….
(Beat. The women looks confused. Anna Pavlova shakes this off, and moves forward.)
ANNA PAVLOVA
Now Anne, show me your howl….And I do not want to hear a little mouse squeal I want to-
(Anne Frank howls loudly into the sky.)
BILLIE JEAN KING
YEAHHHHH! YOU ARE WOMAN, HEAR YOU ROAR!
ANNA PAVLOVA
…..Good.
(Frida Kahlo enters.)
BILLIE HOLIDAY
Where have you been?
FRIDA KAHLO
I’ve been painting...I think it’s my best one yet. It’s like my arms would move across the canvas without my brain telling them what to do. Like I was made out of shapes and colors.
ANNA PAVLOVA
You need to speak to Danny. We’ve all made our decision. It’s happening now, here, on this camping trip.
FRIDA KAHLO
I’m waiting to speak to her when the time is right.
(The women hear laughter. They scramble off into the woods. Blackout.)
SCENE 4: BOBBING IN THE MIDDLE
(Lights up on Max. She is dancing by the lake. A moth flies around her head, landing on her shoulder. The moth dies. She shoves it off and continues to dance.)
MAX
(Aside. She dances through her text.)
1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. Glissade jette. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. (She pirouettes.) I am ferocious, like a lion. Like a female lion in the Sahara. I can do this. (She dances.) “Perfect little Max and her perfect little Ivy league school” (She jumps up and down.) I am a lion.
(She jumps high and trips on a root hitting her head on the ground. Time begins to slow. She’s disoriented. She walks to the water's edge and splashes her face. Looking up, she sees a white swan. It moves elegantly, raising its wings and spinning.)
SWAN
This is my stage. The moon is like a spotlight...But no one’s ever seen me dance. Just me and the cold, still, waters...Algae brushing up against my white feathers...Your technique is quite messy, but I can see you have heart. “Serdtse” Meaning soul, heart, core, in Russian.
MAX
What...Are you? Am I concussed?
(She grabs her head, keeling over in pain.)
SWAN
You hit your head. When you're jumping always remember to spot where you're going. Don’t put all your weight into the ground, but instead absorb it like you're made of air.
(Max tries to do this, but gives up halfway through.)
MAX
I suck.
SWAN
Imagine you have a neck that can hold your head up high with prowess.
(The swan flutters its wings, twirling around in the water.)
MAX
You’re so elegant.
SWAN
You will also be one day. Dance is inside of you, like a tiny ball of energy swirling in your knees, your arms, waiting to burst out of you. Your family will be fine...but you have a bigger calling. Don’t dive into the depths, keep yourself above the water and glide through it.
MAX
My family is lost cause...And I’m their blood, so I guess that means I’m also a lost cause.
SWAN
I understand. I watched my father sink into the depth when I was only two years old. My mother now bobs in the middle. Like paper, she slowly gets wetter and heavier. Your mother is also sinking.
MAX
She’s an alcoholic, so….She’s definitely not in the middle...She’s definitely at the bottom….I’m somewhere in the middle.
SWAN
You feel trapped in this town. Your mother’s stuck. She’s always been stuck, and now you-
MAX
I feel like I’ve failed completely, and now I’m just like her. She never went to college, she never left this town. It’s like she’s frozen in time...But hey, I guess I shouldn’t judge considering I’m literally headed in the same direction.
SWAN
You’re not. You have a bright future.
MAX
Ha! That’s funny...I used to have a bright future. Past tense.
SWAN
Just you wait...You’ll see….“To follow, without halt, one aim: There's the secret of success.”
MAX
That’s - is that - Anna?/
SWAN
Pavlova.
MAX
I performed her -
SWAN
Dying swan?...That was the moment she decided to not sink, but to fly. She became like a bird - sprouting white wings from her back. Don’t give up on yourself, my dear. You are stronger than you think.
(The swan dives deep into the water and does not come back up. A woman on the other side of the lake dances. Max rubs her eyes in disbelief. She hears a ringing in her ear. Jo walks in, carrying a flashlight.)
SCENE 5: LIKE A LIONESS
JO
Max? What are you doing out here?
MAX
Uhhh I was? I think I hit my head dancing? Yeah, I was dancing...Don’t judge me...And then I guess, I tripped? That was weird.
(Max looks out to the water. The swan is gone.)
JO
Are you alright?
(Max doesn’t respond. She just shrugs her shoulders.)
JO
(Cont’d.)
Stevie’s sorry.
MAX
No, she’s not.
JO
No, you’re right. She’s not.
MAX
I don’t want to go back there.
JO
You know how Stevie is...She takes her own shit out on other people. Just- Remember why we came here...We all came here to be together. For Marley.
(Beat.)
MAX
Yeah, I guess.
JO
You seem kind of off, lately.
MAX
Honestly, I just really wanted to prove - to prove to myself that I was different from my mom. That I could get out of this shitty little town. This-this toxic bubble...and I (She sighs.) failed. And Stevie just said what I was scared was true. That I was perfect, that I had everything going for me, and now all of a sudden….I’m not. And I don’t.
JO
Stevie doesn’t know what she was saying.
MAX
She was right though. I really thought I could juggle all of it. School. Dance. Fucking finances. But, like always, something got in the way...And now, I’m just back here. And I think I’ll always just be. back. here.
JO
I get it. It’s all really daunting. Staying. Leaving.
MAX
I wish Marley was here. I wish- she was kinda like the glue for all of us.
JO
I know. Me too....Before she- She was really important to me. I really loved her.
MAX
Me too.
JO
No, different - different from how you loved her...I loved her like in my body. Like every time she walked into a room, my blood turned hot. I really got my strength from her.
MAX
Yeah...I know...I know you two were like an item.
JO
(She laughs.) Sorta...But it wasn’t what you think. She was like my first love, before Marley it was just random hookups, but with her I really felt understood. It was like she was wearing my skin. Like she knew every feeling and thought I had. It was really special...To have someone who knew me that deeply.
MAX
That sounds...I wish I had that…..Why would you keep that a secret?
JO
Marley was like everyone’s “Mom” ya know...How weird would it be if I started sleeping with everyone’s mom.
(Beat. Max Laughs and rolls her eyes in exasperation.)
JO
(Cont’d.)
I don’t know. We just wanted it to be ours. Not the schools. Not the towns. Not even you guys. It was just for us. (Beat.) I’m sorry you feel like your life isn’t headed in the direction you always wanted….But if anyone is going to be okay, It’s you, Max...Remember what Mrs. Madonia said about you In highschool? When she was introducing your solo piece at the end of the year? She said you were like a lion.
MAX
Oh, right...That was an overstatement-
JO
you have no idea how jealous I was of you. Things just kept falling into your lap and I was soooo irrationally envious of your success. I thought it wasn’t fair.
MAX
I didn’t mean to make you-
JO
Annnnnndddd then I saw your mom at the fundraiser.
MAX
Yikes. I remember that. She was completely plastered.
JO
uhhuh. Good ol’ tipsy Tina, with her hydro flask filled with wine.
MAX
Oh goodddd. That’s so embarrassing. Fucking tipsy Tina.
JO
And that’s when I realized that you did it all on your own. I understood that you worked really hard for your success-that it wasn’t just luck...And then I knew you really were...a lion.
MAX
Thanks, Jo.
JO
Do you remember our duet?
MAX
Uck, yeah. (She laughs.) I was so sick when we performed that. There was like snot dripping from my nose onto my leotard.
(Jo dances. She stumbles a little bit, but then remembers the steps. Max dances beside her. Blackout.)
SCENE 6: THE GUN AND THE WOLF
(Lights up on Danny, Stevie, and Alex. Alex is running around looking in tents. Max and Jo enter.)
ALEX
Jo...I-I-I can’t find it anywhere.
JO
What are you talking about? (Beat.) You’re not….You can’t be serious.
STEVIE
What is she looking for?
JO
Marley. She-she-she’s looking for Marley’s ashes.
STEVIE
What the fuck? Why? Why do we even have that?
JO
So we could scatter her ashes...Her mom trusted me. She trusted me...And now WE lost her. I-I-I- Shit!
(Jo goes into full panic mode. She lifts logs and empties bags, frantically.)
MAX
Where was the last place you saw it?
JO
Uh-uh-um, I think it was- well, I put it in the food bag/
MAX
The FOOD bag?
JO
YES! IF SOMEONE HAD CHECKED THE SPREADSHEET THEY WOULD’VE KNOWN THAT IT WASN’T MY JOB TO PACK THE ASHES! I PUT IT IN THE ONLY PLACE I COULD FIT IT!
ALEX
SHUT UP ABOUT THE STUPID SPREADSHEET, JO!
STEVIE
There’s a spreadsheet?
(Something rustles in the bushes. Two bright, glowing eyes emerge in the dark. A booming howl echoes through the woods. A silver wolf leaps out. The girls scream. Stevie runs and grabs her backpack. She pulls a gun out.)
MAX
Stevie, put that- PUT THAT GUN AWAY!
STEVIE
I-I’m protecting us.
(The wolf saunters back and forth. Stevie cocks her gun.)
DANNY
Holy fuck, holy fuck, put it down!
ALEX
Don’t...do this.
(The wolf howls loudly and runs towards them. Stevie shoots once, twice, three times, missing.The girls scream in terror.)
STEVIE
GET THE HELL AWAY FROM US!
(Stevie shoots. The wolf whimpers and collapses. Stevie stands, shaking.)
MAX
What did you do?
STEVIE
I-I-I-I...I’m shaking. I can’t stop shaking. My- My- my hands.
(She drops the gun. Max quickly kicks it away. Stevie falls to her knees and begins sobbing.)
MAX
Stevie?
STEVIE
Get out...Stay back. Go! Nowwwww!
(The girls slowly exit, leaving her there. Stevie lies down on the hard ground, holding herself. She begins to cry. She starts hitting herself over and over again.)
STEVIE
I’m a killer. A killer. I’m a sociopath. I FUCKING HATE IT! I FUCKING HATE ALL OF IT!
(She begins crying. She looks down at her hands. She holds herself in the fetal position and drifts off to sleep.)
SCENE 7: HER LIGHT SWITCHED OFF
(Stevie wakes up, but not really. She is in a dream. The same wolf from before creeps from the woods, but now it is bigger, more ethereal. Stevie is strangely calm. )
STEVIE
You’re so…Beautiful.
WOLF
Why’d you shoot me down then?
STEVIE
You were going to hurt us! My-my instincts kicked in...I had to do it!
WOLF
(Howls into the night.) I see what you are. Evil. You have blood that’s cold, that courses through your veins and pumps your heart full of ice.
STEVIE
Stop it! That- I always hear this stuff...In my head, all day...but-but it isn’t me. That’s not-
WOLF
Have you any idea what it means to take a life? To crush it before it even got the chance to grow, to change, to become real. You did that.
STEVIE
It wasn’t my fault.
WOLF
Blaring lights, snow falling and falling, piling up and up. Liquor rushing through your veins, loosening your muscles, your inhibitions. Your keys shaking in your limp hands. You had to take the wheel. Mind blank, like a void, empty of feeling, of empathy, of logic. I don’t feel sorry for you.
(Stevie sobs. The wolf howls and cackles.)
WOLF
(Cont’d)
And she hid inside the backroom of a warehouse, writing letters of youth, of hope, of religion, praying that she wouldn’t be killed, that they wouldn’t find her. Living her life in hiding. Then the Gestapo found her on a tip from the Dutch informers.
STEVIE
Wait...Hang on, that’s- that’s Anne Frank?
WOLF
So you’ve heard this story.
STEVIE
I live in a devout Jewish household. Yes. I’ve heard this story.
WOLF
Her friends, her family, hauled off and slaughtered. She just wanted to be a regular girl. She was like Marley. Full of light. Of promise and strength. And you are like the Nazis. And just like that, with one turn of the wheel, she was gone. Her light switched off, while yours kept flickering...And the canyon you love so much was turned black.
STEVIE
It was an accident. I’m so sick of feeling all this guilt. I want to rip it out. I want to rip my skin off! GO TO HELL!
WOLF
And her body froze in the cold.
(The wolf howls loudly and then runs off. The girls come in. They stand around a sleeping Stevie, watching her. They whisper to one another.)
SCENE 8: FRAGMENTS OF HER
DANNY
I’m worried about her.
MAX
She’s really going through something right now - I think she had the right intentions.
JO
She never has the right intentions...She doesn’t think. You know she has a past of making risky choices in the moment.
DANNY
Let's all just go easy on her. (She looks out at the horizon.) The sun is rising. We should probably start hiking now. Just give her a minute and I’ll wake her up.
JO
I’m so done with Stevie.
(Danny clutches her back, in pain. The girls don’t notice. Another moth flies around circling Danny’s head. She slaps it away and stands up abruptly.)
DANNY
Why are there so many moths up here?
MAX
I like them. They say that moths are supposed to be the spirits of people we love.
ALEX
I think they’re just dusty butterflies.
(The sky is illuminated by the sunrise. Danny stands, holding her back in her hands.)
DANNY
(Cont’d)
Wow, that’s really stunning...It feels fake, right?
MAX
It looks like one of your paintings, Danny.
DANNY
Yeah...Kinda.
ALEX
I wish my hair was the color of the sunrise.
(Danny looks at her map.)
DANNY
If we don’t go now, we’re going to be hiking in the dark….I’m waking her up.
(Danny nudges Stevie awake. She is shaken, frightened, disoriented.)
STEVIE
Wha- what-- What happened?
ALEX
You don’t remember? There was- a- wolf. And you shot it.
STEVIE
I- I can’t believe I...I did a really, really bad thing. There’s something wrong with me. I’M A MURDERER!
MAX
Stevie, calm down!
STEVIE
Marley.
ALEX
What? This whole thing is about Marley?
STEVIE
Just trying to make curfew. Like every other weekend. On the same roads we drove every day...But this one time...I blame myself. I think I need help.
JO
Maybe you do.
STEVIE
Really? I wasn’t like asking for your opinion...I was just like saying that, ya know? How people sometimes just say they need help, but they-
JO
Nevermind.
STEVIE
You’re probably right, Jo.
JO
You can’t just do that - You can’t just do things impulsively like that.
STEVIE
Yeah. I’m impulsive. I know. And I make really bad decisions, and I drink too much, and I’m selfish….I’m so impulsive that sometimes after I drink I get behind the wheel of a car. Right, Jo? That’s what you’re really trying to get at here, right?
JO
Just stop. Just-just-just think before you do something stupid……...for once in your life.
(Jo starts lighting matches and throwing them into the fire pit. Stevie picks up the Jose Cuervo bottle and dumps it out. Max walks over to Stevie and puts her hand on her shoulder. Stevie turns to look at Max.)
MAX
(Cont’d. In a whisper to just Stevie.)
Take care of yourself, Stevie. I hope you know that we - we all worry about you.
(Danny grabs her backpack and starts preparing for the hike.)
DANNY
Okay, guys I know we’ve had a long night, but let’s start packing up and get a move on it.
STEVIE
Jo, I don’t wanna fight.
JO
...Let’s just hike to the top of this mountain, alright? I don’t have the energy to do this with you anymore.
(The girls pack up, strapping up their hiking boots and filling their bags. Jo jumps around in anxiety. She’s just remembered.)
JO
(Cont’d.)
Marley! We still don’t know where Marley is! We, we, we, have to find her, we can’t just leave here without finding her!
STEVIE
Would you please stop saying “her.” it’s not her, it’s just dust.
JO
IT IS HER, STEVIE!
MAX
Someone grab the goddamn food bag.
(Jo runs around in search of the food bag frantically and starts throwing items.)
ALEX
Jo! Stop! It’s okay!
JO
No! It's not OKAY ALEX! This is so, so, so, bad - oh my god, this is so, so, so, bad.
STEVIE
I know you think this means a lot - but honestly Jo, it’s-
JO
Of course you wouldn’t understand! You just left her the first time around! We’re not doing that again! We’re not leaving her again!
STEVIE
God, Jo….I thought you said you weren’t going to fight with me?
JO
Fucking hell Stevie, it just has to be said. I’m so tired of walking on eggshells to protect you, to make you feel like Marley’s death wasn’t on you! But I’m sick of pretending. I won’t let her be - just - be abandoned for the second time.
STEVIE
IT’S NOT HER!
JO
BULLSHIT - that’s her...fragments of her….she’s dead. Gone. But I FEEL her and she’s angry, she’s angry at you, Stevie! She doesn’t think it’s fair that you got to live, and she didn’t. And she hates all of us, for what we’ve become, how we’ve just let go of everything, like everything’s the same as it was in highschool. like nothing ever happened! But something did happen! Something irreversible. And we just wake up everyday and we drive our stupid cars around the canyon and we black out in the bars and we LAUGH, and love, and we see each other and there’s this, this, this, hidden thing behind all of our eyes and we just pretend it isn’t there! And it’s so FUCKED!
DANNY
JO, ENOUGH! We can’t just stop living.
ALEX
Life doesn’t just stop…
(Beat.)
STEVIE
Fuck you, Jo.
JO
Fuck me? REALLY! FUCK ME?!
STEVIE
I know what I did, and I think about it every waking moment of every day...I have dreams that I’m trapped in piles of snow and I turn to face Marley and her eyes are just these, these, like, glossed over pockets of white. And there’s blood streaming from her ears and that IS NOT SOMETHING I LIKE TO REMEMBER. AND FUCK YOU FOR THINKING THAT MY LIFE IS THE SAME AS IT WAS BEFORE. Something was shaken out of me after the car crash.
JO
I wish you had died instead of her.
STEVIE
(She laughs.) Ya know what, Jo! Me too. It really, really, should’ve been me.
(Stevie walks off. Danny, Alex, and Max follow her.)
SCENE 9: FLEW FROM TREE TO TREE
(A squirrel scurries by Jo. It stops and looks up at her inquisitively. Jo kneels down next to it. An acorn falls from the tree and hits Jo on the head hard. Time begins to slow. The squirrel runs around.)
FLYING SQUIRREL
Do you know what it means to be a champion?
JO
I-I-I what?
FLYING SQUIRREL
Perseverance.
JO
Uh? Maybe? I always had perseverance in sports, I guess? When I was younger we had a tennis match, and I broke my right wrist midway through the game, but I kept playing.
FLYING SQUIRREL
Your opponent was Frank Flander.
JO
He was the top athlete in the state…..WAIT, AM I ON ACID? DID STEVIE LACE THE WATER AGAIN?!
FLYING SQUIRREL
No...You’re not on Acid...Focus….And you were the only girl playing.
(The squirrel tosses an acorn down from the tree. Jo catches it.)
JO
Uhhh, yeah. So I had to win.
(The squirrel signals to Jo to toss the acorn back. She does.)
FLYING SQUIRREL
You have physical perseverance, maybe even the mental strength to fight….But there’s something missing in your emotional perseverance.
JO
I’m just so...Angry. I’m so angry I feel like my head is spinning, sometimes!
FLYING SQUIRREL
I understand anger. When I was very small, my mother disappeared from her nest. A barn owl came into our little tree in the middle of the night and scooped her up...And I was angry that she left me like that, even though it wasn’t her fault...One night I needed to leave. To survive. So I climbed down the tree and my weak little arms couldn’t hold my weight and I fell. I hit the ground, bouncing, one, two, three, times like a tennis ball across a court.
(Tosses the acorn. Tosses it back.)
JO
Oh. Wow.
FLYING SQUIRREL
But you know what I did...I got up...I found nuts on the ground and I spread my arms wide and flew from tree to tree….And that’s what you have to do.
JO
uhhhh...I don’t know...I feel better close to the ground.
FLYING SQUIRREL
I spent so much time, searching, searching, searching, for someone to inspire me...There was this squirrel, I called her the “pressure cooker” because she pushed me to be stronger, faster, more agile.
JO
My coach, Mrs. Amanda, always pushed me to be better. She called me her “secret weapon.”
FLYING SQUIRREL
I realized that I needed someone to look up to, so I looked up to her...My “pressure cooker.” She was my strength.
(Beat.)
JO
Your strength? That’s - That’s what I always say about - Nevermind. (Beat.)When I was in highschool, my coach, who knew me better than any of the adults in my life at that time, told me I should find an idol, so I started to watch Billie Jean King interviews, and that’s when everything kinda changed...I saw that there was someone out there who really was like me...but it also made me sad because even though she was like, so amazing she still couldn’t really love who she wanted to love.
FLYING SQUIRREL
Love is important...it can motivate us, make us want to be better...But if someone you love is ripped away from you, it can become stifling. You loved Marley.
JO
How did you-
FLYING SQUIRREL
And then she died. She was taken away from you.
(Beat.)
JO
You know, you’re wrong….I have perseverance. I did love Marley, but I’m not weak. I can get back to the way I was before.
FLYING SQUIRREL
You have to forgive, Jo….You can’t blame anyone for her death. Billie Jean King didn’t just play tennis because she was a great athlete...She did it to support the women around her. Be kind to your friends.
(A moth flies by the squirrel. It stands at attention and chases it away. Jo picks up the acorn and throws it around, using a wide stick she finds as a racquet.)
JO
(Hushed voice.)
On a baseline court. She does a flawless drop shot. (hits the acorn.) Half volley. (She throws the acorn into the air.) Stretch. Stroke. (hits the acorn so hard, it flies into the woods.) SCOREEEEEEE!
SCENE 10: THAT PIG WAS GEORGE WASHINGTON
(Jo feels sick again and clutches her stomach. Her vision blurs. She refocuses. Danny, Alex, Stevie, and Max all come back. Stevie is holding an urn in her arms.)
JO
Is that?
STEVIE
Yeah.
JO
Where? Where did you-
STEVIE
It was - she fell out of the food bag and...she rolled down the side/
MAX
Of the hill...But it’s fine.
JO
Is she broken?
ALEX
The urn had a little crack in it, but/
STEVIE
I fixed it.
(Stevie holds up the urn. There is a slab of duct tape wrapped around the side. Jo runs to Stevie and embraces her. Jo takes the urn out of Stevie’s hands. She opens it and peers inside. The girls stand quietly, almost statuesque.)
JO
(Looking at the ashes.)
It’s so weird….Marley was like six feet tall.
STEVIE
I called her the noodle...because of her long legs.
ALEX
I called her a T-rex.
STEVIE
Oh yeah, because of her disproportionate arms.
(Alex and Stevie make a gesture with their arms, like they’re imitating Marley’s short arms. Jo takes a little bit out and holds it in the palm of her hand.)
JO
She was so tall and now all of her is now in this tiny porcelain container.
(Alex walks over to Jo and holds her hand out. Jo hesitantly offers her the ashes. Alex takes some and blows it into the wind. A bird flies by the girls and lands on a tree. The bird begins to tweet a melody.)
ALEX
Do you guys feel like things like this keep happening to us? Like animals approaching us at perfect moments. I know it sounds like some hippie dippy voodoo shit but-
STEVIE
Is it Marley, reIncARNated!! Oooo!
ALEX
That’s not what I mean.
MAX
I get it...It’s what Marley said...When she worked at the animal shelter. I remember she pointed to a pig and said something like, something like so fucking bizzarre, like “You see that pig, that pig’s important! That pig was someone once.”
ALEX
“That pig was George Washington.”
MAX
Yes! Exactly! Or something like that.
DANNY
She told me that animals have souls that mirror our biggest fears.
STEVIE
She once said that my cat spoke to her in her dreams.
(The bird tweets again. Alex begins to whistle at it. The bird calls back. The girls laugh. Alex begins to wander off, entranced by the bird. Her phone buzzes again. She opens it, and then aggressively throws it down on the ground. She looks up at the bird again, and begins to walk towards it.)
MAX
Alex, what was that about?
(Alex doesn’t respond. Danny grabs Alex’s phone. She looks at it.)
STEVIE
ALLLLEEEEXXX!
(No response. She continues to stare up at the bird.)
DANNY
Just let her be. Her phone is blowing up with these texts.
(Stevie looks at the phone. Beat. The girls examine her.)
DANNY
(Cont’d.)
She’ll figure it out, eventually.
(Jo, Stevie, Danny and Max all walk off. Alex stays behind, still entranced by the bird.)
SCENE 11: THE BLUES AIN’T NOTHING BUT A PAIN IN YOUR HEART
(Alex stares at the bird and then hums the first verse of “Lady Sings the Blues.” The bird flutters its wings and tweets the second verse. Alex is baffled. The bird sings the song that Alex wrote.)
SINGING LARK
(Singing)
Waves are like an engine, fueling my veins with saltwater like an island lost out at sea. I try to remember when we had no shoes, we stuck together like glue.
ALEX
(Singing)
Waiting for the snow the freeze our tiny bones,
Waiting for the snow. (She stops. Beat.) I feel like...
(She looks behind her, realizing that the girls have left.)
ALEX
(Cont’d.)
I did it again, didn’t I?...I tend to just kind of leave my body sometimes. My shrink thinks it’s a coping mechanism or something...
SINGING LARK
You’re trying to escape.
ALEX
I’m not really trying to escape. I just disappear. I don’t really have any control over it. Everyone always says “Alex, where do you go?” I’m usually in my head imagining something...Something like this.
SINGING LARK
I also disappear. I turn to things that I think will help bury all of my pain. There’s a lot of answers found at the bottom of a bottle...But, I don’t recommend it. Cirrhosis is a nasty way to go.
ALEX
Cirrhosis?
SINGING LARK
Well, that’s not really my story, per se, since I’m a “Bird.” Trichomoniasis is what I have...I was a little greedy when I ate the leftover worms. Pesky parasites. Don’t fall for the heaping pile of worms, honey!
(Alex laughs weirdly. It’s fake and strange.)
SINGING LARK
(Cont’d. Laughs.)
I’m not trying to give you a therapy session, believe me. I’m not qualified….But you do have some lovely pipes on you…
ALEX
Thanks...I guess singing was always something that felt...Um...easy? What I really want is to be on a stage with long velvet curtains and an audience that sits far above me...At Carnegie Hall.
SINGING LARK
Ahh, a metamorphosis….When you change completely and people see what’s really inside of you.
ALEX
I’d like that...For people to see who I really am, instead of just painting some picture of me, based on locker room gossip.
SINGING LARK
People can be motherfuckers…I was very sick...And a lot of the male birds in the flock would take advantage of my frailty.
ALEX
People ARE motherfuckers...I totally get taken advantage of, all the time. And I don’t deserve that. YOU don’t deserve that….What is it? Do they smell something on us, that screams “use and abuse, me?”
SINGING LARK
They think that we’re “seeking validation.”
ALEX
Yeah! That we’re filling some sort of “emptiness” inside of us...But that’s just not true! I honestly just really like intimacy-sex-I guess.
SINGING LARK
Well...There’s intimacy...And then there’s just sex.
ALEX
Okay….Fine….I don’t really like sex...I like the before when I feel really wanted. Until, it’s over, and then I actually have less strength...(Beat.) I get myself in unhealthy relationships all the time. My dad left when I was super young...And now, I’m just constantly looking for people who want me, and when I do, they typically leave, so.
SINGING LARK
I was just like you. I wanted to feel seen, loved, by everyone, and then I realized that they would take advantage of my need to be wanted, so I decided I’d flee the nest, to see if I’d be better off alone. To see if I could know my own worth without validation from others. Now I sit in this tree and I sing for me.
ALEX
But, I want people to hear me sing, not for validation, but because that’s when I’m most myself. But then I’m also afraid at the same time that they’ll see the real me, and then I’m just exposed to everyone.
SINGING LARK
We are both ugly and beautiful at once, and that’s okay….Have you heard of Billie Holiday? Talk about metamorphosis.
ALEX
I love Billie Holiday! She’s everything.
SINGING LARK
She also went through a lot...She was abused, silenced….But when she got on stage, her voice shattered ceilings and her presence was reborned. Maybe, you’re just waiting for your metamorphosis.
(The singing lark flutters its wings once more and begins to sing “Lady Sings the Blues” By Billie Holiday.)
SINGING LARK
(Cont’d. Singing)
The blues ain’t nothing but a pain in your heart
When you get a bad start
(The singing lark flies off, swirling around Alex’s head. Alex closes her eyes and begins to sway.)
ALEX
(Singing)
I ain’t gonna just sit around and cry.
(A beat. Alex exits.)
SCENE 12: STRONG LIKE BULL
(Max, Jo, Alex, Danny, and Stevie all enter with giant packs on.)
ALEX
This is too heavy.
STEVIE
What did I put in here? The ten commandments?
(Danny grips her back in pain. The girls don’t notice.)
MAX
Why are you all acting geriatric? We’re strong women! (In a Russian accent) Strong like bull!
DANNY
I’m a little bit worried about my back, but-
JO
My calves are gonna be like steel after this. I feel like we’re pioneers on a voyage.
(Jo squats with her bag on. She gets on the ground and does push ups. Max tightens her bag and dances. Danny pulls out her notepad and scribbles in it. Alex goes up to Max and hums Mozart, sarcastically. Stevie stands in frustration.)
STEVIE
What is this? A talent show? I getttt itttt. You all have skills.
MAX
(Still dancing.)
And we can do them with an extra ten pounds on our backs.
(Max gets dizzy and stops. Alex stops humming. Jo stands, completely out of breath. Danny continues to draw. She puts her journal away and straps her bag on tightly. She pulls her map out, scans it.)
DANNY
Let’s get outta here. I wanna make it to the top by the end of the day, and before my back start-
(Jo starts running ahead.)
JO
Let’s crush this mountain!! THIS IS THE AMAZING RACE BITCHESSS AND I’M GONNA KICK ALL YOUR ASSES!
(The girls follow, in annoyance. Frida Kahlo enters the empty campsite. She holds out a canvas and paints on it. The wolf enters. Frida wipes a stripe of paint across her forehead. The wolf walks up to her and lies her head down on Frida. Blackout.)
SCENE 13: FEET, WHAT DO I NEED THEM FOR? I HAVE WINGS TO FLY.
(Lights up on Max, Danny, Alex, Jo, and Stevie. They are walking up the mountain. Danny is the caboose and Jo is trotting far ahead, taking the lead.)
ALEX
(Singing softly. Out of Breath.)
The blues ain’t nothing but a pain in your heart
When you get a bad start
JO
(Aside. To herself.)
One more step! Just one more step! I will. Persevere.
STEVIE
(Aside. To herself.)
Get to the top. Just get to. The. Top. (out of breath.) Fuck me.
MAX
(Aside. To herself.)
I am fierce like a lion.
DANNY
(Aside. To herself.)
My back hurts so much. I feel - I feel…
(Danny stops. The girls turn to her.)
DANNY
(Cont’d. Breathless.)
I can’t- I can’t do it. I can’t keep going.
(Overlapping.)
STEVIE
We’ve been walking for like twenty minutes. / I can see the campsite from here.
MAX
Are you alright, Danny? / We’re so close.
DANNY
I CAN’T DO IT! I CAN’T! I’m exhausted...I just want to go home.
(The overlapping of dialogue ceases.)
JO
Well, I have to keep going.
MAX
I’m sorry, Danny.
DANNY
My back....My back is acting up. I just have to lie down. Ow, ow, ow.
(Danny removes her pack and lies on the ground.)
MAX
Oh my god, Danny. I’m so stupid...I didn’t even think about your back. You don’t ever talk about it, so...I just. I think we all just-
JO
Forgot.
DANNY
Do you know what this feels like? It-it’s like someone is jabbing me with needles in my lower back, like I’m being repetitively struck by lighting...It really, really hurts...And no one asks me how I feel, or if I could even go on this trip in the first place...
MAX
Oh, Danny. I had no idea it was so bad. We should’ve asked-
DANNY
It’s my fault. Just go! Seriously!
(Danny becomes overcome by a sharp pain. She falls to the ground. The girls run to her.)
DANNY
(Cont’d)
Please, please, just give me some space. I-i-i-i Just need some space.
(The girls step away. Danny closes her eyes tightly. When she opens them she sees Max, Jo, Danny, and Stevie all frozen, as if they’ve turned to stone. An orange butterfly softly floats around Danny and lands on her knee.)
MONARCH BUTTERFLY
(In a whisper.)
I lost a part of myself when I lost a part of my wing. I thought I’d never fly...But now I soar. I suckle from the flowers. I was confined to a cocoon, trapped inside, my arms frozen, my spine glued still...And then I grew wings and I flew.
DANNY
I can’t keep going. I don’t think my body can even do it at this point.
MONARCH BUTTERFLY
“Feet, what do I need them for? If I have wings to fly”
(The Monarch Butterfly floats off. Frida Kahlo enters and stands by Danny. She is holding her painting with her.)
DANNY
Frida Kahlo?...It’s? How? Am I-is something wrong with me?
FRIDA KAHLO
No, no, nothing is wrong with you.
DANNY
I can’t keep going. Everything hurts. I’m heavy. My body. My mind. My heart. All too heavy.
(Frida Kahlo gets down on her knees to meet Danny’s eyes.)
FRIDA KAHLO
Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away. This mountain is not yours to climb...Your life is still in flux. If you can’t climb mountains, draw them.
DANNY
I think I should just stop. I’m so useless. Physically, mentally. I’m not going anywhere. Not up this mountain.
FRIDA KAHLO
You know, I’ve been hurt before. I’ve been broken...And it shattered my spirit. But I changed the way I lived my life. I changed my expectations. I found love for myself through my art.
(Frida Kahlo shows Danny the painting. Danny holds it in her hands. Frida exits. The girls unfreeze and run to Danny.)
DANNY
I can’t keep going...I can’t get to the top...Just...you can leave me here.
JO
We’re not leaving you, Danny.
STEVIE
It’s just a mountain...Like every other mountain….We get to the top and then what? We just go back down...Who cares? It’s just a mountain.
(The girls help Danny up. Five moths flutter by them.)
SCENE 14: MAYBE IT’S JUST A MOUNTAIN
(Frida Kahlo, Billie Jean King, Billie Holiday, Anna Pavlova and Anne Frank all enter. The women all stare at each other in awe. The wind softly whistles around them. Jo pulls Marley’s ashes from her bag and dumps it out. It swirls through the sky. The women look out at the audience and speak as they did in the beginning.)
JO
Maybe it’s just a mountain.
DANNY
Maybe I don’t have to climb it.
STEVIE
That night, I walked through the snow, my ankles purple and blue, swollen from the cold. I had to leave her there, for my own survival. I’m sorry I left you, Marley.
ANNE FRANK
Smoke and ash filling the sky...like muddy snow. I thought it was the saddest, coldest, winter I’ve ever seen. It was easier to not look...To stay hidden...
ALEX
(Singing)
Like a shadow in the blue, I keep hoping I’ll be new.
Like a shadow running away, I keep hoping to see you.
FRIDA KAHLO
I paint flowers so that they never die. Everything is so fleeting.
BILLIE HOLIDAY
(Singing)
The blues ain’t nothing but a pain in your heart
When you get a bad start
When you and your man have to part.
JO
So, we never hiked to the top of the mountain...But we were all here. Together. We spread Marley’s ashes. And maybe that's enough for her to know that I love her.
BILLIE JEAN KING
I rode a decorated litter onto the courts. Shirtless men carried me out like I was the queen of Sheba. I defeated that son of a bitch Riggs in three sets and at that moment I realized I was unstoppable.
ANNA PAVLOVA
I wanted to soar...So I worked tirelessly and I did.
ALEX
I want to know I’m worthy without having to be told it.
MAX
I’m tired of feeling small. I’m tired of feeling afraid.
JO
Fuck a mountain metaphor. It’s corny as hell anyways. I’m going to start playing tennis again. Find a new mountain to climb.
STEVIE
I’m really not skilled in...Anything...But I’m damn strong. I think I’m like a wolf. Maybe, I’m a lone wolf who finds her power from within.
ANNE FRANK
There’s a colossal spirit inside of me. The spirit of a wolf.
DANNY
I want to feel powerful.
ALEX
Maybe my powers show in a different way.
JO
Maybe only I know that I have super powers.
MAX
I think that might be enough for me….to just be. To not try to control life or fight it. To just let it be.
STEVIE
It’s just a mountain.
ANNA PAVLOVA
Just a little mountain.
DANNY
I’ll climb it in time.
BILLIE JEAN KING
I’m still climbing it.
ANNE FRANK
It’s ok if I never do climb it.
BILLIE HOLIDAY
Just another mountain out of many.
JO
Maybe this is just how things are for now, but that’s okay?
(Alex hums “Lady Sings the Blues.” Frida Kahlo, Billie Jean King, Billie Holiday, Anne Frank, and Anna Pavlova all exit one at a time. Alex stops humming after they exit. The sun sets and the moon appears. The girls howl into the sky. Blackout.)
(End of Play)