NOMADS ADRIFT
(working title)
(working title)
CAST
ASIAN, Caucasian American, male, 20’s, sees things in black & white.
EUROPEAN, Hispanic male, 30’s, strong migratory instincts.
SOUTH AMERICAN, Asian female, 20’s, identity crisis & delayed adolescence.
SET
Larger than life-sized sections of world maps, in angled shapes, are placed upstage at various angles to define the space. One section near upstage center has a functional door, but it is not clearly a door as it blends into the wall and is part of the map. The floor is painted in similar fashion with various sections of world maps. The acting areas are uneven, some raised, some floor level. The whole set has a cohesive uniform look, but it also gives one the impression of instability, randomness and expectation.
OPENING
ASIAN enters. Guitar on back. Juggles two carry-on type bags with ease. Enters with purpose from upstage and crosses downstage. He stops center to pantomime giving over a passport to an imaginary Immigration Officer. Waits, not looking at anything in particular.
From opposite sides, EUROPEAN & SOUTH AMERICAN enter with a similar world-traveler look. They all stop centre, facing the imaginary Immigration Officer from different directions. All three pantomime similar actions.
After a moment of waiting, they concurrently notice the Immigration official is finished. They take back their imaginary passports and put them away. Each continues walking in the trajectory they’d begun. At the same time they stop downstage. Actors are now in three different places DS. They take off shoes. Pick up a plastic bin and place shoes inside. ACTOR 1 speaks to the audience. EUROPEAN & SOUTH AMERICAN freeze in the process of putting their shoes in the bin.
ASIAN
I don’t know, it has always been like this. Well, not this actually. When I was much younger there wasn’t so much security.
ASIAN places bin on the floor and sits inside cross-legged. He gives the impression that he is floating at sea. We discover that some of the set panels are actually opaque when we begin to see a series of rear projected photos depicting Beijing. Faces. The Temple of Heaven. The Great wall. Cherry Blossoms. The character “Hua”for flower.
EUROPEAN
Notices a strange smell. Realizes it’s his shoes. Puts them in his bin.
But this life, it’s always been, well, I guess the best word for it is
ALL THREE
Mobile.
EUROPEAN
The panel upstage of him shows photos of France. The Eiffel Tower, L’arch de Triomphe, Notredame.
I’ve never been able to stay in one place for very long.
Hesitates. Tentatively gets in the bin, then gets out again. Unsure.
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[just let me know if you want to read the rest, i'll email it to you. K! The 1.5 mentioned above is a cheezy 1st act of a play about my son Cameron and friends when they are 17 - 6 years from now. Not available to the public! :-)]
