Blameby joshua Aaron Weinstein Cast: ELI deceased at the age of eighteen; appears that young
MOTHER first-generation Jewish American in her fifties; appears in her
late twenties (ages throughout the play) Setting: Part 1: Mother’s living room on the East Coast, United States Part 2: Outskirts of the frozen city of Tula, Russia Time: Today. Part 1 Eli stands in the living room of his childhood home. The room is dark and dank, a small table lamp is on in the corner; the only natural light is coming from the small crack Eli is making as he peers between two blades of the drawn blinds. Mother sits silently on a worn sofa as if she is being scolded merely by her son’s presence. Eli pulls up the blinds he has been peering through then turns to his mother. She is unaffected by his purposeful and aggressive action, much to his dismay. ELI You’ve got to feel something. MOTHER Immaterial. ELI Physical. MOTHER Nothing inside either. I don’t have the strength. Maybe twenty years ago I – ELI Stop! This is what you always do. Blame it on your age. Look at you. What you’re really doing is blaming it on me. I’m the only reason you had to give up all your hopes and dreams. I’m sick and tired of taking your shit. I was pretty fucking independent my whole life. Even as a baby. Gave you space. Did you take it? MOTHER If I didn’t have my routine I would have nothing. ELI What are you doing with your life, mom? Sulking in misery. Sitting in front of the television all day, making a TV dinner then going to the movies. You’ve seen everything. Hate it all, but still you go. Something to do. Something to entertain yourself while you wait. MOTHER All one needs to do with life is to live. ELI I can’t deal. MOTHER I didn’t ask you to come. Man of the House has a 7:25 showing over at the Cineplex. ELI How can you sit through that mindless drivel? MOTHER With popcorn and a Cherry Coke. Tommy Lee Jones is not so bad to look at either. ELI You’re a sick woman. Are you playing twenty-eight again? The past is over! MOTHER I’m not looking for a fight. ELI Then go somewhere! See the world. MOTHER I don’t have that kind of money. Besides, nothing is lonelier than traveling alone. ELI I’ll go with you. MOTHER You will go with me? ELI I won’t let you die this way. I will go with you. MOTHER Where? ELI Wherever you want. MOTHER Russia. ELI Russia? MOTHER Russia. ELI Of all the places in the world. You want to go to Russia. Why? MOTHER My father was born in – ELI What about Fort Lauderdale where Grandma was born? MOTHER Been there. ELI But it’s not here. All I was saying is that you need to get away from here. MOTHER I want to find the village where my father was born. Feel the ground at my feet. Watch the sunrise and sunset where he did as a boy. Plant a tree where his home once stood. ELI You’ve thought about this a long time. MOTHER Never thought it was a possibility. ELI You couldn’t just go to the Caribbean and get a tan? MOTHER You said anywhere. That’s where I want to go. ELI Make the arrangements. He disappears. MOTHER Thank you, Eli, my son, High Priest of Israel. Blackout. Part 2 A small patch of dirt amidst the snow covered ground stands a small tree, newly planted. A rock nearby large enough for a person to sit. Mother is currently attempting to take off her boots. Mother and Eli are dressed for below freezing weather. Eli stands to her side looking out over a barren terrain. ELI Springtime in Russia. Tolstoy used to live around here, somewhere. Loved it. They loved him. Word is that the area remains to this day a city of curious storytellers, whose phonetic dialect and old-style literary vocabulary sets them apart from most of Russia. I did research. Got that off the Internet. The world-famous semi-automatic AK-47 was designed and tested right here in Tula. You could test a nuclear bomb out here and no one would know. I see why my grandfather left. Besides, of course, the obvious… MOTHER Would you stop talking to yourself and help me take these off? ELI It’s thirty below. You’ll get frostbite. MOTHER I only want to dip my toes. ELI In the snow? MOTHER I’ve cleared a nice piece of ground off here for them. Reluctantly, Eli helps his mother off with her boots. Oh, dear. That is cold. She stands a moment sifting small rocks on the ground with her toe. I don’t know why it brings a tear to my eye. Say something nice about the tree. A beautiful – ELI They grow old. MOTHER With their families. ELI You hate family. MOTHER You hate family. I hate having to drag you along. Silence. O.K. I’m done now. Help me on with these. Eli helps his mother. Thank you. ELI We should get going. MOTHER It’s not dark yet. ELI Darker, you mean. And it’s going to start getting colder. MOTHER I want to wait until dark. See the sunset. ELI There wasn’t a sunrise. MOTHER We can imagine the sun is setting somewhere, can’t we? ELI From grey turning black. Eli sits down on the rock. MOTHER Can you imagine spending your entire life here? ELI Never. MOTHER You might say the Nazi’s were a blessing for our family. ELI I don’t think I would ever say that. MOTHER You’d get used to the cold? ELI I guess. MOTHER I don’t want you to guess, Eli. I want you to think. What would your life be like if Hitler never came to power and drove our family away from their home? You would be a farmer or a shepherd in this barren country. Depending on a few people to pass the time. Those few people who are your family. ELI I would run away. MOTHER And leave everyone you loved behind? ELI If I had to. MOTHER What if you knew no other place in the world to go? ELI This is ridiculous. MOTHER You would kill yourself. ELI Stop. Eli starts to go. MOTHER I think my father would have been perfectly content living here. ELI Hiding his religion? MOTHER If, Eli. I want to live in the world of “ifs” right now. Please let me. ELI If grandpa never left this place, you would never have been born…I would never have been born. If that’s the “if” you want to live in by all means do so, but leave me out. MOTHER Cause you’re already dead. Grave silence. Mother falls to her knees.
Talk no more with lofty pride, Another grave silence. ELI [Quietly. Reluctantly.] Amen. Mother rises. MOTHER I miss how easy it was for you to smile. When you were younger, Eli, you used to be ticklish, remember? Not just to the touch, but by something catching your eye or a turn of phrase. Everything is so serious with you now. If we had gone to the tropics, you would have that same long face on. Enjoy it before it’s gone, son. Enjoy life. ELI I can’t. MOTHER Lachaim! Say it with me, Eli. Lachaim!!! Lachaim. ELI It’s getting cold. MOTHER And very dark. ELI Come on, mom. Let’s get inside. MOTHER We’re so far away. ELI The roads only a half-mile from here. MOTHER I’ll freeze to death. ELI I won’t let you. MOTHER Stay close. ELI I will. MOTHER Promise. ELI I promise. MOTHER I’m lonely, Eli. ELI I know. Eli’s mother sobs silently.
We’d be family if we all lived here. We would. We’d be happy…or
as happy as any Russian citizen could be. MOTHER We’d only know each other and that would be perfect. ELI I could grow old here. MOTHER So could I. ELI You’ve got time. MOTHER Not here. ELI O.K. Eli takes his mother’s arm and they start to walk off. In the distance, a tiny ray of sunlight begins to breakthrough the harsh winter sky. As the light approaches their feet, Eli’s mother stops…He disappears. MOTHER Look. A sliver. She looks around to find him. Eli? She stands there in silence. The tiny ray fades. Blackout. |
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