Jimmy Carter Was a Democrat

Characters

SAMUEL B. SHOSTAKOVITZ , labor historian

MIKE FREEMAN, Federal Aviation Administration supervisor

EMILY GARDENER, air traffic controller, sometime Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization activist

BILL MARKS , air traffic controller

LOUISE MARKS (ROCKFORD), Bill's wife

PLACE

A dingy apartment in Queens, New York

TIME

1980s

(More specifically: the action in and around the air traffic control tower takes place during 1980-81, but the character Shostakovitz is looking at those events from the historical perspective of 1986.)

PROLOGUE

SAMUEL B. SHOSTAKOVITZ 's home: a dingy, one-room apartment. All the events of this play, even those that literally take place during 1980-81 in various locations, are played out in the space of SAMUEL 's apartment.

SAMUEL 's furniture (his chairs, couch, bed, TV, refrigerator, etc.) serves the needs of all the other characters at their homes and at work. SAMUEL performs whatever rearranging of the furniture is necessary to make the scenes run. He has a microphone and various costume pieces (hats and masks) that he uses when he is playing different roles.

There are Daily News front pages taped to SAMUEL 's wall (chronicling Reagan's election, the hostage release, and the air traffic controller strike); he references these for emphasis at points throughout the play.

SAMUEL B. SHOSTAKOVITZ enters. He is preparing for something. He wears dress slacks, a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a tie.

He adjusts papers and reviews note cards. He checks to see that his flight captain's hats with various insignias and his Reagan and Carter masks are ready to go. He tests a microphone he has set up.

SAMUEL has a Brooklyn accent. He says each of the following words as if they are pregnant with self-evident meaning.

SAMUEL Air. (pause) Traffic. (pause) Control.

SCENE ONE

EMILY and BILL enter.

They are in the Coffee Lounge of TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control), the air traffic control headquarters for La Guardia, JFK, and Westchester airports.

EMILY What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I said, what the fuck ...

BILL It means my wife is picking me up from work today.

EMILY What are you saying?

BILL That's what I'm saying.

EMILY Why?

BILL Buick's in the shop.

EMILY Oh my god.

BILL It's fine.

EMILY Oh my god, last night?

BILL I'm fine.

EMILY Are you okay?

BILL I'm here.

EMILY How'd you get here?

BILL Joe.

EMILY He lives near you?

BILL He picked me up.

EMILY I would have picked you up.

BILL Yeah.

EMILY I could drop you home tonight.

BILL I'm overtime.

EMILY Don't say that.

BILL What?

EMILY Overtime is when you make time and a half.

BILL I'm working late.

EMILY Louise doesn't hate me.

BILL Yeah.

EMILY She likes me.

BILL She doesn't like you.

EMILY What'd I ever do to her?

BILL Cut it out.

EMILY It's not my fucking fault that you totaled your car. Maybe she hates you.

BILL Maybe.

EMILY I told you you were too drunk to drive.

BILL What was I gonna do? I had to get home.

EMILY You should drink less.

BILL You should drink less.

EMILY We should drink less.

EMILY sits in a chair near BILL .

SAMUEL rises.

SAMUEL Thank you. Good afternoon. Good evening. My name is Dr. Samuel B. Shostakovitz, Ph.D.

He locates an index card and reads a prepared speech, referencing his notes as needed, at times digressing.

SAMUEL Who has failed to be fascinated by the glass booth atop the tall tower out at the local airport, and by the tiny silhouettes of tiny figures inside, diminutive shadows handling giant responsibilities? Perhaps none of us who concern ourselves with Labor and its disputes—and should we not all consider ourselves in that noble camp?—were prepared for the devastating shock of the fiasco that was the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike begun in...