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texts The American Imagination Richard Foreman/Stanley Silverman Libretto by Richard Foreman Music by Stanley Silverman Dramatis Personae: MAX ........................................... Tenor FANTOMAS..................................... Baritone JUDEX ......................................... Bass HELENE........................................Spinto IRMA VEP ...................................... Mezzo YOUNG RICHARD ............................... Soprano YOUNGSTANLEY ............................... Soprano OLD RICHARD .................................. Baritone OLD STANLEY ......... ................... Tenor Gangsters: M.GASTON ...................................... Lyric Tenor ALAIN DUCHAMP................................Tenor JULOT L'ENJOLEUR ............................. Baritone DR. LACLOCHE ................................. Bass The American Imagination was produced by the Music-Theatre Performing Group Inc./Lenox Arts Center Inc. Premiere: April 15, 1978. Copyright k 1978 by Deshon Music, reprinted by permission of Beiwin-Mills Publishing Corporation, New York City. Request for performance should be directed to Belwin-Mills, 1776 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019. 178 ACT I SCENE 1 (Tape 1. We hear five thuds.. The scene is black. When thuds are finished we hear.) VOICE: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. WE SPEAK OF AN INNOCENT, PURE, FRENCH DAUGHTER, ALMOST A BRIDE. (Lights slowly up to reveal HELENE and JUDEX. Each carries a suitcase. They are frozen in their poses.) FLEEING FROM THE BELOVED CITY OF HER FRENCH CHILDHOOD. TRAVELING TOWARDS WHERE ... WHERE ... UNDER THE PROTECTIVE WING OF THE BLACK HATTED DETECTIVE , JUDEX. (Lights fade to black.) ENEMY OF CRIME: DEDICATED TO JUSTICE. THRUST UPON THEIR JOURNEY UNNATURALLY BY PRUDENCE, AND BY FEAR. DOES THAT FEAR HAVE A NAME? YES, A FATHER'S NAME. AND, WHAT THEN, IS THE NAME OF THAT FEAR? FANTOMAS. YES. YES. YOU HEARD ME CORRECTLY. I SPOKE THE NAME OF THE ELUSIVE FANTOMAS. BUT WHAT YOU ASK IS FANTOMAS ? WHO, YOU ASK, IS FANTOMAS? NOBODY, BUT SOMEBODY NEVERTHELESS. AND WHAT, YOU ASK, DOES THIS SOMEBODY DO? (Lights up to reveal FANTOMAS lurking in Hotel Room. He holds a newspaper.) HE FRIGHTENS. (Metronome ticking.) FANTOMAS: READ THE EVENING PAPER TO RELAX. LOOK, LOOK. MY NAME ACROSS THE PAGE IN A BLACK HEADLINE. (Metronome stops.) SCENE 2 VOICE (Tape 2): The young journalist , Max Beauchamp, held prisoner by Fantomas, perhaps. In love with the innocent Helene, daughter of Fantomas himself. (Another room. MAX against the wall, his hands tied together. HELENE enters.) MAX (Turns his head away): I do not look at you. HELENE: Have you ever seen me before? MAX: No. HELENE: Helene. MAX: No. It isn't Helene. (THEY are both frozen as the music plays on.) BLACKOUT SCENE 3 (MAX now in third room, still tied.) MAX: FANTOMAS! 179 FANTOMAS! FANTOMAS! PHANTOM CRIMINAL WHOSE DAUGHTER IS MY LOVE. FANTOMAS! FANTOMAS! FANTOMAS! I TRY TO IMAGINE YOU BUT I DO NOT SUCCEED. DO YOU HAVE A BODY OR ONLY A DAUGHTER? DO YOU HAVE A SHAPE OR ONLY A SMILE? HOW SHALL I PRETEND TO SPEND THE TIME THAT I'M PRISONER? OF COURSE, I'M NOT A PRISONER BUT I PRETEND I AM. BLACKOUT SCENE 4 (MAX, FANTOMAS and HELENE squeezed into a small room.) MAX: Thank you for paying my hotel bill. FANTOMAS: I hope you've enjoyed your stay. (A door opens and M. GASTON crosses.) VOICE (Tape 3): The gentlemen criminal, Monsieur Gaston, and his well-known whirling walk of terror. MAX (Pause): What kind of people stay here? FANTOMAS: Criminals. MAX: What? FANTOMAS: Criminals. (Another door: ALAIN DUCHAMP crosses.) VOICE (Tape 4): The petite and insolent Alain Duchamp and his famous hop-step. Snapshot on the Boulevard du Crime. MAX (Pause): Where do you keep your disguises? FANTOMAS: In the top drawer of the bureau. (Another door: THE CRIMINALS cross in line.) VOICE (Tape 5): Rarely seen, the notorious Promenade des Criminels , featuring in advance the delicate Julot l'Enjoleur, and, bringing up the rear, the notorious Dr. Lacloche, medical faculty, the Sorbonne.. surgical division. FANTOMAS (Pause): Have a look if you like. MAX: Will you untie my hands? FANTOMAS: Of course. (Music. No one moves.) MAX: You haven't untied them yet. FANTOMAS: Will you marry my daughter? MAX: That isn't your daughter. FANTOMAS: Helene. MAX: That isn't Helene. (IRMA enters disguised as a chambermaid .) On second thought, maybe that is Helene. FANTOMAS: I thought you'd realize your mistake. BLACKOUT SCENE 5 VOICE (Tape 6): What better way for Judex, friend of all victims, to secretly install himself at the side of the terrified Max? Yes, yes. Priestly vestments, since a...

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