Eyes of the Heart
Rent from DeepDyve- Eyes of the Heart
to john daggett
Cast of Characters
Thida San, a Cambodian woman, fifty.
Kim, Thida’s brother, a Cambodian man, forties.
Dr. Lynn Simpson, an American eye doctor, thirties.
Serey / Oun, a Cambodian woman, Americanized, eighteen. Oun, Thida’s daughter, is seen in flashbacks.
Savath Chin / K.R. Soldier / Sipha / Barber / Mugger, a Cambodian man, twenties.
Chhem, a Cambodian woman, traditional, fifties to sixties.
Notes on the Play
Scenes are set in Long Beach, California, in the late 1980s and in Cambodia in the 1970s. Scenes are played in different areas of the stage; locales are suggested. Because Thida is blind, the play has a soundscape, which helps suggest her world.
Thida uses a microphone when speaking aloud her thoughts. In the text, her thoughts are italicized. In one instance, Dr. Simpson also uses a microphone to speak her thoughts aloud. The dialogue of residents 1, 2, and 3 is heard as voice-overs.
Scene One
A flight announcement is mixed with airport sounds. A security alarm wails. Using a cane, Thida San* is escorted in by Savath.† Thida shrinks back from the assault of sounds. Kim rushes to her. He bows with palms together.
Thida! Sister, you are finally here! We’ve waited so long. I’m pleased to welcome you to my new home. [embraces her] Thida? It is me, your brother, Kim.
She isn’t speaking.
[confused] Isn’t speaking? Why?
I’m not sure. They didn’t mention it in the papers. She must be over-whelmed. [End Page 166]
[maintaining cheerfulness] Okay. [speaking louder] We are so happy to see you. It is a miracle you have finally arrived. How was your trip? Are you all right?
She can hear you. She’s probably just not talking.
I asked to stay at the temple.
[quickly motions to Serey* ] This is Serey, your niece.
[lightly touches Thida’s shoulder] Hello, Aunt.
Like Oun... †
You remember how she liked to visit you? In your house, where you had so many lovely things?
Dad.
[patting something under her shirt, near her heart] Like Oun, in the photograph.
[introduces Savath] And you met Savath Chin—he’s the man who got you here! He never gave up. He flew to the embassy in Phnom Penh. The paperwork sat there for ages.
Welcome to Los Angeles, Mrs. San.
Los Angeles?
We’re very relieved to see you. How was your trip? Comfortable? [touches a plastic bag Thida is clutching; Serey has moved away] Serey! . . . You have no baggage? Nothing?
[pats something under her shirt] It is all here.
Just crackers from the plane? [watches Thida]
The papers say she sat in the dark in the temple for years.
She didn’t want to come to America.
As Thida pats her shirt, Serey becomes the young woman Oun. Lights shift.
Miracle. A schoolgirl who eats, she breathes, she goes to school. When she comes home, everything is normal. Her father teases her, “Will she be a doctor?” One day my daughter says, “No, I will be a midwife.” “Why not a doctor?” he asks her. His pride hurt, perhaps. She shrugs her shoulders. She walks away, to her room. To study. She is stubborn... Stop.
Lights are restored to the airport.
Let’s go home. [End Page 167]
Scene Two
Dr. Lynn Simpson, wearing eyeglasses, shows slides while addressing her residents. Behind her, squiggly, abstract shapes float. We remain with her in this strange world.
[facing the audience] Everything is spectacularly ordered. [pointing to first slide on scrim] See, there’s nothing on this retinal cell—it’s clear. You wait for the oddity. It comes rarely. [showing second slide on scrim] There it is. In night blindness, you know exactly what to expect. The retina has this white, murky surface, sometimes like a floating string. This is a floating world, a world where there is no speed, no weight. It’s all here in front of us. Every day you wonder what you will discover.
Lights cross-fade to Kim leading Thida...
