The Myopia and Other Plays by David Greenspan

The HOME Show Pieces

The HOME Show Pieces David Greenspan in “Portrait of the Artist” from The HOME Show Pieces. HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, New York, 1988. Photograph by Francisco Gonzalez. The HOME Show Pieces First produced by HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, New York City, from September 14 through October 1, 1988. Doing the Beast Character 1 David Greenspan Too Much in the Sun Character 3 Ron Bagden Character 4 Kathleen Tolan Portrait of the Artist Character 1 David Greenspan Character 2 Ron Bagden The Big Tent Character 1 Kathleen Tolan Character 5 Ron Bagden Character 2 Ron Bagden Set Design by William Kennon Lighting Design by David Bergstein Directed by David Greenspan The HOME Show Pieces was subsequently produced by Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival / Public Theater, New York City, from January 1 through February 16, 1992. The production credits were the same except for the following: Tracey Ellis portrayed Character 4 in Too Much in the Sun and Character 1 in The Big Tent. Costumes were designed by Elsa Ward. Synopsis The HOME Show Pieces is a cycle of four short plays that chronicle a sevenyear period in the history of their principal character. Each episode is located in a different area of “the house.” 30 In the bedroom play, Doing the Beast, a man, masturbating in bed, is interrupted by a series of phone calls, all of which illuminate aspects of his puerile existence. The backyard play, Too Much in the Sun, is a satire in which two actors, preparing to appear in an “autobiographical work,” deride and condemn the play’s author for what they consider a disrespectful and unsympathetic portrait of his troubled family. In Portrait of the Artist, a little-known playwright sits on the toilet in the bathroom of his apartment , constructing fantasies of recognition and acclaim. The fourth play, The Big Tent, is located in the kitchen; in this episode, a phone conversation between the principal character and his elderly aunt links up three previously unrelated pieces, their events and characters. Characters: Character 1 Character 2, Character 1’s lover Character 3, an actor Character 4, an actress Character 5, Character 1’s aunt The same actor plays Character 1 in Doing the Beast and Portrait of the Artist. The actress playing Character 4 in Too Much in the Sun takes over the role of Character 1 in The Big Tent. A second actor plays Characters 2, 3, and 5. The HOME Show Pieces / 31 Doing the Beast [Light illuminates Character 1 getting into bed. His bed is a mattress and headboard on the ›oor. At the foot of his bed, right, a black rotary phone. Left of the bed, strewn on a chair, his day’s clothing. He adjusts his pillows. He turns on a reading light. He picks up a book. He reads. He stops. Counts pages to end of chapter. Counts again. Reads again. Flips back one page—to refresh the memory. Turns page. Reads. He is having a dif‹cult time concentrating— every time he readdresses himself to the book he drifts away from what he is reading. Again, counts pages to end of chapter. Drifts. Puts down book, turns over on his belly, and begins gently humping the mattress. After a while the phone rings. He stops humping, picks up.] Character 1: Hello? Oh hi Aunt Ruth—how are you? No it’s not too late. No, I go to bed late, you know, usually. No, I go to bed late. Yea. How are you? Yea. (?) I’m just doing some reading. A book. It’s good. No, I’ve been ‹ne—I’ve been—Oh no, I’m sorry, yea, I—no, I did get your call, yea, it was a busy weekend, and I had to work some—No, I worked an extra shift at the restaurant and then—it’s ‹ne, it’s ‹ne, it’s ‹ne . . . it’s ‹ne, you know, it’s—you know. Right—In fact, I was planning on giving you a call today but—Right—I know. How are you? Oh you did, how are they? Un huh. Un huh. Oh really. Sounds good. No, I talked to them, when was it, last week, week before? I was—no, in fact it was, yes it was last week because they talked about—I was thinking of going out maybe this summer, you know, I...