But Still Like Air

Junk Bonds

a play in two acts by LUCY WANG Originally produced by HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, Randy Rollison , Artistic Director. Original Resident Theatre production by Capital Repertory Company, Albany , NY, Margaret Mancinelli-Cahill, Artistic Director; Mark Dalton, General Manager. Junk Bonds won the Katherine and Lee Chilcote Foundation Award for Best New Play in the Cleveland Public Theatre New Play Festival, 1995. Junk Bonds won an award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, a project ofthe John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with support from American Express Company in cooperation with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. DIANA: CONNOR: CAST OF CHARACTERS Chinese American. Mid-to-Iate 20s. Nicknamed D.K. for "Don't Know." Sharp, ambitious , idealistic. New bond trader. Early 30s. Nicknamed JAMMER. Totally winCopyright © 1994, 1995 by Lucy Wang. All inquiries regarding funk Bonds should be addressed to Helen Merrill, Ltd., 435 West 23rd Street # lA, New York, NY 100II. Copyrighted Material 332 BILL: JEFFERSON: KENT: SQUAWK Box: HIRO WATANABE: LUCY WANG ning. Loves pranks, funniest trader on the desk, most lovable, snappy dresser. Late 20s to early 30s. Nicknamed the KING. Head trader, boyish but likable, former bodybuilding champion. Cheap functional dresser, wears tube socks with suits. Not an MBA or Ivy Leaguer. Professes to champion common man. Early 40s. Nicknamed CUFFLINKS. Most corporate of the traders, obsessed with preserving his youth while privately resenting Wall Street's preoccupation with youth. Can be African American. Early-to-mid 40s. Ex-Marine, charismatic. SQUAWK Box looks like a normal phone with speakers except that it allows the sales force across the country and overseas to communicate to a trader instantaneously. Voice is amplified , sounds like a loud speaker or public announcement system. SQUAWK Box is a collection of different voices, male and female , not one person. HIRO is pronounced Hero. Early 30s, from Japan. Stylish, but understated. SCENES: New York, New York, decade of disclosure. Sets needn't be elaborate or costly. The HOME for Contemporary Theatre production was performed in the round, using the stage as a boxing ring, microphone as squawk box, and red plexiglass floor to signify blood. The Cleveland Public Theatre production was also performed in the round, but designed as a football stadium.At Capital Rep, the play was performed 3/4 and the set was very stylistic and angular, abstracting elements ofa trading floor. In all productions, each character had 2 phones with 25 ft cords and rolling chairs. The squawk box is like a public announcement system. They look like regular phones and have speakers for amplification. They are essential in disseminating information as quickly and efficiently as possible. For example, ifa salesperson in London wants a simple bid, she can use the squawk box to call a trader. It's Copyrighted Material Junk Bonds 333 instantaneous, and once the trader gives a bid, every Tapir employee in the world knows where that bond is truding at the moment-if the squawk box speaker is turned on (comes with volume dial). Trading screens look like little TVs. ACT!: TRUTH Scene One An office, November. Scene Two Trading floor, January. Scene Three Trading floor, February. Scene Four Trading floor, March. Scene Five Trading floor, April. Scene Six Ballroom, following week in April. ACT II: DARE Scene One Trading floor, September. Scene Two · Trading floor, October. Scene Three Trading floor, the next Friday. Scene Four Trading floor, following February. Scene Five Trading floor, April. Scene Six Trading floor, May. Monologues originally created for HOME production. They can be said simultaneously or improvised upon to serve as filler when trading. KENT MONOLOGUE Kent here. I'm fine. Tapir's making a lot of money today. A fuck of a lot of money. Hear the roar of the trading floor? The time to invest is now. Year end, we're reporting record earnings. That's right, we're taking over. Number one. When the news hits the Street, you'll kick yourself for missing the gravy train. That's what happens when you hire the best. Sign of a truly gifted managing director is one who's not afraid of hiring someone smarter than himself. I'm telling you, bunch of anal-retentive Einsteins. All that raw energy and hunger. They glow in the dark. Makes me proud. As I was saying, calculate the compound interest. Daily. Low risk, high reward. You...