Hold this Thought - Drama

The Legend of Bagger Vance: Lucian Childs

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:00:00 -0700

In the movie, The Legend of Bagger Vance, golfer Rannulph Junuh, the character played by Matt Damon, drinks to forget what he experienced in World War I. Young Hardy Greaves asks him a question, and Junuh replies:

"Now, the question on the table is: how drunk is drunk enough? And the answer is that it's all a matter of brain cells. ... You see, every drink of liquor you take kills a thousand brain cells. But that doesn't much matter 'cause we got billions more. First the sadness cells die so you smile real big. And then the quiet cells go so you just say everything real loud for no reason at all. That's okay, that's okay, because the stupid cells go next, so everything you say is real smart. And finally, come the memory cells. These are tough sons of bitches to kill."

Pygmalion: Vivian Melde

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 01:00:00 -0700

At the end of "Pygmalion," George Bernard Shaw's play about the transformation of Eliza Doolittle by Prof. Henry Higgins, we are left wondering whether Eliza will "look forward to a lifetime of fetching Higgins's slippers or to a lifetime of Freddy fetching hers?"

In an afterword, Shaw answers the question:

"...to admire a strong person and to live under that strong person's thumb are two different things. The weak may not be admired and hero-worshipped; but they are by no means disliked or shunned.... They may fail in emergencies; but life is not one long emergency: it is mostly a string of situations for which no exceptional strength is needed.... Accordingly, it is a truth everywhere in evidence that strong people, masculine or feminine, ... do not marry stronger people.... When a lion meets another with a louder roar "the first lion thinks the last a bore." The man or woman who feels strong enough for two, seeks for every other quality in a partner than strength."

Eliza marries Freddy.

The Last Night of Ballyhoo: Jill Yarbrough

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:00:00 -0700

The Last Night of Ballyhoo plays at Anchorage Community Theater through January 11. The play takes place in 1930s Atlanta.

"That's all we wanted -- to be like everybody else. ... [But] we're not. The summer [after] sixth ... grade my best friend was Vennie Alice Sizemore. And one day she took me swimming at the Venetian Club Pool. Her parents were members. So we were with a whole bunch of kids from our class and the boys were splashing us and we were all shrieking ... and pretending we hated it, when this man in a shirt and tie came over and squatted down by the side of the pool and he said "Which one is Sunny Freitag?" and ... he said I had to get out of the water. And Vennie Alice asked him why and he said Jews weren't allowed to swim in the Venetian pool. And all the kids got very quiet and none of them would look at me.... I got out of the pool and phoned Daddy at his office. When he came to get me all the color was drained out of his lips.... [Vennie Alice and I] stayed friends - sort of. Neither of us ever mentioned it again, but it was always there. So believe me, I know I can't hide being Jewish."

Dirty Hands: Rev. Connie Jones

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:00:00 -0700

In Jean-Paul Sartre's play "Dirty Hands," Hugo is a writer for ‘the revolution.' Feeling he's not contributing enough, he volunteers to be an assassin, but when the time comes, he cannot pull the trigger.

His target, a wise man, tells him, "You wanted to prove that you were capable of acting and you chose the hard way, as if you wanted to gather up credit in heaven; that's youth. You didn't succeed. Well, what of that? There's nothing to prove, you know, and the revolution's not a question of virtue but of effectiveness. There is no heaven. There's work to be done, that's all. And you must do what you're cut out for; all the better if it comes easy to you. The best work is not the work that takes the most sacrifices. It's the work in which you can best succeed. ... Better a good journalist than a poor assassin."

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe: Melissa Bartley

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:00:00 -0700

In "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe," a play by Jane Wagner, Trudy the bag lady reflects on what she's learned from her visitors from outer space:

"See, it's not so much what we know,
but how we know, and what
it is about us that needs to know.

...Of all the things we've learned, we still haven't learned
where did this desire to want to know come from? ...

So maybe we should stop trying to figure out the meaning of
life and sit back and enjoy
the mystery of life.
The operative word
here is what?
Mystery!
Not meaning."

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe: Ursula Gould

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:00:00 -0700

In "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe," a play by Jane Wagner, Trudy the bag lady is escorting her visitors from outer space:

"...we stopped to look at the stars.
And as usual,
I felt in awe.
And then I felt even deeper in awe at this capacity we have to be
in awe about something.

Then I became even more awestruck
at the thought that I was,
in some small way,
a part of that
which I was in awe about.

And this feeling went on
and on
and on....

Because at that moment you are most in awe of all there is
about life that you don't understand
you are closer to understanding it all
than at any other time."

Radio Days: Mark Schneiter

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:00:00 -0700

In Radio Days, a movie by Woody Allen, it's the 1940s and Aunt Bea has developed a crush on Mr. Manulis on their first date. Afterwards, while driving home, a harrowing announcement comes on the radio:

"We interrupt this program... to bring you a special news bulletin. A state of emergency has been declared... by the President of the United States. We're switching live to Wilson's Glen, New Jersey... where the landing of hundreds of unidentified spacecraft... has now been officially confirmed... as a full-scale invasion of the Earth by Martians.

Despite his bravado all evening... Mr. Manulis panicked and bolted out of the car. He was so frightened by the reports... of interplanetary invasion that he ran off... leaving Aunt Bea to contend with the slimy green monsters... he expected to drop from the sky at any moment.

She walked home 6 miles.

When Mr. Manulis called for a date the next week...she told my mother to tell him she couldn't see him anymore. She had married a Martian."

The Time of Your Life: Sandy Harper

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:00:00 -0700

In the prologue to "The Time of Your Life," William Saroyan writes:

"In the time of your life, live -- so that in that good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself or for any life your life touches. Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding-place and let it be free and unashamed. ... Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption. ... Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any man's innocence a thing apart. ... Have no shame in being kindly and gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill and have no regret. In the time of your life, live -- so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it."