Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy from Pexels and Wikimedia
TIME AND PLACE
Present. Nighttime, followed by a daytime visit to the Museum of Greek History. Unfinished.
At the rise, far stage right, stands an abandoned, two-story house, on the outside of which is a flight of wooden stairs, leading up to the second floor.
Center stage is Antonía’s and Kyros’s bedroom.
Stage left is the small theatre and adjacent area of the Museum of Greek History. A screen upstage shows the documentary described in Scene 2.
CHARACTERS
ANTONÍA, early 30s, pregnant.
KYROS (“Kris”), Antonía’s husband. Early 30s.
Their two Children (non-speaking parts).
A dream MONSTER (non-speaking part). Think Grendel.
GIRL, teenage or early 20s. Essentially a dream character whose voice, like that of a modern 8-year-old, lilts like a spiritual chant.
VOICE OF ANASTASÍA PETRAKIS, narrator of the documentary. In her 80s.
My body, mind and memory retch in flames in Hell.
My tongue, my lungs, my eyes, my skin as well.
Secreting sanity through blistering pustules of pain.
Releasing reason through horrors that bespeak no name.
From gaping mouth and throat too burnt to yell,
my frenzied screams cannot escape my brain.
But Satan and his fire alone exhale upon my breath,
to reek of burning flesh and ring of shrieking death.
SCENE 1 – A SCREAM IN THE NIGHT
In darkness a spot falls on ANTONÍA, alone in bed center stage. A shadow passes through the room, and she sits bolt upright, panting.
ANTONÍA
Who’s there?
Silence. She stares out, in fear. Suddenly the shadow bursts upon her, and she shrieks in terror. It grabs her by the foot as she continues screaming and attempts to pull away. The thing catches her other foot and begins pulling her apart, as if to split her up the middle.
ANTONÍA
[screaming] Help! Help! O God! Help me!
The shadow lets out a hideous laugh and then exits. ANTONÍA drops back into sleep again. The spot fades into total darkness. In a few moments, in the darkness:
VOICE OF ANASTASÍA PETRAKIS (offstage)
Nothing annihilates like fire,
just as nothing scorches the soul like rape.
Heaven help us:
We don’t know what we don’t know.
Click here for complete script.