I've been happily holed up writing in my perfectly simple cabin at the Byrdcliffe Artists Colony in Woodstock and yesterday sent the Kennedy Center a working draft of The Man of the House, a new solo theater piece based on an episode in my own life...boy loses dad, boy finds dad, boy grows up.
Below is an excerpt from the play. I hope to get a production in the 2013-14 season.
Onward,
d.
PABLITO
Mom doesn’t hate
you Dad, she’s hurt, and she doesn’t trust you.
There’s a difference. She has to
work her butt off and with no help from you.
How do you expect her to feel?!
You left us stranded, and here you are with a Caddy, a Mercedes, a boat,
antiques…
DAD
It is much more
complicated than that.
PABLITO
(Angrily) Not really, pretty simple
actually. You have your life, we’re not
included. Period.
DAD
One day you’ll
understand how it is for a man to…
PABLITO
Bull.
DAD
…live with…
PABLITO
Double-Bull.
DAD
…a broken heart.
PABLITO
Triple-Bull…a
stampede of Bull!
DAD
Pablo, stop.
PABLITO
You stop bulling
me and just say the truth, that you were a coward, that you screwed up, that
you choose yourself over me!
DAD
Pablito…Pablo,
you…are…I am…(long pause)
PABLITO
A coward!
DAD
Waiter! The bill.
We are going home.
