The Art of Rene Joseph

 

Thespian masks of happiness and grief.

The next scene takes place inside the house, in Doll’s room.  It is a small, bleak room--a bed and a lone stool are it’s only furniture and they are plain enough.  There are no pictures or fancy flowered wallpaper on the wall as is found in magazines advertising the country home style.  The twilight reveals a dusty quality to the room.  It’s dark now, as a late evening has arrived.  The farmer’s wife, with light in hand, pauses outside Doll’s room.  She hears crying from within.  The farmer’s wife enters Doll’s room:  

 

SCENE TWO "A Conversation With God"

 

Farmer’s Wife:

I don’t mean to be hard on you.

It’s hard living out here.

It’s the way I have to be.

There’s too much work to take time out,

To welcome a person the right way.

You did all right today.

And you’ll get stronger everyday.

The clear air will do you good.

And the foul air of the barn’s just animals.

The boys clean it out regular-like.

I wouldn’t make you walk in there barefoot.

 

Doll:

(Doll is lying on the bed with her back to the audience.  Her sobbing has subsided during the Farmer’s wife speech. Doll turns over onto her back to stare at the ceiling.)  

It’s not that.  (Pause) I loved him.

 

Farmer’s Wife:

(She moves to be closer to Doll and sits on the edge of the bed, but with her back to Doll, facing the audience.)

I don’t know what it’s like to lose something—someone you love.

Your pretty.

We’ll get you a dress with flowers patterned all over it.

You need something proper pleasant for the next dance.

You’ll find your pick of…

 

 (Doll cries)

 

 Farmer’s Wife:

(Takes Doll's nearest hand without looking at her and soothes it by stroking it gently)

Shish, shish.

 

I was pregnant for 9 months once.

Carried around something for 9 months, hoping and expecting something.

And I lost it.

I guess I feel it's my fault.

That’s why I don’t mention it.

I didn’t even know the thing, though I had it that long.

I was mad at it for not living.

Doc said I worked too hard.

That a pregnant woman can’t be laboring the way I do.

I never had time to be sorrowful.

I have to work hard.

If I hadn’t, there wouldn’t be milk for me to give my new baby.

So I was angry at myself for letting it die.

And upset that I was angry at the child.

Either way it would have died.

So then I’m left angry at the way things are.

 

Then, in daylight, I look at my other 2 childs.

And see them healthy and strong and willing to help out. 

They make a play of their work—those 2 boys.  They’re always grinning.

At each other, goading the other on. 

I did all right by them.

I was younger then.

I see them all smiles and teasings and I feel better.

 

(During this speech Doll has turned her head to look at the farmer’s wife, and the audience can see Doll’s face slowly change from a sorrowful tension to become peaceful.)

 

Farmer’s Wife:

But then I get angry again.

I remember the preacher said “God givieth and God taketh away.”

And I feel better.

Every time I get angry at the way things are or to feeling guilty.

And I chance to look at my living children.

And then I feel better.

And I remember the preacher’s good words.

And again I feel to feeling better again.

 

In the end I’m left in awe.

That’s it.

Just awe.  

For I have seen the two faces of God.

 

 

Cloud burst with rays of light.

"You know, I know, the sun will always shine.  So baby please stop crying, stop crying, stop crying."--Bob Dylan

 

 

Epilogue:

Making art is like prayer, in that it is a process of mediation.  

Art isn't just entertainment--it's about communication.  Artists feel things deeply by connecting to something in nature that could be called God.  The poet Adrienne Rich was recently quoted as saying " The future is not imposed conformity.  It is finding the means to communicate and recognize each other as never before."  We also need to recognize and acknowledge something bigger then ourselves.   --Rene' Joseph

 

 

                

Thespian masks of happiness and grief on burning smoke cloud background.

The Two Faces of God

 

 

The play is an allegory for the stark wake-up we received on 9-11 which abruptly and violently forced us to re-acknowledge the part of our nature that is evil.  While we enjoy the good pleasures of love and life, there is another hidden side to nature and two faces to people.  The opposites of twin dualities create a balance and imbalance in our lives: birth and death, guilt and forgiveness, happiness and grief.  It is not a coincidence that the symbolism of the twin towers is represented in the play both by the duality of the farmers wife's personality and by the evocation of  the presence of the twin brothers.

 

Help your country by helping others:

www.citizencorps.gov

www.usafreedomcorps.gov

This last link has many volunteer opportunities for people of all ages, young and old, specific to your area.

 

To open your doors to the future--open them for others.

--from a fortune cookie, June 2, 2002
 

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