CAST of CHARACTERS

Benjamin Franklin: Himself.
Ellie: A tough city woman in her late thirties.



TIME
21ST Century


The Set:
(A busy highway. In the middle of which is a landscaped island. The island has one large jacaranda tree. The purple flowers from the jacaranda have painted the circumference under the tree’s canopy purple. In the treetop is a gigantic cobalt blue kite. The string of the kite is hanging down out of the tree. The tree is surrounded by nondescript green bushes. Downstage on the island is a circular formation of yellow and pink flowering vegetation in full bloom, possibly bushes perhaps flowers. On either side of the island is fast-moving, hectic traffic. The traffic is represented by images of moving traffic taken with a slow aperture speed, mimicking the blur of motion.
At Rise:
In darkness, we hear the sounds of speeding traffic on a busy highway. As the lights slowly fade up, they light the stage from left and right simultaneously, finally meeting in the center, the light reaches center stage and the island. It is a beacon.
A contemporary woman enters stage on one side of the highway. She races across the highway to the island. When she reaches the island out of breath, she steps onto it. When she steps onto the island the deafening sound of the traffic stops, and we hear birds chirping, the sounds of a romantic representation of nature. She takes off her shoes and leaves them at the edge of the island. The woman sits down to meditate in the center of the flowering bushes facing the audience in a lotus position.
Benjamin Franklin pops up out of the bushes that surround the jacaranda tree. He has a small telescope. He pulls on the string to retrieve his kite with no success. At one point he suspends himself by the string, trying to use his body weight to force the kite out of the branches. Nothing works, so he gives up and peers out of his telescope until he sees the woman. Excited, he leaps out of the bushes and approaches her quietly. But his step disturbs her.)




ELLIE
Hey. Hey, hey, hey! / Watch it!

BENJAMIN
Hey… ho. How. Is it? How.

(BENJAMIN PLACES his hand out like a stop sign, mimicking the clichéd Native American greeting.)

ELLIE
Take off your f’n shoes man.

BENJAMIN
I hardly think it necessary that I should remove my shoes, which are satin. You might care to take particular notice of the buckles.

ELLIE
Wo! Stop./ Don’t—

BENJAMIN
Is it beast? Point it out! I shall put the beast down as a gentleman puts a lame dog out of his misery!

ELLIE
Don’t you take another step / with those—

BENJAMIN
Am I in the sight of the beast?

ELLIE
Christ, show some respect man. Take off those shoes.

BENJAMIN
As I stated, I thought quite clearly, I hardly think it necessary / that I should—

ELLIE
Listen, this is sacred space okay. Nature man… nature.

BENJAMIN
Clearly! And that is precisely why I am here.

ELLIE
Yeah, well me too. I’d appreciate it if you showed some reverence for nature by taking off your shoes before you go traipsing all over her.

BENJAMIN
You people certainly have a way, haven’t you? Far be it for me to intrude on nature so rudely when I am actually here because the very nature, of which we are amidst, is of the utmost importance for the survival of America and all of her people.

ELLIE
Yeah. Just take your shoes off, okay?

BENJAMIN
Certainly. You know, my lady, I once shocked a certain French high society with my natural hair. Should you ever find yourself in France, you would notice that they have a custom of shaving their heads and wearing wigs. However, I, being the rabble-rousing, wild American went natural. Shocked! Shocked to the point of paralysis. I tell you it was as if the entire room had just witnessed Jesus himself rise from the dead!
(Long silence.)
Perhaps I should sit with you here on the ground?

ELLIE
Whatever.

BENJAMIN
Comfortable, is it not?

ELLIE
Yeah, I think so. This is where I come to get away from it all, you know?

BENJAMIN
What, my dear, are you getting away from or should I even inquire?

ELLIE
You know… the hustle and bustle.

BENJAMIN
Is that one of your clever, imaginative forest myths? A creature from lore? I respect your people’s stories immensely, please, do not mistake my inquisitiveness for disrespect.

ELLIE
You’re way out there.

BENJAMIN
Yes, I apologize for that. However, there doesn’t appear to be enough room for two bodies inside your… circle of flowers.

ELLIE
Oh! That’s so fucking rude of me. Here. We can squeeze in together. I don’t bite.

BENJAMIN
One does hear stories.

ELLIE
Oh?
(BENJAMIN and ELLIE SQUEEZE into the circle together.)

BENJAMIN
Yes. Stories abound of you natives. A great many of which are quite good, entertaining, useful for dinner parties.

ELLIE
Where are you from?

BENJAMIN
Boston.

ELLIE
We’re not far from the city, you know?

BENJAMIN
I am well aware of where I am.

ELLIE
Okay.

BENJAMIN
Please, my dear, you must inform me on the ritual you are performing. I must know everything about it for my paper.

ELLIE
What paper?

BENJAMIN
I’m writing all about nature. The wild natural America! America and her abundant virgin nature, untouched by the hand of man! Acres of land that should inspire awe in any man, beauty that stretches out like a lady in the morning, beauty unmatched by any European sight.

ELLIE
Well I don’t know about all of that. I’m meditating.

BENJAMIN
Meditating / you say?

ELLIE
Yes.

BENJAMIN
I, myself, have been known to meditate.

ELLIE
Really?

BENJAMIN
Certainly!

ELLIE
What do you practice? Kundalini? No probably something more Buddhist, huh? You look like the type.

BENJAMIN
I believe we are experiencing what is referred to as a language barrier, my dear.

ELLIE
How do you meditate?

BENJAMIN
I reflect with great focus on a subject I find of interest. Sometimes, often, I may reflect with the same great focus on a verse or two from the bible.

ELLIE
Oh. You’re contemplating.

BENJAMIN
Yes.

ELLIE
That’s not meditating.

BENJAMIN
Isn’t it?

ELLIE
No.

BENJAMIN
Perhaps you could enlighten me as to what you believe meditation to be?

ELLIE
It’s not thinking about anything.

BENJAMIN
I imagine that comes quite naturally for your people.

ELLIE
What do you mean by that?

BENJAMIN
My dear, I mean that nature is beautiful in her simplicity, and you and your people are an aspect of nature.

ELLIE
We’re all a part of nature.

BENJAMIN
Nature, by its very essence is untamed, wild. But as human beings we can, with a little discipline, become civilized. I would like to add that it is not too late for you. Of course, having natives around adds greatly to the character, and thus the desirability, of an untamed frontier of which civilized man would like to view first hand.

ELLIE
That’s exactly what I’m trying to get away from, civilization.

BENJAMIN
Yes! Out to nature on a holiday. That is precisely what I’m hoping to sell across the ocean. America is nature. You see? The wild frontier.

ELLIE
I just want to veg out.

BENJAMIN
Nature is what’s going to save this country! We cannot, I have told them, them, being the people in office, I have told them that we cannot, we simply cannot, compete with the other nations in terms of culture. We must, with great certainty, present ourselves as the last bastion of nature. We have more untamed nature than anywhere else in the world. That is what we must believe in. That is what must become our national identity.

ELLIE
Nature untouched by the hand of man.

BENJAMIN
Yes!

ELLIE
It’s beautiful, isn’t it?


BENJAMIN
It is. The beauty is immeasurable by man. It is a beauty that can only be described by the word divine. Look at these flowers for instance.

ELLIE
Yeah.

BENJAMIN
(Pointing to planted circle of flowers.)
Look at the way they have grown in this organic formation. It is only a divine hand that could have ordered such a thing. Do you not agree?

ELLIE
I never thought of it like that.

BENJAMIN
Even an accomplished artist could never have placed these flowers in such divine order.

ELLIE
That’s why I come out here, to connect. To connect with the… divine.

BENJAMIN
Yes, yes, yes! And America is divine! God’s country! That is exactly what we should believe in. A country that is still exactly the way God intended it to be, shaped by God, not by man.

ELLIE
I think I’m connecting but sometimes I don’t know.

BENJAMIN
Might I inquire, do you do any kind of dancing / or drum beating?

ELLIE
What? No, oh no. I’m not really into that whole hippy scene. Okay, I meditate but it’s Hindu.

BENJAMIN
I see, well perhaps you could just get up and try it. / I believe—

ELLIE
No.

BENJAMIN
I believe that it must be in your blood. I believe it will come quite naturally if you just let it flow out.

ELLIE
I don’t think so.

BENJAMIN
Please, humor an old man. We should stand up together and begin to move our legs, get the blood flowing, as they say, and discover what happens.

ELLIE
(Reluctantly stands up.)
If I wasn’t practicing open mindedness, this wouldn’t be happening.

BENJAMIN
Of course. Now, let us bend at the knees. It is akin to mimicry, is it not? Mimic the animals.

ELLIE
I don’t know.

BENJAMIN
Rabbit. Let us behave like the rabbit, hopping to and fro.

ELLIE
Oh, Christ. This figures. I leave the city to commune with nature and instead I find some wacko! I could’ve found on any street corner.

BENJAMIN
You seem to be having trouble, / my dear.

ELLIE
Yeah! I told you: I’m not into this.

BENJAMIN
This is how we will connect to nature. We need a rhythm, we need the sound of beating drums and animal howls. I will beat my hands together like a drum and you will dance the rabbit dance to my rhythm.

ELLIE
That’s it. I’m outta here. / I’ve got to get back to the city.

BENJAMIN
You mustn’t! We have not finished. Trust me. Please, place yourself over there by that tree.

ELLIE
No, / I really don’t—

BENJAMIN
Yes, yes, yes!

ELLIE
Oh jeez.

BENJAMIN
Over there by that beautiful tree, please. That way I can view you directly in the sight of nature. That is how they will see you when they come to participate in America’s wild frontier.
(BENJAMIN CLAPS his hands in a waltz tune.)
Come now. A one, two, three. A one, two, three. Move your feet dear, hop, hop, hop! A one, two, three. A one, two, three!
(ELLIE at a loss HOPS unhappily.)
That is it! Quite good, quite good!

ELLIE
Yeah?

BENJAMIN
Yes!

ELLIE
Feels kind of good!

BENJAMIN
It is in your blood! A one, two, three. Stay focused.

ELLIE
Okay! Hey man, I kind of feel like maybe I’m connecting, really connecting to nature!

BENJAMIN
Certainly! You are nature. Untamed and wild, / untouched by the hand of civilized man!

(BENJAMIN GETS his string.)

ELLIE
Whoe… what’s that for?

BENJAMIN
This is a string, dear. From my kite. Reason, child, I know it does not come easy for you.

(HE begins to DANCE around her, wrapping her up in the string.)


ELLIE
I don’t think so.

(ELLIE’s foot is stuck in the string and Benjamin succeeds in wrapping her around once to the tree truck around her waist. This makes it harder for her to escape and allows him to wrap her several times. All the while Ellie tries to free herself by breaking the string that is now tied tightly around her.)

BENJAMIN
(Steps back to admire his handy work.)
There!

ELLIE
I’m warning you. I took a women’s self-defense class. I know how to use my knee.

BENJAMIN
This is where you belong… in nature.

ELLIE
No, I don’t! I’m an urban girl. I don’t belong out in the country.

BENJAMIN
No, no, no.

ELLIE
Yes, yes, yes! City girl, that’s me, concrete jungle, and all of that.

BENJAMIN
Look around you, dear.
(BENJAMIN APPROACHES the edge of the island.)
Look at this virgin nature, and you are a big part of it. /

ELLIE
Where are you going? Hey, listen, I was wrong. There is the city and there is nature and never the twain shall meet. I don’t belong out here in nature. I belong in the city. We’re separate creatures.

BENJAMIN
You are the most prized animal in the kingdom, you see?

(BENJAMIN starts to WALK AWAY.)

ELLIE
Oh, no you don’t!

BENJAMIN
Man in his natural state. /

ELLIE
You think this string is gonna hold me?

BENJAMIN
People will know America as wild and natural!

ELLIE
You think I’m scared! I walked through the Bowery… alone… at night! You think I’m afraid of nature?

BENJAMIN
They will come across the ocean.

(BENJAMIN REACHES the edge of the island and exits offstage. As soon as he steps off the island the deafening sound of traffic begins again.)

ELLIE
Hey! Hey man! Come back. I don’t belong out here. Hey! Come back! Don’t leave me out here!

(THE LIGHTS FADE to black, and the SOUNDS fade out.)

ELLIE (V.O.)
I don’t belong out here!