Skinhead
from Pixabay
............
Skinhead
from Pixabay
A Ten Minute Play
By John R. Green
Copyright © by John R. Green
Shown with his blessing
(In Order Of Their Appearance)
Leon Fairchance, age 40
Viola Fairchance, age 40
Ricky Sidecutt, age 25
Corky McSpeedie, age 28
Sylvia Hirshon, age 70
Angelica Teller, age 25
10:00 a.m. - July 3, 1995
A portion of a Square in a City.
SETTING: A fountain is located in center of condensed Square. Whether water is flowing from fountain is optional.
AT RISE: Leon and Viola Fairchance arrive and stand at South end of Square, facing fountain.
LEON (surveying the vicinity) Why am I here?
VIOLA Why are we here?
LEON That strange dream! That weird dream! That haunting dream! (to Viola) If you hadn't had the same dream I wouldn't be here. I don't act on my dreams.
VIOLA (shaking her head) I never heard of two persons having exactly the same dream, let alone husband and wife.
LEON The messenger in the dream told us to come here where we will receive a Revelation.
VIOLA (sighing) But we haven't a clue as to the nature of the Revelation.
LEON (excitedly pointing toward the East) Oh my God, here come some skinheads!
VIOLA (soothing hand over Leon's arm) Now don't be upset, dear. I hear there are some good skinheads.
LEON (shaking his head) They don't look good to me. Look at those faces!
VIOLA Well, with our lily white skins, they don't know that we are black. (Ricky Sidecutt and Corky McSpeedie arrive at the Eastern end of Square, facing fountain.)
RICKY (to Leon and Viola) Now what in the hell are you doing here!
VIOLA (as Leon cringes) We are wondering the same about you.
RICKY (exploding with hostility) Why should you be wondering why we are here?
CORKY (placing a restraining arm over Ricky's shoulder) You must excuse my overheated pal. He had a mysterious night.
LEON (regaining his composure) We also had a strange night.
CORKY (startled as Ricky gasps) Was there a dream?
VIOLA (astounded) Yes, we had a dream about a Revelation.
RICKY (shaking his fists in the air) Well, I'll be damned! How in the hell can this happen!
CORKY (to Leon and Viola) Yes, how can this happen?
LEON (throwing arms in the air) You tell us!
VIOLA We only dreamt the dream. We didn't create it.
CORKY And you expect a Revelation? (Leon and Viola nod heads in affirmation) Other than the dream, what do we have in common with you? You know what we are but who are you?
RICKY Yeah, who are you? How do you feel about us?
VIOLA (pointedly) We don't approve of your message and mission.
RICKY (seething with anger) That does it! Let's stop this before it goes any further! (reaches for his pistol but is restrained by Corky.)
CORKY (sharply) This is not the way skinheads settle such matters, Ricky. We are white supremacist, not Aryan exterminators.
RICKY (pointing to the West) Well, here comes a damned Jew! How are you going to handle this, my dear skinhead colleague?
VIOLA (as Leon and she glance toward the West) How do you know that she is a Jew?
RICKY You can spot a Jew anywhere, anytime! (Sylvia Hirshon arrives at West side of Square, facing the fountain)
RICKY (sneering to Sylvia) We had a dream last night and now you are going to tell us that you had one also.
SYLVIA (forcefully) Yes, but as of now I don't know whether it was from Heaven or Hell!
CORKY Are you associating us with Hell?
SYLVIA (laughing, pointedly) Well, I am not associating you with Heaven. (Ricky angrily starts toward Sylvia but is again physically restrained by Corky.)
CORKY And now, I suppose you would have us believe that you are a victim of the Holocaust.
SYLVIA (passionately) I am indeed a victim of that catastrophe!
CORKY There was no Holocaust. All we hear about it is simply Jewish propaganda.
RICKY (waving his arms in the air) You are so right, so dead right, my skinhead pal!
SYLVIA May I ask, do you consider yourselves to be Christians?
CORKY Ricky, here, is a Christian; I am an agnostic.
SYLVIA (to Ricky) A prominent Christian clergyman recently said that to deny that the Holocaust took place is the ultimate of blasphemy.
LEON (excitedly points toward North) Here she comes in red from head to toe! (all eyes are trained in stunned fascination upon Angelica Teller, who is attired in red pants suit and a red arrow-like hat, as she arrives at North end of Square, facing fountain.)
RICKY (cautiously) Are you the Revealer?
ANGELICA (smiling) That I am and I shall begin with you, Leon and Viola Fairchance, providing you are ready to receive what I am about to reveal to you.
LEON (anxiously) How can we know whether we are prepared?
ANGELICA Can you accept truth no matter how appealing or repulsive it may be?
VIOLA (smiling, nervously) We hope so.
LEON (nodding his head) Maybe we can.
ANGELICA You consider yourselves to be Blacks.
RICKY (stunned, angrily) You are niggers parading as Whites?
VIOLA (sharply) We are not parading as white people! We have always lived as Blacks.
RICKY (starting toward Leon and Viola) You talked to us this morning in ways we don't allow niggers to speak to us!
ANGELICA (sharply, pointing to Ricky) Step Back! Step Back! And don't you utter another sound until I have completed my Revelation to Leon and Viola! (A bewildered and baffled Ricky gazes at Angelica as he retreats to his position aside Corky, who is staring in wonderment toward Leon and Viola.) On the night of your births, Viola and Leon, there was a fire in the hospital and several babies ended up with the wrong parents. Both of you were born to White parents, but in the confusion of the fire each of you were given to separate Black parents. (gasps from Ricky and Corky and stunned silence from Viola, Leon and Sylvia.) Haven't you wondered why you have similar birthdays?
VIOLA (slowly) Yes, but my parents always thought that I was Black even though my skin is white.
LEON And my mother and father thought I was Black. After all, the hospital said I was their baby; how could they think otherwise?
VIOLA (to Angelica) Why are you telling us about our racial status now?
RICKY (laughing boisterously) Why, you ask like damn fools! Now you can live as Whites!
CORKY Yes, you should be thanking the Revealer instead of questioning her.
VIOLA But why shouldn't I continue to live as a Black? It is the only life I have known, and although there has been suffering it has been a good life with many, many good people.
LEON And with wonderful parents!
RICKY (exploding with rage) You are Whites wanting to be niggers! Traitors, damn you! (Moves toward Leon and Viola who defiantly stand their ground)
ANGELICA (calmly, but forcefu1ly) I suggest that you wait until I have finished with your Revelation before taking action toward others, Ricky Sidecutt.
CORKY Sounds like an excellent idea to me. (Ricky stares in stunned silence upon Angelica for a moment and then slowly backs to his original position while angrily focusing his face upon Leon and Viola.)
ANGELICA And now, Sylvia dear, I wish I could soften your trauma as you hear your Revelation. (Sylvia's facial features display her anxiety as she glances toward Leon and Viola and then back upon Angelica.) When your Jewish parents adopted you, following the death in car crash of your birth parents, they thought your birth parents were Jewish because they had a name which is common among Jewish people - Newman, to be precise.
SYLVIA (with shocked dismay) And you are telling me that I am not Jewish?
ANGELICA (sorrowfully) You have truly perceived.
SYLVIA (desperately) But everybody remarks how much I resemble my Jewish parents.
ANGELICA (smiling tenderly) A pure coincidence, I am afraid.
RICKY (to Sylvia) You should be as happy as a robin with a bushel of worms, but you go into a lamenting song and dance! And don't tell me you intend to go on living as a Jew?
SYLVIA I wouldn't have it any other way. (to Angelica) How about his Revelation?
RICKY (to Sylvia) You can hardly wait to learn that I am not White, damn you! You had better be disappointed!
ANGELICA (bluntly) You were abandoned as a toddler by your Black birth parents and taken in by White parents. They thought you were White because, as in the case of Leon and Viola, your skin was lily white.
RICKY (shouting furiously) No, damn you, no! How dare you call me Black! (suddenly grabs pistol and fires a shot at Angelica, who stands smiling serenely toward Ricky. Amazed at her not being wounded or killed he shoots again but Angelica remains unchanged. Upon the third shot, she walks calmly from the scene. Bewildered and fearful, he turns toward a numb and bedazzled Corky while Leon, Viola and Sylvia shake their heads in awe.)
RICKY (to Corky) You have heard of demons, haven't you? She is a demon coming to torment me with that lie about me being black!
CORKY (shaking his head) If I am sure of one thing right now, it is that you are Black. Black as coal in the mines.
RICKY (desperately) But I don't want to be black! I want to go on living as a white man with the Skinheads!
CORKY You well know, Ricky, that Blacks have no place with the Skinheads. I will try to protect you, but you are no longer a Skinhead, and I strongly warn you not to even try being one.
RICKY Look! I'll show you how much of a Skinhead I can be! (He takes his pistol and fires it toward Sylvia who crumbles to the ground fatally wounded. Leon and Viola rush grief stricken to her side.)
LEON (shouting to Ricky) You murdered this wonderful woman! You are a murderer!
RICKY (to Corky) And I can finish off those two!
CORKY (angry and distressed) I warned you repeatedly about using that gun. If you shoot Leon and Viola you might as well shoot yourself. They are White and you are a Black killing two of the White race. How will the law deal with you? (Ricky in despair watches Corky leave scene. He then proceeds to end his own life with his pistol.)
VIOLA (looking toward the North) Here comes the police. Inasmuch as we are White they may listen to our account of what has happened here this morning.
LEON (shaking his head) Yes, but let us prepare for a psychiatric examination when they hear about that dream.
CURTAIN