REHEARSAL ABYSS / ENSAYO ABISMAL was presented at The Poetry Project’s Parish Hall at St. Mark’s Church on September 20th, 2024 as part of Alien and Ordinary: A Poets Theater Symposium. It was performed by Amelia Bande (as Amelia), Mana Bugallo (as Mana), Tess Dworman (as Victor and Raquel), and Ned Riseley (as Yanyené).
REHEARSAL ABYSS / ENSAYO ABISMAL – scenes of a play
Amelia has broken bones, pneumonia, depression—or so she says. Three strict and clumsy nurses move her around while they audition to be in her band.
Amelia is lying down on a stretcher, tied to it.
PHONE CALL
AMELIA: I don’t know what being sick is like.
I’m not sick, I’m broken.
I fell down a cliff. Yes, that’s what happened.
A helicopter rescued me.
Ah, can you imagine?
I would love that.
Accidents have so much mystique.
A car wreck, adobe wall over my body, bicycle’s bar on my crotch, roll down a mountain
When I die you will miss me.
A narrative will emerge about my greatness.
Inevitably someone will say with a sigh of relief: She’s out of her pain.
But what if my pain was the truest part of me?
I didn’t have an accident.
I was in the hospital for a bit.
Everyone is so proud of me.
You are a fighter, a champ. A real trooper.
Here to beat this thing up.
They love these metaphors.
Every sick friend is a soldier.
We are with you. We love you so much.
Is there anyone here? Nurses? ¿Dónde están?
AMELIA: Aló Raquel, hola soy yo.
RAQUEL: Who is this?
AMELIA Tu hermana.
RAQUEL: Who?!
AMELIA: Your sister, Amelia.
RAQUEL: You woke up from your coma, finally.
AMELIA: My feet are dust, Raquel,
the damage cuts through me,
I yelled my lungs out and I’m out of air.
My friends come to see me.
I’m tired of their voices.
I can’t connect with their dramas.
There’s a cultural precipice between us.
Their stories are not about me, and you know how self-centered I am.
The historic nodule of my country,
the cruel implosion of our family,
the one I escaped from. I cut the cord and…
RAQUEL: Shut up! You didn’t run away, you are still a part of our lovely family, why else do you think I called you?
AMELIA: I called you, Raquel.
The scotch tape is on the inside while outside the birds chirp.
I wish this were a coherent tale.
I’m just not that good of a poet.
Hey! The plants needed to be watered yesterday.
A clown threw me on the rollercoaster without a safety belt.
My feet are heavier and soft like wet towels. I can’t walk or move.
And still the wind blows full force against me. I gain no speed.
RAQUEL: When are you going to start telling the truth about what happened?
AMELIA: I bring with me what I don’t say.
RAQUEL: Stop, Amelia. Be concrete. How much does it hurt on a scale from 1 to 10?
AMELIA: Don’t do this to me.
RAQUEL: I want to understand.
AMELIA: Listen! All 26 broken bones hate each other, Raquel! They compose a sonata. I play the music with my mouth every time I touch the floor, I scream because it hurts. It’s humiliating.
RAQUEL: Did you speak to your doctor? Do you want me to call her?
AMELIA: No, no.
RAQUEL: What’s the name of your friend that lives with you?
AMELIA: I don’t know how to answer these questions.
RAQUEL: What’s that noise?
AMELIA: It’s my oxygen machine.
RAQUEL: Why don’t you make the effort to breathe by yourself? This is not a joke. You should exercise more, to build lung capacity and muscle. It would be good, no? I can pay for a gym membership.
AMELIA: Fuck you. Exercise would kill me right now.
RAQUEL: Did you eat?
AMELIA: I can’t move.
RAQUEL: So I should call someone.
AMELIA: Stop Raquel!! It doesn’t matter!!
RAQUEL: You are screaming at me.
AMELIA: It’s ok, we don’t have to talk.
RAQUEL: I don’t know how to help you. I can call someone.
AMELIA: No, Mana is on her way. It’s not that, Raquel, I just wanted to tell you I feel really really bad today. That was all.
RAQUEL: Ah ok, your friend is on her way. Perfect.
AUDITION
AMELIA:
Apparently I’m speaking now.
Apparently there’s an audience in this room.
I want to fall on my knees but I got no knees.
My bone density enlists us in a peaceful protest, a die-in.
These are not consequences of an accident.
Nor a healing process or a relapse.
Nor my fortitude facing this challenge.
My hunger is a cow’s iron branding, but I can’t see what it says or what shape it has.
This is my ignorance.
What kind of dance can I take part in?
Who can look at me beyond these artifacts?
Who here is a death doula?
Last time I performed at The Poetry Project,
I got to the podium & I had no air left.
That’s why today I’m tied up.
I thought, maybe if I don’t move, but I am moved, I’ll be able to do it.
I can write a play about someone who has an accident and is tied to a stretcher and there’s some nurses that take care of her.
Performed in Spanish with English subtitles:
MANA: Hola Hola. / Hi, Hi.
AMELIA: Soy Amelia, mucho gusto, gracias por todo, sí, es primera vez que vengo. / I’m Amelia, nice to meet you, thanks for everything, yes, it’s my first time here.
MANA: Ya nos conocemos. / We already know each other.
AMELIA: ¿Sí? De donde? / Yeah? From where?
MANA: Nos conocimos en el evento / We met at the event.
AMELIA: ¿Acá? / Here?
MANA: No, en otro lado. / No, somewhere else.
AMELIA: ¿El evento donde tú hiciste una performance colgando del techo? / The event where you showed a performance hanging from the roof?
MANA: No. Yo vendía hot dogs. / No, I was selling hot dogs.
AMELIA: Sí, ahora me acuerdo! Mostré una obra de danza moderna. / Now I remember. I showed a modern dance piece.
MANA: No. Leíste tu texto sobre minas de cobre a tajo abierto. / No. You read a text about open pit copper mines.
AMELIA: Sí, ese donde me chorreo con mermelada de guinda sobre mi torso pintado en forma del Monte de Fuji. / Yes, the one where I drip my torso painted with Mount Fuji with cherry jam.
MANA: No. Tenías lágrimas de ketchup que caían desde tus ojos maquillados para parecer la cordillera de los Andes. / No. You had ketchup tears falling down your eyes with makeup that looked like the Andes.
AMELIA: Me acuerdo, una noche preciosa, vino mucha gente. / I remember, it was a beautiful night, very well attended.
MANA: No vino nadie, estaba casi vacío. / Nobody came, it was almost empty.
AMELIA: Pero lo pasamos muy bien. / But we had a good time.
MANA: La verdad, no. Te enojaste porque no te pagamos ¿te acuerdas? / Not really. You were mad because we didn’t pay you, remember?
AMELIA: ¿No me pagaron? / You didn’t pay me?
MANA: No, era por amor al arte. / No, it was just for the love of art.
AMELIA: ¡Qué tiempos aquellos! ¿Esto fue hace años, no? / What times! This was years ago, no?
MANA: En mayo pasado. / Last May.
AMELIA: Mayo! guau, y ahora somos mejores amigas? / May, wow, and now we are best friends?
MANA: No. Soy tu enfermera. No te acuerdas de nada ¿ah? / No. I’m your nurse. You really don’t remember a thing, do you?
AMELIA: Amiga mía estoy cansada de actuar. Por favor ve acá mi amiga. / I’m tired of acting, my friend. Please, come here, my friend.
MANA: Hola freak / Hello freak
AMELIA: Ven, te amo. Dime te amo. ¿Qué me pasó? / Come, I love you. Tell me you love me, tell me what happened to me.
MANA: Te amo. Algo te pasó, eso se sabe, pero no sabemos qué. / I love you. Something happened to you, we just don’t know what.
AMELIA: ¿A qué hora fue esto anoche? / At what time was this last night?
MANA: Oh Amelia, no fue anoche. Fue hace semanas. Estuviste en coma. / Oh Amelia, it wasn’t last night. You were in a coma.
AMELIA: ¿Cómo se llama nuestra banda? Tengo el nombre en la punta del clítoris. / What’s the name of our band? I have it on the tip of my clitoris.
MANA: Indiferencia. / Disregard.
AMELIA: ¿Qué pasó con los integrantes de antes? / What happened with our previous band members?
MANA: Se fueron porque los insultaste. / They left because you insulted them.
AMELIA: No, mentirosa. / No, you are lying.
MANA: Sí, los insultaste. Les tiraste botellas de cerveza. Les dijiste que no sabían nada de música. A mí también me echaste de la banda. Yo también tengo que audicionar. / Yes, you insulted them. You threw beer bottles at them. You told them they didn’t know anything about music or art. And you also fired me from the band. I also have to audition.
AMELIA: A ver, canta. / Ok, sing.
MANA: 400 golpes contra la pared / 400 hits against the wall
AMELIA: Han sido bastantes para aprender / They have been enough to learn
MANA: A encajar con gracia y caer de pie / To fit in gracefully and fall on my feet
AMELIA: A esconderlo dentro y llorar después / Hide it inside and cry later
MANA: Por eso cuando dijo que no me quería / And when they said they didn't love me
AMELIA: Apreté los dientes, dije que me iría / I clenched my teeth, said I would go
AMELIA y MANA: 1000 pedazos de mi corazón volaron por toda la habitación / 1,000 pieces of my heart flew all over the room
MANA: Déjame tomarte la temperatura. Estás volada amiga. / Let me take your temperature. You are high my friend.
AMELIA: Amo esta alucinación. Me duele todo pero nada me duele, es el dolor más grande que he sentido en toda mi vida y es delicioso. No, pero en serio. Escribí esta obra de teatro apurada y ahora van a decir que es mala, que no se entiende. / I love this hallucination. Everything hurts but nothing hurts, it’s the biggest pain I’ve ever felt in my life and it’s delicious. No, but really. I wrote this play in a rush and now they’ll say that it’s bad, that they don’t know what it’s about.
MANA: No importa si no saben de qué estamos hablando. Yo te quiero. Cántame algo lindo. ¡Enfermeras! ¡A ensayar! / It doesn’t matter if they don’t know what we are talking about. I love you. Sing something beautiful to me. Nurses! It’s rehearsal time!
REHEARSAL
The nurses Mana, Yanyené, Victor plug their instruments, tune them, turn on microphones, soundcheck, etc. Then:
AMELIA: I’m ready.
YANYENÉ: Ok, after Amelia’s gurgling, Victor enters with an A flat and Mana throws that scale in a loop.
VICTOR: Turn on the kettledrum at double the speed, but stable.
MANA: Vamos, 1, 2, 3, 6 y…
NURSES:
Her soul exits her body
She doesn’t have a heart
She doesn’t feel anything at all
YANYENÉ: This is horrible!
AMELIA: Why?!
VICTOR: I think you were slightly out of tune.
YANYENÉ: Slightly?!
AMELIA: It’s supposed to be like that.
VICTOR: Ok, gentle feedback. I feel like you were just showing off at the piano.
YANYENÉ: Yes, because I actually know how to play!
MANA: It was pretentious.
YANYENÉ: A drizzle, a dollop, a crunch.
AMELIA: What if you connect with the instrument’s emotion beyond any formal instruction.
VICTOR: Undo all previous studies, but still reject the timidity of one who doesn’t know how.
YANYENÉ: That’s a ridiculous concept.
AMELIA: Freeze and sing!
The nurses freeze in outrageous positions. They sing.
NURSES:
Her soul exits her body
She doesn’t have a heart
She doesn’t feel anything at all.
End.