White Dissertation 2013 PDF

The Anti-Hero as Social Critic: Two Original Scripts
by
Jeremy W. White, M.A., B.F.A.
A Dissertation
In
Fine Arts - Theatre
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty

of Texas Tech University in
Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for
the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Approved
Norman Bert
Chair of Committee
Dorothy Chansky
William Gelber
Brian Steele
Michael Stoune
Dominick Casadonte
Interim Dean of the Graduate School
December 2013
Copyright 2013, Jeremy W. White
Texas Tech University, Jeremy W. White, December 2013
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Over the course of writing this dissertation there have been many people who
have provided assistance. I would like to thank my dissertation committee of Norman
Bert, Dorothy Chansky, William Gelber, Michael Stoune and Brian Steele for their
invaluable feedback and encouragement as this process moved from rough idea to
completion.
I would also like to thank the cast and crew of The Solution for their hard work
which helped mold the play into its final form which is presented here in this dissertation,
especially director Cheramie Howe for her tireless efforts in bringing the script to life.
I would also like to thank Dorothy White, Mary Margaret White, and Gwendolyn
Balboa for their unceasing personal support throughout this process.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... iv
I. THE UN-HERO..................................................................................................1
II. EXAMPLES OF THE UN-HERO IN THE THREEPENNY OPERA

AND A DOLL’S HOUSE .........................................................................22
III. THE CREATION OF THE SOLUTION .....................................................47
IV. THE CREATION OF AGGROCULTURE ..................................................62
V.CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH ............................................80
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................90
APPENDICES
A. FULL TEXT OF THE SOLUTION ...............................................................93
B. FULL TEXT OF AGGROCULTURE ..........................................................195
iii
ABSTRACT
This dissertation will demonstrate how anti-heroic characters found in dramatic
literature can serve as catalysts for a change in social discourse through questioning the
nature of the social mechanisms which create the real-life antagonistic forces they
struggle against. It focuses on a specific type of anti-hero which I have dubbed the un-
hero, a dramatic protagonist who, whether by circumstances of birth or association (or
lack thereof), finds himself situated in the position of outsider. The forces which
relegated this character to this position often take the form of social norms and cultural
hegemony, an assumed righteousness and rightness that places the character in the
minority or in the position of the oppressed. From that position, the playwright uses the
un-hero to wage war against the system through the dramatic narrative, exposing the
inherent unfairness of the system with an eye toward altering the status quo, both in the
world of the play as well as the real world of the viewing audience. As per the
requirements for a Playwriting specialization PhD., two original full-length play scripts
will be created to demonstrate the concepts examined in this dissertation.
Chapter 1 investigates the concept of the anti-hero in its various incarnations and
the theoretical basis for the anti-hero as social commentator. Chapter 2 shows the
historical basis for the dramatic anti-hero as social commentator through examples of
dramatic works, focusing on two plays featuring prominent anti-heroic protagonists:
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera. Chapter 3
describes the writing process which led to the creation of The Solution, an original play.
This piece was written and produced before the bulk of the research for this dissertation
was compiled and analyzed, and represents an early generalized attempt at creating an
iv
anti-heroic character. By comparison, Chapter 4 details the creation of the second
original script, Aggroculture, which will incorporate the concepts discussed in the first
two chapters of this dissertation regarding the un-hero. Chapter 5 draws conclusions and
speculates into possibilities of continued research with the ideas presented in previous
chapters. The scripts of the two original plays are included in the appendices.
v
CHAPTER 1
THE UN-HERO
“Even the wholly anti-social can be a source of enjoyment to society so long as it
is presented forcefully and on a grand scale.” – Bertolt Brecht (“SOT” 187).
The origin of this dissertation is rooted in my love of villains. Even from early
childhood when I would watch professional wrestling on television, I found myself truly
enjoying the performances of the “heels” (the bad guys) much more than the “babyfaces”
(the good guys). In films I often find myself more engaged with the antagonist rather
than the heroic protagonist. If one were told to think of the Star Wars film series and
then asked to name the first thing that pops into his or her head, chances are the answer
would be the evil Darth Vader rather than the heroic Luke Skywalker. Great villains, to
paraphrase an old dramatic writing adage, are what make great heroes. They create the
conflict that the hero must overcome in order to win the day, rescue the princess, save the
galaxy. The greater, more fully-realized the villain, the greater the conflict.
It was this love for villainy which provided the spark for the first play in this
dissertation, The Solution. As I began writing the script, admittedly before much research
on this topic was done, the problem was simple: can I write a play where the audience
will cheer for a thoroughly “bad” character? The Solution, very much succeeded in
pulling the audience along and having them identify with, at his very best, a morally
dubious protagonist or anti-hero. While I feel the process and production of writing The
1
Solution was overall a success, as I began to research I discovered (somewhat to my
dismay) that Klaus, the protagonist, only represented one aspect of the anti-heroic mode.
True, he is certainly a morally “bad” person, but could he have been something else,
something more than simply bad? Could the anti-hero be more than just a bad guy we
root for?
As I delved into the material on the subject from both the literary and dramatic
fields, the scope of the anti-hero became far more vast than I had originally imagined,
and new questions began to arise: why is the anti-hero “anti,” and to what is he or she the
antithesis? What dramaturgical purpose or function does the character type serve? Are
there aspects of the anti-hero which can more effectively serve a dramatic/social need
than the traditional hero? The conclusions I have formulated stem from these questions.
This dissertation will demonstrate how certain anti-heroic characters found in
dramatic literature can serve as catalysts for a change in social discourse through
questioning the nature of the social mechanisms which create the real-life antagonistic
forces they struggle against. Chapter 1 investigates the concept of the anti-hero in its
various incarnations and the theoretical basis for the un-hero. Chapter 2 shows the
historical basis for the dramatic anti-hero as social commentator through examples of
dramatic works, focusing on two plays featuring prominent anti-heroic protagonists:
Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Chapter 3
will describe the writing process which led to the creation of The Solution, an original
play. This piece was written and produced before the bulk of the research for this
2
dissertation was compiled and analyzed, and represents an early generalized attempt at
creating an anti-heroic character. By comparison, Chapter 4 will detail the creation of the
second original script, Aggroculture, which will incorporate the concepts discussed in the
first two chapters of this dissertation. Chapter 5 will compare the two plays, discuss the
implications of the two applications, and draw conclusions.
For the purposes of this dissertation the term “anti-hero” and “un-hero” will be
designated gender-neutral. The use of the term “anti-heroine” to describe a female
character with anti-heroic traits would be inappropriate because the root term “heroine” is
most often used to describe a female supporting character that is attached to the
masculine hero, usually as the object of affection or desire. As we will see throughout,
the anti-hero is most certainly un-attached to anything except him or herself. Though I
will make use of the nominative “he” extensively in the pages that follow, it should be
understood that “anti-hero” applies to protagonists of either sex.
The term “anti-hero” is often found to be nebulous and fleeting in definition,
changing over time, its meaning and application reflective and reactive to contemporary
social practices. The term seems to describe the character exactly how one would think;
a character who is the opposite of “heroic,” in whatever form that may take for a
particular time and place. If we only scratch the surface of this character type, the anti-
hero is a character that rejects traditional modes of heroic selflessness in favor of very un-
heroic selfishness. To put another way, the simplest definition of an anti-hero is a “bad”
hero.
3
Therefore, I shall begin with the basic question: what exactly is an anti-hero? In
surveying scholarly writing about the subject, one finds that the definition eludes solid
consensus. Over the years, literary scholars have created a fairly extensive taxonomy in
order to classify the multitude of anti-heroic types by specific virtues which the
individual characters possess, including non-hero, romantic hero, intellectual hero,
impossible hero, absurd hero, existentialist hero, unheroic hero, limping hero, homo hero,
villain hero, to name a few (Adams 30), as well as the Trickster archetype from folklore
which Daryl Dance describes in his book Shuckin’ and Jivin. Each incarnation comes
with a prerequisite set of identifying traits, often based on the goals of literary mode,
genre, or specific author from which it was brought forth.
While all of these types certainly fall under the broadest description of “anti-hero”
and tend to meet the general requirements for the label, they almost always are in
reference to literary rather than dramatic characters. Often, however, what is absent in
literary depictions of anti-heroes is the presence of conflict, resulting in a type of
character whom theorist Jo Brans describes as a dawdler, a self-serving character
incapable or unwilling to take a course of action (56). This character type is quite content
to let the world pass him by without concern. In literature, anti-heroes are often above
the fray because they simply do not care or have absolved themselves from taking a stand
or having any goals which would require engagement with an opposing force. This
creates a problem when it comes to dramatic representations because the vast majority of
4
drama hinges on the concept of action and direct conflict. With few exceptions, it is
tantamount to torture to subject an audience to a play where nothing happens.1
In light of this, I am forced to create a new subcategory of anti-hero, who we will
call the un-hero, a character who possesses many of the qualities of the literary anti-hero
but is also infused with the dramatic drive. The un-hero is a dramatic protagonist who,
whether by circumstances of birth or association (or lack thereof), finds himself situated
in the position of outsider. The forces which relegated this character to this position often
take the form of social norms and cultural hegemony, an assumed righteousness and
rightness that places the character in the minority or in the position of the oppressed.
From that position, the playwright uses the un-hero to wage war against the system
through the dramatic narrative, exposing the inherent unfairness of the system with an
eye toward altering the status quo, both in the world of the play and also the real world of
the viewing audience.
Often the term “anti-hero,” as it relates to traditional dramatic interpretations, is
associated with the concepts of “bad” or “amoral.” Two of the most well-know popular
anti-heroes, Al Pacinio’s titular Tony “Scarface” Montana and Breaking Bad’s
chemistry-teacher-turned-drug-kingpin Walter White (played by Brian Cranston), are
1
There is an obvious caveat to this statement when discussing some plays that fall under the
genre of Theatre of the Absurd. It is fully acknowledged that Theatre of the Absurd, for
example Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, avoids the outward appearance of traditional
dramatic action and yet still remains an exquisitely effective piece of theatre. This is an
inconsistency that will not be addressed in this dissertation. For further details, refer to Camus’
introduction to The Rebel, where he discusses the difference between the position of the
absurdist and the rebel.
5
prime examples of this type. Both begin as outsiders of meager means and, through a
ceaseless onslaught of despicable and amoral acts, achieve great power. We as the
audience enjoy watching these characters time and time again beat the system as they
amass more wealth and authority, and we gleefully follow along as they commit more
and more heinous acts with each passing moment or episode. However, in these
depictions of the traditional dramatic anti-hero it is often immediately assumed and
accepted, rightfully so, that what they are doing is morally wrong. The traditional
depiction of the dramatic anti-hero rarely questions if there is any real substantial
justification for their actions. Instead, we the audience assume that, despite any
justification given, these characters are simply “bad people.”
In the 1970s we began to see an explosion of the anti-hero in popular
entertainment. This anti-hero was one who upheld fundamental social mores but whose
methods bordered on villainous. The conflicts of these characters often centered around
making amoral choices to achieve a goal, usually a sense of justice or retribution for a
crime (Michael). Spurred on by the perception that normal avenues of punishment were
ineffective at the time due to a sense of distrust of authority and rapidly rising levels of
street crime, writers took to creating characters who were not bound by the constraints of
the law, and instead sought a more primal justice through violence and vigilantism
(Dirks). Clint Eastwood’s Harry Callahan of the Dirty Harry franchise and Charles
Bronson’s Death Wish series epitomize this particular take on the anti- hero, as well as
the character of Frank Castle from popular comic book The Punisher. In each of these
examples the protagonist, who was originally a law-abiding citizen, and in the case of
6
Callahan and Castle, police officers, is compelled to go beyond the scope of the law in
order to punish villainy. In other words, they use the methods of the villain in order to
achieve the unquestioned greater good. In these cases, systemic issues which may have
caused the rise in crime are rarely questioned, and if so are dismissed in favor of the
fulfillment of escapist revenge fantasies.
The un-hero, on the other hand, is situated on the far more contentious
battleground of public debate. The un-hero, like the anti-hero, occupies the position of
outsider. However, the forces which have created this outcast status are systemic, created
and maintained by hegemonic thought and traditional belief. Unlike the anti-hero, the
un-hero is arguably ethically and morally justified in their rejection of the system which
has rejected or oppressed him, and is used by the playwright to highlight logical and
ethical flaws in that system which are the cause of the oppression. The un-hero is not a
unique case, but rather the example of an individual part of a larger group who suffer
under the same hegemonic thought system.
To understand the un-hero, it is necessary to delve in to the past for further
illumination regarding the anti-hero in general, and differentiate the un-hero from his
literary cousins. The origin of the anti-hero is an issue of some debate, and this discourse
sheds some light on the varying perceptions of the character type, whilst simultaneously
revealing intersecting points of agreement. Some literary scholars point to the title
character of Cervantes’s Don Quixote as the first true anti-hero (Adams 31). The
delusional knight with a penchant for dueling with windmills has been reinterpreted
7
multiple times since first published. In his time he would have been considered a
buffoon, a mockery of traditional heroic values associated with the chivalric knights of
his day. Yet, in Cervantes’ culture, where the myth of the hero was suspect at best, it
would seem that, as Elias Rivers says, “...the only acceptable hero is revealed to be a
vulgar anti-hero2” (27).
But others trace the roots of the anti-hero back even further to the Greeks.
Rosette C. Lamont pins the origin of the anti-hero to the origin of the epic itself.
Odysseus, Lamont argues, embodies many of the values of the anti-hero in his use of
guile and subterfuge rather than strength to defeat his foes. Even his most famous
achievement, the concoction of the Trojan horse, is an act of deception which ultimately
wins the day. Where Agamemnon fails to breach the walls of Troy with his mighty army,
and Achilles ultimately fails with his god-like combat prowess, Odysseus succeeds with
trickery and clever speech. Lamont goes on to argue that The Odyssey itself is rife with
Odysseus’ non-heroism (13).
A prime example is Odysseus’ escape from the lair of the Cyclops. By blinding
the monster while it sleeps and then escaping under the bellies of its sheep, Odysseus
manages one of the great literary getaways, proving his superior intellect against the
beast; however, the methodology used seems to be in direct defiance of other traditional
heroic depictions which value strength, animal fury, and direct confrontation (Lamont 8).
2
For a further explanation of how Spanish literature deviated from traditional heroic modes see
Rivers’ article “The Anti-Hero in Spain.”
8
Furthermore, one could imagine that, were the genre descriptor of epic removed from the
story, this scene would play out quite comically.
We see the anti-heroic tendencies of the character at work again in The Odyssey at
the climactic moment of the story, where Odysseus returns to Ithaca and slays the suitors
in waiting. Whereas a typical hero, armed with “animal power coupled with righteous
anger,” the key ingredients of the classical hero (Lamont 8), might have charged in
recklessly, Odysseus once again makes use of guile and subterfuge by disguising himself
as a beggar to infiltrate the city before ultimately springing his trap.
Though Odysseus’ exploits showcase some of the traits of anti-heroism,
specifically the use of cunning and guile rather than strength and brute force to achieve
his goals, many are hesitant to cast him in the light of the anti-hero because, ultimately,
he still acts. Oddly, in some ways this makes the character of Odysseus more in line with
the type of anti-hero being discussed in this dissertation. However, there is more to the
anti-hero than simple cunning: there is a self-centered perspective which sets him apart
from his more heroic equal. Jo Brans, when comparing the traditional hero to the anti-
hero, puts it this way:
...the hero is he who embodies and preserves the highest
values of the community, the anti-hero is he who marches,
or dawdles, to a different drumbeat, the cadence of his own
iconoclastic sensibility. (437)
9
As mentioned before, the word “dawdles” is of importance when it comes to
differentiating the literary anti-hero from the dramatic. Literary anti-heroes are often
unable to engage in society and therefore tend to reject (or be rejected by) normative
social practices completely. The result of the isolation from the mainstream is a character
that is self-centered and egotistical, often to the point of displaying symptoms of
narcissism, and who likewise often refuses to engage in any sort of meaningful, willful
action.
Lillian Furst, in her article “Romantic Hero, or is he Anti-Hero?” describes the
romantic hero, a precursor to the modern anti-hero, as an ironically detached and self-
absorbed character that is unconcerned with serving any cause greater than himself.
His [the anti-hero’s] overwhelming presence is the
expression of that total self-absorption that makes his
universe--and that of the work in which he appears--pivot
entirely on his idiosyncratic ego. (56)
This rejection of traditional values is a key trait of anti-heroism. But the rejection,
whether self-imposed or forced upon the anti-hero, maintains an odd correlation with that
of the hero. It is not because the anti-hero isn’t special or unique that he finds it so hard
to fit in to his social surroundings, but rather the anti-hero refuses to embrace the values
championed by his heroic counterparts. The hero and anti-hero are two sides of the same
10
coin, both exhibiting similar traits of exceptionalism. The anti-hero is the embodiment
of heroism unfulfilled, however, as Jo Brans aptly states, “a failed or disillusioned or
untimely hero” (435).
What sets the anti-hero apart is a rejection by the community, despite exceptional
gifts which might, in other scenarios, warrant a heroic reception. When describing the
anti-hero’s plight, Donald Buck gives us the following:
The anti-hero is similar to the hero in several respects. He
too is singled out by society for his deeds and is
distinguished from the norm by his superior abilities. In
the anti-hero’s case, however, his outstanding
characteristics are extrinsic to the established social order,
and his individuality is condemned as a negative example
for that society. Whereas the hero conforms to the ideal of
his society, the anti-hero is a non-conformist who flaunts
society’s conventions and is alienated from it. The anti-
hero’s relationship to society is therefore antagonistic.
(255)
The anti-hero, either by choice or by circumstances of birth, is situated outside the
bounds of proper society. He or she stands in defiance of the accepted hegemony; a rebel
fighting against a world which makes little sense. This defiance is often predicated on a
11
sense that the rules do not apply, a realization the anti-hero has come to after a lifetime of
experience within the system. The system does not make sense, and the anti-hero in
purest form retreats into a self-absorbed state of detachment from the system. But this
does not necessarily mean that the anti-hero cannot inspire the respect of others like his
or her heroic cousin. Buck goes on to say:
Yet, his superior abilities inspire admiration just as much as
do those of the hero. The difference is that the anti-hero
also provokes a combination of fear and envy in the society
since his ‘anti-heroic’ qualities emanate from without
rather than from within the established social structure.
(255)
Through benefit of superior abilities, and situated outside the bounds of normal society,
the anti-hero is poised as a keen observer and commentator, whose insights are unfettered
by codes of ethics or social mores. The anti-hero is able to see the system for what it is
and is thus in a position to unearth the flaws, hypocrisy, or unfair practices within by the
status quo. Through the course of the drama he presents these flaws to the audience in a
manner which is, though perhaps blasphemous, certainly poignant. The anti-hero’s lack
of a fixed moral perspective, along with an avowed adherence to a unique personal brand
of morality that has been cultivated through experience rather than handed down via
12
establishment, allows him to navigate the pitfalls of heresy, all the while laughing and
joking.
The position as outsider offers a defense for the anti-hero should things go awry.
If what the anti-hero concludes is found to be untrue or entirely unsavory by the
audience, the actions of the character can simply be written off as a joke, a low-brow
attempt to rile the masses in which, after a thorough rebuke by the viceroys of social
authority, the anti-hero (and, by extension, the creator of the anti-hero) returns to his
natural state of outsider, rejected once again. Social morality is upheld, and the world
moves on.
Morality, as it is perceived by society at large, is the antagonist of the anti-hero.
This is not to say that the anti-hero is always amoral or immoral, though it certainly can
be the case, but rather that the anti-hero is one to whom social constructs of morality and
civic virtue are tertiary concerns, taking a back seat to individual moral stances created
through real-life experience. This places the anti-hero in a position to question and
criticize the very social mechanisms and hand-me-down moral frameworks which the
hero blindly adheres to and defends. Because the anti-hero’s concept of the world has
been forged in the struggles of the day-to-day, dramatists will find the anti-heroic
protagonist, despite whatever deep and perhaps undesirable character flaws are presented,
has the ability to reach out to an audience who live in that same world. To put it another
way, while the hero seeks glory and immortality, always with the stamp of approval from
the social and moral powers that be, the anti-hero is simply trying to pay the rent, or
better yet, trying to figure out how to live rent free.
13
This audience identification functions differently for the anti-hero than it does for
the traditional hero. Whereas the traditional hero often embodies virtues we aspire to, the
anti-hero embodies what we are, with all the faults and vices that come part and parcel
with everyday living. If we take the typical moral conundrum “Would you steal a loaf of
bread to feed a starving child?” the hero may go either way depending upon the current
moral climate. Does adherence to the law and established social order outweigh the
suffering of those in need? The hero’s path is clearly defined by social constructs to
conform to a vision of black-and-white morality, of clear cut good and evil, which is
where the hero finds strength through the defense of established virtue. The anti-hero,
rather than immediately choosing a predetermined path, may simply ask, “What’s this kid
going to do for me?” It is in the ability to question the nature of society that the anti-hero
finds his power, and though the motivations of the character are more often than not
entirely selfish, the questions have broader implications for everyday life. These
questions shed light on social constructs which we often blindly follow, and the anti-hero,
whose existence is one of outward defiance and detached individuality brought about by
life experience, is the perfect candidate to bring such questions to the forefront of social
discourse.
Intelligence, an individualistic perception of reality, and a sense of the inherent
unfairness of the world are defining traits of the un-hero. These qualities are obtained
through a lifetime of navigating through a world which the anti-hero has discovered
never lives up to the ideals preached from pulpits and expounded in patriotism. Instead,
the anti-hero comes into being via a rejection of the fantasy ideology which the world
14
around him embraces, and instead opts to trust in direct observation and knowledge
gleaned from experience rather than relying on traditional or hegemonic values. He is
not the defender of the status quo, but rather a crusader of self.
The question of the un-hero is a question of value. When it comes to heroic
values, Western cultural currency has shifted from the European Christian virtue which
dominated the heroic modes of classical texts, to a post-modern chorus of multiple
perspectives and values competing for dominance. It would seem that the traditional hero
has come up against a beast which he cannot slay: our own shifting perception of the
world. If we accept Joseph Campbell’s well-known analysis of the traditional hero, we
discover that this type of protagonist is often incapable of dealing with the issues of
everyday existence. While the traditional hero is well-equipped to charge into battle in
the name of a nebulous “good” against a rather generalized “evil,” that said perspective is
still derived from the dominant thought of the culture which birthed the hero. But what
happens when the moral integrity of the system of values itself comes into question?
It should be noted at this point that this dissertation will not be concerned with the
superiority of one value system over another. Rather, what is far more imperative is how
the un-hero serves as a usurper of traditional thought, whatever it may be at the time,
when a contentious social issue rises to the forefront of socio-political discourse. It will
be argued that the default stance of the un-hero is on the side of the negative, the
questioner, the insurgent who seeks to topple the hegemony and replace it with a new set
of values which are derived from experience rather than hand-me-down wisdom. As with
the anti-hero, the un-hero lives in the real world. His battle is not with titans, monsters,
15
mad-geniuses or conquering armies, but rather with the real social circumstances which
have rejected him. In other words, for the un-hero, the antagonistic enemy is not simply
morality, but ultimately reality; the status quo that both he and we (the audience) exist in
day to day. It is in our reality that the un-hero finds himself situated, battling against the
same forces which seek to oppress both the fictional he and the very real us.
But can the detached anti-hero, who it seems would be perfectly content with
letting the world go about its merry way so long as it leaves him be, also be the catalyst
for social reform? Can the anti-hero serve as an example or, at the very least, shift the
discourse of the time to issues present in drama? Are anti-heroic protagonists often
equally suited (if not better equipped) to examine, comment upon, and offer solutions to
real world issues within the dramatic text compared to the traditional heroic protagonists?
David Simmons, literary theorist and author of The Anti-Hero in the American
Novel, provides the groundwork and direction for my answer to the question above. In
his analysis, he argues that the literary anti-heroes of the 1960s represented “...dissident,
subversive individuals opposed to the ideological mores of the establishment,” who feed
into and off of a culture rife with political and social turmoil (Simmons ix).3 Taking a cue
from Simmons, I will look to the works of philosopher, novelist, and playwright Albert
Camus for guidance with the question.
In his book, The Rebel, Camus argues that revolt is central to achieving social
justice. He tells us that revolution and the struggle for personal freedom are inevitable
3
Simmons postulates extensively the link between Camus’ theories of rebellion and literary anti-heroes in
his book. It is fully acknowledged that the link between rebellion and the anti-hero draws from his work.
The primary difference between his work, however, and this thesis is the concept of performance as the
medium for demonstrating the act of rebellion as a means to comment upon social issues.
16
aspects of human existence, though our efforts must be tempered by a humanistic
awareness of shared suffering. The rebel ultimately takes action for the sake of the
greater good when he determines that authority has usurped perceived natural rights:
It is for the sake of everyone in the world that the slave
asserts himself when he comes to the conclusion that a
command has infringed on something in him which does
not belong to him alone, but which is common ground
where all men—even the man who insults and oppresses
him—have a natural community. (12)
Indeed, this sense of community is the very thing that drives the rebel, who sees
no delineation between oppressor and the oppressed, or as Camus says, “The community
of victims is the same as that which unites victim and executioner. But the executioner
does not know this” (12). The rebel, through the act of rebellion, seeks to rectify
grievances which potentially affect all within the social group, regardless of relative
social status. It is for this reason that the rebel shifts from self-absorbed detachment,
which occupies his pre-rebellion existence, to the benefactor of all.
We see that the affirmation implicit in every act of
rebellion is extended to something that transcends the
17
individual in so far as it withdraws him from his supposed
solitude and provides him with a reason to act. (12)
The structure of the dramatic presentation itself, which ultimately requires a character to
take some sort of action in order to hold the audience’s attention, is the springboard for
the anti-hero’s act of rebellion. The un-hero exists in the world of the play, and a play
requires action to be an effective piece of theatre. Like the rebel, the anti-hero begins in
solitude, withdrawn and self-obsessed, but is driven to action not only by the injustices of
the status quo in which he exists, but by the very nature and structure of traditional drama
itself. Therefore, the solutions presented by the anti-hero are a result of both the
conditions set forth in the story and the necessities of the dramatic act.
Though the anti-hero may act for self-centered reasons, the suffering he or she
experiences is also the experience of the audience. If we accept the Horatian adage that
the purpose of theatre is “to teach and to please,” the un-hero becomes the teacher of the
audience. However, the lessons imparted through the course of the play, while providing
immediate pleasure through the act of dramatic performance or reading, ultimately serve
to provoke a feeling of displeasure with the circumstances presented. Through the guise
of the dramatic act, the un-hero imparts such a feeling of displeasure with the status quo,
which the audience/community recognizes as similar or identical to their own status quo,
that they are compelled to rebel. Because it is in our nature to rebel against perceived
18
injustice in favor of an ideal, though limited according to Camus,4 the un-hero is the high
priest in a humanist communion of suffering with the audience, and through his actions
and experiences the audience is awakened to the sense of injustice which the un-hero rails
against and may discover aspects of the same injustice in their own lives or in the lives of
others. Thus, the un-hero becomes the rebel, and through rebellion exposes the truth
about us all.
Camus posits that rebellion is a natural response to feelings of oppression and
isolation. Through the act of rebellion, the rebel will inevitably take a position of “all or
nothing” whereby grievances, no matter how insignificant, become equivalent to crimes
against humanity (Camus 11). The rebel rejects the system which has rejected and
oppressed him, and invokes ownership over his own destiny by standing up to those who
would control him regardless of the personal costs, believing that his resistance is the
summation of a superior position.
It is because the power of the un-hero lies not in action, which is a requirement of
the drama itself, but rather in demonstration, that the un-hero is capable of becoming
the catalyst for change. Brecht states that the theatre should entertain “with wisdom that
comes from the solution to problems, with the anger that is a practical expression of
sympathy with the underdog” (“SOT” 186). For the un-hero, the latter half of Brecht’s
statement is far more important. Through the dramatic lens, the un-hero showcases and
4
Camus remarks that the rebellious thought is in a constant state of tension with the memory of
the very oppression he seeks to overturn. The two are in constant tension. Camus warns the
reader several times that the rebel can easily slip into the role of the oppressor if he does not
recognize and respect the limits of rebellion.
19
comments upon the issues which are the cause of his reclusion from society. The action
of the play, while required for the purposes of creating a piece of entertainment, should
not rely on the ability of the un-hero to fix what is wrong in society. It is not necessary or
in some cases even wise for the un-hero to “solve” the problem presented. Rather the un-
hero is most effective when he or she demonstrates the reality of the problem to the
audience through the dramatic act. Whether or not a workable solution is discovered
throughout the course of the play is irrelevant. The act of rebellion itself is enough to
create both the framework for social criticism and the requisite conflict for a piece of
drama.
Because the un-hero simultaneously exists in and is removed from the very same
reality as the audience, the un-hero finds himself, through the process of the performance,
as detached critic/tour guide and ultimately “Act-er,” revealing to the audience the
absurdity or unfairness of the current social situation. The audience, who will hopefully
identify with the rebellious nature of the un-hero, then takes up the struggle against the
identified agents of oppression. In other words, the un-hero creates rebels.
It is with this in mind we will, in the next chapter, look to two plays featuring un-
heroes that fit the profile discussed above and analyze how these characters’ perspectives
and actions were used to undermine traditional hegemonic thought of their time. The
characters of Mack the Knife from Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera and Nora from
Ibsen’s A Doll’s House are as morally divergent as possible: Mack is the career criminal
who is only interested in self-preservation, and Nora is the dutiful housewife who realizes
the truth of her place in society, yet, what they both share is the rebellious tendency. This
20
tendency, which culminates in different ways in the respective texts, shares a common
thread of battling against dominant cultural thought. Analysis of the rebellious
tendencies of the un-heroes depicted in these works will illuminate the concepts outlined
above and show how an un-hero can serve as a harbinger of social change, a voice for the
voiceless, and a commentator on social issues.
21
CHAPTER 2
EXAMPLES OF THE UN-HERO IN THE THREEPENNY OPERA
AND A DOLL’S HOUSE.
In an effort to demonstrate how the un-hero functions in a dramatic text, I have
chosen to examine two of the best-known anti-heroes in drama: Mac the Knife from
Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera and Nora from Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Though the
characters fundamentally differ in world-view and the specifics of the situation in which
they find themselves, both embody the traits of the un-hero in that they rebel against the
established social order for personal gain in the context of the story presented. Through
the demonstrated/performed act of rebellion, the characters act as inciting agents whose
actions reveal the nature and scope of the oppression they face. The audience members,
through the action of the play, are forced to examine their own understanding of the
social issue being presented. For Brecht, the issue is the adherence to codified morality
in the face of starvation and poverty; for Ibsen, it is the masquerade of the modern
marriage in the face of gender inequality. Both problems stem from the adherence to
social norms, and both are brought to light by an outright rejection of those social norms
by the protagonists.
The Threepenny Opera and A Doll’s House serve as two dynamic examples of un-
heroes’ effectiveness for social criticism. Both exhibit the features described in the
previous chapter. In looking back at the historical outcome of the productions, however,
there seems to be a marked difference in the manner in which the audiences received and
22
then acted on the issues of the plays. It is ironic then that Brecht’s work, considering his
Epic Theatre is built around the concept of didacticism as a catalyst for social change,
actually appears to be the less successful attempt of the two in regards to creating a
transformative cultural effect.
When The Threepenny Opera opened in 1928 it heralded a radical shift in
performance standards for German theatre and became the basis for Bertolt Brecht’s
theory of epic theatre. Taking its cues from vaudeville, the musical was a radical
departure from other dominant modes of modernist theatre such as the self-flagellating
expressionist movement as well as the tried and true melodramatic modes which were
standard fare for the more populist German palate. The show became a runaway hit with
the German bourgeois audience, and elevated Brecht and composer Kurt Weill to
stratospheric fame in the German theatrical scene. As John Willett puts it, “The
Threepenny Opera hit the German theatre at one of its peak moments, when an open-
minded middle-class public was prepared to accept new formal ideas and unexpected
shifts of level, and at the same time willing to look self-critically at the life and times
around it” (Weimar 118). Blending popular modes of musical expression with an
ultimately melodramatic plot, Brecht’s landmark drama was a breath of fresh air for the
German theatre-going crowd. Yet, despite its apparent reliance on convention, the play
makes use of innovative staging techniques which became the hallmarks of Brecht’s Epic
Theatre. I will direct my efforts toward the presentation of two anti-heroes found in the
play, the protagonist Mac the Knife and the semi-antagonist King of Beggars Mr.
Peachum, and their respective calls for social rebellion.
23
Both these characters display elements of the un-hero. In the dastardly Mac we
find elements of the traditional dramatic anti-hero: a self-absorbed sociopath who
flagrantly scoffs at any semblance of law and order for his own personal gain; and
Peachum, the mastermind of an organized beggar protest against the excesses of the
bourgeois. While the plot of the play brings these two into direct conflict over Mac’s
dubious marriage to Peachum’s daughter, Polly, the synergy of the two anti-heroes
creates a call for the struggling poor to lash out in rebellion against the status quo.
The Threepenny Opera, an adaptation of the eighteenth century The Beggar’s
Opera by John Gay, depicts the story of an infamous underworld character Macheath, or
Mac the Knife, a crime lord in the seedy underbelly of London, and his rivalry with the
so-called King of Beggars, Mr. Peachum. The conflict begins when Mac marries
Peachum’s daughter, Polly, throwing Peachum into a rage, who then plots to have his
vengeance. Mac’s connections with the authorities run deep, however, namely the Chief
of Police Tiger Brown, Mac’s old army buddy, and prove to be an impediment to
Peachum’s efforts. Finally Peachum is able to have Mac arrested and charged with a
slew of offenses that will result in his execution, but as Mac is marched to the gallows,
Brown rides in with an official royal pardon. In a completely self-conscious deus ex
machinae ending, Mac is cleared of all charges and released.
Brecht’s intention with the production was to challenge of the bourgeois mindset.
For Brecht, Mac was not meant to be depicted as a lowlife, but rather a reflection of the
bourgeoisie itself: “The bandit Macheath must be played as a bourgeois phenomenon.
24
The bourgeoisie’s fascination with bandits rest on a misconception: that a bandit is not a
bourgeois. This misconception is the child of another misconception: that a bourgeois is
not a bandit” (Brecht “Notes” 92). By equating thievery with middle class ideals and
capitalist notions of ownership and the methodology used to attain property, Brecht’s
criticism is leveled at the bourgeois German theatre-going class which was prospering at
the time after World War I. He sought to directly bring to their attention the plight of the
lower working classes, who were suffering greatly from unemployment and devastation
caused by the war, and whose suffering was compounded by an established economic
system which favored the wealthy. It does not take much to connect the social issues of
the working poor in Germany with Brecht’s growing interest in Marxism at the time, a
philosophy which would define his work both theatrical and theoretical (Manheim xv).
The opening song that is the play’s prologue, “The Ballad of Mac the Knife,”
establishes the villainy of the title character. In nine verses we learn that Mac is accused
of a slew of horrific crimes such as theft, arson, multiple murders, and rape (TPO 3-4).
Mac also has a penchant for whore-mongering, which leads to his eventual arrest, and
seems generally unable to control his baser urges. He is also shown to take credit for
crimes committed by his underlings, as depicted in this comedic exchange between him
and his crew of thieves:
25
MAC: [...] Last week you suggested it was you set the Greenwich
Children’s Hospital on fire. If such a thing occurs again, you’re out. Who
set the Children’s Hospital on fire?
MATTHEW: I did.
MAC to the others: Who set it on fire?
THE OTHERS: You, Mr. Macheath.
MAC: So who did it?
MATTHEW sulkily: You, Mr. Macheath. At this rate our sort will never
rise in the world. (TPO 38)
In establishing the depravity of Mac the Knife, Brecht lets us know with no uncertainty
the type of character we are dealing with: a scoundrel of the highest degree. Yet, Mac is
man who does what he must to survive, and compares his own illegal enterprises with the
legal trade of business itself. In effect, he draws a parallel between the thief and the
businessman, claiming that it is those who engage in legal activities who are far more
amoral than the bandit:
MAC: [...] We lower middle-class artisans who toil with our humble
jemmies on small shopkeeper’s cash registers are being swallowed up by
26
big corporations backed by the banks. What’s a jemmy compared with a
share certificate? What’s breaking into a bank compared with founding a
bank? What’s murdering a man compared with employing a man? (76)
Indeed this sentiment is echoed throughout the play, most notably in the song What
Keeps Mankind Alive at the finale of the second act: “Mankind is kept alive thanks to its
brilliance/ In keeping its humanity repressed” (55). Mac’s motivations are based on his
situation and the basic human need for survival; all thoughts of morality are secondary:
“Food is the first thing. Morals follow on” (56).
Mac’s anti-heroism stems from a clash between the hegemonic bourgeois
morality and the very real need for basic survival. His rebellion against the established
values of society comes from the personal realization of the inequity that exists in that
society, a factor Camus points out as one of the major causes of rebellion (Camus 14).
For Mac, morality as defined by the bourgeois is indeed amoral, and his response is to
become the antithesis of that morality to meet needs which he deems far more important:
the avoidance of starvation. For Mac, however, the quest is solely for personal gain,
which is at odds with the idea of rebellion for the good of all. Only when his actions are
viewed juxtaposed to the actions of his chief rival, Mr. Peachum, do we see Brecht’s call
for rebellion take full shape.
Peachum is cast as an opportune entrepreneur with a unique if not questionable
business model: outfitting beggars with cosmetic deformities in order to “arouse human
27
sympathies” from wealthy Londoners (5). In the first scene Peachum is seen coaching
his beggars in the fine art of eliciting sympathy for cash, explaining in a dry manner the
types of human suffering that will gain the most coin. For Peachum, suffering equals
money, and he has established himself as the master of pulling heartstrings, imparting his
wisdom to an army of beggars in exchange for a portion of the proceeds.
Despite the clear illustration of Mac’s villainy, which takes the form of a more
traditional anti-hero, in some ways it is Peachum who exhibits the qualities of the un-
hero. We learn that Peachum has concocted a plan to seed the streets of London with
scores of beggars during the Queen’s parade in order to bring attention to the plight of the
poor citizens of England. This act of rebellion, of public embarrassment, is in direct
contrast to how Brecht envisioned Mac, as evidenced in his notes: “To Macheath the kind
of affront to public order with which Peachum menaces the police would be profoundly
disturbing” (“Notes” 92). While Mac is content to continue his selfish criminal
enterprises, it is Peachum that takes up the banner of the social rebel. His organized
resistance against the bourgeoisie is meant to draw attention to the suffering of German
poor in Brecht’s own time. To this end, the act of organized and rational resistance to the
status quo for the good of the masses falls squarely on Peachum’s shoulders, while Mac
slinks away in the night. Peachum, however, is the antagonist, and his campaign to bring
attention to the city’s poor is overshadowed by the audience’s desire for a victorious
Mac.
28
The conclusion of the play brings together both aspects of rebellion to draw sharp
criticism against the bourgeois that the play satirizes. As Mac is marched to the gallows,
Peachum watching in earnest as his rival is about to meet his end, Tiger Brown arrives on
horseback with a royal pardon for the criminal. At the last minute, Mac is saved by the
very social institution he and Peachum openly rebel against. Brecht shifts the tone of the
finale from the ridiculously melodramatic to a serious condemnation of bourgeois
morality with the final exchange to the audience:
MRS PEACHUM: So it all turned out nicely in the end. How nice and
easy everything would be if you could always reckon with saviours on
horseback.
PEACHUM: Now please remain all standing in your places, and join in
the hymn to the poorest of the poor, whose most arduous lot you have put
on stage here today. In real life the fates they meet can only be grim.
Saviours on horseback are seldom met with in practice. And the man
who’s kicked about must kick back. Which all means that injustice should
be spared from persecution. (79)
Brecht is making a point about the inherent unfairness of the system. Mac, a stand-in as
the bourgeois/bandit, is pardoned by the Queen herself. Brecht draws a parallel to the
29
privileged class, whom had access to the same sort of preferential treatment as our rogue
anti-hero Mac, and then immediately undermines the ridiculously melodramatic moment
in the last lines of the play. Mac is saved because he is a character in a work of dramatic
fiction; the real poor are never as lucky, but perhaps they are more deserving.
The success of Peachum’s (and Brecht’s) rebellious effort is unclear, however,
because at first glance the lasting effect of the play seems to have had more of an effect
on staging practices than on society. According to Willet and Manheim, “...if it gave
them (the middle class) an increasingly cynical view of their own institutions it does not
seem to have prompted either them or any other section of society to try to change these
for the better” (xv). While Brecht does make clear the underlying philosophy of
Peachum’s rebellion and Mac’s villainy, it has been argued that Brecht himself was not
consciously making a concerted effort to incite rebellion when he and Kurt Weill created
The Threepenny Opera. At this point in his career, as suggested before, Brecht was still
developing his views as a Marxist. Furthermore, Willet and Manheim point out that
Brecht’s notes on the play, where we find much of the advocacy for social reform, were
written two years after the premiere (xvii). If this is the case, then the social agitation in
the play is a result of Brecht’s experiment with Epic Theatre form rather than a conscious
effort to reform. The basis for the un-hero is present in the characters of Peachum and
Mac.
A second factor that may have hampered the rebellious effects of the play is that
the audience that would have watched the premiere would have been composed of the
30
very same bourgeoisie that the play criticizes. Due to the somewhat farcical nature of the
characters it is possible that the middle class theatre-goer of the day failed to fully
connect with the issues being presented. It is clear that, while the play appealed to the
middle-class theatre patron, Brecht’s (alleged) intent of social criticism fell on deaf ears
(Manheim xv). Erika Fischer-Lichte points out that the audience “celebrated” the play’s
protagonists, and that “there was certainly no productive reception in the Brechtian sense,
so that Brecht felt the productions had no effect on society” (318). Thus, the rebellion
fails to take hold because the audience who bore witness to Peachum’s plot and Mac’s
plight found themselves unaffected by the circumstances of the characters. One reason is
perhaps Camus’ “the mere spectacle of oppression,” which can be the catalyst for
rebellion, was not sufficiently present in the text. Mac is presented as almost a happy-go-
lucky rogue type who is able to circumvent the system without truly calling out the
inconsistencies of that system. Peachum, who’s actions put him far more in line with the
idea of the un-hero, is nevertheless a subordinate to the jolly Mac in the audience’s mind.
Therefore, the shared sense of suffering that Camus advocates is not present. Instead, the
audience becomes enamored by the more or less typically anti-heroic Mac and dismisses
questions as to why Mac must be this way. It is only in comparison to another work
which did have the reaction intended by the playwright that we may discern whether the
flaw was in the creation or the reception.
While the reception of The Threepenny Opera did not arouse the spirit of social
reform that Brecht intended, Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House inspired the rebellious spirit
to such an extent that it not only radically altered theatrical practices by introducing
31
Modernism/Realism to most of the Western world, but more importantly became a
rallying cry of the women’s rights movement. I will examine the character of Nora and
how her position as un-hero signaled a call to rebellion which resonated throughout the
Western world and continues to do so in places where women face gender-based
oppression.
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House signaled the arrival of the modernist movement in
theatre and challenged the melodramatic modes which dominated the theatre of the late
1800s. Scandinavian theatre at this time began to emerge from a “vogue of Nordic
romanticism and historicism that flourished at mid-century” and was looking toward new
and more cutting edge stage representations (Marker 137, 162). At this time, much of
Scandanavian theatre bowed to the pressures of an educated and conservative elite who
were satisfied with a heavily censored and “hollow, declamatory theatre, which drove out
the last traces of relevance and intellectual stimulation from the classics and stuffed them
with boring texts” (Fischer-Lichte 244). In the midst of this drudgery private theatres,
whose performances were only available to paying members and thus could circumvent
government censorship, began to stage far more radical and innovative works by a new
generation of dramatists (245). The result was a ready-made conflict of ideology
between traditional values held by a large portion of the public and a newer, more
abrasive aesthetic. The radical performances of the art-theatres elevated the
Scandinavian stage into a public forum where the bourgeois was “confronted with, and
invited to discuss, the problems which actually moved them,” perhaps none more so than
Henrik Ibsen (247).
32
The depiction of the Helmers’ crumbling middle-class marriage and the shocking
finale left theatre-goers and critics sharply divided, prompting the explosion of Modernist
methods in theatre with an eye toward examining and solving real-world social issues
through the medium of performance. As Toril Moi points out, it is the sudden shift from
the melodramatic mode to the unforgiving analysis of realism that helped fuel the wild
popularity of the play, as well as create backlash in both social and theatrical circles.
It [A Doll’s House] contains a devastating critique of idealism entwined
with a turn to the everyday, a celebration of theatre combined with a fierce
analysis of everyday theatricality (A Doll’s House is teeming with
metatheatrical elements) and a preoccupation with the conditions of love
in modernity. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen mobilizes all these features in a
contemporary setting and in relation to a fundamentally modern theme:
namely, the situation of women in the family and society. The result is a
play that calls for a radical transformation [...], not just, or not even
primarily, of laws and institutions, but of human beings and their ideas of
love. (256)
A Doll’s House tells the story of Nora Helmer, a middle-class Norwegian woman
who plays her role as housewife in typical 19th century fashion. Her husband, Torvald, is
a recently promoted banker who treats his wife and children as play-things, as dolls for
33
his amusement, and often fancies himself as a dashing hero and all around modern man.
At first the Helmers seem an ordinary family with a strong patriarch in Torvald and
flighty mother/housewife in Nora, but when nefarious forces act upon the idyllic family
unit, the illusions of marriage roles are revealed as quickly as they begin to crumble.
Nora finds herself the victim of blackmail from the unscrupulous loan shark
Krogstad after she forges her late father’s signature in order to receive a loan so her
husband, Torvald, can receive life-saving medical treatment. Krogstad, believing himself
slighted by being passed over for the promotion which Torvald received, discovers the
illegal nature of Nora’s loan and threatens to disgrace Torvald by revealing Nora’s
actions unless payment is made. Due to her tenuous legal position as a woman in late
1800s, having very little in the way of legal rights, Nora finds herself at the mercy of
Krogstad but refuses to confess to her husband. Looking for a way out, she turns to her
friend Kristina Linde, Krogstad’s one-time object of affection, for help. Ultimately,
through Kristina’s actions, Krogstad relents from his threats of blackmail and absolves
Nora, but only after he sends a letter to the Helmer household detailing Nora’s
transgression.
Torvald, on the other hand, sees himself as a hero, claiming he would swoop in to
the rescue like a hawk should Nora or the children ever find themselves in danger (Moi
264). But this heroic picture is shaken to the core upon the discovery of the initial letter
from Krogstad, which Torvald believes will ruin his reputation completely. In a fit of
rage, Torvald strikes Nora, destroying the image of romantic hero who will swoop in and
34
save the day in both the eyes of Nora and the audience. In a moment of pure melodrama,
however, a second letter arrives from Krogstad who, thanks to the persuasion of Kristina,
recants his threat and declares the matter settled. Torvald is relieved and promptly offers
a condescending apology to his wife, who has disappeared offstage, telling her that he
forgives her transgressions because that’s what a husband is supposed to do. The
audience is led to believe that this will be the final moment, that through the wonders of
the melodramatic mode all will be well and life will go back to normal - that is until Nora
re-enters.
In the final scene of the play Nora is now stripped of her once deeply held belief
that Torvald will do anything to protect her from harm. Nora confronts Torvald and
proceeds to demolish his, and much of the audience’s, deeply held beliefs regarding the
state of the Helmers’ marriage and the role of women in society. Realizing that the life
of a housewife will no longer satisfy her, Nora walks out on the family, slamming the
front door and embarking on a quest of self-actualization.
Nora, in many ways, is the perfect candidate to illustrate the concept of the un-
hero as rebel. In the opening scenes she is depicted as a flighty housewife and mother
whose concerns do not seem to stray far from the everyday concerns of domestic life.
Her behavior, with prompting from Torvald, is compared to that of a young child. On the
surface the family seems happy, and Nora appears content with her role in life. But she
struggles with two forces which seek to place her in the role of subordinate: specifically
her legal standing as a woman and her role as housewife.
35
As the plot begins to unfold we see glimpses of the rebel come to the surface
through intermittent acts of defiance or subterfuge. We learn that Nora forged her late
father’s signature on a loan promissory note, an illegal act, in order to secure funds to
treat Torvald’s sickness. Aware of her tenuous position and the ramifications of the act
were it to come to light, Nora still maintains the righteousness of her actions and
contends that it is society which is wrong for not allowing her the means to save her
husband:
NORA: Hasn't a daughter the right to protect her dying father from worry
and anxiety? Hasn't a wife the right to save her husband's life? I don't
know much about the law, but I'm quite certain that it must say
somewhere that things like that are allowed. (175-176)
Like Mac the Knife and his position on starvation versus morality, Nora’s initial secret
act of defiance echoes Camus’s idea that the rebel comes into being because he discovers
true inequality in a supposedly equal society (Camus 14). For Nora, the fact that a wife is
powerless to take action in order to save her husband is unacceptable, and therefore she
opts to act outside the bounds of acceptable social behavior for what she considers to be a
moral imperative.
36
One of the first examples of rebellion we see is Nora’s wild interpretation of the
Tarantula dance. The magnitude of her situation and Krogstad’s blackmail scheme weigh
heavily on her mind, though Torvald is still unaware of the plot. The incriminating letter
which will expose Nora’s act has arrived, however, and Torvald goes to open it. Hoping
to distract Torvald from the inevitable consequences she will face when he reads the
letter, Nora begs him to help her rehearse her dance so that she will not be embarrassed at
the party they will be attending the following evening. Torvald, ever ready to come to his
meek wife’s rescue in these tiny moments of crisis, concedes, ironically unaware of the
real crisis with which Nora struggles. With Torvald playing accompaniment on the
piano, Nora proceeds to perform the dance in an erratic manner, despite Torvald’s
[Helmer] disapproval and in defiance of his directives:
HELMER: (as he plays): Slower – slower!
NORA: I can only do it this way.
HELMER: Not so violently, Nora!
NORA: This is how it should go.
HELMER (stops playing): No, no, that’s all wrong. (204)
37
As family friends Dr. Rank and Kristina look on, Rank now playing the
accompaniment on the piano, Torvald takes a more direct approach and begins to bark
specific instructions on how to perform the dance. Nora continues to ignore his orders,
throwing herself into a frenzy of wild movement antithetical to Torvald’s controlled
interpretation. The group watches as Nora proceeds to behave in a manner unbefitting a
woman of her day and status, allowing her hair to fall down over her shoulders (204).
Torvald, Rank, and Kristina are shocked by what they see, but Nora no longer cares. She
has bigger concerns:
NORA: Oh, this is fun, Kristina!
HELMER: But, Nora darling, you’re dancing as if your life depended on
it.
NORA: So it does.
HELMER: Stop, Rank. This is sheer madness – stop, I tell you! (204)
The dance symbolizes her inner conflict and is directed toward one of the major
sources of oppression in her life: her husband Torvald. The effect is a culmination of the
psychological quagmire she finds herself in due to the deception with the forged loan
signature, and the lifetime of playing a role she has never been comfortable playing. We
see examples of this role-playing throughout the script, where Torvald’s treatment of
38
Nora is comparable to a parent’s treatment of a child. As Ibsen scholar Joan Templeton
puts it, “Patriarchy's socialization of women into servicing creatures is the major
accusation in Nora's painful account to Torvald of how first her father, and then he, used
her for their amusement . . . how she had no right to think for herself, only the duty to
accept their opinions. Excluded from meaning anything, Nora has never been subject,
only object” (142). Indeed, Nora makes the claim at the climax of the play that she has
always been treated in a child-like fashion by the men in her life, beginning with her
father:
NORA: ...When I lived with Papa, he used to tell me his opinion about
everything, and so I had the same opinion. If I thought differently, I had
to hide it from him, or he wouldn’t have liked it. He called me his little
doll, and he used to play with me just as I played with my dolls. (225)
And later in the same exchange, she directs the same criticism at Torvald:
NORA: You arranged everything to suit your own tastes, and so I came to
have the same tastes as yours...or I pretended to. I’m not quite sure
which[...] I’ve lived by performing tricks for you, Torvald. That was how
39
you wanted it. You and Papa have committed a grievous sin against me:
it’s your fault that I’ve made nothing of my life. (226)
Nora’s desperation, brought about by the secret she has been hiding from her
husband, has led to a public act of symbolic defiance against Torvald’s carefully
constructed vision of marital bliss. Torvald, sensing Nora’s actions are a result for
apprehension about Krogstad’s letter, agrees that he will forgo reading it until after the
party. This small victory, this moment of triumph through rebellion, sets the stage for the
far greater act of rebellion that comes at the climax of the play.
It is in the final two scenes where we see Nora fully become the un-hero. After
the physical confrontation Torvald, knowing he has acted in a manner unbecoming of his
self-image, returns to his chivalric talk as a means to comfort his wounded wife. He even
goes so far as to graciously forgive her for her indiscretions, a moment which plays as
sourly condescending to the audience:
HELMER: [...] You can rest safely now, and my great wings will protect
you. Oh, Nora, how warm and cosy our little home is; it’s your refuge,
where I shall protect you like a hunted dove that I’ve saved from the talons
of a hawk. Little by little, I shall calm your poor fluttering heart [...]
There’s something indescribably sweet and satisfying for a man to know
40
deep down that he has forgiven his wife – completely forgiven her, with
all his heart. It’s as if that made her doubly his. (223-224)
Throughout this speech, Nora is offstage. In this moment of dramatic crisis, Nora
retires to her dressing room to take off her “fancy dress,” the genesis of her symbolic
metamorphosis from housewife to anti-hero (222). It is here that Nora concludes she can
no longer accept the current status quo, thus removing the party dress of the housewife,
sometimes translated more poignantly as “masquerade costume,” igniting the act of
rebellion to follow (Moi 265). When she reemerges in her travelling clothes, much to
Torvald’s confusion, Nora embraces the rebel mantra of “all or nothing.” She is now
convinced that her marriage has been nothing but an act which has stifled her
development as a human being, and she quite literally gives up all for the sake of what
she now deems to be most important: her ability to choose her own path. Thus, the
solitary anti-hero is born, and then promptly slams the door as she walks out on her
family, children included, leaving the shattered illusion of her marriage behind.
The abandonment of her children in the final scene of the play represents a shift
from the normative assumption of the warm and caring mother to the cold and calculating
individual which Nora becomes. As Julie Holledge points out, rather than Nora
abandoning her children in a fit of hysteria, which would have only reinforced gender
stereotypes of the day, Ibsen instead “...severed the emotional and physical attachment
between a mother and child by means of logical and rational thought, and thus attacked
41
one of the cornerstones and justifications of gender divisions in numerous cultures: the
natural and indivisible bond between mother and child” (18). In rebelling against what is
considered to be a fundamental biological imperative, the connection of mother and child,
through reason fueled by a personal quest for self-discovery, Nora embodies Camus’s all
or nothing rebel in a way which reaches to the core of the viewing audience. Through
reason, Nora sets herself apart from the accepted social order and creates a defensible
position to justify an act which many would consider unthinkable.
HELMER: But to leave your home – your husband and your children. ...
You haven’t thought of what people will say.
NORA: I can’t consider that. All I know is that this is necessary for me.
HELMER: But this is disgraceful. Is this the way you neglect your most
sacred duty?
NORA: What do you consider is my most sacred duty?
HELMER: Do I have to tell you that? Isn’t it your duty to your husband
and children?
NORA: I have another duty, just as sacred.
HELMER: You can’t have. What duty do you mean?
NORA: My duty to myself. (227-228)
And later:
42
HELMER: Before anything else, you are a wife and mother.
NORA: I don‘t believe that any longer. I believe that before everything
else I am a human being - just as you are... at any rate that I shall try and
become one. I know quite well that most people would agree with you,
Torvald, and that you have warrant for it in books; but I can’t be satisfied
any longer with what most people say, and with what’s in books. I must
think things out for myself and try to understand them. (228)
This is where Ibsen makes his argument for social revolution, specifically a case against
the unfair treatment of women in both political and familial arenas. Perhaps the most
powerful statement comes at the resolution of Nora and Torvald’s conversation, when the
inherent unfairness that is the focus of Nora’s rebellion is made clear in the following
exchange:
HELMER: Nora, I’d gladly work night and day for you, and endure
poverty and sorrow for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour
for the one he loves.
NORA: Thousands of women have. (230)
43
It is this statement which encapsulates both the socially reformative thrust of A
Doll’s House and the struggle of the anti-hero who assumes an ultimate good and is
willing to sacrifice him or herself for that good, because the alternative is unacceptable
(Camus 11). This is the moment when the theatrical clichés, the ideal scripts, are cast
aside. No longer does Nora live in the world of romantic fantasies. She has learned first-
hand the nature of reality, her place in the world, and the laughably false ideals she held
about marriage. Unable to abide her situation, she rejects it in all forms, choosing to lead
a life which will undoubtedly be viewed as disgraceful for a woman in her position
because, as far as she is concerned, it is better than the status quo.
It was this status quo that millions of women suffered under for generations, and
to the playwright Ibsen, it was unacceptable. In his eyes, the potential benefit of
elevating women’s social position from second-class citizens was not merely a question
of gender equality; it was imperative for the human race as a whole:
I have been more of a poet and less of a social philosopher than one
generally appears inclined to believe. [I] must decline the honour
consciously to have worked for the cause of women. I am not even quite
clear what the cause of women really is. For me it has appeared to be the
cause of human beings . . . My task has been to portray human beings.
(Ibsen “Ved norsk” 417) .
44
A testament to both the power the play still wields, and the titanic forces of
inequity the play targets, is the fact that Nora is now viewed not as an anti-hero but rather
as a hero. Through the ultimate act of rebellion, the eschewing of familial or “sacred
duty,” as Torvald puts it, Ibsen’s un-hero questions the very nature of her existence and
place in society. When Nora walks out she ignites the flame of rebellion in like-minded
audience members, women who have suffered the same injustices she has suffered, who
saw through her blasphemous and seditious act that there might be another option. Given
the radical social change in regards to women’s rights that has occurred in the century
since the play first premiered, Nora’s rebellion is now viewed not as an act of sedition but
as an act of heroism. It is only when you view the play in its original social context that
Nora the un-hero emerges.
It would seem then that the rebel Nora has proven to be victorious, and unlike her
counterpart in Mac the Knife, has elicited the lasting social change both characters sought
to bring to their respective times. One reason this may be are the differences between the
audiences who would have viewed the plays at the time of their premieres. For The
Threepenny Opera, the audiences of well-to-do bourgeois felt more of a connection with
the exploits of Mac and less with the suffering of the paupers and thieves depicted in
Brecht’s work. Because of this dissociation, the audience would not have felt the call to
rebellion, for their suffering was not the suffering of the characters. In contrast, A Doll’s
House showcased a systemic issue directly affected a large portion of the audience. This
direct connection with the suffering of the character proves to be the spark with which the
conflagration of rebellion erupts. While Mac and Peachum’s calls for social equity fell
45
on ears deafened by class-based indifference, Nora’s call for gender-equity would have,
and continues still, to reach those who feel the sting of disparity. In Nora, the revolution
lives on every time she slams the door.
46
CHAPTER 3
THE CREATION OF THE SOLUTION
The Solution began with a simple concept as described by the title of this
dissertation: can I get the audience to root for the bad guy? While this idea is by no
means a groundbreaking concept in the world of drama or literature (as explained in the
first chapter with the discussion of historical anti-heroes), it represented a personal
challenge to me as a playwright. In taking on this challenge, my goal was to explore how
an audience would react to a character or characters who engage in clearly vile acts if the
acts were justified as retribution for another vile act. In other words, my initial
hypothesis was that the audience would clearly cheer for a villain if that villain sought to
destroy another equally or more evil villain. The question then became how does one
strike a balance of evils that ultimately sways audience sympathies toward the protagonist
without alienating that audience?
The Solution is a product of bits and pieces gathered from pop culture and thrown
into what I like to call “The Brew,” a writing habit I have developed whereby I spend
weeks or months contemplating a scenario and all its possible outcomes. This brewing
process allows me to imagine the universe I wish to create at its most infinite, with no
idea initially off the table. After multiple inevitable false starts a basic plot and theme
become clear. During this time any notes I take are usually simple reminders of an idea
47
I’d like to incorporate, written down in one of many personal journals. There is no
particular rhyme or reason to the order of the journals, so reconstructing an exact writing
process is next to impossible. In the following pages I will give synopsis of the plot,
descriptions and inspiration for characters, and the overall process involved in getting the
audience to cheer for a villain.
The Solution is the story of Klaus, an old man who has a dark secret. For the last
thirty-five years Klaus has been in hiding because of his horrific past. Very quickly we
learn that Klaus is a former Nazi scientist who, along with his “brother” Josef (who may
or may not be related to Klaus), has been on the run for several decades. We learn that the
reason for the assumed identities is because the two men conducted a series of inhumane
genetic experiments during World War II under the banner of Nazi eugenics. Their goal
is to find a universal cure for all human ailments and sickness and to create a super-man
immune to all forms of disease. The formula, however, has eluded the two men for years.
Now Klaus is having trouble recalling how they reached this dead end. Klaus still
believes that his experiment, despite the unethical nature by which the data was obtained;
nevertheless has the potential to make a real impact on the world for the betterment of
humanity. We also learn that Klaus is suffering from pancreatic cancer and is motivated
by a sense of self-preservation. He and Josef have been continuing their experiments in a
limited capacity while in hiding. Due to a lack of proper equipment and test subjects, the
two elderly men have put together a hodge-podge laboratory in their basement, where
they conduct their experiments on homeless vagrants.
48
Because of their roving nature and need for secrecy Klaus and Josef have no
friends. The only person Klaus is close to is a young girl named Sara, a neighbor whom
he has hired to run errands for him, such as purchasing groceries. Sara also has a secret:
her victimization at the hands of her sexually and physically abusive father, Briggs. Both
Klaus and Sara are adept at keeping secrets, and both desire to be free of their torment:
Klaus is seeking redemption for the atrocities he has committed, Sara from the torment
and abuse of her father.
Vindication has eluded Klaus, however. In the third scene the audience witnesses
the latest round of Klaus and Josef’s failed bid to create their formula, resulting in the
death of yet another homeless man. Klaus has reached a new low and is ready to give up
on his work, believing there is no formula and that their work has been in vain. Josef
convinces him that they are very close to a breakthrough and that Klaus needs to refocus
on the problem. When a young police detective, Wade, arrives and begins asking
questions regarding the disappearance of homeless men in the area, Klaus and Josef must
cover their tracks. They successfully divert the detective, using their intellect and
aptitude for lying to throw Wade off their scent and make him doubt the facts.
Sara has also been investigating, though her purposes are different. After
interviewing Klaus for a school presentation about World War II, she does some research
at the library and discovers a picture of Josef in a book about Nazi war criminals. She
questions Klaus about the similarity, and Klaus is narrowly able to avoid her suspicion,
but Klaus has now reached his limit. In an explosive argument with Josef, Klaus declares
49
that he quits and will no longer continue with the research, claiming the stress of the
situation. He will never find the absolution he seeks and is now determined to accept his
fate.
Fate, however, has a different plan. Sara appears late one night in a state of
horrified panic. She reveals that her father has sexually assaulted her and now she has
nowhere to turn. Klaus makes a decision: if he is unable to help the world, then he will
help Sara, the only person who still thinks he has a shred of decency in him. Klaus
abducts the girl’s father from his bedroom. In the climactic scene of the play we witness
Klaus begin to skin Briggs alive in retribution for his acts against his daughter. The final
scene of the play shows Klaus in a police interrogation chamber after the incident, telling
his story to a stunned Wade. The play ends when Sara rushes in and thanks Klaus for
freeing her from her wicked father. Despite being a monster, Klaus has succeeded in
helping one person.
If I were to try to point to a germinal image that eventually spawned the play, it
would be one that I doodled in a notebook of a faceless figure standing over a burning
trashcan. In the figure’s hands are papers which he is tossing into the fire. The slumped
shoulders of the figure indicate a sense of defeat, as if he finds himself suddenly devoid
of purpose and is left only with the bitter taste of failure. Indeed, this very image was
appropriated into Scene 6 of the play. Early in the writing process I realized that this
image represented the moment of change in whoever this character would become; it was
the moment that person gave up.
50
Fig. 1. Germinal image for The Solution.
From the drawing I knew that the nature of the work being destroyed was
scientific, an experiment that had consumed this figure’s life for years or decades. It was
also around this time that I had developed my overall mission statement for this play: root
for the bad guy. Therefore it seemed natural that the play should revolve around a
scientist who was somehow evil or unethical, a “mad scientist” type who would take his
ideas beyond the bounds of acceptable methodology in an attempt to create something
truly astounding. Very quickly my attention was drawn to the horrific experiments of
Nazi scientists, and I realized that my protagonist, the faceless figure in the drawing,
should somehow be associated with that period in history.
51
To be fair, most of my inspiration is far more fictional that historical. Films such
as Marathon Man, starring Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier, the story of a history
graduate student who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy involving stolen diamonds and
ex-Nazi doctors, provided some grounding as to how to approach the story. It also
helped my decision to set my story in the 1970s. This was due in part to two factors: the
first being that investigative technology was still fairly primitive and time-consuming,
thus making it conceivable that a war criminal could hide out in America unnoticed, and
secondly, the age and physical capabilities of the character would conceivably come into
question should the events occur any later, possibly leading to the audience being unable
to suspend their disbelief. While some other general information was referenced, I
consciously decided not to be pinned down by an excess need for historical accuracy.
Instead, I decided to take the basic premise of the Nazi doctor and allowed creative
license to reign over the details.
I began to call the protagonist Klaus, at first as a placeholder name because it
simply sounded über-German to my ear. I had originally intended to change his name to
Friedrich, another fine German name, but decided to keep Klaus because, by the time I
reached the point where a name change would have been implemented, “Klaus” simply
read better on the page in my mind. His surname Meyerhold was the name of the
German teacher from my high school. As far as inspiration, I can honestly attest that
there are no real-world analogues to the character Klaus. A few ideas referenced the life
of infamous Gestapo Commandant Klaus Barbie, specifically his penchant for torturing
victims, as well as the fact that Barbie ultimately died in prison from cancer.
52
It became obvious that, in order to gain audience support for Klaus, his primary
goal in the story should be one that is altruistic at its core. The development of a “super-
man” formula, long the staple of Nazi fiction, particularly in comic book and pulp
representations, seemed a worthwhile fictional super-objective to pursue. I did not,
however, wish to follow the well-trodden path of the Nazi mad scientist trying to develop
a serum which would create a specific superior race which would rise to dominance over
all other races and ethnic groups, as is often the case in Nazi mad scientist stories found
in popular fiction, for instance the 1978 Laurence Olivier film The Boys From Brazil or
any number of classic comic books such as Captain America and Superman. I knew that
if the audience was going to sympathize with Klaus, his goal must be all-inclusive. I
therefore decided that his formula should be one that would benefit every living human
being by eliminating all known forms of sickness. By establishing this, I felt reasonably
assured that no matter what horrible acts the protagonist perpetrated, the audience would
still have, at the very least, a touch of sympathy for his quest.
Still, a touch of sympathy would not suffice in reaching the goal of having the
audience identify with my villainous hero. I imagined a scene that would show Klaus
performing an unspeakably horrific act for a benevolent cause, though at this point the
details of the scene still eluded me. What was needed was an act that would motivate the
audience to choose to support Klaus. While the goal of curing all human ailments was
certainly noble, the germinal image of the figure burning the papers had already
prophesized that Klaus would fail at that endeavor. What was needed was something
53
immediate, a goal which he could accomplish that would be seen as selfless while
simultaneously pulling from his darker side.
I began to toy with the idea of Klaus defending someone who was truly helpless
and did not have the strength or power to fight back against the oppressive force which
terrorized him or her. A child seemed to be the likely candidate to me, and I began to fill
in details about this child and his or her relationship to both the abusive parent as well as
Klaus. It seemed natural for Klaus, in order to become the audience’s preference, to take
on the role of surrogate parent to this child. I began to fill in Klaus’s back story with the
idea that he had lost his own child during World War II, which would serve as
justification for his compassion toward this new child. I decided that the child should be
suffering multiple forms of abuse, including sexual, from his or her father, a calculated
risk which I believed would sway the audience to take Klaus’s side. After some debate, I
decided that the character should be a young girl, Sara, who would serve as stand-in for
the daughter Klaus lost so many years ago, as well as the key to his redemption.
Josef, Klaus’s partner, was developed primarily for Klaus to have a foil to whom
he could speak openly. I was not content to simply let Josef be the recipient of Klaus’s
thoughts however. Josef, in a sense, had to be the reflection of what Klaus once was. He
is a detached scientist who views his subjects not as people but as numbers and, perhaps
more to the point, potential results. In many ways, Josef is the realist of the group, yet at
the same time is the one who keeps pushing Klaus to continue the experiment. When
creating the pair, I envisioned them similar to an old married couple who knew every
54
detail of each other’s lives, who had grown sick and tired of the other’s companionship,
but who could not survive without each other. In Josef we see a cruel, calculated nature
that complements Klaus’s compassion. Though the two men are equally guilty of
committing horrific crimes, it is Josef who is the true believer and the one who will do
anything to survive.
In order to draw a further distinction between the two, I decided that Josef had
managed to assimilate himself into American culture far more effectively than Klaus. I
showed this primarily through the use of language. Josef’s speech more closely
resembles a naturalized American’s, making use of contractions, such as “we’re” instead
of “we are”, as opposed to Klaus, who still maintains a more formalized speech pattern. I
also indicated that Josef engages in more social activities, such as going to bars, with the
implications that he may have friends and acquaintances other than Klaus. I wanted to
give the sense that, while Klaus was isolated and obsessed with his project, Josef was far
more sociable, even a greater risk-taker of the two in social situations. Josef prefers to
hide in plain sight, as opposed to Klaus, who prefers solitude.
I established the past relationship between the two as Klaus being the lead
scientist and Josef being the assistant. This power struggle often sees Klaus dictating
terms when it comes to procedure in the experiments, much to Josef’s frustration. After
all this time in hiding, Josef believes he is just as qualified to handle the experiments as
Klaus, but Klaus will not give up his role as the boss. At the same time, I also imagined
Josef as the more cunning and pragmatic of the two, the one who would do whatever it
55
took to maintain his freedom. I realized that it should be Josef who was the one who
could decide instantly whether lethal action was required to protect their identities,
whereas Klaus would be more hesitant and attempt to talk his way out of a potentially
dangerous situation. This created a nice dichotomy between the two: while Klaus is a
more brilliant scientist, Josef possesses “street smarts” as well as a more cold-hearted
logical predisposition. I imagined and tried to make clear, at least to the actors via the
script and through discussion, that Josef was by far the more dangerous of the two.
Admittedly, the character of Detective Wade did not fully develop as I would
have liked, but I believe this lack of development is an unfortunate side-effect of the
dramatic experiment of rooting for the bad guy. I felt that there should be an external
conflict, a source of antagonism that threatened to destroy everything that Klaus and
Josef had worked toward. Since I decided that the two men would be using homeless
men as their test subjects, it seemed very plausible that the authorities would eventually
become involved. On the other hand, I could not risk the audience identifying with the
police rather than my protagonist; therefore, the conscious choice was made to have the
police detective be fairly inept at his job in order to insure that our anti-hero would
believably evade capture until the proper moment in the script. However, when
reflecting on the overall production, I now feel that Wade was too weak of a character.
He posed almost no challenge to Klaus, and in many ways was merely a footnote in the
action. While there were some nice scenes that played well and the actor did a good job
with what was given, I now believe that Wade should have been more aggressive in his
56
pursuit of Klaus. If I decide to revise the script at a later date, the development of Wade
will be the top priority.
As mentioned earlier in this dissertation, The Solution pre-dates the formulation of
the thesis proposed in the first chapter regarding the socio-critical function of the anti-
hero. Klaus is perhaps more akin to the term “villainous hero” rather than the un-hero
because he does not find himself oppressed by a social construct as does Nora. Nor is he
exactly like Mac the Knife ,whose willing participation in criminal enterprises is for
ultimately selfish purposes. Instead, Klaus’s character is one to whom the ends justify
the means. He truly believes, or perhaps believed at one point, that his research would
benefit all of humanity. At the same time, I attempted to show that he is motivated to
redeem himself for his multitude of inhumane acts committed in the cause of bettering
humanity. Klaus, unlike his partner Josef, is not a man without conscience; he is a man
without recourse. He knows his experiments are ethically and morally reprehensible, but
he has no other options. He is ultimately spiraling downward ethically, grasping at
straws in hopes that one of them will turn out to be the branch with which he can pull
himself back from over the cliff’s edge.
To attempt to shove a social context into The Solution at this point would be a
fruitless and ultimately ham-fisted act, as there was no effort to do so during the process
of creating and producing the play. If one could extract a greater social criticism it might
be that “child molesters are bad,” not exactly an earth-shattering statement when
compared to the socially reformative critique presented in A Doll’s House.
57
I focused instead on making Klaus, this evil mad scientist, somehow likable to the
audience. I accomplished this by giving him a sympathetic past, the loss of his family in
World War II and, on the surface, what appears to be a noble goal in the creation of a
cure for all human ailments. I also focused on creating the semblance of a
father/daughter relationship between him and the character Sara, one which was by far
more nurturing and loving than her actual relationship with her real father. I also
attempted to show Klaus’ relationship with Josef, his partner in atrocity, to be like that of
an old married couple who cannot stand each other and yet cannot function on their own.
The result was several humorous exchanges and moments of sympathy between the three
characters (Klaus, Sara, and Josef), which gave their relationships a complexity to which
audiences would be drawn.
In order to sway the audience to the side of Klaus, I chose to reveal the extent of
his cruelty in full and then juxtapose this with the two more heinous crimes that occur
later in the play: Sarah’s rape and Klaus’s skinning of Briggs. The scene where he and
Josef experiment on a homeless man is designed to show Klaus for what he is and allow
the audience to see him in all his horrific glory. By showing the experiment, the audience
is able to concretely conceptualize the extent of his crimes in their entirety. The sexual
abuse experienced by Sara, on the other hand, is only partially revealed toward the end of
the play, never fully shown to the audience.
This demonstrates the dramaturgical technique that a concealed act can be far
more powerful than a revealed one. I borrowed this technique from the thriller genre of
58
film, which often times employs reporting acts of violence as a means to make the acts
seem more horrific. Of course this technique is far older than film, one example being
Italian Renaissance artist Alberti, who argued in painting that “strategic omission might
sometimes be more effective than an effort at direct representation” (Grafton 142). This
seems to go against the old playwriting adage of “show, don’t tell,” yet in this case
leaving the actual act hidden from the audience became an effective method of creating
tension.
For The Solution I took this concept and twisted it by showing Klaus’s experiment
in the third scene of the play. In doing so, I hoped that revealing his actions would give a
sense of concreteness to his crimes, giving the audience, in a sense a limit, to what Klaus
was capable of doing. By contrast, Briggs’s sexual assault of his daughter is reported,
though the results are shown plainly by the use of a blood-soaked night gown. At the
play’s climax, I again revert to the unseen act of horror as the lights fade on Klaus closing
in on a bound and helpless Briggs, a knife in hand. Klaus proceeds to explain in
monologue the effects of removing skin from the human body in medical terms. The
screams of pain from Briggs echo into the darkness, and the audience is left to imagine
his fate, knowing full well that what Klaus had just previously described was happening
as the lights went out.
This second to last scene demonstrates that Klaus is still a monster. His act of
vengeance is a product of necessity brought about by plot and character, and his fate is
bound by the need for audience reclamation. When creating the script, I could not
59
imagine Klaus escaping his eventual punishment. Considering the heinous nature of his
actions, and for fear of audience rejection, I chose to create a recuperative ending where
Klaus faces justice. Ultimately I decided that Klaus’ solution was to accept responsibility
for his actions rather than find forgiveness. This type of ending is more consistent with
earlier forms of the anti-hero, specifically the 18th century villainous hero who, after a
lifetime of flaunting society’s rules, is ultimately forced to answer for his crimes (Adams
40).
This reaffirmation of the social order of right and wrong, a throwback to
Enlightenment literary modes where the concept of right and wrong did not exist on the
shaky discursive grounds on which it resides today, is at odds with the un-hero. The un-
hero seeks to overthrow the order of things but finds his or her actions grounded in the
fact that society is the enemy. Should the un-hero lose, the status quo continues. This
concept does not apply in the case of The Solution because Klaus is not fighting against
an unfair system that has marginalized him, he’s fighting against himself.
As discussed in the first chapter, the un-hero/rebel can be created through the act
of witnessing a wrong act committed against a fellow man (Camus 11-12). By
witnessing the wrong, the viewer is compelled to take up the cause of rebellion against
the offending party. In the case of The Solution, however, many of the wrongs are
committed by the protagonist Klaus, and it would seem to follow that there would be an
inevitable backlash against the character should the audience perceive he was acting for
his own selfish reasons or with an unfettered sense of cruelty. Therefore, the challenge
60
was to present an alternate set of vile acts committed by another character so that Klaus’s
infractions seem like the lesser of two evils. In the case of Briggs’s wrong, the audience
witnesses the aftermath when Sara enters with a blood-soaked nightgown. Klaus’s act,
while described in detail, is still hidden. In doing so, the audience is forced to make a
judgment between two bad guys.
Through these methods I believe the script and production were successful in
achieving the initial goal: getting the audience to root for the bad guy. As stated before,
The Solution does not illustrate the concept of the un-hero because Klaus is not a rebel.
He does not take up the cause of the greater good against the status quo, nor does he
experience the oppression of the outsider. The Solution represents an attempt to create an
anti-hero in a general sense of the word without regard to the socio-political
considerations that make the un-hero unique. In the next chapter, I will show how I took
some of the ideas that were successfully employed in The Solution and applied them to
the creation of a truer un-hero in the protagonist of Aggroculture.
61
CHAPTER 4
THE CREATION OF AGGROCULTURE
As stated in Chapter 1, The Solution was created as an early attempt to explore the
idea of the anti-hero. Aggroculture, on the other hand, represents a concerted effort to
apply the ideas presented in chapters 1 and 2 in order to create a un-hero. At this point,
because the play is still a draft, the results of the efforts can only be at best speculated.
Until the play receives a production, it would be difficult to judge the overall
effectiveness of the work in galvanizing an audience. At this time, theorizing with form
must suffice.
Aggroculture has been a labor of love/voice in my head/constant annoyance for
many years. It is, without a doubt, the single most elusive and difficult story I have ever
tried to write. Even in the time between the proposal for this dissertation and the
submission, the play has undergone radical re-writes to the point that it no longer
resembles the original idea. The present chapter seeks to unearth how those changes
came about, beginning with early conceptualizations, and then moving on to how the
current version come into being. I then will examine the choice made in regard to
character and plot in order to create a play that represents my best effort to demonstrate
the un-hero.
I shall begin by examining the original rough concept of the play that had been
brewing in my head for many years, even before I arrived at Texas Tech. As a young
62
man I found myself involved in the skinhead scene in San Antonio, Texas. How I arrived
at this point in life is a long story which holds little relevance to the current discussion.
Though I’m sure the details would interest some readers, I am not predisposed to giving
those details at this time. Instead, simply understand that, as far as my personal reasons
go, it seemed a good idea at the time.
I first began thinking of writing a story about skinheads as a way to combat what I
and many of my friends saw as a one-sided presentation of the subculture in the media,
specifically the presentation of all skinheads as racist neo-Nazi radicals, an image that
still persists today. What was not being reported or portrayed was the other side, what we
liked to refer to as “the real skinheads”: the non-racist, multi-ethnic skinheads that made
up the majority of the San Antonio scene and can be found all over the United States and
indeed the world.
The original idea took the form of a screenplay. I toiled for some time with how
to tell the story, ultimately deciding that this early draft should be a battle between two
forces: the sense love and security provided by “the scene” (i.e. skinhead subculture), and
the desire for a future free of the day-to-day conflict and struggle that goes hand-in-hand
with the subculture. The original protagonist, Eric, was a Latino skinhead who finds
himself and his friends embroiled in a turf war with the local Nazi-skinhead crew. Eric
had lived a rough life but managed some degree of achievement. Unlike many of his
friends, he was college educated and showed a great deal of promise in the field of art
and graphic design. A combination of inner-demons, self-doubt, and unshakable loyalty
63
to his friends, who had basically raised him, prevented him from moving on, trapping
him in a violent limbo of day-to-day existence within the subculture. Only when he
meets a young woman, Anna, does Eric finally get the push to imagine something more
in life.
Fig. 2 Notes for early version of Aggroculture.
Of course, his past will not let him be. As the early, unfinished script progressed,
Eric found himself pulled back into the conflict between his friends and the Nazi crew,
led by the enamoring Jefferson, for control of the scene. Though the story ended up
being shelved, I had originally intended for the screenplay to end with Sam, Eric’s best
64
friend, being killed after a final battle with the Nazis and Eric leaving the lifestyle
forever. I thought it was a pretty good story.
I had originally titled the script Aggroculture: A Skinhead’s Story after a friend
had suggested the name in a conversation. I thought it a perfect description of the tone
and mood: aggro, shortened slang for “aggressive,” had been a term long associated with
the skinhead and punk rock subcultures. The combination of Aggro-Culture also gave a
hint of southern-ness that I liked, alluding to the farming and ranching that are often
associated with popular images of Texas. I believed I was on the way to creating a story
that would both captivate on and provide a much needed counter-point to films like
American History X, a film which had become one of the go-to popular references for
defining skinhead culture.
American History X tells the story of Derek Vineyard (Edward Norton), a
reformed Nazi skinhead who tries to keep his younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong)
out of the gang he used to lead. In a series of black-and-white flashbacks we see how
Derek rises from typical middle-class suburbanite kid to one of the most polarizing street
leaders of the Venice Beach Nazi movement. After serving a prison stint for the brutal
killing of a black man, Derek comes to the realization that the white supremacist rhetoric
he once so passionately embraced only leads to a never-ending cycle of hatred. He leaves
prison ready to make amends to his family and cut off ties to his former gang for good,
but Danny, who idolizes Derek, resists his brother’s new perspective. Only after Derek
reveals how his views were radically altered in prison, again through a series of
65
flashbacks in which Derek’s preconceptions are challenged by another prisoner (Guy
Torrey) and culminates in a shower rape by his so-called white brothers, does Derek
manage to convince Danny that he is following the wrong path. But the victory is short-
lived as moments later Danny is murdered in his school by a black gang member with
whom he had a confrontation at the beginning of the film.
Norton’s Oscar-nominated performance and the film’s powerful, gruesome
imagery played a huge part in the reception of the film. A critical success, the film
helped cement the popular view of “skinheads-equals-Nazis” in the minds of the public.
The absence of even a mention of other types of skinheads was a major omission as far as
I was concerned. Thus, it was then that I began to contemplate Aggroculture as a
possible corrective measure to the problem.
Then came the 2007 film This Is England by director Shane Meadows. My first
viewing of the film was simultaneously inspiring and heartbreaking: inspiring because
someone had finally managed to tell the story of skinheads in a way that was both artistic
and brutally truthful, and heartbreaking because Meadows had managed to tell the story I
secretly wanted to tell in a way that was far superior to my own efforts. This Is England
takes place in 1983 and is the story of a twelve-year-old boy named Shaun whose father
was killed in the Falkland War. After being beaten up by the school bullies, Shaun is
befriended by a multi-ethnic group of teenage skinheads who quickly accept him and
become a positive influence in his life. Woody, the leader of the gang, and Milky, the
66
son of Jamaican immigrants, quickly become his primary role-models, and for the first
time in a long time Shaun feels like he belongs.
But everything changes when an older skinhead, Combo, returns from a prison
sentence for assault. Combo is one of the original skinheads from the 1960s and garners
a great deal of respect from the younger boys. It quickly becomes apparent that prison has
changed Combo, and his new outlook includes racist ideology which does not sit well
with Woody and Milky. The other boys, however, become enamored with Combo’s
charismatic racial idealism, and Shaun, lacking a father figure, attaches himself to Combo
as sort of surrogate father.
The movie then explores the origins of the split between the original non-racist
skinheads and the rise of the Nazi skinhead movements. Meadows deftly shows the
subversive seduction by the National Front, a political party in England at the time whose
primary goal was to advocate white, native-English supremacy, and who used patriotic
rhetoric to lure in young, impressionable skinheads as foot soldiers to be used to further
their own violent agenda. Shaun falls for it completely, and what was once a close-knit
group of friends shatters into two rival factions. Woody, Milky, and a few of the other
boys and girls distance themselves from Shaun and Combo, and the newly formed right-
wing group begin a systematic harassment of non-whites in their town.
Shaun, still not-fully understanding his new mentor’s level of hatred, innocently
invites his friend Milky to “peace-talks” with Combo, hoping the two can heal the rift
between them, but Combo, so consumed by rage from his prison experiences, attacks and
67
brutally beats Milky, sending the young man to the hospital. Shaun finally sees Combo
for what he is: a broken and hate-filled man. Shaun makes the decision to leave the
lifestyle after realizing that everything Combo had told him was a lie.
The reason I bring this film up is that it was exactly the story that I had been
planning to tell. Though the details of the story are different, Meadows’s efforts capture
exactly the mood and tone, while explaining what needed to be explained in a way that
could only come from someone who had experienced these events first-hand. While I
thought I could still manage to write a play that told the story of skinheads based on my
own experience, as was my original plan from the proposal from this dissertation, I found
all my efforts to be derivative, cumbersome, and uninspired. The shadow of This Is
England, the story I wish I could have told, always loomed.
The major pitfall of the early version of the script was the need to explain the
difference between the two types of skinheads would be an inescapable aspect of the
story. Since I could not rely on the audience having watched This Is England as a
prerequisite, I felt required to make clear that my protagonist was a skinhead of the
traditional variety and not a hate-mongering “bonehead” (a derogatory term used by
traditional skinheads to describe their Nazi counterparts). But as I experimented with
various drafts, I always found the explanations lacking, as if they were an obligatory
warning notice but did nothing for the story. I could not find a way to incorporate these
necessary but cumbersome explanations in a manner which helped move the action and
did not read like an apology, something I did not want. It seemed that, unlike This Is
68
England, which was able to explain the difference within the unfolding of the plot itself,
my play would be incapable of such a feat. I came to the conclusion that Aggroculture
had to change.
I knew I still wanted to keep the title and wanted to write about, in some way, the
punk rock scene in which I had grown up. The solution dawned on me that my characters
should become present-day punk rockers who missed the early days of the movement. I
liked the idea that they somehow imagined themselves to be brave pioneers in a land that
had already been discovered, cultivated, and drained of resources long ago by those who
came before them. They were the leftovers of a movement whose day had long passed.
Best of all, punks require no explanation: the subculture has had a prominent place within
the bounds of popular culture for years, and I believe whatever negative stigmatism that
came attached to these characters would work in my favor rather than potentially against
me.
In order to create the un-hero, I needed a real-world issue that could become the
centerpiece of the play. Originally, I had intended to use the bank mortgage crisis as that
issue. I had imagined the characters taking up an active rebellion against corporate
America, which would culminate in them burning down several branches of a bank which
had wronged them. Over time the crisis faded, however and seemed to be relegated to
the background noise and eventually had become mostly forgotten. While the issue still
exists, I felt that its shelf life in the public mind had expired. With A Doll’s House as my
prime example, I knew I needed to find an issue that had a sense of lasting controversy,
69
whose proponents and adversaries had been entrenched in a debate for ages. I knew it
required an underdog whose position on the topic was, by means of hegemonic
consensus, perceived to be fundamentally wrong. It did not take long before I discovered
the topic that became the focal point of the play and the impetus for my new un-heroes:
marijuana.
After decades of prohibition, it seems that right now the debate about the
legalization of marijuana is entering a new era. With legalization in various forms
occurring in multiple states, while other states continue steadfastly to prohibit the use, the
timeliness of the topic cannot be more appropriate. Rather than delivering a preachy
sermon about the relative usefulness or harmfulness of the drug, however, I decided that a
more subtle approach was needed. I wanted to avoid becoming an advocate, and instead
I wanted to tell a story of character in a particular situation. Again, with A Doll’s House
as my guide, I calculated that a story about a character attempting to navigate the status
quo would better illustrate the argument of the dissertation and ultimately make a better
play, rather than a ham-fisted, thesis-style argument for or against. With that in mind, the
new Aggroculture began to take shape.
The play tells the story of a down on his luck punk rocker named Steve who lives
with his more motivated sister Anna. Steve, a thirty something relic of the nineties punk
rock resurgence has no goals in life other than to see his sister graduate from law school.
Recent cutbacks at his job have placed his meager livelihood, and his sister’s chances of
success, in danger. Without medical insurance, Steve will no longer be able to afford his
70
sister’s insulin to treat her diabetes, which he has managed to secure by lying on his
insurance forms and claiming he and his sister are married. If the insurance stops, Anna
runs the risk of becoming too sick to finish. Needing a quick influx of cash, Steve and
his friend Sam, a rowdy punk with delusions of grandeur, come up with a plan.
For years, Steve has been growing small amounts of marijuana in his basement
for his own personal use. His latest batch is revolutionary; a quick-growing, high-
potency plant that is unrivaled by anything currently on the street. After Sam takes some
samples and distributes them at a concert, creating a street buzz about this new plant, the
boys come up with a plan: grow a large quantity of the plant and sell it for a massive
profit. Since it grows quickly, thanks to both selective breeding and a special formula
Steve learned from his late mother, an amateur botanist, the two surmise that the profit
potential is enormous, but in order to do that, they must find someone who is willing to
buy it in bulk.
Using his connections in the drug underground - meaning he asks a bunch of his
druggie friends - Sam is able to make contact with a high-level drug supplier that is
willing to deal with them. Much to the two punks’ surprise, the contact ends up being
Anna’s boss, a high profile attorney named Mr. Lewis. Maybe not so coincidentally,
Lewis has given intern Anna a huge assignment in his latest case where the firm is
defending a drug cartel hitman known as “El Carnicero” (The Butcher), with whom Sam
seems to have an unhealthy and twisted obsession. Thanks to Sam’s bragging about the
71
fast growing nature of the strain Steve has developed, Mr. Lewis has given them a nearly
impossible quota to meet. With no other options, Steve begins his grow.
With the deadline approaching, Steve is concerned that they will not be able to
make their quota and is fearful of what is going to happen to himself, Sam, and most
importantly, Anna. Despite his intentions, he has indirectly involved her in this plot,
which could at the very least ruin her chances of becoming a lawyer and possibly even
get her killed. Even with his fast-growing strain and his secret formula they are going to
be short. Meanwhile, we learn that the case against the Butcher has been tossed out
because of an improper search warrant.
The day of the handoff finally arrives, and Steve is indeed short on the quota. He
and Sam will attempt to persuade Lewis that he has asked for the impossible, but Steve is
certain that this is the end for him. There is a knock at the door, and Sam opens it to
discover El Carnicero himself on the doorstep. Mr. Lewis follows behind, and it
becomes clear that the boys aren’t going to get out of this. Disappointed that they were
unable to deliver the amount of product agreed upon, Mr. Lewis demands some other
form of compensation. Steve, in a desperate attempt, offers the grow formula, which
Lewis surprising accepts eagerly. Steve, shocked and relieved that Lewis was so
accepting of his counter proposal, quickly realizes that he has made a massive mistake in
giving the formula away. Lewis explains the formula is worth far more than the
marijuana because it is legitimate. He has plans to patent it and sell it for billions. With
a smirk, he leaves the two young men with their now rather meager compensation.
72
My new anti-hero, Steve, is a close-to-middle-aged punk rocker with not much
going for him. I decided that his backstory would be that of a farm boy whose family lost
everything because of some rather poor choices by his father, specifically engaging in the
transport of illegal immigrants across the border. With his father locked up, Steve and
his family were forced to move to the city so his mother, now the only provider, could
find work. The farm that he loved was sold off at auction to pay back what was owed to
the bank. In this loss, Steve became disillusioned and fell into a negative mindset which
eventually caused him to embrace the punk lifestyle, a culture in which negativity and
nihilism are the common bond. But Steve dreams of one day returning to the simple farm
life, either by buying back his old family farm or even a new piece of land that he can call
his own. To help cope with the loss of the life he once had, he has taken to growing
marijuana in his basement, experimenting with different strains and utilizing the
horticultural skills his mother passed down to him.
Following the lead of the slew of stoner films that have come before, it was an
easy choice to go toward a more comedic tone with the play. I also knew, however, that
the situation should not be so ridiculous that it was outside the realm of possibility. Often
the stoner comedy goes beyond any sort of plausible situation for the sake of laughter, as
exemplified in the film Up In Smoke, where the characters become unwitting drug
smugglers in a van that is entirely made of marijuana. The ridiculous nature of the
situation, while often a hallmark of the stoner comedy, would not serve to demonstrate
the thesis of this play. In other instances, the stoner comedy takes a nostalgic look at the
past when marijuana was seen as a part of the coming-of-age experience, such as in the
73
film Dazed and Confused, which is the story of a young man’s first party experience on
the last day of his eighth grade school year. But nostalgic waxing would not meet the
criteria for the un-hero, as the problem he faces must be something in the present. In
order to meet the criteria, in order to create a more true representation of un-hero, the
situation itself had to be both believable and currently relevant. That is why this play
departs from the often tried and true formula of the stoner comedy and attempts to make
the situation more desperate. That being said, I would still categorize Aggroculture as a
comedy, with the focus on what these characters, who are representations of actual
people rather than comic stoner stereotypes, do in this strange situation.
Given the real-world constraints of growing and harvesting marijuana, a small
element of science fiction had to be introduced. This is undoubtedly a personal habit of
mine when it comes to writing. As a fan of science fiction I find the introduction of
fantastic elements into my stories gives them an interesting twist which allows for a
certain degree of artistic freedom and creativity, and though it would seem to contradict
some of the concepts I have put forth in this dissertation, I felt the need to include that
fantastic element order to make the story feel like it was my own, rather than a dull and
constrained “thesis play.”
Much like the formula in The Solution, I found myself gravitating toward a
fantastic element which would serve as an engine to speed up the action of the play and
eventually become the focal point for an ironic ending. In this case, the fantastic element
is a super-grow formula which Steve learned from his mother. The formula becomes
74
Steve’s bargaining tool at the end, allowing him to escape a rather sticky situation when
he fails to produce the agreed upon amount of product. This choice, while perhaps not
quite within the spirit of presenting the un-hero in the real world, was necessary for both
the progress of the plot and also provides a thematic connection with The Solution. In the
case of Aggroculture, however, the formula works.
Very early I decided that the central action of the play would be Steve following
in his father’s lack of good judgment by attempting to grow and sell a large quantity of
marijuana which he would grow in his basement. This serves as the central through-line
for the play. I also decided that Steve should be woefully unprepared for dealing with the
business side of the drug trade. Rather than use the well-worn trope of a character who
would rise in the ranks of the narcotics underworld, for instance Tony Montana (Al
Pacino) in the film Scarface, Steve would be frightened of the prospect of dealing with
hardened criminals. What was needed was a reason for him to take this action. While
the personal desire to regain his family’s land is a fine goal, I felt that something more
immediate was needed to drive the action.
I took a character from an earlier version of the play, Anna, and reintegrated her
into the new script as Steve’s sister. Immediately I wanted to establish a relationship
where Steve sees himself as her protector. Anna is the one with the future ahead of her.
She has struggled to put herself through law school and has now entered into her final
year before she is eligible to take the Bar exam. Anna, in Steve’s eyes, represents the
hope of a normal life and success, something Steve does not believe is available to him.
75
Instead, he puts his own efforts into supporting Anna by providing a home and medical
insurance through his job; however, Steve’s methods in providing that support are rather
questionable. He lies on his insurance forms and claims Anna is his wife so that her
diabetes medication can be covered through the insurance, knowing that his meager
paycheck will not cover full-priced medication. This illegal act is quite telling of our
anti-hero: Steve is willing to do whatever it takes in order to provide, even if it means
breaking the law. Initially, as far as Steve is concerned, the ends justify the means.
Sam, the second protagonist, is the epitome of punk rock. Crude, rude, and
aggro to the core, Sam is an amalgam of several of my friends from my younger days.
Sam is an idea man, a man of great vision but almost no motivation or ability to carry out
that vision. He sees himself as a major player in the scene, someone who should
command respect, but his general lack of intelligence, foresight, or skills make him
somewhat useless. The one area where Sam excels is talking: convincing others to
follow him in his schemes.
Sam serves the punk rock scene, but does so expecting something in return,
namely a high status amongst his peers. He envisions himself as a entrepreneur and future
club owner, and states that his goal is to buy the night club where he promotes his shows.
For Sam, the scene is the be-all-and-end-all of life. His only motivation is to rise to the
top of the subculture, to earn what he thinks is legitimacy and respect. His penchant for
crazy ideas and violence constantly gets him into trouble, but his charisma allows him to
escape from most conflicts unscathed.
76
Mr. Lewis is meant to represent what Steve, Anna, and Sam desire to be. While
outwardly he appears to be a model of success, Mr. Lewis’s behind the scenes
involvement in nefarious activities is the true source of his monetary gain. As a mob
lawyer, Mr. Lewis knows the ins and outs of the criminal underground and has been able
to use this knowledge to prop himself up as a major player in the drug trade. While he
may come across as a hypocrite, he justifies his involvement with the line that I submit is
the heart of the play: “The problem with this business is the business.” Lewis, like Steve
and Sam, does what he must do to survive and thrive. He just happens to be much more
adept at crime than our two anti-heroes.
The final character to appear in the play is Miguel “El Carnicero” Salazar, a
notorious mob hitman who is on trial for the killing five men in a retaliatory mafia hit.
Most of the information about Carnicero is relayed through a series of voice-over
newscasts which report grisly details about the murders and the state of his trial. (I’ve
attempted to make it quite obvious that he is guilty of these crimes through these voice-
overs so that when he is finally revealed in the last scene the audience will know exactly
what type of man he is and also that Steve and Sam are in serious trouble.) El
Carnicero’s serious crimes also serve as a comparison to the criminal activities of Steve
and Sam. He is meant to point out the irony and unfairness of a justice system which
doles out severe punishments to the poor for relatively harmless crimes, and yet a truly
dangerous person with money will be exonerated.
77
Though it would take little effort to derive my personal stance on the issue of
marijuana prohibition from the content of the play, I can honestly say that my goal was
not to directly advocate any particular political position. Instead, the attempt was made,
first and foremost, to place the characters in a situation whereby an act of rebellion would
be necessitated by their needs. In this case, to keep his sister alive and healthy, Steve is
forced to commit multiple felonies and risk his life in a dangerous gambit. I find this a
far more interesting approach than if the play were to be a didactic spewing of facts and
figures that argue one position against the other.
Of course, the danger of the situation does not come from the drugs themselves,
but rather the course of action necessary to make a profit. As mentioned earlier, the
thematic drive of this play and the source of the rebellion against social standards can
best be summed up by the line, “The problem with this business is the business.” In this
case, the business of growing is where the potential disaster waits, not the actual use of
the drug. At no time does the actual ingestion of marijuana pose any threat to our
characters. This, of course, can be attributed to my personal belief, but I took great care
to avoid “preaching.” Even El Carnicero is not explicitly judged. He, like Steve, does
what he must do to survive.
Simply put, I believe that the most effective plays consist of characters in
complex situations which then show what those characters do to resolve their dilemmas,
leaving the moral/ethical implications to be evaluated by the audience. In the case of
Aggroculture, the play is simply about a man trying to help his sister and his friend. It
78
just so happens that his answer to his dilemma involves a rather dangerous act of social
rebellion against the norms of society.
79
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
Throughout this dissertation I have attempted to show the un-hero as one who,
through circumstance, is at odds with the real-world status quo. In the very best
examples the un-hero’s rebellion against the establishment serves as a focal point for
those who find themselves under the same oppressive hegemonic boot. It urges the
audience to enact real rebellion and seek to transform those social practices which are the
root of the oppression. If the fictional act of rebellion is successful, and the root of
oppression is killed, the socially traitorous un-hero transforms into hero in the minds the
audience, who then should be inspired to take the fight from the theatre and into the
street. If the un-hero fails and the oppression continues, it is still a victory for the forces
of rebellion, for the problem has been exposed and the costs of tolerating the oppression
laid out for all to see. Either way, the un-hero and the rebellious cause win.
The dissertation in its present form serves as a springboard for further research
into the concept of the un-hero and the effect this type of character can bring about in
eliciting real-world change. I acknowledge that the reliance on A Doll’s House and The
Threepenny Opera as the primary examples for a historical context does not delve deeply
enough into the subject to be definitive. I believe the basic concept presented in this
dissertation, however, is worthy of follow up research, and with this in mind I would now
like to offer a few thoughts on where this research could potentially go next.
80
One possible line of questioning would center around whether the reception of the
un-hero as rebel is bound to what the viewers (or readers) believe when they initially sit
down in the theatre, or if those perceptions have truly changed when the viewers leave
the theatre. In chapters one and two I demonstrated how the un-hero can, from his or her
position as outsider and through a dramatic act of rebellion, wage war against the forces
which oppress him or her, but can the un-hero, through the fictional dramatic act, actually
effect real change, or is the un-hero’s power limited to merely framing the argument and
letting the audience and society sort it out on their own, for better or worse? At this
point, I tend to lean toward the latter.
There are a few hearsay examples of drama changing the minds of the viewers in
some small way. One such is a legend of an English factory owner who, after viewing a
performance of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, was moved to give his workers more
benefits after identifying with Ebenezer Scrooge. Even if this example were true, which I
cannot verify at this point, it would indicate that drama can only affect individuals who
see themselves as the oppressors, as the ones perpetrating the unfairness. In the case of A
Christmas Carol, our protagonist Scrooge is the oppressor rather than the oppressed. It is
not an act of rebellion which brings about change but rather a metaphysical experience in
which he realizes the error of his ways, embracing the populist belief in charity as the
path to a fulfilled life. Dickens does not examine the root cause of Scrooge’s greed in
terms of the greater social framework; he instead attributes it to a flaw in the individual
rather than a systemic issue. Though Scrooge is, in the end, transformed into a generous
philanthropist, it is only through what could be called an act of divine providence instead
81
of active resistance and rebellion. Perhaps if Bob Cratchit had decided to burn down
Scrooge’s grain silos to protest the unfair wages and terrible working conditions we
would be closer to the mark.
Another question that has arisen through the course of writing this dissertation is
whether or not illegality is a necessary component of the un-hero’s act of rebellion. In
the two examples presented in chapter 2, both Nora’s and Peachum’s actions bear a
degree of direct opposition to established laws of the day. True, it was not necessarily
illegal for a woman to divorce her husband, though certainly frowned upon. Nora’s
forging of her father’s signature to receive the loan which saved her husband’s life,
which serves as the inciting incident for the narrative, however, certainly was against the
law. Peachum’s entire begging enterprise is at best questionable, as it resembles
organized racketeering, and while begging in and of itself has had a checkered history in
regard to legal acceptability, there can be no doubt that Peachum’s embarrassing protest
against the monarch would have brought about serious ramifications. It may be that the
un-hero’s act of rebellion must in some way take opposition to actual state-sanctioned
laws, thereby making his or her actions illegal. It may not be enough that the unfairness
the un-hero struggles against merely exists, but that the unfairness is codified within the
legal system. This argument is at best speculative at this point. It is possible that having
the backing of the law simply creates a more effective and powerful force of antagonism
whereby the anti-hero is battling not just public attitudes but the mechanism of the state
itself.
82
While I was writing this dissertation, it occurred to me that there are several
similarities between what I have presented here and realism/naturalism. Was not one of
the goals of naturalist theatre to dissect the everyday life in order find the roots of social
problems (Zola 716)? Was there not a push to show human beings for what they truly are
and the social and environmental circumstances which shaped their lives and world view,
or as Emile Zola put it to take a “...natural man, put him in his proper surroundings, and
analyze all the physical and social causes which make him what he is” (715)? Didn’t the
naturalist believe, once the problems were identified by the audience through this
showcase, that the same audience would be moved to find a solution to those problems?
As you can see, it would appear that, when I describe the un-hero, I might be simply
talking about a re-envisioned form of naturalism/realism. Even more so, I also seemed to
have backed myself into a corner by using as my primary example the most famous
Realist play (A Doll’s House) ever created! I would like to address this potential
criticism now.
While it might appear that the goals of realism/naturalism are in synch with the
conductive force which drives the un-hero, the primary differences lie in both the
aesthetic requirements (or lack thereof) and the modes of storytelling. At this stage, I
would suggest that the difference between naturalism and the ideas in this dissertation is
the requirement of environmental materialism which is so firmly rooted in our perception
of naturalist art - in other words, the concept of “slice of life.” The naturalists sought to
examine how heredity and environment affect the individual in order to discover the root
of social problems, with an eye toward objective analysis. The artistic world, however,
83
particularly the world of script-based performance, is seemingly antithetical to the
concept of “experimentation” as the naturalists would have wanted, simply because the
play is sculpted from the mind of the playwright and executed by actors. No matter how
objective the playwright or actors attempt to become when creating the work, the
personality, belief-structures, and self-evident conclusions of those involved will
inevitably infiltrate. In short, naturalism as advocated in its perceived purest form is an
artistic impossibility when it comes to the creation of what we typically think of as a
play.
Furthermore, in practice the grand ideas put forth by Zola of transcribing reality to
word were rarely adhered to, even in the novel, the place of naturalism’s dominance.
Pam Morris, in her analysis of realism, states “...there is very little evidence to suggest
that the majority of realist writers of the nineteenth century ever saw their goal in terms
of a one-to-one correspondence with a non-verbal reality” (5). While the strength of
theatre vis-à-vis the novel is its ability through representation to showcase a hyper-
realistic setting through staging practices, more accurately and efficiently than the
novelist could ever hope for, there is still the problem of representing people. Again,
because of the confines of the script itself and the audience demand for dramatic action, a
work truly representative of naturalist theatre concepts is impossible if the performance
wishes to maintain that most fundament purpose of theatre: to entertain (Brecht 180).
Ultimately, as Brecht points out, fidelity to the real world is a non-concern; instead he
opines that internal consistency, even in the face of unrealistic improbability, is far more
desirable so long as the performance succeeds in entertaining (182).
84
It is possible, in certain types of experimental forms of theatre, to show a person
“living everyday life” - perhaps a performer will invite an audience into his or her house
to observe his or her everyday existence in all its mundane glory - but these types of
performances forgo the examination of social issues in favor of playing in the
uncommitted material now for the voyeuristic benefit of an audience - uncommitted in
the sense that the script is simply whatever needs be done by the “performer” to create
the sense of real-life, without any regard to dramatic need. When word is put to page by
the hand of a playwright, the goal of natural observation is circumvented. When the
audience is invited to see the actor in his or her environment “as is,” the social criticism is
lost.
A play featuring a un-hero, on the other hand, simply accepts as a given that a
specific social problem exists, readily identifies it, and through the actions of the
character, attempts to show a fictional conquest of the problem. There is no need to
examine an issue in scientific detail because, as stated in Chapter 1, the un-hero’s
dilemma is one that is shared by members of the audience. The un-hero does not rely on
observation because the audience has already observed the issue in real life. Due to the
proliferation of perpetual news cycles and the internet, access to the facts of an issue are
merely a few keystrokes away. The audience is already aware of the issue to varying
degrees, either through direct experience of the oppressive nature of the problem or via
media outlets which constantly offer analysis and opinion and are (usually) grounded in
the facts. Even on the off chance that an audience member is completely unaware of the
social issue presented in the performance, information is already at their fingertips. Thus,
85
the status quo presented both in the dramatic work and buttressed by the never-ending
river of media coverage in all forms outside the theatre are more than sufficient to give
the audience everything they need to know.
The question that is asked is not “what is the problem” but rather “what are we
going to do about it?” In this, the performer becomes the agent of solving the problem,
even if the solution is always one of dramatic extremes: a complete rejection of the status
quo which has oppressed him or her culminating in an attempt to destroy the status quo.
The un-hero does not so much observe reality as acts upon his or her own reality in
whatever way will bring about victory over his or her “natural” circumstances. The
rejection and attempted coup against the status quo is an attempt at a systemic cure via a
very personal quest. In the final scene of A Doll’s House, Nora’s list of grievances
against Torvald come not from statistical analysis but rather from the oppression she
personally experiences. Whereas Torvald constantly attempts to use social pressures to
convince Nora that she is wrong, reminding Nora of her “sacred duty” and warning that
she hasn’t “thought of what people will say” (DH 227). Nora, on the other hand,
responds to these claims with the only argument she has, her direct experience.
Nora: I know quite well that most people would agree with you, Torvald,
and that you have warrant for it in books, but I can’t be satisfied any
longer with what most people say, and with what’s in books. I must think
things out for myself and try to understand them. (228)
86
Even if we consider Nora’s conclusion, perhaps summed up in the phrase “she knows
what she doesn’t know,” we cannot separate the personal emotional factor in her
response. Nora is not rebelling simply because society is unfair, but rather because she
herself has been treated unfairly. This personal adversarial connection to the issue is
enough to sway the audience members who have experienced the same oppression to her
side.
I wish to conclude by examining a more practical aspect of the concepts
illustrated in this dissertation, namely how can the idea of the un-hero be a useful tool for
contemporary playwrights? Contemporary western culture, specifically in the United
States, appears to be going through a period of growing pains as evidenced by several
contentious social issues which have made their way to the forefront of cultural
discourse. Examples such as gay marriage, the legalization of marijuana, the extent and
scope of fair business practices, religious freedom, and personal privacy issues tend to
dominate the daily news cycles; any issue where the once hegemonic thought which
served as the foundation for the creation of the status quo is a target.
The playwright, seeing a problem inherent in the status quo, can use the concept
of the un-hero to both frame the issue and suggest a course of action via the actions of the
protagonist. Even if the protagonist fails to create the change in the system he or she
desires, the audience has been made aware of the extreme unfairness of the status quo and
might be prompted to take action against it in the real world. The rebellion, now alive in
the hearts and minds of those who have witnessed the un-hero’s struggle, is carried into
the streets.
87
As stated before, Aggroculture is a more direct attempt to create an original un-
hero using the ideas presented in this dissertation. The script presented here, however, is
not a final product. At this point I would consider the play a solid first draft, but still in
need of rewrites and fleshing-out in certain areas in order to bring the scope of the
marijuana debate more clearly into frame. An argument which could be developed in the
play is an examination of disproportionately harsh sentences for marijuana possession. I
envision this developing as a story Steve tells Sam of a friend from the punk rock scene
who was arrested in possession of a small amount of marijuana and charged with a
felony. Steve would then compare their friend’s situation, who possessed an amount for
personal use, to the massive amount they are growing, and draw conclusions about the
possible penalties they are facing. Not only would this clarify the stakes of the story and
their actions, but would serve as a commentary about those squandering away in prisons
for what is ultimately a victimless crime.
I also would like to increase Anna’s role in the story somehow. As of now, while
overall I am happy with how the character turned out, I believe she can be developed
further to play a more pronounced part in the overall plot, rather than just be the object to
be saved. I am still considering the possibilities of what to do with her, but at this time
there are no concrete ideas.
The un-hero has been and continues to be used as a tool to explore the
underpinnings of the status quo and thereby seek to extract it by the roots through an act
of outright rebellion, regardless of aesthetic practice. Brecht and Ibsen, two sides of the
aesthetic spectrum, both managed to create this type of character in their respective
88
works. I venture to say that the protagonists of the Expressionists, for instance Mr. Zero
in Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine, would fit the description as well. The works of
Neil Labute, whose self-destructive anti-heroes serve to criticize the mindset of American
consumerism where even people are seen as disposable objects, would certainly be
worthy of further examination to see if these characters possess the qualities of the un-
hero (Dickson). Do the capitalist sharks in David Mamet’s Glengary Glen Ross represent
a call for systemic change in the business world? And if this is the case, what form does
their rebellion take and how effective is it? Or do they actually rebel at all against social
norms? Instead, could these characters still be considered un-heroes who manage to
arouse public demand for reform through demonstration without actually engaging in
some form of rebellion, and instead create discussion by simply showcasing their harsh
realities? These outstanding will be the subject of further research.
The un-hero is not bound by artistic genre, but rather by social circumstances. As
society engages in debates and challenges which threaten or promise to drastically change
our understanding of the world and ourselves, and as aesthetic tastes morph from one
artistic practice to the next, the un-hero as rebel will be there to question, undermine, and
rip apart the status quo.
89
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, Percy G. “The Anti-Hero in Eighteenth-Century Fiction.” Studies in the Literary
Imagination. 9.1 (Spring 1976): 29-52.
American History X. Dir. Tony Kaye. Perf. Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly
D’Angelo. 1998. Film.
Brans, Jo, "The Dialectics of Hero and Anti-hero in “Rameaus Nephew” and Dangling
Man," Studies in the Novel 16.4 (Winter 1984): 435-447 .
Brecht, Bertolt. “A Short Organum for the Theatre.” Brecht on Theatre: The
Development of an Aesthetic. Ed. And Tr. John Willett. Hill and Wang: New
York, 1977. pp. 179-205.
--. “Notes to The Threepenny Opera.” Reprinted in The Threepenny Opera. Trans and
Ed. Ralph Manheim and Joseph Willet. Arcade Publishing: New York. 1994.
Print.
Brecht, Bertolt and Kurt Weill. The Threepenny Opera. Trans and Ed. Ralph Manheim
and Joseph Willet. Arcade Publishing: New York. 1994. Print.
Buck, Donald C. “Juan Salvo y Vela and the Rise of the Comedia de Magia: The
Magician as Anti-Hero.” Hispania. 69. 2 (May, 1986): 251-261.
Campbell, J. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1973. E-Book.
Camus, Albert. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt. trans. Anthony Bower. New
York: Vintage Books, 1992. Print.
Dance, D. C. Shuckin’ and Jivin’: Folklore from Contemporary Black Americans.

Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978. Print.
Dazed and Confused. Dir. Richard Linkletter. Perf. Jeremy London, Ray Cochran, Wiley
Wiggins. 1993. Film.
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Amazon Digital Services, 1843. Kindle eBook.
Dickson, Mary. “Who’s Afraid of Neil Labute?” Salt Lake City Weekly 12 Sept. 1998.
<http://weeklywire.com/ww/09-21-98/slc_story.html>
Dirks, Tim. “The History of Film in the 1970s: The Last Golden Age of American
Cinema (the American “New Wave”) and the Advent of the Blockbuster Film.”
Filmsite.org. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
90
Fischer-Lichte, Erika. History of European Drama and Theatre. Trans. Jo Riely.

Routledge: New York, 2002. Print.
Furst, Lilian, "The Romantic Hero, or Is He an Anti-hero?" Studies in the Literary

Imagination. 9.1 (Spring 1976): 53- 67.
Grafton, Anthony. Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Italian Renaissance. Hill
and Wang: New York, 2000. Print.
Holledge, Julie. “Addressing The Global Phenomenon of A Doll’s House: An

Intercultural Intervention.” Ibsen Studies. v 8.1. Rutledge. 2008. Pg 13-28.
Print.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. A Doll’s House and Other Plays. Penguin Group: New
York, 1965. p145 – 232. Print.
--. ‘‘Ved Norsk Kvindesagsforenings Fest I Kristiania 26. Mai 1898 [At the Norwegian
Women’s Cause Association’s gala evening].’’ Artikler og Taler [Essays and
Speeches]. Ibsen, Samlede Verker. Vol 15: 417–18.
Lamont, Rosette C. “From Hero to Anti-Hero.” Studies in the Literary Imagination. 9.1
(Spring 1976): 1-23. Print.
Manheim, Ralph and John Willett. “Introduction to The Threepenny Opera.” The
Threepenny Opera. Trans and Ed. John Willet and Ralph Manheim. Arcade
Publishing: New York. 1994. Print.
Marker, Fredrick J. and Lise-Lone Marker. A History of Scandinavian Theatre.
Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1996. Print.
May, Trevor. An Economic and Social History of Britain 1760–1970. Longman Group:
London, 1987. Print.
Mayhew, Henry. “A Visit to the Cholera District of Bermondsey.” The Morning

Chronicle. 24 Sept. 1849.
<http://www.victorianlondon.org/mayhew/mayhew00.htm>
Michael, Jonathan. “The Rise of the Anti-Hero.” Relevance. 26 Apr. 2013.

<http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/tv/rise-anti-hero>
Moi, Toril. "’First and Foremost a Human Being’: Idealism, Theatre, and Gender in A
Doll's House.” Modern Drama, Volume 49, Number 3, Fall 2006, University of
Toronto Press: Toronto. pp. 256-284. Print.
91
Morris, Pam. Realism. Routledge: New York, 2003. Print.
Simmons, David. The Anti-Hero in the American Novel: from Joseph Heller to Kurt
Vonnegut. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.
Templeton, Joan. Ibsen's Women. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1997. Print
This Is England. Dir. Shane Meadows. Perf. Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Jo
Hartley. 2007. Film.
Up In Smoke. Dir. Lou Addler. Perf. Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. 1978. Film.
Willett, John. The Theatre of the Weimar Republic. Holmes & Meyer: New York, 1988.
Print.
Zola, Emile. “Naturalism on the Stage.” The Experimental Novel and Other Essays. Tr.
Belle M. Sherman. The Cassell Publishing Co.: New York, 1893. Reprinted in
Dramatic Theory and Criticism: Greeks to Grotowski. Ed. Bernard F. Dukore.
Heinle: Boston, 1974. Print.
92
T exas T ech University, Jeremy W. White, December 2013
APPENDIX A
THE SOLUTION
93
CHARACTERS:
KLAUS - M ale, seventies, German.

JOSEF - M ale, late sixties, German.
SARA - Female, early teens.
WADE - M ale, late twenties.
BRIGGS - M ale, forties.
TIM E: 1978-1979.
PLACE: A small city in the U.S.
SETTINGS: Living room; police interrogation room; park; basement.
94
SCENE I
(A police interrogation room. A phone and an old

reel-to-reel tape recorder sits on a table. A water
cooler sits in the corner. KLAUS (seventies) sits
in a chair behind a table, handcuffed. WADE (late
twenties), enters carrying folders with papers
inside, some strange looking surgical tools in plastic
bags. He places the items on the table one at a time,
staring at Klaus the entire time. Short pause.)
WADE
(Turns the recorder on.)
You want some water, M r. M eyerhold?
(Pause.)
Okay.
(Speaking into the recorder.)
This is Detective Daniel Wade, January 21st, 1979, initial interview of Klaus M eyerhold.
(Turning back to Klaus.)
Could you confirm that you’ve waived your right to have an attorney present?
(Pause.)
M r. M eyerhold?
KLAUS
(Speaks with a German accent.)
Yah. No attorney.
WADE
Very well. Now, you said you are a janitor at Franklin Hospital, correct?
KLAUS
Retired.
WADE
Ah, retired. So you get a pension?
KLAUS
Yes.
95
WADE
So tell me, what is a retired janitor doing with these?
(Indicates the stack of paper.)
What are these?
KLAUS
Papers.
WADE
Wanna be a little more specific?
KLAUS
No.
WADE
What’s in them?
KLAUS
Read them for yourself.
WADE
I would, except they’re in German.
KLAUS
That is too bad.
WADE
Care to illuminate me?
KLAUS
Do you mean illuminate them?
WADE
Whatever. Hey, you turned yourself in. Now you’re gonna sit here and play games?
You know, most retirees go play bingo or hang out at the lodge. M aybe golf. But not
you. These, they look like some kind of, I don’t know, chemistry stuff. Look, I’m just
trying to make sense of what happened.
(Slight pause.)
96
KLAUS
They are my life’s work. M y research.
WADE
What kind of research?
KLAUS
Hyper-immunology.
WADE
Hyper-immunology?
KLAUS
Yes.
WADE
Tell me about it.
KLAUS
You...would not understand.
WADE
Well...I don’t know about that. I’m a pretty smart guy.
KLAUS
Yes, you’re intellect is astounding. You are cunning predator! That is why you managed
to catch me so quickly. Oh, I am mistaken. I forgot that I surrendered myself to you.
WADE
We would have found you. Believe me.
KLAUS
Yes, you were just waiting for the proper moment to spring your trap upon me, correct?
(Pause.)
WADE
So you gonna tell me what this stuff is?
KLAUS
It does not matter.
97
WADE
Why not?
KLAUS
It never worked.
WADE
So...what, these is some sort of, ah, some sort science experiment?
KLAUS
Yah.
WADE
For what? What was it?
KLAUS
The cure.
WADE
The cure? Right. Cure for what? For cancer? The measles? The common cold? I got a
rash on my dick, will it cure that?
KLAUS
Everything.
WADE
What do mean, everything?
KLAUS
I mean everything.
(Pause. Wade laughs.)
WADE
Ok, ok. I see. So this little science project is the miracle cure, some kind of snake-oil?
KLAUS
I’m telling you the truth. But, as I said, it never worked.
WADE
Well it obviously didn’t cure you’re dementia, old man.
98
KLAUS
What?
WADE
Cause you gotta be out of your mind if you think I’m going to sallow that line of crap.
What is it? Tell me the truth.
KLAUS
I am.
WADE
You been cookin’ up something for the kids, huh? Something to get their rocks off? You
wait outside the school in that beat up old T-Bird, slip ‘em a little happiness for five
bucks. Is that it?
KLAUS
No.
WADE
Is this what you’ve been using on those homeless guys? (Pause.) You might as well tell
me cause the lab is already going through it right now. One way or the other I’m gonna
find out what this is.
KLAUS
(Slight pause.)
It is a catalyst to create a hyper-immuno response in the human blood means of an
artificial multi-purpose phagocyte, specifically designed to instantly adapt to foreign
antigen markers without the normal coordination from other cells and without the
necessity of previous exposure.
WADE
Well, thanks a lot, that really cleared everything up.
KLAUS
It is like this: imagine your police force as the immune system of this city, and crime as
the sickness. Normally, justice comes in multiple stages, each with their own problems
and limitations? No police officer can be there for every crime, correct? Sometimes you
arrive after a crime was committed, and detectives like you must find the evidence to
track down the criminal. And it must all fit together for you to arrest the correct criminal.
99
If you arrest the wrong one, there are problems, and crime continues. And what if you
find evidence you cannot explain? What do you do then?
WADE
That’s why we have a lab. Incidently, the same lab that’s gonna tell me everything
you’re saying is horse shit. But go ahead.
KLAUS
Ah yes. The lab. Another step in the process. They will spend weeks trying to
discover the meaning, all the while crime continues. Growing, festering. And then, once
they are arrested, you must go to trial with judge and jury to determine innocence or guilt,
another chance for the criminal to escape, or for the innocent to be wrongly imprisoned.
It is most inefficient. What my formula does is make a police officer that is also
detective, judge and...executioner, together in one.
WADE
Yeah, I bet that’s the part that really blows your skirt up, isn’t it? The executioner?
KLAUS
In summary, it streamlines the process of the immune response. Efficient, without the
need to coordinate. When a pathogen or other foreign material enters the body, the
artificial phagocyte will instantly adapt and destroy it. Sickness is cured before it takes
hold. (Pause.) As I said, it never worked properly.
WADE
(Chuckle.)
Yeah, no shit. Look, I'm no scientist, but isn't that impossible? What, are you going to
make everyone like...Superman or something?
KLAUS
That was the idea. Without the flying, of course.
WADE
Oh, of course. We wouldn’t want to go crazy would we?
KLAUS
(Pause.)
M ay I see her? I need to see if she is all right.
100
WADE
Not right now. What about these?
(Points to the medical equipment.)
KLAUS
Tools.
WADE
What are they for?
KLAUS
Surgical operations.
WADE
Is this what you used? This one?
(He holds up a bag containing a strange saw-like
knife. There is a hint of blood on the blade.)
KLAUS
I used all of them.
(Pause.)
This must be exciting for you, eh Detective?
WADE
What do you mean?
KLAUS
I simply mean that, this is you big break, as they say. Your first big case.
WADE
I don’t think about that.
KLAUS
Ah, you are excited. The thrill of discovery. Yes, you remind me of me, when I was
young.
WADE
What is that supposed to mean?
(Pause.)
What about your brother?
101
KLAUS
What about him?
WADE
Where is he?
KLAUS
I do not know.
WADE
M r. M eyerhold, don’t think me an idiot.
KLAUS
I would never think such a thing.
WADE
You have no idea of your brother’s whereabouts?
(Pause.)
You aren’t gonna say anything?
KLAUS
I would not worry about him.
WADE
Well, I beg to differ--
KLAUS
You will not find him. He’s too smart.
WADE
We’ll see about that.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
I’d like to see her.
WADE
We’ll see. While were on the subject, why don’t you tell me about the girl.
102
KLAUS
What about her?
WADE
When did the two of you meet? What’s your relationship?
KLAUS
She helps me. Buys groceries. I pay her ten dollars a week. And help her with school
work.
WADE
And when did she start working for you?
KLAUS
One year and three months ago.
WADE
Did you ever have sexual relations with her?
(Slight pause.)
KLAUS
No. Never.
WADE
Are you sure?
KLAUS
Yes, I am sure!
WADE
Well, see, I’m a little confused here. You see, I’ve got this medical examiner who works
down at St. M ary’s. Now he tells me he’s one-hundred percent sure, one-hundred
percent, that she was--
KLAUS
I did not do anything like that!
WADE
Well what did you do? Hmmm? You want to answer that?
(Pause.)
Look, you’re not going to see the girl until I get some answers. All right.
103
The girl can wait, this can’t. That guy down on the slab. Down in the morgue. That
girl’s father...I don’t even know what to call that. I only heard of stuff like that in Nam,
and that was a war. This...this is some real sick shit, pal. So you really...you really need
to start talking. Who are you? Really. Because I don’t buy it. I don’t believe your
bullshit about being a janitor with a pet science project. I knew you were lying the
moment I met you.
KLAUS
Why didn’t you arrest me then?
(Pause.)
WADE
Well, it’s like I told you. You didn’t fit the profile.
(Pause.)
Listen, if you won’t tell me about yourself, then tell me how the girl was involved. At
least do that.
KLAUS
She had nothing to do with it.
WADE
Bullshit! I’m tired of listening to you. You’ve done nothing but jerk my chain. Now
you listen. Listen good. Right now, she’s not clear. You understand? She is in this
deep. Now, you’re saying she had nothing to do with it. Prove it. Tell me what
happened. Tell me your story. If you care about her, then you’ll do this. You’ll help
her.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
I have done everything I can for her.
(End scene.)
104
SCENE II
(A few pieces of furniture indicate that this is a

living room/dining room. Josef is in a chair reading
the newspaper. Klaus is sitting at the table
shuffling through a stack of papers. Both men speak
with German accents.)
KLAUS
We’ve tried raising the enzymes. We’ve tried lowering the enzymes. We’ve tried
different enzymes. It's obviously not the enzymes.
JOSEF
Well done.
KLAUS
Feel free to help anytime, huh?
JOSEF
I am taking a break.
KLAUS
You’ve been taking a break for the last thirty five years. It is time to work.
JOSEF
Gott im Himmel.
KLAUS
English, please.
(Pause.)
JOSEF
Listen to this: The city is attempting to remove homeless transients from under the
bridge.
(Slight pause.)
It says “due to a recent string of deaths attributed to disease and exposure, the safety of
the homeless citizens is top priority for the city.”
(Pause.)
So what do you think of that?
105
KLAUS
I think it is time you help me decipher what we are doing wrong.
JOSEF
Ah, work, work, work. Is that all you think about?
KLAUS
Yes, actually. I would like to finish before I die.
JOSEF
Oh, I see.
KLAUS
Yes, you do. While I do all the hard work, you sit there and read the comics.
JOSEF
For your information, I am researching.
KLAUS
Oh, researching?
JOSEF
Did you not hear what I just read?
KLAUS
Yes I heard it. So what?
JOSEF
Ha! And I was the assistant. Bring it to me. Let me see.
(Klaus brings the paper to Josef. He examines it for
a second, makes a few marks, then hands the paper
back to Klaus, who examines it closely.)
KLAUS
(Under his breath.)
Scheisse.
JOSEF
Always the significant digits. Never fails.
106
KLAUS
I do not need this from you. Do something useful and make me a drink.
JOSEF
The war is over, you know. You can’t treat me like your assistant anymore.
KLAUS
So it is. And you’re right. I should not treat you like my assistant...Now, bring me a
fucking drink.
(Pause. Josef gets up and moves toward the exit.)
With ice...please.
(Josef stops, takes a breath, then exits.)
Shaken, not stirred.
JOSEF (O.S.)
Yeah, I’ll show you shaken. I should grab you by the neck and shake you.
KLAUS
What?
JOSEF
(Returning with a bottle of soda.)
Nothing. Here!
KLAUS
I meant a drink drink.
JOSEF
Well, this is what you get. And be thankful that I am such a good friend that I put up
with you. And be especially thankful of your condition, or I would not lift a finger for
you.
KLAUS
Yes, everyday I get down on my knees and thank God I developed lymphatic cancer.
Very thankful for it. For without it, I would not be stuck with you. And without you,
who knows how I would survive.
JOSEF
You wouldn’t get one thing done without me. You’d be the one living under the bridge.
Look at this place. It’s a pig-stye.
107
KLAUS
Yah, yah.
JOSEF
I pick up after myself. I do that.
KLAUS
Josef, if you do not like it, you can leave any time you wish.
JOSEF
I could live just fine.
KLAUS
Really? Then go.
(Pause.)
That is what I thought. Now, will you go and make a proper drink for me?
JOSEF
Fuck you, Klaus! Blode Fotze! I can’t believe I put up with you for all of these years.
(A knock at the door.)
KLAUS
Who is it?
SARA (O.S.)
Sara.
KLAUS
One moment.
(To Josef.)
Take these to your room.
JOSEF
I was reading the paper!
KLAUS
Josef!
108
JOSEF
Fine, fine.
(Gathers up the papers.)
I’m going to my room, and I am going to figure this out, and if you need anything, fuck
off and die!
(Josef exits.)
KLAUS
Yes, come in.
(Sara enters with a small sack and a tote bag with her
school work. She is wearing a long-sleeve shirt.)
Ah, Sara, you have the things I asked for. Great.
SARA
(She removes a bottle of liquor from the bag.)
Yeah, and it's getting a little tough to get it.
KLAUS
Just tell him it is for me.
SARA
It doesn’t work that way M r. M eyerhold. This is nineteen seventy eight. Thirteen year-
olds can’t just buy liquor and say it's for someone else anymore. You know, drinking age.
KLAUS
Bah! Back in Germany they serve children beer.
SARA
Yeah, well, this isn’t Germany. And another thing, M r. Collins says that he can’t put
any more on your tab. I had to pay for this cash.
KLAUS
What?! I have been his best customer for years.
SARA
Well, still, cost me ten bucks.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
What?
(Pause.)
109
All right, all right.

(Reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wad of
cash.)
Here, ten dollars. Do not shake me down anymore. I know people, you know?
SARA
(Takes the money.)
You’re a funny guy, M r. M eyerhold.
KLAUS
Yah, regular Jerry Lee Lewis.
(Klaus pours himself a drink.)
SARA
You shouldn’t drink, you know. It’s bad for you.
KLAUS
I am an old man. When you are an old man you get to do what you want without giving a
shit. Excuse my language.
SARA
Well, I don’t think I’ll end up being an old man anytime soon.
KLAUS
Sounds like you are the comedian.
SARA
Listen, when are you going to have time to do the thing?
KLAUS
What thing?
SARA
You know...the interview?
KLAUS
The...oh, that. Yes, for your history course, correct? Well...I do not know...I am very
bu...I am very busy right now.
110
SARA
M r. M eyerhold, I really need it. The paper is due in a few weeks.
KLAUS
Yah, but...I do not have any interesting stories to tell and--
SARA
But you were in the war? Right?
KLAUS
Yah, I was in the war. But I worked in a...in a hospital. Never saw any fighting, you
know?
SARA
Even still, I mean, I don’t care if you never saw anything. Surely you’d have something
interesting to say. The other people in my class, you know, they won’t have the chance
to interview a real live German.
KLAUS
Do you not have a grandfather you could interview?
SARA
He’s dead...in the war.
KLAUS
Oh, yah, sorry. What about an uncle, huh?
SARA
They were all too young. You’re the only one. Please, I’m begging you.
KLAUS
I...I am sorry, I cannot. I would...I would cause you to do poorly. I am a terrible
storyteller. Perhaps...perhaps your father could help you?
(Pause.)
SARA
No, that’s okay. You know what? I’ll figure it out my myself. Listen, I...I need to go. I
have things to do.
KLAUS
Wait, you just got here. Stay!
111
SARA
No, no, I have to go do stuff--
KLAUS
Please--
SARA
You, just...Look, I’ll check back with you tomorrow.
KLAUS
No, Sara, please! I have upset you. I did not mean anything. Yah? I...I am sorry. But
please. I have some pie, apple. Very good. Very tasty. You leave and you miss out.
(Pause.)
All right, I tell you this: you stay and have pie, and I...
SARA
Yes?
KLAUS
(Pause.)
Yah...dammit, I will answer your questions. All right?
SARA
Yeah, pie sounds good.
KLAUS
Okay, good. I will go get it.
SARA
No, no, let me.
KLAUS
Ah, I am fine. Just...sit.
(Klaus exits. Sara sits down and looks at the paper.)
SARA
Did you see this story about the city clearing out the bums under the bridge?
112
KLAUS (O.S.)
What?
SARA
Did you see this story about the city clearing out the bums?
KLAUS (O.S.)
Oh...uh, no. I did not.
SARA
They say they are dying from exposure. Or drugs maybe.
KLAUS (O.S.)
Yes.
SARA
Well, anyway, it gave me an idea for a story.
KLAUS (O.S.)
Oh, a story is it?
SARA
Yeah. Listen to this: What if they aren’t dying of drugs? What if it’s a murderer?
(Klaus enters. Pause.)
KLAUS
Hmmm.
SARA
A guy who targets homeless people. Poisons them. But he’s smart. Or better yet, she’s
smart. Oh yeah, that’s good.
(Takes out a small note pad and writes.)
Yeah, a woman, whose was attacked by homeless people, and now she’s out for revenge.
That’s good.
KLAUS
Would it not be better to have a man do this?
SARA
Why can’t a woman be a psychotic killer? Huh?
113
KLAUS
It is only, typically, all serial killers have been men.
SARA
What about Lizzie Borden?
KLAUS
Who?
SARA
Nevermind.
KLAUS
No, no. Listen this. This is good. What if your killer is an escaped mental patient.
Huh? And goes around slashing baby sitters. And, and, he wears a mask. Scary, huh?
SARA
That’s the plot of Halloween.
KLAUS
You have seen the movie?
(She nods.)
Damn. Well, go ahead. M ake your crazy female serial killer. No one will believe it
anyway.
SARA
They will because I am a great writer.
KLAUS
Yes, I am sure. But now, correct me, I thought you wanted to be a veterinarian.
SARA
Well, yeah. I want to be everything. Vet, writer, President.
KLAUS
President?
SARA
Yes. I want to be the first woman President. Who is also a veterinarian and a writer.
114
KLAUS
Well--
SARA
What? You don’t think I can do it?
KLAUS
I am sure you can. It is just...not what young girls typically want to do for a living.
SARA
I am a young woman, M r. M eyerhold. And things have changed. Women can do
whatever they want now.
KLAUS
Sorry, sorry. You are right.
SARA
Uh-huh. Don’t you forget it, mister.
(Josef barges in.)
JOSEF
I’ve got it! I’ve done it Klaus! Hah! You thought I was stupid, but I--
(Notices Sara.)
Oh. Hello Sara. I...I didn’t realize you were still here. How are you?
SARA
I’m fine, M r. M eyerhold.
JOSEF
Oh...good. Ah, Klaus, may I speak to you?
KLAUS
Please, can you not see that we have company?
JOSEF
Klaus, es ist sehr wichtig.
KLAUS
Es kann warten. Und hör auf Deutsch zu sprechen.
115
JOSEF
Nein. Ich habe heruausgefunden--
KLAUS
Es kann warten!
(Pause.)
Sara, pardon us. M y brother gets over excited when he comprehends a joke.
JOSEF
What...
KLAUS
Yes, I tell him the one about the priest, the minister and the rabbi at the golf course.
JOSEF
Oh, yah, ha ha, that was a good one Klaus. Real knee slapper.
KLAUS
Yes, you see what I have to deal with every day? Now, Josef, I must do this interview
for her school project.
JOSEF
Interview? About what?
KLAUS
About the war, Josef. It for her school.
JOSEF
The war? Really? And this is for, what? History class?
SARA
Yeah. We’re doing a unit on World War Two. M r. M eyerhold said he would tell me
anything I want to know.
JOSEF
He did, did he? Well. I hope he can remember everything. He’s getting old Sara,
sometimes his brain does not work as it should.
KLAUS
Josef, you worry about things you should not be worrying about.
116
JOSEF
I am not worried. I simply do not want her to come away with the wrong impression of
us.
KLAUS
Nothing like that will happen. I will only tell her the truth.
JOSEF
Of course you will. Fine, I will take my leave. And then, when you are finished, I need
to talk to you.
KLAUS
Yes, yes. Of course.
JOSEF
All right then. Sara, do not take seriously the ramblings this old fart. He is a well-known
liar.
KLAUS
Josef. Please.
JOSEF
Do not believe him!
(Josef exits.)
KLAUS
Well, let us continue.
SARA
What was that all about.
KLAUS
Nothing, nothing. He’s just being difficult self. So, you have questions? Right. Well, let
us do this thing, as they say.
SARA
Okay, let me get my...I’ve got a mess in here.
(Sara digs through her backpack.)
I checked out a bunch of books about World War Two and Nazi War criminals. You
wouldn’t believe how much stuff they have on ‘em.
117
KLAUS
I hope you do think I’m some sort of war criminal.
SARA
Oh, no! Just for background, you know. I still need to read them--
(She pulls her arm out wincing.)
Owww!
KLAUS
What is wrong?
SARA
Nothing.
KLAUS
What happened to your arm?
SARA
I had an accident.
KLAUS
Let me see--
SARA
No, really, it’s okay.
KLAUS
Let me see--
SARA
I’m fine, M r. M eyerhold.
KLAUS
If you want me to answer your questions, you will show me your arm.
(Pause. Sara extends her arm. Klaus rolls the sleeve
back to reveal a severely blistered burn.)
Gott im Himmel. What the hell happened?
SARA
I told you, I had an accident.
118
KLAUS
On what?
SARA
Look, it’s not important--
KLAUS
On what?
(Pause.)
SARA
On an iron, all right?. I was ironing my shirt. It was an accident.
KLAUS
This is a serious burn.
SARA
Yeah, well... didn’t notice at first.
(Pulls her sleeve down.)
KLAUS
Sara, you can tell me what happened.
SARA
It was an accident.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
Fine.
(Pause.)
Well, you have questions. I have answers.
SARA
Okay...
(Pulls out her note pad and pencil.)
All right, let’s see. What is your full name?
KLAUS
Klaus Fredrich M eyerhold.
119
SARA
Okay...and where were you when the war started?
KLAUS
In 1939 I was working in a hospital in Berlin called Poliklinik Haus der Gesundheit. It
means Center for Health.
SARA
And...uh...what did you do?
KLAUS
I was a medical assistant.
SARA
Is that like a nurse?
KLAUS
Similar, but not exactly. M ore like, how you say, paramedic?
SARA
Paramedic. And did you serve in the German Army?
KLAUS
Yah. I was recruited in 1940.
SARA
Ok. Let’s see, now...(reading from the paper.) Describe your feelings about your service
both before and after the war?
KLAUS
Ah. Well, I suppose I was as proud as, well, any German when I was recruited. I was
serving my country.
SARA
And how did you feel after?
KLAUS
Somewhat differently.
120
SARA
Why do you think the Nazis were able to get the whole country behind them like they
did?
KLAUS
That is a very good question. We believed in what our leaders told us, at the time. You
must understand, there was great suffering before the war. The economy of Germany
was in ruins and many Germans were very poor, starving even. When the Nazis told us
they could make it better, that this person or that group of people were the problem,
most felt that, well, anything had to be better than what was happening right then. So
they chose to believe.
SARA
And what about people that didn’t believe? Did they speak up?
KLAUS
They did not speak it out loud. If they did, bad things would happen to them.
SARA
Like what?
KLAUS
They would be taken away. Disappear. Very smart people found themselves agreeing
out of fear, or they had convinced themselves that what they were doing was right.
SARA
I just don’t get it. No offense but, you guys did some pretty horrible things to people.
I’m sorry, I don’t mean you specifically--
KLAUS
It is all right. M uch of what came out after the war was unknown to the average German
at the time. In our minds, we were chasing a dream. Some truly believed they would
make a better world.
SARA
Did you?
KLAUS
Yah, at first I did.
121
SARA
But after you found out you didn’t agree, did you?
What was it like, when you found out what you...you’re leaders had done?
KLAUS
It...it is difficult to speak about. I’m sorry, I’m not entirely comfortable discussing this
part of our history.
SARA
I’m sorry...if you don’t want to answer--
KLAUS
No. Could we perhaps move on to something else, yes?
(Slight pause.)
SARA
Yeah, okay sure. So what did you do during the war?
KLAUS
I served in the Wermahcht medical--
Hold one moment please.
(Klaus goes to the door and opens it. BRIGGS
enters.)
BRIGGS
Is my daughter here?
KLAUS
Yes, M r. Briggs. Please, come in.
BRIGGS
That’s all right. Sara, time to go home.
SARA
But, dad, I’m doing my school work.
BRIGGS
Well, you’ll just have to finish it later. Let’s go.
122
KLAUS
It is no problem really. We were doing an interview for her school history class--
BRIGGS
I’m sure. Sara, I’m waiting.
SARA
All right. Coming.
(Sara packs her bags up.)
KLAUS
M r. Briggs I really would like to thank you for allowing your daughter to come over here,
and I just want to say what a fine young lady she is.
BRIGGS
Yeah, she’s great. Sara, move your ass.
(Sara stands and moves to the door.)
SARA
I’ll see you later M r. M eyerhold.
KLAUS
Same time tomorrow.
BRIGGS
Now you head home and go straight to your room. And don’t be loud. Your mother’s
sleeping.
SARA
Yes, sir.
(Sara exits.)
KLAUS
Listen, I was thinking, if it was all right with you, perhaps I can take her to a sporting
event, or the carnival? It would really be a pleasure.
BRIGGS
Carnival, huh?
123
KLAUS
Yes, I think it would fun for her.
BRIGGS
I don’t think so.
KLAUS
It really is no problem.
BRIGGS
Look, just save it, all right.
KLAUS
It would be a reward for all the hard work she does.
BRIGGS
Hard work? This is hard work? You work, M eyerhold?
KLAUS
No, I am retired.
BRIGGS
Retired. Yeah. That’s nice. Real nice. I bet you get great benefits, huh?
KLAUS
I don’t understand.
BRIGGS
Oh, sorry. What? You don’t habla, comrade?
KLAUS
Excuse me?
BRIGGS
M ust be real nice for you foreigners. Able to come here, work at a good job for a few
years, then spend the rest of your life taking American dollars from American social
security, put there by American workers. That’s a good deal. Very communist, if you
ask me. But you must be used to that, right?
KLAUS
Have I done something to offend you?
124
BRIGGS
Listen, I don’t care what kinda big-wig you were back in M other Russkie land, or
wherever the hell you came from. I don’t like you. I didn’t spend a year in the jungle
dodging gook snipers to come home and take shit from some old Russian.
KLAUS
I am German.
BRIGGS
German, Russian, fucking Pygmy. Whatever. Just remember one thing, you don’t belong
here. And another thing, I don’t like the ideas you’ve been putting into my girl’s head.
You know what she did? She came home and started talking about where she wanted to
go to college...to my wife, of all people. And you know what that means?
KLAUS
What?
BRIGGS
It means that I have her crawling up my ass about it now.
KLAUS
Well, I apologize for that. I did not realize that you were having financial problems.
BRIGGS
Who the hell said I had problems? Hell, she dresses better than most of the other kids at
that school. But college. No, college ain’t for her. She’s not college material.
(Josef enters with a stack of papers.)
JOSEF
Klaus! Let me show you...Oh. Hello.
BRIGGS
Oh, another one? Where you from, Kaiser?
JOSEF
What?
125
BRIGGS
What? What? Is that all you know how to say? Huh? They don’t teach you English
when you get here? This is something. I swear. You boys share the same room? Huh?
M aybe shower together?
JOSEF
What the fuck is this? Who do you think you are, you--
BRIGGS
What? Huh?
JOSEF
Sie koennen nicht zur mir rein--
BRIGGS
Speak English, Commie.
JOSEF
You can’t talk to me like that in my--
BRIGGS
You can’t come to my country and--
JOSEF
--house! I will smash your face you fucking lout--
BRIGGS
--order me around. Oh smash my face? Well--
KLAUS
Gentlemen! Please.
(Pause. To Briggs.)
I did not intend any harm. We were only discussing her future plans.
BRIGGS
She’s got no future plans other than to graduate high school and get out of my house.
You...you caused a real pain in my ass, old man.
KLAUS
(Pause.)
Please. Accept my apology.
126
BRIGGS
Look, I’ll make it simple so you can understand it, okay? She comes over here, she
serves you food, buys you groceries, and watches the TV. No more late nights. And no
more putting ideas into her head. You just mind your own business and let me raise my
daughter. Or else you’ll find my foot kicking your sorry ass back to whatever boat you
got off of. Both of you. Got it?
(Pause.)
Good. You boys have a good night.
(Briggs exits.)
JOSEF
Fucking prick.
KLAUS
I am in agreement.
JOSEF
Thinks he can come in here and...what did we do to him?
KLAUS
Do not worry about it. He is just a fool.
JOSEF
You should have let me slit his throat.
KLAUS
You know that we cannot do that. Just calm yourself.
JOSEF
I’m going to remember that prick. If he steps foot in this door again I’m going to smash
his skull with a shovel.
(Pause.)
I came in to tell you something. What?...Oh, yes. Hah! I don’t believe it. You see, I
was so blind. It was right there.
KLAUS
What the hell are you talking about?
127
JOSEF
What else? I’ve done it! I’ve solved the formula!
KLAUS
(Pause.)
That is what you said last time.
JOSEF
Well, this time it's for certain.
KLAUS
Again, that is what you said last time.
JOSEF
Do you want to see it or no?
KLAUS
Yes, yes, let me see it.
(Josef hands Klaus the papers.)
JOSEF
You see. I cannot believe we never noticed. It was right there.
KLAUS
Yes, yes...
JOSEF
All this time and now--
KLAUS
It cannot be that.
JOSEF
It is, I tell you.
KLAUS
We tried this before.
JOSEF
But not without compensating for the...ah! You see.
(Pause.)
128
KLAUS
Yes!
JOSEF
Ha ha! I told you.
KLAUS
So you are saying that all this time--
JOSEF
Yes. It's that simple. It is so simple a child could have seen it.
KLAUS
Well, a child with a doctorate in biochemistry, but...you’re right. We should have seen
this.
JOSEF
Ha ha! Ah, Klaus, after thirty-five years...I cannot believe it.
(Begins to sing “Das Lied der Deutschen.”)
KLAUS
Do not sing that song!
JOSEF
Come on Klaus. It is time to celebrate. We’ve done it!
KLAUS
No, we have not. First, we need to test it.
JOSEF
Yes, yes, you’re right. Of course. Science first.
KLAUS
And if it works--
JOSEF
Oh, it will work!
KLAUS
Let me finish...If it works, then...well, we have the other issue to deal with.
129
JOSEF
That won’t matter. Not with a breakthrough like this.
KLAUS
I do not know.
JOSEF
Klaus...this is everything we have worked for our entire lives. This is everything
medicine, humanity itself, has worked for. The cure. The single, ultimate cure. And we
have it. We have it. It is ours! Surely, the benefits will outweigh whatever they accuse
us of. Klaus...this is it. We’ve done it.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
You’ve been this sure before. We can’t have it like last time.
JOSEF
That was then. This time, it will work.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
Get started.
(Josef moves to the exit.)
And Josef. No mistakes.
(End scene.)
130
SCENE III
(A dark room. No furniture save a chair and a small

table with medical instruments laid out upon it. A
M AN in his underwear is tied to the chair with a
hood over his head. He is not moving. Klaus
stands next to him checking his heart rate with a
stethoscope. Josef stands at the table taking notes.)
KLAUS
Eighty eight.
JOSEF
Eighty eight.
(He writes the number down. Klaus retrieves a
blood pressure band from the table and wraps it
around the man’s arm, then begins pumping it up.)
What are you cooking for dinner tonight?
KLAUS
It is your turn.
JOSEF
No it’s not.
KLAUS
Yes, it is.
JOSEF
I cooked last night. Spaghetti, remember?
KLAUS
That was the night before. Last night we had roast beef.
JOSEF
Bullshit! Spaghetti.
KLAUS
Bullshit, bullshit! You are going senile.
131
JOSEF
It that so?
KLAUS
Yes it is! You forget everything. You would probably forget your head...if it was not
jammed up your ass!
JOSEF
At least I haven’t forget to stop pumping.
KLAUS
What?
(Klaus looks over at the man’s arm and realizes he
has put too much pressure in the sack.)
Shit!
(He releases the pressure and takes a reading.)
You are always distracting me.
JOSEF
Yah, yah, yah. Like a broken record.
KLAUS
I will show you broken. One eighty over ninety.
JOSEF
One eighty over ninety. How long is this going to take?
(Josef writes the number down. Klaus takes his
stethoscope and listens to the man’s chest.)
KLAUS
Why? Do you have something more important to do?
JOSEF
I wanted to get a drink at Rolando’s before it closes.
KLAUS
We have drinks here.
JOSEF
Yes, but I wanted to get out of the house.
132
KLAUS
What, are you meeting a woman or something?
JOSEF
Yes, Klaus, a woman. A woman with large breasts and she’s mute! Which makes her ten
times better than you.
KLAUS
Are you saying am whining?!
JOSEF
Yah. You’re an old nag.
KLAUS
Was? Du kannst doch nicht so mit mir reden--
JOSEF
Blah, blah, blah.
KLAUS
Und ich wërde dir den schadel brechen!
JOSEF
Also, warum probierst du es nicht, du altests furtz?
KLAUS
M oechtest du das?
JOSEF
Ja! Kommst du heran!
(The man in the hood begins to moan.)
He’s waking up.
KLAUS
Why...you...just write. Okay. Can you do that?
JOSEF
I’m doing it.
133
KLAUS
Then shutup.
(Pause. Klaus grabs a syringe from the tray and
takes blood from the hooded man. To the man:)
Just relax. Everything is going to be fine.
JOSEF
(M uttering.)
Fick dich doch ins Knie.
KLAUS
Halt.
(To the hooded man.)
You will feel a slight discomfort but that will pass. Stay still.
JOSEF
Just give him the injection and hurry up.
KLAUS
This is a medical experiment. We will follow proper procedure to insure our findings are
correct.
JOSEF
You don’t have to baby him.
KLAUS
Josef! M aybe this is some kind of game to you, but it is very serious to me. Very
serious. I did not spend thirty five years of my life, my life, to hurry up. We are going
to do this correctly.
JOSEF
Do this correctly? Tell me, does doing this correctly involve drinking a half a liter of
vodka before the procedure? I don’t recall that in any of the texts.
KLAUS
Josef--
JOSEF
We should make a wager, Klaus, on what is going to kill you first. Your alcoholism or
your cancer. M y bet is on the alcohol.
134
KLAUS
If you are finished--
JOSEF
Just don’t fall asleep on any train tracks. It would break my heart. Really it would.
KLAUS
(M oves nose-to-nose with Josef, holding the syringe
up.)
Are you finished?
(Pause.)
C,3,6,8.
(Pause.)
Josef?
(Pause.)
C,3,6,8.
(Pause. Josef grabs the syringe from Klaus and a vial
from the table. Josef takes a marker and writes the
number on the vial, then deposits the blood into it.)
JOSEF
C,3,6,8.
KLAUS
Subject appears to show signs of jaundice, high blood pressure, and malnourishment.
Discoloration of the eyes indicate the possibility of hepatitis.
(Josef writes this down.)
We are ready to proceed.
(Klaus goes to the table and picks up a second
syringe, this one containing a bright blue liquid. He
tests the flow, then moves to the hooded man’s
side. Klaus swabs the hooded man’s arm with
alcohol.)
Injecting serum. Start the time.
(Josef activates a stopwatch. Klaus injects the fluid
into the hooded man’s arm and stands back. Pause.
The man’s arms begin to shake, and after a few
moments he begins to convulse violently. A stream
of vomit gushes from underneath the hood.
135
Klaus attempts to hold the man’s arms at his side.)

Josef! Help me!
JOSEF
What for? He’s already gone.
KLAUS
Dammit Josef!
JOSEF
I’m keeping the time. It needs to be accurate.
(The convulsions begin to wane, and the hooded man
slumps in his chair. Klaus checks his pulse.)
KLAUS
Damn.
JOSEF
(Stopping the time.)
Hmmm. It was much quicker this time. I guess it wasn’t the enzymes.
(Josef writes in the file.)
KLAUS
You said you fixed it.
JOSEF
It’s obviously not what we were thinking. We’ll have to take it back to formula phase
again.
(Klaus removes his lab coat and gloves.)
Are you upset?
KLAUS
What the hell do you think?
JOSEF
I don’t see the problem here.
KLAUS
(He begins to rub his head a cough.)
The problem, Josef, is that we do not have control. We do not have a proper laboratory,
equipment! We are using materials over forty years old! We are working blind!
136
And this...
(Points to the dead man.)
...this is unacceptable.
JOSEF
What else are we going to use? Who else are we going to use?
KLAUS
We need to find better equipment--
JOSEF
What? Should we apply for a grant? That’s a fantastic idea.
KLAUS
Do you even care about this project?
JOSEF
You are childish--
KLAUS
Do you care?
JOSEF
Yes Klaus, I care! I have dedicated my life to this. As have you. So stop whining! With
your complaining and drinking I’m starting to think you are the one who doesn’t care.
(Pause. Produces a pill bottle and hands Klaus a
pill.)
This is science, Klaus. Experimentation. It does not matter where we do it, or with what
equipment. All that matters, in the end, is that it works. You told me that once.
KLAUS
I know what it is.
JOSEF
Then what is the real problem?
(Pause.)
KLAUS
Nothing. Go...go do something. I will take care of this.
(Gathers his the papers and moves to exit.)
137
JOSEF
Nein, nein. You...you go clear your head. I will clean this mess. And Klaus, don’t lose
faith. We are very close.
(Josef exits. Klaus stands for a moment. He
removes his stethoscope and places it on the tray.)
(End scene.)
138
SCENE IV
(A park is indicated by a bench and a garbage can.

Klaus sits on the bench with Sara.)
KLAUS
Beautiful day.
SARA
Yeah. It’s alright.
KLAUS
How is school?
SARA
It’s okay.
(Pause.)
It sucks.
KLAUS
Sara, you should not use language like that.
SARA
Why not. You’ve said worse in front of me.
KLAUS
Well, it is--
SARA
What? I’m a girl.
KLAUS
Well, yes. Girls should not speak like that.
SARA
I can say whatever a damn well please. And it’s women, not girls.
KLAUS
Okay. Fine. So tell me, why does school suck?
139
SARA
You wouldn’t care.
KLAUS
Yes, actually I would.
SARA
(Pause.)
I won a contest.
KLAUS
That is good.
SARA
No. No it’s not. I was the only one who entered.
KLAUS
Oh. What kind of contest?
SARA
A writing contest.
KLAUS
So what is the problem?
SARA
It was crap. M y story. They gave me the prize on a technicality.
KLAUS
Well, so what? You won. You should be proud.
SARA
I should throw it away.
KLAUS
Is this the story about the...uh...murderer.
SARA
No, no. It’s about...look it’s just bad. I don’t want to talk about it.
140
KLAUS
M ay I see it?
SARA
You don’t want to.
KLAUS
Yes I do.
SARA
I’m telling you, it’s bad.
KLAUS
Please let me see it.
SARA
(Pause.)
Okay. But I warned you.
(Sara reaches into her backpack, pulls out a stack of
papers, and hands it to Klaus.)
Here.
(Klaus studies it a few moments, then rips the pages
and wads them up in a ball. He tosses them in the
garbage can.)
Hey! What the hell?
KLAUS
You were right. It was terrible.
SARA
But--
KLAUS
Sara. You did not like it. Why are you holding on to something that is not up to your
standards?
SARA
Well I might have wanted to keep it.
141
KLAUS
For what? Sentimental reasons? Sara, when something does not work, you get rid of it.
You throw it away. You cannot hold on to things that are of no value. People waste
their lives holding on to things. In the end it is never worth it.
SARA
I worked along time on that.
KLAUS
So? What good did it do? Hmm? Now it is gone. It will not bother again. Now, what is
the real problem?
SARA
(Pause.)
This dumbass boy.
KLAUS
Tell me.
SARA
His name is Ricky. He’s a...he’s a complete jerk.
KLAUS
A jerk, eh? What did he do?
SARA
He makes fun of me. Because I’m...flat.
KLAUS
Flat?
(She points at her chest.)
Oh. I see.
SARA
He calls me “Sara T. Board.” Jerk.
KLAUS
Well, women develop at different times. It is a biological fact. Just because your breasts
are small right now does not--
142
SARA
Hey!
KLAUS
No, I did not mean that--
SARA
Jeez, you really know how to raise someone’s self esteem.
KLAUS
Verdammte Scheisse…
(Klaus produces the flask and takes a drink.)
Sara, I am sorry. Listen, this boy, Ricky, sounds like a complete idiot. And the truth is,
all boys are idiots at this age. In fact, many of them will always be idiots. It takes time
for young boys to mature into men, and some of them never do. I know that I was a real
jerk when I was a young man...until I met my wife.
SARA
Where is she?
KLAUS
She died.
SARA
I’m sorry.
KLAUS
It was a long ago.
SARA
What was she like?
(Pause.)
Nevermind, you don’t have to--
KLAUS
She was very beautiful. I know all husbands say that about their wives, even if it is not
true, but she was. She had long brown hair, light skin that glowed in the sun. She became
more beautiful when she gave birth to my daughter. Those were good times. And then,
the war came.
143
SARA
What happened?
KLAUS
We lived in Dresden. The British fire-bombed the city. Destroyed everything. She died
in the bombing. As well as my daughter. She was only four years old. I was away at the
time. We had a memorial service. I could not have a funeral because...nothing left to
bury.
SARA
I’m sorry.
KLAUS
Yah. I should have been there. Or she should have come with me. She could have, but
I...I was so involved with my work that...I told her she would only get in the way.
SARA
So you never remarried?
KLAUS
No.
SARA
That’s really...I don’t know...I don’t what I’d do.
Well, at least you still have your brother.
KLAUS
Yes. I still have him.
(Pause. Klaus produces the flask from his coat and
takes a drink.)
SARA
You’re gonna drown yourself.
KLAUS
What does it matter to you?
(Pause.)
I’m sorry.
144
SARA
I just...I don’t like it when people drink.
KLAUS
Well, some people need it.
SARA
Why?
KLAUS
Something they...sometimes they need to forget.
SARA
What do you want to forget?
KLAUS
Everything.
(Pause. Klaus takes a drink.)
Besides, it will not matter much soon.
SARA
Why not?
KLAUS
Because...well, because I am...I am sick.
SARA
Oh.
(Pause.)
Is it...serious?
KLAUS
Yah.
(Pause.)
So, here’s to forgetting.
(Takes another drink.)
Sara, I wanted to talk to you about something. I am a little concerned about...well, about
that burn on your arm.
SARA
What about it?
145
KLAUS
Well, to be honest, I do not think you burned yourself.
SARA
Yeah, well, I’m accident prone.
KLAUS
There is no need for lies Sara. I know...something, something is going on.
SARA
Look, I don’t...you wouldn’t understand.
KLAUS
Why not?
SARA
Because...You never...you never had to--
KLAUS
What?
SARA
You never had to--
KLAUS
What is it?
SARA
You...look, I just have some problems. I’m dealing with them.
KLAUS
Is it your father?
(Pause.)
Okay, you do not have to tell me.
(Pause.)
You know, my father, he was not an easy man to be around. He was very demanding. If
I did not receive good marks in school he would beat me. He would slap my mother if
dinner was too hot or too cold. Things like that. Once, when I was young, about twelve,
I brought home a dog. It was a stray. I knew, I knew I would be in trouble. But, I
wanted the dog. He was just a puppy. So I took him home and snuck him up to my
room. M y father came home late that night. He was drunk.
146
He spent several nights a week at the tavern with his friends from the lodge. M asons,
you know. Well, he came home and started yelling at my mother for some reason, I don’t
remember. I hid the puppy in my closet but...well, it started crying. Loudly. I don’t
know why, maybe it heard all of the noise downstairs and got excited. M aybe it was
scared. But my father heard it. He stormed through the door and said “What was that
noise?” I said, “I do not know.” The puppy cried again. M y father went to the closet,
opened the door, and saw the puppy. He just stared at it for a while, then he turned and
looked at me with eyes like...like he hated me. Like I had committed some crime. He
grabbed the dog and held it up right in front of my eyes. Then he broke the dog’s neck. I
was sobbing, of course. Then he threw the puppy’s body at me and said “You like dogs?
Do you not know that dogs sleep outside?” He picked me up, took me to the back door,
threw me out on my face. It was February. The winter snow was two feet deep. He
locked the door and left me outside until morning. I did not sleep one minute. I just held
my puppy, for hours. I could not bury it. The ground was frozen. So I just held it. In
the morning, he opened the door and threw my book bag at me and told me to get to
school. I took my puppy and, couldn’t do anything with it, so I found a dust bin and put
him inside and walked away. So, freezing, dirty, in the same clothes I had worn the day
before, I walked to school. And I did not say a word. I just sat there, in class, trying to
disappear.
(Pause.)
I got home and...he...he actually asked me how my day was.
SARA
Jesus.
KLAUS
Anyway, he died a year later. He got drunk at the tavern and, apparently, got into a
fight. Someone smashed his skull with a brick. I wish I could have met the man who was
responsible. I would have thanked him.
(Pause.)
SARA
Sometimes I think he works too hard. He hates his job, but he spends all of his time
there. All day long. So, he comes home and...well, I just try to stay away from him. But
sometimes you can’t, you know? Sometimes, he’s just pissed off and looking to blow off
steam. Sometimes, at night, he’s...
(Pause.)
147
KLAUS
Go on.
SARA
Nothing. Don’t worry about it. It’s my problem. I’ll deal with it.
KLAUS
But, Sara I do not think--
SARA
I said I’ll deal with it.
(Pause.)
But thanks anyway.
(Pause.)
Listen, I need to ask you something. I was looking into where you worked. The
uh...Poli...Poli...
KLAUS
Poliklinik.
SARA
Yeah, that’s it. Well, anyway, I couldn’t find much about it, but I was looking through
some other books and I found this.
(Reaches into her bag and produces a book. She
opens the book and points at a page.)
Look.
(Long pause.)
I...I don’t know...I swear this guy looks like...well, he looks a lot like your brother. Like
a young version of him.
KLAUS
Where did you get this?
SARA
The library. It was one of the books I checked out.
KLAUS
M ay I see it?
148
SARA
Yeah.
(She hands the book to Klaus, who flips through the
pages.)
You ah, going to look up some old friends?
(Pause.)
I’m sorry. That wasn’t...that wasn’t right for me to say. I’m sorry. I know you didn’t
have anything to do with that stuff...Did you?
KLAUS
Well, the resemblance is there, yes. This is true. But, as you can see, the name is
completely different. In addition, my brother and I served in the German Army. This
man, whoever he may have been, is not wearing an army uniform.
SARA
Yeah. I know. That’s an S.S. uniform. I looked it up. Those were the really bad guys.
(Slight pause.)
KLAUS
Yes, they were. M ay I borrow this?
SARA
Why?
KLAUS
Well, I met some of these men. I can...tell you about them. For your history class.
SARA
Okay. Yeah, that would be great. Well, it’s getting late. I should get you home.
KLAUS
You go on. I will be fine.
SARA
You sure?
KLAUS
Yes, I can take care of myself.
149
SARA
Okay. I’ll see you later.
(Sara gathers her things. Slight pause. She gives
Klaus a kiss on the cheek.)
You really are good guy, M r. M eyerhold.
KLAUS
I wish that were true.
SARA
It is.
(Sara exits. Klaus remains on the bench, staring at

the book in his hand.)
(End scene.)
150
SCENE V
(Living room. Klaus sits in his chair with the book

in his hand. He gets up, looks outside, then goes
back to his chair.)
KLAUS
Damn! Damn!
(The door opens and Josef enters.)
Where the fuck have you been?!
JOSEF
Good to see you too.
KLAUS
Answer me!
JOSEF
I went down to the bridge.
KLAUS
What?
JOSEF
Yah, I went down to the bridge. What’s the problem?
KLAUS
What is the problem? Look at this.
(He shows Josef the book.)
You see that?
JOSEF
Hmmm. They got my bad side.
KLAUS
This is not a joke.
JOSEF
Klaus, Klaus, why are you making a fuss over this?
151
KLAUS
Are you stupid? This is a picture of you in an S.S. uniform!
JOSEF
So?
KLAUS
So? So? Are you mad?!
JOSEF
What, you think someone will recognize me? Look, look at this.
(He takes the book.)
This was taken in 1937. I’ve gained sixty pounds. M y hair is gray. I don’t have a
mustache. No one will recognize me.
KLAUS
The girl did.
JOSEF
Did she?
(Pause.)
KLAUS
Well...not exactly. But still. It is right here, in the library. Christ, how could we have
been so careless?
JOSEF
About what?
KLAUS
About...you said that you checked. You said there were no pictures.
JOSEF
Yah, well, I checked three years ago. This is a new book.
KLAUS
Is everything this simple for you? Do you not care?
152
JOSEF
That’s because there is nothing to care about. Rip the picture out and burn it, if it will
make you feel better.
KLAUS
That is not the point--
JOSEF
What is the point? Huh, Klaus? What is it?
(Pause.)
The FBI, the Israelis, none have even been close to finding us.
KLAUS
What about Connecticut?
(Pause.)
JOSEF
Well, we took care of that, didn’t we?
(Pause.)
We can certainly do it again.
KLAUS
You are unbelievable.
JOSEF
I know. It’s part of my charm. Well, now that we’ve solved this, would you like to hear
about our real problem?
KLAUS
What problem?
JOSEF
It's a minor setback, really. Not a real problem.
KLAUS
What? What is it?
JOSEF
You know that article in the paper? The one about the homeless people being removed.
It’s true.
153
KLAUS
Oh God.
JOSEF
Yah, not a soul down there. All gone. We’re going to have to look for a new supply.
KLAUS
No...how are we supposed to work like this?
JOSEF
Klaus--
KLAUS
No! This is unacceptable! What are we supposed to do?
JOSEF
I don’t know. What should we do? Huh? Write a letter to our Congressman? Dear Sir, I
am writing to complain about the removal of homeless people from under the 14th street
bridge because it interferes with my illegal medical experiments--
KLAUS
Enough--
JOSEF
..and by the way, I happen to be a wanted international--
KLAUS
Enough!
(Pause.)
JOSEF
You are such a simple thing, my friend. What, you’re going to rant and rave about this?
This is just a minor issue. There are plenty of other possible test subjects out there in
the world.
KLAUS
You make it sound like...
JOSEF
Like what?
154
KLAUS
Like it is nothing. Like it is all part of some divine plan.
JOSEF
Perhaps it is.
KLAUS
Oh, that is bullshit and you know it!
JOSEF
Klaus, what’s really bothering you?
KLAUS
When is it going to end? Tell me that? When are we going to be allowed to walk the
streets without fear of being recognized? We are trying to do something for the good of
mankind!
JOSEF
I know, I know it’s been rough for you. For us. I have been with you the entire time.
KLAUS
I do not need your sympathy.
JOSEF
All right, you won’t get it. You think I haven’t suffered? You think I wouldn’t like to be
working at a University? In a lab? Bettering mankind? That’s why I became a doctor.
That’s why you became a doctor. Klaus, the only thing that keeps me going is the
results. The potential of the project.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
We should have used rats. Then we wouldn’t have to do all this sneaking around. I am
an old man.
JOSEF
We already used rats. Remember?
(Pause.)
KLAUS
Is that supposed to be a joke?
155
JOSEF
No.
(Pause.)
We need to find more test subjects.
KLAUS
It is late. Who the hell is that?
JOSEF
I don’t know.
(Another knock.)
KLAUS
Put that away.
(Josef exits. Klaus goes to the door and opens it.
Wade is standing there. He’s a man in his late
twenties and wears a cheap suit.)
WADE
M r. M eyerhold?
KLAUS
Yes?
WADE
Klaus M eyerhold?
KLAUS
Yes, what is this about?
WADE
Sorry to bother you at this hour sir. I’m Detective Wade.
(Wade flashes his badge. Slight pause.)
KLAUS
What can I do for you detective?
WADE
I just wanted to ask you a few questions. M ay I come in?
156
KLAUS
Questions regarding what?
WADE
Well how about I come in and explain it to you?
(Pause.)
KLAUS
Yes, of course. Please. Excuse the untidy state of our home, my brother is--
WADE
Oh, your brother...Josef...yes, I was wondering if I could talk to him as well.
KLAUS
Well, he is currently--
(Josef enters.)
JOSEF
Who is it Klaus?
KLAUS
Ah, Josef, ah, this is Detective...
WADE
Wade. How are you M r. M eyerhold?
(Wade extends his hand and to Josef. They shake.)
JOSEF
Detective? What brings you to our home?
WADE
Oh, nothing much sir, just had a few questions for you both.
JOSEF
What about? We didn’t--
KLAUS
Josef--
157
JOSEF
No, but why is he here? We haven’t--
KLAUS
Josef! Sei kein scheisskopf.
JOSEF
Er ist ein Bull, Klaus. Wir sind am Arsch.
(Slight pause.)
Toten wirihn.
KLAUS
Nein. Beruhigdich. Spiel ein fach mit.
(To Wade.)
M y brother is upset. You see, the Knicks lost today. He is a big Knicks fan.
WADE
Knicks, huh? You like basketball?
JOSEF
Oh, yes. Very much. I like the bouncing and the shooting, and...Those damn Kel-tics,
you know?
WADE
Kel-tics? You mean Celtics?
(Pause.)
KLAUS
Josef, go and make us a cup of tea. Would you like some tea, Detective?
WADE
Thank you. That would be nice.
(Josef exits to the kitchen.)
So, just you two live here?
KLAUS
Yes.
WADE
How long?
158
KLAUS
This will be eight years in November.
WADE
Eight years. Where are you from?
KLAUS
Germany. But we came here from Nashville. Actually, a little town not far from
Nashville.
WADE
Nashville, huh? Yeah, I’m originally from Iowa. Just moved here myself. I like this
town. You know, nice and small. Quiet. So what do you do for a living?
KLAUS
I am retired.
WADE
Oh...I mean, what did you do?
KLAUS
I worked in a hospital.
WADE
Hospital. In Nashville?
KLAUS
Yes.
WADE
Which one?
(Pause.)
KLAUS
I am sorry, why are you asking all these questions?
WADE
You said you’re originally from Germany, correct?
159
KLAUS
Yes.
WADE
Where abouts?
KLAUS
Dresden.
WADE
I can tell. I have a good ear when it comes to accents. I can tell where people are from
just by listening to a few seconds of speech. I was stationed there when I was in the
Army.
KLAUS
That is quite a talent.
WADE
Yeah. Yeah. When did you come to the US?
KLAUS
Twenty years ago. Why?
WADE
And you went to Nashville?
KLAUS
No, I lived in Connecticut for a few years.
WADE
Then Nashville?
KLAUS
Yes.
WADE
You know, that’s a great car you have out there. What is that, a ‘66 Thunderbird?
KLAUS
Yes. What--
160
WADE
Wow. What color is that?
(Pause.)
I’m colorblind, it looks black to me.
KLAUS
Dark green. What exactly is going on?
WADE
Oh, nothing, nothing...
KLAUS
Why are you asking all of these questions?
WADE
I’m sorry, is this bothering you?
KLAUS
Well, yes, I mean, you show up at my door, you do not tell me what is going on--
WADE
Did you fight in the war?
(Pause.)
KLAUS
Why do you want to know?
WADE
Just curious.
KLAUS
Yes. Well, not actually. I served in the Wehrmacht. M edical corps.
WADE
Wehrmacht, that’s the army, right?
KLAUS
Yes.
161
WADE
Yeah, see I enlisted when I was eighteen. Thought I was going to ‘Nam. Ended up in
Germany as an M P. But hey, gave me a career direction. Right?
KLAUS
I see. Did you recently leave the military?
WADE
No, I got out a few years ago.
KLAUS
Really? You look very young. Not old enough to be a detective.
WADE
Yeah. Well, I’m the youngest one on the force.
(Josef enters with three cups of tea and serves
Wade.)
KLAUS
How long have you been a detective?
WADE
Thank you. Excuse me?
KLAUS
How long have you been a detective?
WADE
(Slight pause.)
Long enough.
JOSEF
No more than a month, I bet.
KLAUS
I agree.
WADE
You guys are pretty good. All right, six weeks. Yeah, I’m kind of a rookie.
162
KLAUS
Well, you will only get better with time.
WADE
Thanks, hope so.
(To Josef.)
What did you do?
JOSEF
What?
WADE
During the war. What did you do during the war?
JOSEF
I served in the Wehrmacht. The medical corps.
(Silence. Wade puts his tea down.)
WADE
Either of you ever go down to 14th street?
JOSEF
No.
KLAUS
Not unless we can help it. It is quiet dangerous.
WADE
Yes, yes it is. In fact, you might have heard about this, that recently there have been a
string of deaths. Homeless men.
KLAUS
Yes, I read the paper. It is very nice to see the city has the interest of the poor in mind.
Very admirable.
WADE
Yeah, very humanitarian. You sure you never make it down there?
KLAUS
Yes.
163
JOSEF
Yes, why?
WADE
WADE
Well, it’s just that several of the men we transplanted claimed that, on the night of some
of these deaths, they saw a dark green ‘66 Thunderbird in the area.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
Forgive me detective. I am not quite sure what you’re saying. I was under the impression
that these men died of exposure.
JOSEF
Is that not the case?
WADE
Yeah, see that’s just it. The medical examiner, he’s been finding some strange
things...chemicals, in the bodies.
JOSEF
Do you mean drugs?
WADE
No. It’s some sort of toxin. We think it was put there intentionally.
JOSEF
You mean...those men were murdered?
WADE
That’s what we think.
JOSEF
M y god.
KLAUS
So, how does this pertain to us?
164
WADE
Well, nothing right now. You certainly don’t fit the profile. But your car did raise a red
flag.
JOSEF
Oh dear...well, detective, I can assure you that we had nothing--
KLAUS
Surely there are more people who own this model of automobile in this city?
WADE
Oh, yes. Yes there are.
JOSEF
Exactly. There are a lot of those vehicles on the road.
WADE
I know.
JOSEF
So... so what are you saying? Are you saying that we are suspects? Detective, we are
old men. M y brother has cancer. It takes a toll on him. He does not have the stamina he
had in his youth. Nor do I.
WADE
But you do have medical backgrounds?
JOSEF
Detective, listen. We understand. We do. It is no insult. You are just doing your job, as
you should. As a good detective would. You investigate every possibility. But honestly,
do you really think that two old men, one sick, would be capable of subduing men,
homeless men. They are like animals. They would fight back. We could not subdue
them, much less tie them up and kill them.
WADE
No. No, like I said, you don’t fit the profile.
JOSEF
If you need proof you can search the car. It is quite all right.
165
WADE
No, that won’t really be necessary. Uh...well gentlemen I...I have a lot of leads to check
on. I better get going.
JOSEF
Are you sure? Would you like some more tea? We can make--
WADE
Thank you, but no. I’ll just be moving along. Sorry to bother you two. You have a good
night.
(Wade exits.)
KLAUS
Well, that is just great.
JOSEF
What?
KLAUS
Did you hear what you said?
JOSEF
Yes, I did. So what?
KLAUS
You are a fucking idiot.
JOSEF
Are you losing your mind in your old age? What are you babbling about?
KLAUS
He never said the victims were tied up.
(Pause.)
JOSEF
Bah. So?
KLAUS
He never said it. It was not in the papers. You fucking idiot.
166
JOSEF
Klaus--
KLAUS
Just shut up! I do not want to hear your voice again. Just...just shut up.
(Pause.)
Let me think.
JOSEF
If he had suspected anything he would have arrested us. Stupid American cop could not
find his ass while sitting on the toilet.
KLAUS
You are lucky he is stupid. If he had a brain we would be--
JOSEF
Don’t worry Klaus.
KLAUS
How is that you can just stand there--
JOSEF
What--
KLAUS
--just stand there and pretend none of this is happening?
JOSEF
Because I am not a whining child like you. Like you have become. What happened to
you? You used to always look at the whole picture. That’s why you were in charge of
the project. Remember? Now...I don’t know. You’re spineless. Eine qualle.
KLAUS
Josef, they will be watching us.
JOSEF
Not two old men. They wouldn’t waste their time.
KLAUS
What are we going to do? What do you suggest? We keep going down to the bridge?
167
JOSEF
There is no one there anymore. We need to find a fresh supply.
KLAUS
No.
(Pause.)
We must stop.
JOSEF
Now I know that you have gone crazy.
KLAUS
It is too much.
JOSEF
You’re just willing to let it go? Just like that? When we are this close?
KLAUS
We do not even know--
JOSEF
What?
KLAUS
If...God...
JOSEF
What Klaus? We don’t even know what?
KLAUS
You do not even know if it will work!
(Pause. Klaus begins to rub his head and cough.)
When I was in the park today something occurred to me. What have I ever done? Can
you tell me? What have I ever done that...name one thing I have done that has helped
anyone? I cannot think of anything.
JOSEF
Klaus, stop it. We are on the verge of the greatest medical breakthrough ever. In history.
What do you mean, what have you done?
168
KLAUS
It does not work, Josef. It never worked. I just...I wanted it to. I truly wanted that.
Because, maybe, if it did work, well...
JOSEF
What? What, Klaus?
KLAUS
That I could, one day--
JOSEF
What? Be forgiven?
KLAUS
I--
JOSEF
(Produces the pill bottle and hands Klaus a pill.)
M en like us do not receive forgiveness. Never. Not without something in exchange. We
did what we did. We did what we did because we believed in it. We believed that what
we were doing was right. Was good. For mankind. And it still can be. We can still do
something miraculous. We have the chance to cure humanity. And if we have to...make
sacrifices...well, that’s the price. Nothing good is ever created without risk. Without
sacrifice.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
It is too great. I quit.
JOSEF
You...you are a stupid man, Klaus.
(Josef exits.)
(End of scene.)
169
SCENE VI
(Living room. Josef enters with a stack of files and

a rolled up piece of cloth humming “Das Lied der
Deutschen.” He sets them down at the table, the
begins to sit, realizes he has forgotten something,
then exits back into the kitchen. He reenters with a
slurpie drink and sits down. A knock at the door.
Josef goes to the door and opens it. Wade enters.)
WADE
M r. M eyerhold. How are you this evening?
JOSEF
Detective. What can I do for you?
WADE
M ay I come in?
JOSEF
Of course. Please. M ay I get you something to drink?
WADE
No thank you.
JOSEF
A bourbon and soda, perhaps? I put a hint of lime in it for taste. Very good.
WADE
Not while I’m on the clock.
JOSEF
Fine. So what brings you here?
WADE
I was wondering if I could speak to your brother.
JOSEF
He is not here right now.
170
WADE
Where is he?
JOSEF
I’m not really sure.
WADE
Uh-huh.
JOSEF
We had a bit of an argument a while ago. He hasn’t spoken to me. He’s being a child.
WADE
I see. Well, maybe you can help me. Does then name Godard mean anything to you?
(Pause.)
JOSEF
Godard?
WADE
Yes.
JOSEF
No. Why?
WADE
You sure? How about Schultheiss?
JOSEF
No. I’m sorry. Wait a minute. I knew this woman when I was young, I think her name
was Schultheiss. Or was is Schroeder? She had very large breasts, and sometimes when
she ran--
WADE
That’s okay...well, doesn’t really matter. Just checking, you know. Whatcha working
on?
(Picking up a file from the table and examining it.)
JOSEF
Oh, nothing. Just...looking at some old medical records.
171
WADE
Hmm. This stuff was always way over my head. You gotta be a real egghead to get it.
No offense.
(He opens the roll of cloth to reveal the set of
surgical tools.)
And what is this stuff?
JOSEF
Oh, that. They are souviners. From my service during the war.
WADE
Really? The German Army just let you walk off with this stuff.
JOSEF
Yes, well, you know. M any soldiers walked off with military items at the end of the
war. No one really tried to stop us. A man I knew had a working Panzerfaust hanging
over his fireplace.
WADE
Panzerfaust?
JOSEF
It is like a rocket launcher. For tanks. He would show it to anyone who came over for
dinner. There it was, just hanging there. Surprised the crazy bastard didn’t blow himself
up.
WADE
(Picking up a strange looking saw.)
What’s this for?
JOSEF
It is used for field amputations.
WADE
Yeah?
JOSEF
Well, it is a somewhat antiquated form of treatment. Rarely used after the Second World
War.
(Josef picks up a large knife.)
172
You see, these two are used in conjunction. The knife is used to cut through the skin and
muscle. But it will not cut through bone. That is what the saw is for. You see, long ago,
before the turn of the century, when a solider is seriously wounded in battle a field doctor
will be forced to remove the afflicted limb. This is to prevent infection. Gangrene, trench
foot, things of that sort. Here let me show you.
(Grabs Wade’s arm.)
You see, what he does, is he takes the knife and, above the wounded area, he cuts through
the skin and muscle.
(Holds the knife above Wade’s arm and
demonstrates.)
Now this only takes a few moments, you see. M uscle is quite easy to cut. But bone
offers a bit of a problem. It is much too hard to slice through with a knife. So you have
to use the saw.
(He grabs the saw and demonstrates.)
You know, detective, men who have lost limbs on the battlefield say that the sawing is
the worst part. Strangely, it is purely psychological. You see, though the bone itself has
no nerves for sensation, you can feel it. It is the sound of the sawing. A horrible noise,
like a thousand fingers on a chalkboard. It is visceral. Real. The mind cannot ignore it,
not when the victim knows what is happening. It is the most horrific pain one can ever
experience. And yet, physically, you experience nothing. Is that not fascinating?
(Pause. Josef puts the instruments back into the
cloth.)
WADE
That’s...that’s really something...Listen, can I ask you something?
JOSEF
Of course.
WADE
What did you really do? In the war.
JOSEF
I don’t understand.
WADE
We did some researching. There’s no record of any Josef or Klaus M eyerhold ever
serving in the Wehrmacht.
(Pause.)
173
JOSEF
What are you saying detective? That I am not who I say that I am?
WADE
Why don’t you tell me.
JOSEF
Have you ever heard of a man named William of Occam? He was an English philosopher
and scientist. Very intelligent. He developed a theory called Occam’s Razor. Have you
heard of this?
WADE
No.
JOSEF
It is a...well...a method for analyzing a problem when there are multiple answers. It says
that all things being equal, the simplest answer is usually correct.
WADE
So?
JOSEF
So...the fact that there are no records of my service indicate one of two solutions. The
first is that I am not who I say that I am. Perhaps I am really some war criminal.
Perhaps...perhaps I was some sort of mad scientist who experimented on prisoners.
Horrible experiments. In which case, I am responsible for the deaths of hundreds
or...maybe thousands. And, after the war, I fled to this country, changed my name, and
assumed a simple life in order to hide from the authorities. That’s one explanation. The
other is that perhaps, because Germany’s infrastructure was utterly destroyed by the
war, the records of my service were simply lost.
(Pause.)
Now, which one would you say is the simplest answer?
(Pause.)
WADE
Yeah.
JOSEF
Well, I’m certainly glad I could help.
174
WADE
Occam’s Razor. I’ll have to remember that.
JOSEF
Would you like some tea now?
WADE
No. No I should be on my way. I’m sorry to disturb you.
(Klaus enters from the front door.)
JOSEF
Oh, look, there he is. Klaus, the detective had some questions for you.
WADE
No, no, I’m pretty much done. I was just checking up on something.
KLAUS
I see. How is your investigation going?
WADE
Well, so far so good.
KLAUS
I certainly hope you find whoever is responsible.
WADE
Yeah. Well...uh...you have a good evening.
(Wade exits. Klaus notices the surgical equipment

on the table, looks a Josef, then sits on the couch
and picks up the paper. Silence.)
JOSEF
Anything interesting?
(Pause.)
Klaus? Hello?
(Pause.)
Fine. Read your paper.
(Longer pause.)
If your trying to break your record of not talking to me you’re halfway there.
175
Only one more month to go. M aybe you just shouldn’t talk to me anymore. I should be
thankful I finally get a break from your incessant complaining. Don’t think I don’t
appreciate it.
(Pause.)
By the way, I need to borrow the car tomorrow. I hope you don’t mind.
(Pause.)
I’ll take that as a yes.
(Pause.)
Do you want to know what the detective said?
(Klaus lowers the paper and glances at Josef, then
goes back to reading.)
(Pause.)
You know, I was thinking, maybe we should move. Yah? It’s time for a change of
scenery. I was thinking Las Vegas. You know what they call it? Sin City. Huh?
Sounds pretty good to me. We could gamble, meet pretty girls. Dancing girls. You
know, disappear for a while.
KLAUS
Josef, are you ever going shut up?
JOSEF
Ahh, he speaks. This is good. For a second I was getting used to talking to myself.
KLAUS
Well, I have nothing to say to you.
JOSEF
But you just said something. Come on, say something else.
KLAUS
No.
JOSEF
Hey, you just did! This is good. Keep going.
KLAUS
Josef...I have no desire to talk to you.
176
JOSEF
That’s too bad. And you were doing so well. I thought your going to break your record.
KLAUS
Sorry to disappoint.
JOSEF
Well, no matter. So, now that you’ve decided to talk to me, would you like to hear what
I have to say?
KLAUS
No.
JOSEF
Klaus, this city is no longer useful to us. Let’s go. Let’s, as they say, ditch this joint.
Huh?
KLAUS
No thanks.
JOSEF
Well, that’s too bad. Because I bought two bus tickets. We could be there in two days.
All of this behind us.
KLAUS
You must be joking.
JOSEF
Why? Why not?
KLAUS
Because--
JOSEF
Because what?
KLAUS
Well, because--
177
JOSEF
Because what? Huh?
KLAUS
Would you shut up? I am not going. This is my home. M y things are here.
JOSEF
What, this? This isn’t exactly living in luxury, Klaus. Besides, these are just things. And
shitty things at that. We could be living in paradise.
KLAUS
And how will we afford that?
JOSEF
We could sell the car.
KLAUS
What?
JOSEF
I know a man who will pay one-thousand five hundred dollars. That’s a good price, no?
KLAUS
You are such a...are you serious?
JOSEF
Yes. I’m serious.
KLAUS
All right, I will entertain this notion for a moment. What would we do? Hmm? What is
your plan?
JOSEF
We’ll see. We’ll find something.
KLAUS
And just when you had my interest peaked. Hah, I knew you were full of shit.
(Pause.)
You are really serious about this?
178
JOSEF
Yah, serious.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
No.
JOSEF
Wait, wait, wait....just...think about it. We could get a job at a casino. I could be a
bartender. You, you could, I don’t know, work the front desk. A restaurant, something.
Order people around. You’d like that.
KLAUS
What if they catch us?
JOSEF
Who?
KLAUS
The casino. They have a lot of money, you know. You think they do not check on
people?
JOSEF
Klaus, Klaus, don’t you ever watch movies? The whole city is run by the mafia. Do you
honestly think they are going to check on us. Please.
KLAUS
You have seen The Godfather too many times.
JOSEF
Even still. We’re two old men. A couple of krauts. No one will ever notice us in that
city. People come and go. Tourists, businessmen. People can just...disappear in a city
like that. You know? No one notices.
(Pause.)
It’s a chance Klaus. A chance to leave all of this. To start over. For good.
KLAUS
Thank you Josef, but no.
179
JOSEF
Fine, fuck off. Enjoy your life.
(Josef exits. A knock at the door. Klaus opens the

door and Sara enters. She’s dressed haphazardly in
her pajamas and has robe wrapped around her. It is
clear that she has been beaten.)
SARA
I’m sorry, M r. M eyerhold, I know it's late, but...I didn’t--
KLAUS
Sara, what is wrong?
SARA
I...didn’t know what to do.
KLAUS
What is wrong? What happened to you?
SARA
I just...that...fuck, I don’t know!
KLAUS
Sara, calm down. Take a deep breath.
(Pause.)
Now, tell me what happened.
(Sara opens the robe to reveal a blood stain around
her groin.)
Good God. Who did this to you?
(Pause.)
Who did this?
(Pause.)
Was it your father?
(Sara nods.)
Hurensohn. Sit down.
(Sara sits while Klaus examines her face.)
SARA
I was asleep. I didn’t hear him. It...he was drunk. I could smell it. He punched
me...then he held my face down in the pillow, by the back of my hair, and then he...
180
KLAUS
Shhh. It is all right. You are safe. Josef! Josef!
(Josef enters.)
JOSEF
What? What do you wan...Oh my Lord. What happened?
KLAUS
Would you get some ice, please?
JOSEF
What the hell is this?
KLAUS
Josef, snell!
JOSEF
Yes, of course.
(Josef exits to the kitchen.)
KLAUS
Open your mouth. Let me see.
(Sara does so.)
Your wisdom tooth is chipped. We will fix you, do not worry.
(Josef reenters with ice wrapped in a towel and
hands it to Klaus.)
Here, put this on your face.
SARA
Thanks.
(Pause.)
You’re not going to call the police? Right?
KLAUS
(Pause.)
Would you like us to?
SARA
No. Please, please don’t...I don’t...I don’t know.
181
KLAUS
They could meet you at your house, if you want.
SARA
No. I...I don’t want that. I couldn’t...I couldn’t live with myself. Other people would
know.
KLAUS
What can we do, Sara?
JOSEF
Klaus--
KLAUS
Shut up.
(To Sara.)
What can we do?
SARA
Nothing. You can’t do anything.
(Pause.)
Why? Why does he do this. He just...I hate him, but...I don’t know what to do.
(Pause.)
KLAUS
Sara, please, you...just...try to relax. Josef, fetch us a drink, please.
JOSEF
Was? Klaus, sie ist ein Kind.
KLAUS
Bringen sie mir das verdamte Getrank.
JOSEF
(Exiting.)
Scheissekopf.
SARA
I don’t want to go back.
182
KLAUS
Well--
SARA
I’m not going back. Not ever.
KLAUS
All right, all right. Listen, you are safe now.
SARA
No, I’m not!
KLAUS
Sara, he can’t get you here.
SARA
That’s not what I mean.
(Pause.)
I’ll never be safe. Never. Not until I’m gone, or he’s gone. That’s it. That’s the way it
is.
KLAUS
Sara, have you...tried talking to him?
SARA
(Slight laugh.)
You know, you’re usually a pretty smart guy.
(Pause.)
It won’t work. It never worked. Oh, yeah, he’s said plenty of times “oh, I’ll never do it
again.” Yeah. We’ve talked to him. Never stops. M aybe a month or two will go by, but
then...he just gets drunk and it happens again. He won’t change. People don’t change,
M r. M eyerhold. Not who they really are deep down.
(Pause. Josef enters with a glass of whiskey and
hands it to Sara.)
Thanks.
(She takes a drink and winces at the taste.)
It’s good. Thank you.
183
KLAUS
Sara, you need to go to the hospital.
SARA
No, no, no, I--
KLAUS
Sara, you might have internal injuries. I can help you, but you must trust me. Do you
trust me? You need to go. You do not need to say anything if you do not want.
Understand. Just keep quiet and let them treat you. Do you understand?
(Sara nods.)
I promise you, everything will be fine.
(Pause.)
SARA
I was just kidding about you not being smart. You really are smart.
(Pause.)
What should I do?
KLAUS
Go to the restroom and clean yourself. We will drive you to the hospital.
JOSEF
Wait a min--
(Klaus stares at Josef.)
Yes, of course.
(Sara rises and moves to exit.)
SARA
Thank you.
(Sara exits.)
JOSEF
What are you thinking, Klaus?
KLAUS
We have to Josef.
JOSEF
This is not our concern!
184
KLAUS
That girl needs our help.
JOSEF
The risk is too great!
KLAUS
Josef! We are doctors. I cannot operate on her here. We do not have the proper
equipment. She must go to the hospital. Now, goddammit, do your duty!
JOSEF
I don’t like this Klaus. They will come for us. Asking more questions. You know they
will. And this time it will be many police officers. We cannot take the risk of them
finding out who we are. Now think, please.
KLAUS
(Pause.)
You’re right. What time does the bus leave? The one for Las Vegas?
JOSEF
Twelve-forty five.
KLAUS
All right. Listen carefully. Here is what we will do. You will take her to the hospital.
JOSEF
Klaus--
KLAUS
Just listen. You will take her. M ake sure she gets treated. I will stay here and gather our
things. When you return, your bags will be packed.
JOSEF
What if she tells them who we are?
KLAUS
She will not.
(Sara reenters.)
Sara, listen. Josef is going to take you.
185
SARA
No, I want you--
KLAUS
Sara, I cannot. Josef will take care of you. You will be fine. Trust me. There is
something I need to do. Now listen, because this is very important. When you are there
some police officers are going to come and ask you questions. You must not tell them
that you know us.
SARA
But why?
KLAUS
I...I cannot explain. I am sorry. Please, you must listen. You do not know who we are.
You have never seen Josef before. He found you on the side of the road running from
your house. Can you remember that?
SARA
Yes.
KLAUS
Good. You are a very brave woman Sara.
(Sara embraces Klaus.)
SARA
I’m scared.
KLAUS
No, no. Everything is going to be fine. Trust me. Now, you must go.
(Josef and Sara walk to the door. Sara stops and
turns back.)
SARA
Thank you.
KLAUS
(Pause.)
Hurry. Go.
(Sara exits.)
186
JOSEF
Klaus--
KLAUS
Go Josef. Your things will be packed when you return.
(Slight pause. Josef exits. Klaus walks over to the
table. He picks up the files, then stops. He looks
down at the surgical equipment.)
(End Scene.)
187
SCENE VII
(Stage is dark and empty save one chair and a small

workbench or table. A man is chained from the
ceiling, dressed only in boxers and a white T-shirt, a
pillowcase over his head. His feet barely touch the
floor. Klaus enters with a rolled cloth. He circles
the man, sets the cloth down on the table, then
returns to the man and pulls the pillowcase off his
head to reveal Briggs, who is gagged.)
KLAUS
M r. Briggs. How are you this evening? You really should not drink so much, you know.
It dulls the senses. You never know when some stranger is going to come sneaking into
your house. But, then again, your drinking is precisely the reason that you are here,
among other things. Do you know why you are here?
(Briggs shakes his head.)
Come now, do not play stupid with me. You know why you are here.
You’re...behavior? Is that clarifying the situation a bit?
(Briggs shakes his head.)
Oh, playing innocent? Yes, I understand. You never touched her, right? Yes. Is that it?
You would not lay a hand on her. Always the same excuse. You know, I had a daughter,
once. I had a wife. I loved them very much. I do not blame anyone for what happened
to them. It was war. Things happen. I try not to think about the fact that the incendiary
bombs your planes dropped burned them alive, until they were nothing but ash. I try not
to think about that. Instead, I try to remember the love, and the wonderful experience of
being a father. And you know, I can honestly say that they are all good memories.
(Klaus moves to the table and unrolls the cloth to
reveal an array of medical tools. He picks one up,
examines it, then puts it down. Repeat as he
continues to talk, making sure that Briggs sees each
one.)
And nowhere in my mind are there any memories of me laying a hand on either one of
them. I would not dream of it. You see, my daughter had beautiful skin. She got it from
her mother. I could not damage such a beautiful thing such as that.
(Klaus picks up a large, sharp surgical probe.)
You see, my medical career was spent trying to end pain. But, in order to end it, one
must know what causes it, in all forms. And believe me, I have done extensive research
into the cause of pain. Thousands of...case-studies.
188
You may have heard of pressure points. No? They are specific points on the body, the
neck, the groin, in the armpit, soft places, where if you apply enough pressure or create
some sort of trauma the pain is nearly unbearable. The worst one, is right here, between
the neck and the shoulder.
(Klaus jabs the probe into that area. Brigg’s body
seizes in pain and he screams.)
You see, you can feel it. If feels like your spine is about to break. Try to move. Go
ahead. Try. You see, you cannot. Every muscle in your torso has frozen. And if I twist
it ever so slightly.
(Klaus does, Briggs screams again. Klaus removes
the probe and returns to the tray of surgical
equipment.)
Do you know that the skin is the largest human organ? Oh, yes, it is true. M any people
think it is the lungs but, in fact, it is the skin. You see, the skin serves a very special
purpose. Not only is it a wrapping which holds the body together, but it is also
protection. It is the first line of defense against disease and infection.
(Klaus picks up a surgical knife.)
It is a proven fact that the body can only survive a few minutes without the skin. The
reason being, not because of a loss of blood, which is what one might think, but because
of the excruciating pain. Every nerve in the body suddenly exposed directly to air. The
sensation overloads the brain, causes it to shut-down. In every case I saw where fifty
percent the skin was removed the subject lived for approximately five minutes. Remove
less, they live slightly longer. In many ways, my wife and child had a much easier death
than these subjects. You see, when one is burned severely, the nerves die. The most
serious burns are actually quite painless. So I take comfort in that thought. It is one of
the few things that gives me comfort. I know that, if there is a God, he will not forgive
me. Not after all of things I have done. I used to remember some of their faces. But
now, they all just merge into one. One face with thousands of mouths, screaming.
Screaming for me to stop. But I do not stop.
(Pause.)
M y life is a complete failure. M y work is a failure. I have never, in all of my days, done
anything to benefit mankind.
I am a monster. And I will die a monster. But I do not intend to die without doing one
good deed, without helping one person.
(Pause.)
You should have never touched that girl.
(Klaus begins to cut away skin. Blackout.)
(End scene.)
189
190
SCENE VIII
(Same as the first scene. Klaus and Wade sit at the

table. Wade stops the tape recorder. There is a
long moment of silence.)
WADE
Jesus Christ.
KLAUS
So, detective. What shall we do now?
WADE
I need some water.
(Wade walks to the cooler and pours himself a cup.
He gulps it down quickly.)
So I’m confused. You’re admitting to the murder of William Briggs, the murders of
fourteen homeless men in this area over a period of eight years, and you are also telling
me that you’re wanted as a war criminal?
KLAUS
That is correct.
WADE
Anything else you want to add?
KLAUS
Such as?
WADE
Were you the second gunman on the grassy knoll?
KLAUS
I do not understand.
WADE
This is insane. So...so why turn yourself in? Huh? You’ve avoided being caught for so
long. Why now?
191
KLAUS
I have my reasons.
WADE
Fuck it, that’s it. I’m through with you old man. You wanna sit there and act like this.
Fine. I’m finished.
KLAUS
You do not believe me?
WADE
Let me tell you what I believe. You ever heard of something called Occam’s Razor?
Simplest answer is usually right? I think that you’re some perverted old man with a
science fair project. I think that you raped that girl, and her father found out, and you
skinned him alive. I think that this whole story of secret experiments, murdering
homeless people...bullshit. Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing. If you think
you’re getting off on an insanity plea I got news for you. I will make it my mission, my
life’s mission, to see you go down for this. You raped that girl, didn’t you?
KLAUS
No.
WADE
And then, when her father found out, you killed him.
KLAUS
No.
WADE
Stop lying! Tell me the truth.
KLAUS
I have told you everything.
WADE
You have lied to me since the moment I met you.
KLAUS
I promise you this is the truth.
192
WADE
Then why? Huh? Why now? Why turn yourself in?
(Pause.)
KLAUS
When I was a child--
WADE
Stop it! I don’t want to hear this. It’s just more--
KLAUS
I’m trying to tell you--
WADE
--you’re just going to bullshit me more!
(Pause.)
Fine. Fine.
KLAUS
When I was a child my father killed my dog.
WADE
Yeah, I know. I heard this already.
KLAUS
He killed it because he could. No other reason. All I wanted to do was help the dog. To
love it. That is all I have ever wanted to do. Help.
WADE
Who were you helping? You did all of this, who were you helping?
KLAUS
The world. At least, that’s what I, that’s what I thought.
WADE
Yeah. Well, “F” for effort, pal.
(The phone rings. Wade picks up.)
Yeah...they’re ready? Alright.
(He hangs up the phone.)
Well, its been entertaining M eyerhold. I’m going to go see what these guys want. When
I come back we’ll talk about what really happened.
193
(Wade moves to the door.)

You know, you’ve got a really twisted idea of what it means to help. Real twisted.
(Wade exits. Sara bursts past him and runs to Klaus.
She grabs him as Wade tries to pull her off.)
Hey! Kid, you can’t be in here.
(Sara lashes out at Wade. Klaus pushes Wade
away.)
KLAUS
Detective please, you’ll hurt her.
WADE
She can’t be in here.
KLAUS
Sara you must leave.
SARA
(To Klaus.)
Is it true?
KLAUS
Sara...
SARA
Is it true?
(Pause.)
Thank you.
(She embraces him. Wade pulls her off.)
WADE
(Calling O.S., pushing Sara through the door.)
All right, all right. Get her out of here!
(Sara exits. Slight pause. Klaus and Wade stare at
each other, then Wade shakes his head and leaves.
Klaus looks at the files on the desk. He reaches up
and touches the folder, opens it, then closes it. He
pushes the files away. A slight smile.)
(End of Play.)
194
APPENDIX B
AGGROCULTURE
195
CHARACTERS
STEVE M ALE 30s

SAM M ALE 30s
ANNA FEM ALE Late 20s
M R. LEWIS M ALE 50s
EL CARNICERO M ALE 30s-40s
NEWSREPORTER M ALE or FEM ALE (VOICE ONLY)
SETTINGS
Steve's Living Room
Steve's Basement
TIM E
Present day.
196
SCENE 1
A modest house. Sparse furnishings. M essy.

STEVE sleeps under a pile of trash on a beat-
down sofa with a color scheme which would have
been pushing the boundaries of good tastes when
it was made thirty years ago. Now it’s a wreck of
its former self, held together only with duct-tape
and some as-of-yet undiscovered laws of the
universe. A TV is on.
NEWSREPORTER (VOICE)
...at the scene on the twenty three hundred block of St. M ary’s street, where several
hours ago police made a grisly discovery. To recap, at least five dismembered bodies
have been found in what appears to be a gang-style execution. Police are not
forthcoming with any new information.
A banging at the door.
SAM (OFF STAGE)

Hey! Steve! Hey dickhead! Wake up, guerro! Don’t be sleepin’ in puke-rocker.
Open up, it’s the police! We heard there was a gigantic douche on these premises!
Come out with your pants around your ankles!
FEM ALE VOICE (OFF STAGE)

Keep it down!
SAM (OFF STAGE) (cont’d)

Chupa mi verga, puta! Go back inside with your cats and loneliness!
Steve rises from the sofa, the garbage spilling onto

the floor. He is in his early 30s and has spiky
bleached-blonde hair. His garb is typical punk-
rock chic: pants worn at the knees, t-shirt missing
sleeves and collar. His arms are heavily tattooed.
197
He rises and moves to the door and opens it to

reveal SAM , Hispanic and late twenties with a
shaved head, wearing a spiked denim vest, jeans,
and combat boots. He shoves a paper bag into
Steve’s chest and then barges inside.
SAM (cont’d)
M erry Christmas, guerro.
STEVE
What’s this?
SAM
Breakfast man.
STEVE
Fuckin’ A.
Steven rips into the bag, pulls out a taco wrapped

in foil, and begins to devour it.
SAM
Damn, dude, you didn’t have to clean up on my account.
STEVE
Yeah, well you know.
SAM
(Indicating the TV) Hey, did you hear about this?
STEVE
What?
SAM
Bunch of dudes got chopped up couple of blocks over. All gnarly style. Heard they
snitched on some big-time mob guys. Got their heads chopped off, arms and legs.
M essed up man.
STEVE
I wasn’t really paying attention.
198
SAM
Your sister here?
STEVE
Yeah.
SAM
How’s she been?
STEVE
Good. Kickin’ ass at school.
SAM
I’m praying for her man.
STEVE
You better be prayin’ she’s not the prosecutor next time you get arrested. She’ll
throw the book at you.
SAM
Whatever, she’s still got a soft spot for me. She remembers all the lovin’ I gave her.
STEVE
Shut up about my sister.
SAM
Haha! Been missing you dude. Where you been these last few weeks? Thought you
might have moved back to the farm or something.
STEVE
I was working.
SAM
Oh yeah. How’s that warehouse treating you?
STEVE
It’s all right. Well. You know. It is what it is.
199
SAM
Yeah man. Well, we all miss you dude. Scene ain’t the same without big Steve. Oh
man, that reminds me, you’ll never guess who came out the other night.
STEVE
You out of the closet.
SAM
Haha, shut up. Nah man, Jefferson!
STEVE
No shit?
SAM
Oh yeah, dude. Dude and his boys showed up at the Anti-Rejects show. A show I
spent a month promoting, by the way, and neither you or your sister showed up to.
Sellout.
STEVE
Yeah, been busy. So what happened?
SAM
Okay, so like he and his boys come rollin’ in, all decked out. Head’s all bic’d down
and smooth, those knee-high combat boots they wear, all puffed up and white-
powered out. And then, you know how those dudes are, they was all sittin’ in the
corner, getting smashed, yelling their shit over the crowd between songs. All seig
hails, and yellin’ the fourteen words and shit. And there was like ten of ‘em. And
then, fuckin’ little Zeke, he’s all on the edge of the pit, all away from them and
hidden. And out of nowhere he throws a bottle and boop! Nails Jefferson right in the
head. And all those dudes rush the floor, and it’s all chingasos everywhere. And like
the whole crowd swarmed ‘em. Dude, everybody was getting their licks in. These
three fuckin’ chicks had that dude, you know Bobby, that big ol’ Aryan poster boy,
they had him on the ground just stompin’ his shit. And he stands up and like throws
those chicks off of him all Hulk style. And me and Pete all rush in and start wailin’
on him. And we’re like bam, bam, bam! And then Zeke, he comes out of nowhere,
and he’s got the fuckin’ cash register from the bar all held up over his head, all like
fuckin’ John Cusak in Say Anything, and he runs up and paaah! Smashes it over
Bobby’s head! And the dude’s all mangled now, blood running out on the floor. I
was like, oh shit. So then, we all beat it and run for the car, me and Pete, and Zeke,
and M arisol.
200
So we all peel out right as like every cop in the city is pulling up and pew! Split.
Dude, every one of those Nazi’s got busted. That was a fuckin’ badass show.
STEVE
Damn.
SAM
Yeah, those dudes won’t be coming out no more.
STEVE
Sucks I missed it.
SAM
Ah, well, other than that the show sucked. Only like fifty people there. Nobody
comes out anymore.
STEVE
Yeah. Well, I guess punk really is dead.
SAM
It’s terminal, that’s for sure. It wasn’t like this when I started. I’d put on a show
and there would be five, six hundred people there. Now, everything is all Justin
Bieber and shit. Can’t get nobody to come.
STEVE
Times change man. Nineties are gone.
SAM
Yeah, and it’s lame. No new blood. Wish you had been there, though. Coulda
showed Jefferson what’s up.
STEVE
To be honest I’m trying to keep it on the straight and narrow for a while.
ANNA (OFF STAGE)

Stevie! Stevie for fuck’s sake.
STEVE
What?
201
There is a loud crash. ANNA stumbles onto the

stage. She is in her early thirties and dressed in
comfortable pajamas.
ANNA
Jesus, you think you could keep the trash out of the hallway. You ever gonna pick
this place up?
STEVE
Hey you live here too!
SAM
Hey chicka. Que pasa?
ANNA
Feeling like I’ve been run over by a train.
SAM
Here come sit down.
ANNA
I’m fine! I’m okay now. Just...just need to sit.
She lowers herself onto the couch.
SAM
Hey, you lookin’ good girl.
ANNA
Cut the bullshit, Sam. I look like caca.
SAM
Even still, you look better than that Sasquatch you call a brother.
STEVE
Hey!
ANNA
Long night. I thought we used to drink alot. M an, law students put us to shame.
202
STEVE
Her new friends down at the school. Apparently they party like it’s going out of
style.
ANNA
You would not believe how many car-bombs these guys drank.
SAM
Shit, bunch of college boys got nothin’ on me.
ANNA
M y head. You wouldn’t stand a chance. They get all crazy after finals. Steve, you
said you were gonna clean this place up. I’ve got friends coming over tonight.
SAM
Yeah, clean punk!
ANNA
I’ll get the bedrooms, but please pick up the living room.
STEVE
Jesus. Fine.
Steve begins to pick up the trash around the room.
ANNA
And the kitchen!
STEVE
M an, slave driver here.
ANNA
It’s your fuckin’ house.
STEVE
Yeah, I remember that the first of every month when I pay the rent and you get to go
screw around at the campus all day.
ANNA
Love you bro.
203
STEVE
Shut up.
Steve takes a load of trash off to the kitchen.
SAM
So how you been?
ANNA
Stressed out. Only one more year and then I graduate, take the BAR. It’ll be good to
be done. But overall I feel good, doing good. Except this morning. Feel like I’m
gonna puke out my stomach. It’s like that New Years party two years ago at Filthy
Phil’s place, where you and me killed that bottle of Scotch.
SAM
Oh yeah. M an his toilet needed to be taken out and shot! Good times.
ANNA
Yeah. It’s the same feeling.
SAM
You and your bro still getting along?
ANNA
Yeah. He’s really good to me. Really helped out a lot. M an, I feel sick.
SAM
M aybe you just need something to eat. Here, potato only taco just for you.
Sam reaches in the paper bag and pulls out a taco.

Anna sniffs it and gags.
ANNA
No, no. I don’t think I could have anything now.
SAM
You sure?
204
ANNA
Yeah if I eat it it’s just going to redecorate the walls. But thank you, Sam. I
appreciate it.
SAM
I’ll just leave it here.
ANNA
Just, give me a minute.
SAM
You need a good bowl of menudo.
ANNA
Oh fuck no.
SAM
I’m serious, best thing ever for a hang over.
ANNA
No, just thinking about the smell.
SAM
M mm. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.
ANNA
Okay, stop.
SAM
Sizzling pink sausages. Eggs...runny.
ANNA
Dude, if you don’t stop I’m gonna smack you.
SAM
(Pause.) Bacon. Extra greasy.
Anna swipes at Sam’s head.
205
ANNA
That’s not funny! Seriously, my stomach is barely hangin’ on.
SAM
Okay, damn. Sorry!
ANNA
God. No wonder I broke up with you in high school.
SAM
Damn. Sorry. Okay, I’m a jerk.
ANNA
You are a jerk.
SAM
It’s part of my Latino charm. Come here.
ANNA
What?
SAM
Come here! Give me a hug.
ANNA
No, Sam I--
SAM
Come on!
He gives her a big hug.
ANNA
Oh God, Sam, I think I--
SAM
Still got the hots for me?
ANNA
I’m gonna throw up.
206
She runs for the bedrooms just as Steve enters to

see her off. Gagging noises.
STEVE
Anna? Are you ok?
ANNA (OFF STAGE)

Fine.
M ore wretching.
STEVE
What did you do to her?
SAM
Nothin’ man! Damn, always blaming me.
STEVE
You need to go easy on her. She was all freaked out about her finals yesterday. Just
blowin’ off some steam.
SAM
What’s she freaked out about?
STEVE
That school is like hard core. Kick you out for making a B. It keeps her up at night.
You know her. Gets all overly worried over everything.
SAM
Yeah, I do.
Anna enters.
ANNA
All done.
SAM
Hey, baby, I’m sorry.
ANNA
Just stop talking, Sam. You’re giving me a headache.
207
SAM
I know, I know. I talk out my ass. But if it makes you feel better, I know one thing
for sure. I know you’re gonna pull through. You’re the smartest person I know.
And when you’re through with law school you’re gonna be all Judge Dredd. “I am
the law!” I know it. Ain’t nothin’ keep Anna Hellcat down!
ANNA
Thanks. You’re still an asshole.
SAM
Yeah, well. Try to forget that if I ever get busted again. Oh, hey speaking of getting
busted...
He reaches in his vest pocket and pulls out a joint.
SAM (cont’d)
Bam!
ANNA
Really? Sam, I just woke up.
SAM
Shit, you already behind girl! It’s my own special blend. Call it “Kicked In The
Head.” I grow it in my closet. Got two little plants, male and female. I’m gonna
breed ‘em. You watch.
ANNA
Sam, I don’t want to get high right now. I feel like shit.
SAM
Well what better time is now? It’s Saturday. Summer is starting. School’s out baby!
Relax a bit. It’s a celebration.
ANNA
Oh, God.
SAM
What, you gonna go straight-edge or something? It’ll be fine. And it’ll help you feel
better. Ain’t nothin’ better for a hangover than a royal fatty.
208
Anna takes the joint and looks for a lighter. She

lights it up.
SAM (cont’d)
There ya go. See this is what I’m talkin’ about.
ANNA
What did you call this?
SAM
“Kicked In The Head.”
ANNA
M ore like “Shit In Your M outh.”
She passes it over to Steve who takes a hit and

grimaces.
SAM
Damn, throw it in my face! You know how hard it is to grow quality closet?
ANNA
I’m just sayin’. It’s nothin’ to write home about.
STEVE
Damn, dude. Did you microwave this or something?
SAM
No. (Pause). Only for like a minute. What you got better?
ANNA
Hells yeah. Steve’s got better stuff growing in the basement.
STEVE
Jesus Christ, Anna!
ANNA
Oops.
209
SAM
Whoa, bro! Wait, wait, hold for a representative! You growin’ your own? Here?
ANNA
Yeah. And it’s the most dankiest dankity dank ever.
STEVE
Anna!
ANNA
Sorry.
SAM
Dude, why holdin’ out on me?
STEVE
Look, I just didn’t want anyone--
SAM
Bro, you got your own home grown and you ain’t sharin’ it?
STEVE
I was waiting till it was ready.
ANNA
You’ve had it drying for two weeks.
STEVE
You know. You really need work on this whole confidentiality thing if you’re gonna
be a lawyer!
ANNA
Just go get a nug and the pipe. I wanna try it.
SAM
Yeah, she wants to try it!
ANNA
You been bragging about it for weeks. Let’s see if you remember what mom taught
you.
210
STEVE
All right. All right. Fine.
Steve exits.
SAM
Damn, your mom taught you how to grow herb?!
ANNA
No. No. She taught us how to grow indoors. You know, like gardening. She had a
greenhouse in the back of the farm where we grew up.
SAM
No shit.
ANNA
Yeah. Stevie was always better at it than me. He used to spend hours out there
helping her. Don’t tell him but I think he’s a little homesick for the farm.
SAM
Really?
ANNA
Yeah. He misses it. I think that’s why he started his little atrium in the basement.
SAM
What’s he got down there?
ANNA
Just one plant. Water pump. He’s growing it hydroponically. It’s all crazy
laboratory down there. Some new strain he’s been working on. It would be uber-
nerdy if it wasn’t weed.
SAM
Damn, all big time.
ANNA
Yup. He’s really good at it. Don’t tell him I said that.
SAM
And let his head get all bigger than it is? No way. Gotta keep him in his place.
211
Steve reenters with a pipe.
STEVE
All right. Don’t judge it too harshly.
SAM
Let me see. (He sniffs.) Exquisite bouquet! Ha! All right, guerro, let’s see what this
bullshit’s got.
Sam takes a big hit and holds it.
STEVE
Well?
SAM
Odelay chingada!
ANNA
Told ya it was good.
SAM
Holy shit. Dude, I gotta sit down. Aye, goddamn, what is this shit?
STEVE
Just a little hobby.
SAM
Little hobby? Did you breed it with airplane glue? Shit!
STEVE
Just something I’ve been working on.
ANNA
He’s been working on it for six months. (She takes a hit.) Oh, yeah. Oh this is way
better than the last crop. Good job, baby bro.
SAM
How many crops have you had?
212
STEVE
Let’s see, this is the tenth generation.
SAM
Tenth? In six months? Bullshit.
STEVE
It’s new.
SAM
How’d you do it?
STEVE
Cross-breeding some fast-bloom strains with some potent strains. Kept at it until I
hit the jackpot. Now I got a never ending supply.
SAM
Damn, dude. Damn. That’s...there’s no words. I have no words. Words. This is the
greatest shit I’ve every smoked in my life!
STEVE
Yeah. It’s all right.
SAM
All right? Dude, that’s like med grade. You could fill a prescription with that!
STEVE
Well, you know.
SAM
Hey, aint’ you gonna smoke with us?
ANNA
Steve has to work today.
STEVE
No, I’m off.
ANNA
I thought you were on.
213
STEVE
No, they...they switched the schedule. I’m off for the next few days.
ANNA
Oh. Okay. Well whatcha waitin for bitch?!
STEVE
Funny.
Steve takes the joint and smokes, then passes it

around.
SAM
Dude, my eyeballs are numb. You grow this back on the farm?
ANNA
Not really. Dad didn’t believe in the stuff. The M arine Corps clean living was
embedded in him.
STEVE
Yeah. He said that if he ever caught us smoking anything he’d lock us in the chicken
coup, all POW style.
ANNA
One time he caught Stevie with a cigarrette. M ade him dig fence posts holes for like
ten hours, then made him fill in all the holes.
STEVE
Yup.
ANNA
And then he says, he says “You wanna be outta breath? You achieve that by doing
work.” That was his motto. Always achieve. Always work.
STEVE
Semper Fi.
ANNA
Semper fuckin’ Fi. You don’t want to know what he did when he caught me making
out with Bradley Singletary in the barn.
214
SAM
Sounds sexy.
ANNA
Yeah, not really. Excuse me, I think I need to freshen up. All this memory lane shit
is really killin’ my buzz. Again, good job bro. Oh, and don’t forget I need your
insurance card to run and pick up my insulin. Running low again.
STEVE
Yeah. Okay.
Anna exits.
SAM
So he was pretty hard core, huh?
STEVE
Who dad? He was full of shit. All this “Always achieve, always work.” Then he
gets busted transporting illegals across the border.
SAM
Really?
STEVE
Yeah. He’d been doing it for years. M aking extra cash. See the farm, it was about
thirty miles past the BP checkpoint. So when dudes would cross, they come hang
out at the farm for a couple of days, then he’d drive em up to San Antonio or
Houston, sometimes Louisiana. They’d pay him a thousand bucks a pop. Thousand
bucks for a two, three hour ride. Pretty good racket.
SAM
How’d he get busted?
STEVE
Taillight. State trooper stopped him. Found six dudes in the camper of his truck.
That was it for the farm. He went away for four years. M om split from him, moved
us to San Anto. That was that. Haven’t seen him since he got out. By then, well,
she was...fuck it. Ancient history.
215
SAM
Well, hey at least you got off that farm. M an I couldn’t live like that. City life for
me baby.
STEVE
Yeah, it was different.
SAM
Yeah, no thanks. M y great grandpa worked on a farm.
STEVE
Yeah?
SAM
Yeah. Beans. That’s what my grandma told us. That’s what he picked. Fuckin’
stereotype, I know. Back when she was still around, I remember Thanksgiving
dinners. She’d never serve beans. It’s cause that’s all they ate, everyday, when she
was a kid. She hated them. Never touched ‘em. Wouldn’t serve it for meals. The
rest of my family, they loved the stuff. I asked her why she didn’t like beans, and
she told me that peasants eat beans. We’re not peasants.
STEVE
Peasants. M y dad used to talk about the nobility of farming. I never saw it. I don’t
miss it at all. Well, I do miss the green house. I liked hanging out in there. You could
get lost, hide when dad was on a rampage. You know, my mom was really great at it.
She was really good at horticulture. Used to grow these hydroponic tomatoes that
were as big as softballs. Would make her own fertilizer and growth formulas. I think
it pissed my dad off cause her small little tomato crop would sell way faster than all
his corn. She had flowers, rare ones. It was nice. Peaceful.
SAM
Where’d she learn that?
STEVE
She went to school. For a while at least. A&M Kingsville. Agriculture and organic
chemistry. But the farm took a hit in this drought so she had to quit before she
graduated. But she learned a lot. I helped her study, you know?
SAM
Yeah?
216
STEVE
Only college I ever had. Good times. It was fun, working in the greenhouse. The
nutrient solution I used on the weed, that was hers. She showed me how to make it. I
used to brew up batches for her. That’s the secret you know. M om’s formula.
SAM
What’s in it?
STEVE
Wouldn’t be a secret if I told you, now would it? But yeah, made those tomatoes
grow like, like they were rockets. Sure wish I had a...bah.
SAM
What?
STEVE
It’s nothin.
SAM
It’s something. I can tell. You always have this look. I see it.
STEVE
It’s nothing.
SAM
Bullshit. Come on.
STEVE
It’s just--
SAM
What?
STEVE
Nothin’ man. No need to worry about my problems.
SAM
What man? You can tell me.
217
STEVE
They’re cutting back at the warehouse. I’m on the block.
SAM
Shit. Damn, sorry dude.
STEVE
Yeah.
SAM
You know what, fuck that place. Hey, you could come work with me at the shop.
Greg will hire you. M e and that dude are tight.
STEVE
It’s more complicated than that.
SAM
How so?
STEVE
They cut my insurance. They cut everybody’s.
SAM
So what?
STEVE
So Anna was on my insurance for her insulin. Now, we gotta pay full-price for it.
SAM
Damn. That sucks man. Yeah, my grandma had diabetes. The fat kind, not the Steel
Magnolias kind like your sister has. Rough stuff man.
STEVE
I can’t believe you made a Steel Magnolias reference.
SAM
Wha?
STEVE
Seriously.
218
SAM
It’s a good movie....sad...don’t judge me. So, so she don’t have her own? What about
that lawyer she’s working for?
STEVE
It’s an internship. Till she’s done with school. She’s on mine.
SAM
How’d you manage that?
STEVE
Told ‘em she was my wife.
SAM
Dude, you married your sister?! Ewwwwww!
STEVE
No fuckhead, but that’s what I said on the forms. We got the same last name. I just,
you know, for a while thought it would help. Get her the treatment and the meds she
needs. But now, man, I won’t be able to afford it.
SAM
Damn, dude, I knew you were a farm boy but, shit that’s takin’ it all the way.
Though, I understand. Your sister is fine.
STEVE
Shut up man.
SAM
Shit, dude, why don’t she just get her some Obamacare?
STEVE
It hasn’t kicked in. Plus the boss being all retarded Republican with it. Holding out.
He’s an asshole. These people, man. They don’t get it.
SAM
Fuckin’ Texas.
219
STEVE
Fuckin’ Tex-ass. Thing is, the boss is cutting people because of Obamacare. Like out
of spite. It’s fucked. Hey don’t tell anyone about me and my sister and the
insurance.
SAM
Hey man--
STEVE
I’m serious. I could get into a lot of trouble. Some serious shit if they insurance
company finds out. Plus, Anna would be...
SAM
Hey, man. I got ya. I ain’t sayin’ nothin’.
SAM (cont’d)
M an, I tell ya. Dudes like us can’t win.
STEVE
Tell me about it.
SAM
I mean, these rich motherfuckers, all they do is leach. All they do, off people who
work for them. They got no soul.
STEVE
I just... I wish there was some way I could just have enough. Security. M y dad used
to talk about the farm being the security. He said the land will always provide. Then
he got locked up and mom took us here. So much for security.
SAM
M an, fuck the farm. The city is where it’s at. Honestly, do you really wanna go
back to that Green Acres shit?
STEVE
It wasn’t so bad. I used to hate it but...
SAM
But what?
220
STEVE
It felt like you were always doing something instead of just waiting around. You
plant the seed, the crop grows, you harvest, you sell. You see it through from
beginning to end. You just can’t get that sort of cycle in a warehouse or in a city.
Everything is...what’s the word?
SAM
Fuckin’ “lame”?
STEVE
No....uh...compartmentalized. It’s like...like you’re just a gear in the machine. On the
farm, you were in control. You’re the boss. Sure, things like weather and prices you
can’t control, but you were making something worthwhile. Something people needed.
SAM
I hear that. I wish you still had that farm. Cause man, let me tell you something, see
this shit right here?
Points to the joint.
SAM (cont’d)
This shit is about to be the next thing, man. It’s already legal in like five states. You
know who’s gonna be rich in the next twenty years? Dudes who grow this.
STEVE
I suppose.
SAM
It’s true. That’s why I’m starting now. Sure, it’s just me and my closet with halogen
lamps, but one day I’m gonna sell my strain and live like a king. That’s how every
great success story begins, yo. A man comes here with nothin’ but the clothes on his
back and an idea and then makes something the world needs. That’s America, man.
Al Capone wasn’t a gangster. He provided what people wanted. That’s how
everything great in America begins.
STEVE
And you’re gonna be what? The next great weed baron?
SAM
Hell’s yeah. Kicked In The Head is gonna be big, guerro. You just watch.
221
STEVE
Keep dreaming.
SAM
M an, you too?
STEVE
Anna’s right. It’s a little weak and it tastes like roadkill.
SAM
You’d know, redneck. You watch, I’m gonna hit big.
STEVE
Not with that shit.
SAM
So you said you cross-breed your stuff? Fast-bloom?
STEVE
Yeah.
SAM
How long does it take?
STEVE
Oh, about two weeks.
SAM
Two weeks? How the hell’d you manage that?
STEVE
Told ya. M om’s formula.
SAM
Shit how much have you grown?
STEVE
I don’t know. Couple of ounces.
222
SAM
In two weeks?
STEVE
Yeah.
SAM
Damn you’re like the Weed Whisperer. Well shit, hook a vato up.
STEVE
How much you want?
SAM
What do ya got?
Steve reaches into his pocket and pulls out a sack.
STEVE
Got about, looks like, an ounce and a half.
SAM
Sold!
STEVE
Hey man!
SAM
Come on dude, throw me a bone!
STEVE
That’s like half my stash.
SAM
Half? Shit man, you’ll have more in a few days. You said it yourself.
STEVE
Goddammit. All right well give me some money for it.
SAM
Aw man!
223
STEVE
Hey man, I gotta go get some stuff. Okay? I gotta pick up the insulin, that’s gonna
cost me.
SAM
But dude, we’re bros.
STEVE
Yeah, well your bro needs seventy five bucks for the meds.
SAM
Seventy five dollars!
STEVE
Hey that’s a good deal for an ounce and a half of quote The Greatest Shit I’ve Ever
Smoked In M y Life, end quote.
SAM
M an.
He reaches in his wallet and pulls out the money.
STEVE
Thank you, sir.
SAM
You’re lucky I like you. So what do you call this shit?
STEVE
It doesn’t have a name. Why?
SAM
Nothin’. No reason. All right bro, well peace be with you and shit. I’m out of here.
STEVE
You leaving?
SAM
Yeah, gotta hit the club. Set up for the show tonight.
224
STEVE
Yeah, all right.
SAM
Later, dork.
Sam exits and Steve follows him through the door.
STEVE
And stay out!
SAM (OFF STAGE)

Fuck you, puto!
ANNA (OFF STAGE)

Stevie! Have you seen my insulin?
STEVE
It’s in the bathroom.
ANNA (OFF STAGE)

I can’t find it. I’m out.
STEVE
Okay, hold on.
Anna enters.
ANNA
I need it. Now.
STEVE
Okay. Hey help me look.
They scamper around searching.
ANNA
Oh, man. M y head.
STEVE
Eat something.
225
ANNA
No, I...I need my shot.
STEVE
Okay, just relax. Let me find it.
Steve runs off. Anna sinks into the couch.
ANNA
Please, hurry.
STEVE (OFF STAGE)

Okay, okay. It’ll be fine. Got it!
Steve runs back on with a small, half-filled vial.
STEVE (cont’d)
Here.
Steve opens up an end-table and produces a

syringe in plastic. He unwraps the syringe and
fills it with the insulin. Then injects it into
Anna’s side.
ANNA
Ahh. Thank you Stevie. I’ll call in my...I’ll get some more this afternoon.
STEVE
Yeah. Okay. Listen, you just relax. I’ll go pick it up.
ANNA
Are you sure?
STEVE
Yeah, no prob.
ANNA
I’m just. I’m just gonna sit here for a while.
226
STEVE
Okay, just relax sis.
Steve covers her with an old blanket.
Lights fade.
227
SCENE 2
NEWSREPORTER (V.O.)
Breaking news: police have just made an arrest in the brutal slaughter of five local gang
members who were found dismembered in a home on the west side three weeks ago.
What’s become known as the St. M ary’s Slaughterhouse, the gruesome scene was
discovered when the landlord of one of the victims entered the home after his tenant
had failed to pay rent...
Steve is on the phone.
STEVE
Yes...Yes...I understand...Look, I promise I’ll have the rent tomorrow. Look just give
me a chance...You know about my sister’s condition...well, she had an
episode...Yeah...I promise...I know, and you’re right...okay. Later. (Hangs up the
phone.) Shit.
Anna enters. She is dressed in a smart pants suit.

She walks to a mirror on the wall and begins to
apply her make up.
ANNA
Who was that?
STEVE
Uh, no one. What are you all dressed up for? It’s Saturday.
ANNA
The firm just called. Gotta big case.
STEVE
Awesome! What’s the case?
ANNA
You heard about the St. M ary’s Slaughterhouse, right?
STEVE
Yeah. Sort of. Bunch of guys got hacked up with an axe, right?
228
ANNA
That’s the one. Well, yesterday the cops arrested a suspect, and now the law firm of
Lewis and Pratchett has been hired as the defense. This is huge!
STEVE
Oh, yeah? So, who is the guy?
ANNA
Get this: M iguel “El Carnicero” Salazar.
STEVE
His nickname is “The Butcher”?
ANNA
Yup.
STEVE
Well, clearly it’s a frame job.
ANNA
Our job is to represent our clients despite any personal feelings...or preponderance of
evidence.
STEVE
So I’m guessing he’s pleading out.
ANNA
You’d be wrong bro. M r. Lewis tells me the client is pleading not guilty. This is
going to trial.
STEVE
You’re kidding.
ANNA
Nope. And guess who got selected for the research and prep team?
STEVE
No way!
229
ANNA
Eeeeeek! This is a major. M r. Lewis has given me a huge responsibility, and if I do
well, I’m positive they’ll hire me once I pass the BAR.
STEVE
That’s...fantastic. Are you sure about this?
ANNA
About what?
STEVE
About defending a...well, this guy.
ANNA
Jesus, I’m not going to ask him out. That’s how the system works. We represent
our client to our full ability, even if he is a full-blown raging psychopath. How do I
look?
STEVE
Ready to dispense some justice.
ANNA
Oh, hey, me and some of the girls on the team are gonna go out later so don’t wait up
for us.
STEVE
Okay.
ANNA
Also, would it be cool if I took a little pinch from your stash? I think after today
we’re going to need it.
STEVE
Uh. Yeah. Yeah, okay. (He retrieves a joint from the end table drawer.) Here take
this.
ANNA
Okay, great. Don’t wait up.
230
STEVE
Hey, don’t drink too much.
A knock at the door. Anna opens to reveal Sam.
SAM
Hey Hellcat.
ANNA
Hey Sam. No time, gotta run!
SAM
Okay, I miss you already!
ANNA
Oh, Stevie, I left a list of a few essentials I need from the grocery store. Would you
stop by and pick them up sometime today?
STEVE
Um, sure. Hey Anna...
ANNA
Yeah?
STEVE
(Pause.) Good luck.
ANNA
Thanks, Skeevy Stevie. I’ll see you later. Bye Sam.
SAM
Bye. (Pause). I love you. (Steve gives him a look.) What?
STEVE
Nothing.
SAM
It’s Saturday. What’s she doing?
STEVE
They got a big case.
231
SAM
Holy shit? Is it El Carnicero?
STEVE
That’s the one.
SAM
Dude! That’s crazy! Hey, you think she could get his autograph?
STEVE
That dude hacked up five people!
SAM
Uh, that dude’s gonna be famous man.
STEVE
You’re a sick fuck.
SAM
M an, don’t be such a square, vato.
STEVE
Whatever man. So what’s up? How was last night?
SAM
Yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.
STEVE
Something happen? Jefferson show up again?
Sam walks to the table and drops a pile of cash on

it.
STEVE (cont’d)
What the fuck is that?
SAM
That’s your cut. M inus the seventy five from yesterday.
STEVE
What are you talking about? (Pause.) Holy shit you didn’t!
232
SAM
Yup.
STEVE
Dude, that was for you. It’s not for sale!
SAM
You don’t understand, man. We got some shit here.
STEVE
I don’t care! I don’t want you selling man! I can’t believe you did this.
SAM
Did you not hear me, guerro? Baby, it was flying off the shelves. I barely believe it
myself. We made eighteen hundred in one night.
STEVE
Eighteen hundred?
SAM
Yeah.
STEVE
Holy shit. How’d you manage that?
SAM
You know the band that was playin’, Anarchy Jihad?
STEVE
Yeah, yeah.
SAM
Well, we were backstage hangin’. And homeboy from the band, the singer, he starts
askin’ where he can score. So it hits me. Bing, lightbulb. And I’m like, baby I got
what you need. So, I start thinkin’, like, this dude’s gonna be more down with this if
I give, you know, a little sampler. So bust out with one pinch, load his pipe, hand it
over. This dude takes a hit and pssshh! He’s flyin’, warp speed, guerro. Fuckin’
time traveling. He opens his eyes a couple of seconds later and he looks at me all
crazy, then he tells the bass player to come over and try it. Bass player puffs, boom
gone. Like he just got mauled by tiger, man.
233
He’s all, damn dude, they aint’ got shit like this in Cali. Then they call the drummer,
and the guitarist. And all of em, they swear it’s the best shit they ever smoked. So
then, the singer, he turns and he’s like, hey man, you got any more? I’m like yeah.
And he’s like, how much bro? And right there, ese, I know I got em. I just make it
up. So I’m like, fifty bucks a gram.
STEVE
Fifty a gram? That’s crazy.
SAM
I thought so too. I put it up there thinkin’ we’d negotiate. But dude looks at me,
reaches for his wallet, pulls out two hundred dollars. Then the rest of the band, they
start doing the same. All the sudden, there’s a thousand dollars on the table. I’m like
all right then. Square the deal. It ain’t gettin’ no better than that. And the singer, he
gets my number, and he’s like, next time we’re in town he’s gonna call me. And he’s
gonna give my number to every band they play with so when they come rollin’ into
town they can get the hook up.
STEVE
Damn, dude.
SAM
That’s not all. So then, little while later, the club manager, Tina, comes back, and
she’s like hey what’s up? I’m what’s up with you girl? And she sees what’s going
down, and I’m thinkin’ I’m out. She’s gonna boot me. No, she’s like, hook me up.
I’m like, ok. And then she tells me I can sell it back here, I just need to keep it down,
you know. And I’m like cool. Next thing I know, there’s a line of kids, all wanting to
score. Dude, I was out in like forty five minutes.
STEVE
Holy shit.
SAM
Dude, this shit is the bomb. The whole scene is talkin’ about it. Everyone wants to
know when I’m gonna have more. Dude I’m taking orders already.
STEVE
That’s crazy man.
234
SAM
So, check it. I had another idea. See, way I figure, we got green gold here. All we got
to do is get whole bunch of it. I mean like, ten pounds. Then, we keep selling, selling,
selling. Keep hustling it. By the time we run out, a new crop will be ready and we
start all over.
STEVE
Ten pounds?
SAM
What?
STEVE
There’s no way.
SAM
What, scared?
STEVE
No, I’m sane. You know how long it would take to grow ten pounds even with the
plants we got.
SAM
I don’t know. How long?
STEVE
Hell if I know. But way longer than what you’re talkin’.
SAM
Okay, so we just keep it low for now, we sell what we have, build up the crop.
STEVE
Nah, man. This plan is psycho.
SAM
What’s wrong with it?
STEVE
Oh, where do I fuckin’ start? First off, you’re talking about a felony. Several felonies
in fact. I can’t have that. If we get caught--
235
SAM
We ain’t gonna get caught.
STEVE
With you out there slingin’ yourself? Shit, only a matter of time. And then what?
We’d both be locked up. It’d ruin Anna, man. I can’t do that. She depends on me
right now.
SAM
All right, so... what if... what if we sold everything at once?
STEVE
You know someone that’s gonna smoke ten pounds of weed at once? Whose gonna
pay up front?
SAM
M aybe a dude.
STEVE
What dude?
SAM
You know. A dude.
STEVE
What the fuck is a dude?
SAM
A fuckin’ drug dealer, vavoso. Like a big time one. Like the Ventura’s or the fuckin’
Kings or something.
STEVE
And, what you’re gonna knock on their door. Scuze me sir, you don’t know me but
would you like to buy a shit-load of weed? That’s a good way to get shot.
SAM
No. But I know a bunch of people.
STEVE
Like who?
236
SAM
People, man!
STEVE
Like who?
SAM
M ike Thompson.
STEVE
“M ef-Toof” M ike? That’s your contact?
SAM
He’s knows people.
STEVE
He’s a fuckin’ meth-head, man. It’s in his name.
SAM
Exactly. Who do you want me to ask, my fuckin’ guidance counselor?
STEVE
No, no way. This is too crazy.
SAM
Why?
STEVE
You’re talking about being a supplier. All right? You know what that means?
SAM
Look at that stack of cash right there. That’s what it means. Stacks and stacks of
money. This is our shot man. Our chance to leave this sucker’s life of workin’.
STEVE
Well why don’t you sell your stuff?
SAM
Dude, they don’t want Kicked In The Head. They want the Aggro.
237
STEVE
The what?
SAM
The Aggro. Aggroculture. That’s what I called it. Pretty good, right?
STEVE
Aggroculture?
SAM
Yeah. Tight, right? Shit, it’s all about a brand baby. Aggroculture is a brand name.
It’s a hit man. Even the band said they thought it was awesome.
STEVE
Where’d you come up with that?
SAM
You, man! Grown by the farm boy punk rocker himself. It’s agriculture, from the
scene, yo. Agri, aggro. An aggressive high. Like a punch to the mouth. This shit is
home-grown punk rock.
STEVE
That’s the stupidest name I’ve ever heard.
SAM
You know what you’re problem is? You dream small, guerro. Yup, that’s exactly it.
You dream way too small. Oh, I gotta have insurance. Oh, I hope I get a job where I
work sixty hours a week and hot-ass warehouse. Boy that would sure be swell.
That’s how suckers talk, man. This is ours for the taking. Ain’t nobody got green
like this. Nobody. We could be kings.
STEVE
Yeah, some kings got their heads cut off too. That’s something I’d like to avoid. It’s
not worth the risk.
SAM
M an, this country was built by people taking risks. That’s one thing those
Republicans got right. It was built on risk. Take a look around. Everyone who ever
made anything of themselves did it because they took a risk. They gambled. Look at
these putas on Wall Street. They make money literally out of nothing.
238
It’s like magic. They make money out of thin air. They gamble, they play the odds.
They work the system, then they work around the system. I want to work that
system too. And the difference between us and them is that we got something real.
Something you can hold in your hand. They got nothing but numbers and computer
programs. We have an actual product. It’s pure capitalism. We are on the edge,
guerro. The cutting edge. This shit is going to be legal everywhere in a few years,
and we can be set to deliver.
STEVE
You trying to inspire me or something? Fuck this country, fuck the Republicans,
fuck the system. That’s what I say.
SAM
That’s what I say too, man. Cause those same folks that got the money now, they
don’t want dudes like us with money too. Cause then you gotta listen to what we
say. And they don’t wanna hear what we gotta say. But things change, guerro. Like
the guy who found oil in Texas. He was just broke dirt farmer, diggin’ holes in the
ground. But some other dude invented a car that needed oil. All the sudden, this shit
he just dug up is worth a fortune. Now, people gotta listen to what he has to say.
Now, oil runs everything. It’s in everything.
STEVE
Where you going with this?
SAM
All I’m saying is that there is a need, a desire for what we got. Just like oil and the
car. We’re the new oil, man. Green gold. That’s what we got. And what we sell,
ain’t nobody ever started a war over, or used it to bomb a country. What we have is
pure good, vato. You and I, we can be part of it.
STEVE
(Slow clap). That’s beautiful. You should write books.
SAM
Fuck you, dude. I’m serious.
239
STEVE
All right, let’s just say, for argument sake, that everything you said comes true. Let’s
just say that. It still doesn’t solve the issue of what we can do now. Because we
don’t know shit about how to do this.
SAM
I got it baby. These big dudes, all they care about is can they make a profit. We keep
it simple.
STEVE
I don’t know.
SAM
It’s worth taking a shot. You’ve got money problems, man. You’re not gonna be able
to afford your rent, your sister’s meds on what you make. It’s just a shot. Let me
talk to M ike. Come on.
STEVE
Fine. Fine, talk to M ike. It ain’t gonna do no good. Whatever, waste your time.
SAM
All right. Hey bro, this is gonna solve all your problems. Now, let me have a little
more.
STEVE
For what?
SAM
So M ike can vouch for it. Also to spread the word. I gotta plan.
STEVE
Fuck it. I don’t wanna know. Fine here. (Reaches in the drawer of the end table ,
produces a small bag, tosses it to Sam.) Take it. Great, now all you left me with is a
single joint. Thanks a lot.
SAM
Yeah, if only you knew somebody who could grow this shit.
STEVE
Shut up dude.
240
SAM
Hey, you made the right choice. I promise you, nothing will happen. Aggroculture is
going to be the shit, man.
STEVE
Whatever man. Just...go do your thing.
SAM
Laters, bitch!
Sam exits. Steve sits down on the couch with the

joint.
STEVE
Aggroculture. Stupid.
Lights fade.
241
SCENE 3
NEWSREPORTER (V.O.)
M ore details emerge in the growing case against M iguel “El Carnicero” Salazar after a
search of his home turned up blood-stained clothes and a possible murder weapon.
We’ll have more for you as it develops. Now’s heres Sandy with tips on turning that
dead garden into a Zen garden.
A few days later. Steve emerges from the kitchen

and plops down on the couch. He looks
exhausted.
ANNA (OFF STAGE)

Stevie!
STEVE
What?
ANNA (OFF STAGE)

M r. Lewis just called. There’s an emergency meeting with the team. He’s coming by
to get me.
STEVE
He’s coming here?
ANNA (OFF STAGE)

Yeah, so would you clean up a little?
STEVE
Why’s he coming here?
ANNA (OFF STAGE)

Pick me up. We’re having a lunch meeting. Something about the case, some problem.
Gonna be a long day.
STEVE
Hey a little warning would be nice next time.
242
ANNA (OFF STAGE)

This is your warning, dumbass. He’ll be here any minute.
STEVE
Christ.
Steve rises and starts to gather the trash. A knock

at the door.
STEVE (cont’d)
Yeah.
Sam enters.
SAM
Hey hey, cavrone. How ya feeling?
STEVE
Fuckin’ beat man. Hey, help me pick this place up.
SAM
Yeah, you looked like hammered caca.
STEVE
That’s not too far off. Work shifts have been kicking my ass.
SAM
Yeah I hear that.
STEVE
When do expect to hear from M ef-Toof?
SAM
Already did.
STEVE
Well?
SAM
Dude’s on his way.
243
STEVE
Who? M ike?
SAM
No, the dude, dude.
STEVE
The dude? The dude’s coming here?
SAM
Yeah.
STEVE
The guy is coming here? Now?
SAM
Yeah. He wants to meet us.
STEVE
Why the fuck would we meet him here?
SAM
What’s wrong with here?
STEVE
Are you... are you fucking retarded or something?
SAM
What?
STEVE
I don’t want the dude here.
SAM
Well the dude’s coming. Relax it’ll be fine.
STEVE
He can’t come here. Anna’s boss is coming here.
244
SAM
What?
STEVE
Why does he have to come here?
SAM
Because that’s the way this shit works, man. He’s gonna come check us out. You
know, like vet us and shit.
STEVE
This is not good. Not good man.
SAM
Okay, okay, small problem. When’s Anna’s boss gonna be here?
STEVE
Any minute.
SAM
Shit. Okay, we gotta handle the business. Keep it cool.
STEVE
Handle the business? Some fuckin’ M exican mafia gangster is about to come in my
house, where I live, where my sister lives, where we have our fuckin’ grow, where her
boss, one of the biggest lawyers in the city is about to be standing in the same room,
and your response is to keep it cool.
SAM
M an, fuckin’ relax. It’s the way this shit works. We can do this.
STEVE
What do you mean it’s the way this shit works? When the fuck have you done this
before?
SAM
Look man, he’s just gonna swing by, see that we’re good for it, and that’s it.
STEVE
I don’t believe this shit.
245
SAM
What is the problem?
STEVE
First off, he knows where I live.
SAM
Dude, they’re gonna find that out anyway. They’re gonna find out everything about
you and me. So best just get it over with, be cool, and everything will be fine.
STEVE
What if he robs us? What if he’s setting us up? What if they come in and hack us up
like they did those meth heads?
SAM
M an, calm the fuck down! You need to get your shit together. He’s gonna be here in
a few minutes.
STEVE
Fuck! Fuck! Anna is gonna kill me.
SAM
Yeah, look. Just go get a sample. Get it ready, I’ll do all the talking. Okay?
STEVE
Yeah, okay. We got this.
SAM
Fuckin’ Aggro, dude.
STEVE
I hate you man.
Steve exits.
SAM
Wait till we’re rich, you’ll change your tune.
Sam checks himself in the mirror. Then strikes a

tough pose.
246
SAM (cont’d)
(To himself). ‘Sup homes? ‘Sup, homes? ‘Sup homes. Sup, cavrone? No need for
names. Let’s get down to business. That’s not enough, ese. This is some quality
shit.
A knock at the door.
SAM (cont’d)
Oh shit!
Anna enters.
ANNA
Sam, what are you doing here?
SAM
What are you doing here?
ANNA
I fuckin’ live here.
She opens the door. LEWIS is standing there.

He’s in his fifties dressed in a sharp, expensive
suit.
ANNA (cont’d)
M r. Lewis please come in, I’m almost ready. Sam, This is M r. Lewis. M y boss.
M r. Lewis, this is Sam.
LEWIS
Hello, young man. How are you?
SAM
Yeah. Okay. ‘Scuze me a second, por favor.
LEWIS
No hay bronca.
SAM
Right.
247
Sam exits.
ANNA
You’ll have to excuse him. He’s my brother’s friend. Kind of a strange guy, but
mostly harmless.
LEWIS
It’s not a problem. Nice place you have.
ANNA
Oh, I’m sorry. I’m so embarrassed. Steven was supposed to clean it up.
LEWIS
Don’t be. You’re just starting out, Anna. I remember when I was starting out lived in
one room no bigger than this living room and slept on the floormat. It was good.
Builds character and desire. M akes you want for something better.
ANNA
Well, I do want it.
LEWIS
That’s why I picked you, Anna. I know what you want. Speaking of which, where
would you like to eat? M y treat.
ANNA
Oh, I don’t know. Wait, aren’t we meeting with the team?
LEWIS
No, they’re out running around gathering files. This is more of a research meeting.
We have some things we need to go over. The search warrant and arrest report.
ANNA
Oh, ok.
LEWIS
How ‘bout The Plaza?
ANNA
What?
248
LEWIS
The Plaza. Downtown.
ANNA
I’ve never been there.
LEWIS
Well, time you try it. They have the most amazing roast duck. It’s to die for.
ANNA
Oh, I really couldn’t.
LEWIS
Please, I insist. Think of it as a reward for all the good work you’re doing. And fuel
for continued good work. Also, Anna, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.
ANNA
Anything, of course.
LEWIS
Well, as you might have heard Ray is going to have to take a leave of absence. For
personal reasons. How would you like to head up the research team?
ANNA
Oh, my God. Oh, my God are you serious?
LEWIS
What do you say?
ANNA
Yes! Yes! Oh, thank you! I will work every second of every day to make sure we
win.
LEWIS
That’s what I want to hear. Now you’ll be working with me a lot, so better get ready
for some long nights.
ANNA
I am one hundred percent there. I can’t fucking believe this! Oh, excuse my language.
249
LEWIS
Not a problem. You wouldn’t believe how often I’ve called Judge M asterson an
arrogant dickhead. Well, in my head of course.
There is a commotion and Sam shoves Steve onto

the stage. Steve, now holding a bag of pot, hides
it behind his back before Anna and Lewis notice.
STEVE
Anna? Hey, what’s a...what’s going on?
ANNA
M r. Lewis, this is my brother Steven. Stevie, this is my boss M r. Lewis.
LEWIS
Hello, Steven. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you. Nice hair.
STEVE
Hey, hello. How are you? Very nice to meet you so unexpectedly. Anna talks about
you all the time.
LEWIS
I hope it’s all good.
ANNA
Oh, it is definitaltly all good. Stevie, M r. Lewis just told me I’m heading up the
research team!
STEVE
Oh yeah, yeah. That’s great stuff. I know you deserve it.
LEWIS
She most certainly does.
STEVE
Anna, could I talk to you real quick?
He pulls Anna over to the side.
250
STEVE (cont’d)
So what’s, what’s going on?
ANNA
Uh, nothing, M r. Lewis just promoted me and now is taking me out to lunch. But
other than that Jack shit.
STEVE
No, no, I mean how long are you going to be here?
ANNA
Why?
STEVE
No reason. Just wondering.
ANNA
What the hell is the matter with you?
STEVE
Nothing, nothing--
ANNA
It’s okay if I invite someone over to my house, right?
STEVE
Yes, of course. It’s just--
ANNA
Cause, you know, I thought maybe there was a problem.
STEVE
No, it’s just, well... we’ve got a... backed up sewer. So... I hope you don’t have to...
you know.
ANNA
Backed up sewer.
STEVE
Yeah.
251
ANNA
Right.
STEVE
I’m serious.
ANNA
Uh-huh.
STEVE
Yeah. Fine. Peachy. Where you guys going?
LEWIS
The Plaza downtown.
STEVE
Oh, the Plaza? Fancy place. You don’t want to be late.
ANNA
What?
STEVE
Can’t keep him waiting.
ANNA
(Pause.) Okay, what the fuck is going on?
STEVE
Nothing, Jeez. Why does something have to be going on?
ANNA
You are acting really weird.
STEVE
I’m acting weird. You’re the one who’s all bringing a strange man over.
ANNA
Strange man?
252
STEVE
Yeah.
ANNA
He’s my boss.
STEVE
Well, I don’t know him.
ANNA
Yeah, that’s because I’ve never introduced you to him cause of exactly this kind of
shit right here.
STEVE
What? It’s a serious problem. Any second now the pipes could blow...and it’ll ruin
your clothes, and get all over your boss.
ANNA
Just stop it. I don’t know what the hell you’re doing, but you’re embarrassing me.
In front of my boss. Got it. Stop acting like an idiot.
LEWIS
Hey, Anna. We should probably get going. Why don’t you go grab those files?
ANNA
Yes, of course M r. Lewis. Let me just get that and fix myself up a bit.
She exits, glaring at Steve. Silence.
LEWIS
Well boys.
SAM
Hey.
LEWIS
So. Let’s see it.
Pause.
253
STEVE
See what?
LEWIS
The shit.
STEVE
I don’t know if you wanna go in the bathroom--
LEWIS
Not that, moron. The shit. That your friend M ike told me about.
STEVE
What? Oh that shit! Wait, you know M ike?
LEWIS
He’s a frequent client of mine.
SAM
Aww man.
STEVE
You mean that shit!
SAM
He’s the dude!
STEVE
You’re the dude!
SAM
Dude!
Sam tries to hug Lewis.
LEWIS
Get your fuckin’ hands off me.
SAM
Sorry, sorry. Sup?
254
STEVE
Yeah. The shit. Here ya go.
Steve pulls out the baggy. Lewis opens it up and

examines the contents carefully.
LEWIS
And this is the famous Aggro?
STEVE
Yes, yes it is. Though we’re not sold on the name.
SAM
Yes we are.
LEWIS
You boys made quite an impression in a real short time.
STEVE
Uh, thank you?
LEWIS
Everybody’s been talking about this stuff. Say it’s the best.
SAM
Hey, my man here is the man with the green thumb.
LEWIS
The people I represent have certain concerns. They don’t like the fact that you’ve
been going outside the normal system. Understand?
Pause.
SAM
Well, that’s why we wanted to talk to you. Cause, you know, we don’t want to do
anything to upset the system.
STEVE
No, we like the system.
255
SAM
Hooray the system.
LEWIS
That’s very wise. So how much will you have?
STEVE
I could have a pound in three weeks. With what I have already plus the new batch.
LEWIS
One pound?
STEVE
Yeah. Easy.
LEWIS
The people I represent, they don’t go small. So we’ll need to set our sights a little bit
higher.
STEVE
Well, we’re sorta limited. Well, how much were you talking?
LEWIS
We’re going to need twenty.
STEVE
Twe-Twenty?
LEWIS
Is that going to be a problem?
STEVE
Well, it’s just--
SAM
No, no problem. We can do that.
LEWIS
Good. Good. And if this is as good as they say it is, you boys stand to make a quite
a profit.
256
SAM
Hey, that’s what it’s all about, right?
LEWIS
Right.
STEVE
Wait, there is a problem. There’s no way I can grow that amount in a week.
LEWIS
(Pause.) Well, how long are we talking?
STEVE
It’s not that... I just don’t have the space or the supplies to make that amount in one
go.
LEWIS
Boys, we’re not playing nickle and dime bullshit here. Now, how long would it take
to do twenty?
STEVE
I might be able to do it in two, maybe three months.
LEWIS
M ight?
STEVE
I can. If I had all the stuff. And the space.
LEWIS
You have six weeks.
STEVE
Six weeks? M r. Lewis, I don’t think...
LEWIS
You know what the problem with this business is boys? It’s the business. That’s
the dirty part. The product, basically harmless. But you don’t approach people
about doing a deal and then pussy foot around it.
257
Now, I’m gonna walk out that door, and you two are gonna be stuck holding your
dicks and a dime bag, with no way to distribute, unless you tell me straight up the
right answer. Cause we know who you are now. Understand. This, this won’t be
on the streets anymore unless it’s through my clients. So, one last time, can you do
twenty in six weeks?
STEVE
(Pause.) I think I could do that.
He takes out a notepad and pen and scribbles on

it.
LEWIS
Here’s a number to contact when it’s ready. Don’t call me directly. And here’s a...
more interesting number.
He rips off the paper and hands it to Steve. Steve

and Sam stare at the paper.
LEWIS (cont’d)
You boys keep your end of the deal up and we stand to do really well. Now, if you
decide that you want to back out or can’t make the count, well, my clients are...very
sensitive. They may take that as a personal insult. You understand me? (Steve and
Sam nod.) Good.
Anna enters.
ANNA
Okay, found it.
LEWIS
Oh, good. Let’s get going then.
ANNA
Okay, well see you two later.
LEWIS
Nice place you have here boys. We’ll be seeing you around. Oh, and make sure you
take care of that sewer issue quickly. You wouldn’t want any problems. Oh, and
don’t worry about your sister. I’ll look after her.
258
He places his arm around Anna and walks her out

the door. Silence.
STEVE
Well. Thanks a lot man.
SAM
Yeah, that was pretty crazy.
STEVE
Fuck you asshole!
SAM
What?
STEVE
Do you know what you’ve just done to me?
SAM
Uh, I just made you a metric-ass load of money.
STEVE
You’re gonna get us killed! Six weeks?
SAM
You said you could do it.
STEVE
I said I could do it so we wouldn’t be decapitated.
SAM
Hey man, stop worrying.
STEVE
Stop worrying? You just signed our lives away!
SAM
Look at this number. (He holds up the sheet of paper.) You count the number of
zeroes? That’s six zeroes man. For each of us.
259
STEVE
That’s not the point!
SAM
Well what is the point? You’re always bitching about how you never have enough.
Now you got a chance to have more than you’ll ever need and you’re whining. Yeah
man, I’m scared. These dudes, they’re serious players. But we can be too. Like it or
not, you’re in now, guerro. You better come up with something.
STEVE
So I’m the one that’s gotta do everything? This was your idea! You grow it.
SAM
I can’t. You’re the only one. You gotta do it for both of us.
STEVE
Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity fuckfuck.
SAM
If you didn’t want to do this why did you tell me to talk to M ike?
STEVE
Cause I didn’t think...
SAM
What?
STEVE
I didn’t think you’d come through, all right. I thought you’d fuck it up like always.
SAM
Oh. I see. That’s it, then. Old Sam the screw up. The guy who dropped out of high
school, can’t do more than work on cars. You thought you’d teach me something,
huh? What was it, you...you thought I’d learn my place? That I was all talk?
STEVE
M an.
260
SAM
I don’t have a place, man. Don’t you get it? Everybody has been bringing me down
my whole life. I’m not a peasant. And I don’t believe that you are either. So if that
was your lesson well, guess what, I failed it again just like school. And you know
what else? I’m proud I failed it. You failed too. You had a chance to walk away. He
gave it to you on a platter. But I saw your eyes. You want this as much as me.
STEVE
This is not what I wanted.
SAM
Bullshit. You ain’t no peasant. You’re just as tired of getting the shaft as me. Way I
see it, we gotta do what it takes man. So you can either sit here and do nothing, or
you can get to work. Either way, these dudes, they gonna expect their product. So
what’s it gonna be?
STEVE
(Pause.) I’m gonna need a few things.
SAM
All right then. Let’s get started. (They walk toward the exit.) Damn, I should have
asked about the autograph.
The two exit to the basement. Lights fade. End

of Act I.
261
ACT II
SCENE 1
NEWSREPORTER (V.O.)
As the trial of M iguel Salazar is set to begin, both the prosecution and the defense
seem confident in their chances. Defense attorney M ark Lewis had this to say:
LEWIS (V.O.)
We are one-hundred percent sure that the charges against our client will be soundly
defeated. One-hundred percent.
NEWSREPORTER (V.O.)
Strong words. And this comes just one day after Judge Carrie Wiess was recused
after prosecutors filed an injunction citing evidence that she had received money from
associates of the defendant. You’ll remember that bloody clothes and the alleged
murder weapon, a fireman’s axe, was found in the apartment of the defendant. So
we’re left to wonder, how exactly is M ark Lewis going to do to get his client off?
When asked to comment, District Attorney Paul Anderson said “This is a textbook
example of an open-and-shut case.”
The basement. Walls are covered in reflective

material. Sparse furnishings, most notably several
long tables with twenty potted marijuana plants
under halogen grow-lamps. The plants are tall and
fill the background. Steve is examining the plants
carefully.
Sam enters.
SAM
Hey, hey, how’s it going M artha Stewart? Gotdamn! That is a beautiful sight!
STEVE
Well...it’s going okay.
262
SAM
(Singing). In the jungle, the stinky jungle, the Sammy smokes tonight! Weeeeeeeeee!!
Come on, sing along with me.
STEVE
No, no.
SAM
Whatever. Lame. What’s the verdict?
STEVE
I uh, I don’t know. I think so.
SAM
You think or you know?
STEVE
Look, the buds are just starting to come in.
SAM
Okay. Well we’ just have to see.
STEVE
Yeah. So what’s going on?
SAM
Just chillin.
STEVE
You know you could help.
SAM
What do you want me to do?
STEVE
You know... nevermind.
SAM
Damn, dude, what crawled up your ass?
263
STEVE
Look, I’m just under a lot of pressure all right?
SAM
What you want a backrub or something? M an up. Or sit down and take a break.
(Steve drops the clipboard and sits). Gotta admit dude, that miracle formula is pretty
sweet.
STEVE
Yeah, works good huh?
SAM
Hell yeah. I can only imagine those tomatoes your mom used to grow.
STEVE
Simpler times man.
SAM
So, what are you gonna do with your cut?
STEVE
I don’t know. I’m more concerned with making the quota.
SAM
We’ll be fine. Come on man, what are you going to do?
STEVE
I dont’ know man. I’ve been too busy to think about it.
SAM
Come on. I know you. You daydream, you’ve thought about it. M e, I’m gonna buy
the club from Tina.
STEVE
Yeah?
SAM
Yeah, man. Gonna buy it, turn it into a real place. You know. A place for us, for the
scene. No more bullshit bouncers harassing kids. It’s gonna be professional. It’ll be
the premier punk-rock club of the south. We’re gonna bury Emo’s.
264
STEVE
That’s a pretty big dream man. Have you seen Emo’s lately?
SAM
Fuck Emo’s! This place is gonna be the shit. Huge floor for a pit that goes on for
miles. Kids are gonna get lost in that mosh pit, never to return! Gonna be hot girls,
booze, bud. Gonna do it right man. And no lame bands. None of that dubstep
bullshit.
STEVE
Lame bands make the money, man.
SAM
I knew you’d say that shit, sellout. That shit was called Techno in high school and
guess what, it sucked back then and it sucks now. No, I got an idea, check it out:
we’re gonna specialize in one-time reunions of legendary bands.
STEVE
One-time reunions?
SAM
Hells yeah, homes.
STEVE
Like who?
SAM
Shit, whoever’s awesome that people always wanted to see. We’re gonna have the
money to pay for it. I’m gonna get Black Flag back together with Rollins, I’m gonna
get the M isfits back together with Danzig. Shit, I’m gonna get the Ramones dug up
and Frankenstein em’ so they can play.
STEVE
Sounds like you gave this a lot of thought.
SAM
Yes sir. No more being a peasant. I’m gonna be a businessman. Gonna be
somebody. I’m gonna start a fuckin’...what do ya call it? Like fuckin’ M cDonald’s.
265
STEVE
Uh...like a franchise?
SAM
Yeah, man. I’m gonna franchise the shit out of it!
STEVE
You know what you’re gonna call it?
SAM
Sure do, check this out: Play It Again, Sam’s. You like it? It’s from that movie, yo.
Casablanca.
STEVE
Remind me to never let you name a child.
SAM
M an, there you fuckin’ go again, dude.
STEVE
Seriously, your names are crap.
SAM
Always with some smart shit. Always “Oh, no that’s not right.” Or “Well, it’s not
exactly the blah, blah, blah.” You know what, shut up man. It’s a good name.
STEVE
All right, it is a good name. Sorry.
SAM
Fuckin’ A it is. Hey at least I got an idea.
STEVE
What is it?
SAM
First I’m gonna roll around in the money naked. Then I’m buying the club. What
you got?
STEVE
I don’t know, I guess...I guess I may try to get the farm back.
266
SAM
The farm. You and the fuckin’ farm.
STEVE
What?
SAM
You serious?
STEVE
Yeah.
SAM
M an, you should go in with me.
STEVE
I don’t want anything to do with a club.
SAM
What is it with this farm? How you even gonna get it back?
STEVE
Doesn’t have to be our farm. Just a place out in the country. Quiet. It’d be nice.
SAM
And what? You gonna grow corn and turnips and shit?
STEVE
M aybe. Actually, I was sort of thinking about getting into crop dusting.
SAM
What?
STEVE
Yeah. Buy a small plane, get my pilot’s license.
SAM
I don’t know about that, man. I’ve seen the way you drive.
267
STEVE
Just to be...free. From everything. Just do my thing.
SAM
M an, I’d be bored to death.
STEVE
Yeah, that would be nice.
SAM
Well, whatever man. It’s your money.
STEVE
You know I’m still pissed at you for all this.
SAM
M an, you need to get over it. It’s done. It’s in the past.
STEVE
No, it’s very much in the present, jerkwad. If it wasn’t for you--
SAM
If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t about to be set up for life, guerro.
STEVE
Yeah, and how long is that going to last?
SAM
You worry to much. We make the sale and we’re out. Simple.
STEVE
You have no clue what you’re talking about.
SAM
What I’m talking about is this, dude. (He flashes a baggy of pot.) You know I still
got people asking me about it. It’s still the talk of the town, man. And you’re over
here all whining.
STEVE
You know what’s gonna happen if we don’t come through with this, right?
268
SAM
Hell yeah, I know. (He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a small pistol.) “Say hallo
to my little friend, puto!”
STEVE
Jesus, man!
SAM
You like it? It’s my cousin’s.
STEVE
What the hell is that?
SAM
A pistol, Einstein.
STEVE
Is that thing real?
SAM
Hell yeah, it’s real. He let me borrow it. We’re cool like that.
STEVE
So why’d you bring it here?
SAM
To show you, homes! Show you I got this covered.
STEVE
Jesus, do you even know what kind of bullets that uses?
SAM
Something like a thirty seven ought six.
STEVE
Fuck.
SAM
What does it matter man? It’s got five rounds. M ore than enough to put a punk in
his place.
269
STEVE
That place is going to be you and me in the ground! Put that thing away!
SAM
Hey, man. I’m getting a little sick of your attitude.
STEVE
And I’m getting sick of how not seriously your taking this! Have you stopped to
think what’s gonna happen when they want more?
SAM
M an--
STEVE
No seriously. Cause I’m out after this. So what’s gonna happen when they want us
to keep growing? You know who’s gonna get stuck with that fun little
responsibility? M e. M e, and me only.
SAM
Bro, I’m right here with you.
STEVE
Yeah, doing what?
SAM
Keepin’ it down, man! Keepin’ the business tight.
STEVE
You’re a fuckin’ dumbass, you know that?
SAM
Your shit’s gettin’ stale, homes!
STEVE
What are you going to do, shoot me?
SAM
Fuck you, dude. Don’t say that.
270
STEVE
What exactly do you do?
SAM
Oh ok. I see. Always complaining. That’s you man. Yeah man, I don’t know how
to grow. If I could grow this myself I would, but I can’t. But I do take it seriously. I
want this to work. Stay positive guerro. That’s why you need me. And fuck you
for being such a punk about it. Besides, I thought you wanted to help your sister.
STEVE
Leave my fuckin’ sister out of this. And fuck you dude!
SAM
Fuck you, fuck you dude!
Sound of a car pulling in.
STEVE
Oh shit!
SAM
What?
STEVE
It’s Anna. Come on! She can’t see this!
SAM
You haven’t told her?
STEVE
Hell no? Are you crazy? Besides, she’s barely around.
SAM
Why?
STEVE
She can’t know about this. She would lose her shit! She’s gonna be a lawyer!
SAM
Uh, are forgetting that the guy we’re selling to is a lawyer. And her boss.
271
STEVE
Look, just...fuck that, just go, just go!
The two exit to the side. Quick scene change back

to...
272
SCENE 2
Living room. Anna is putting her briefcase away.

Steve and Sam rush in.
STEVE
Anna.
ANNA
Stevie. What’s going on?
STEVE
Nothing? Nothing at all. What’s a...what’s going on with you?
ANNA
Ohh, crazy day. Just need to sit down and relax. M an, smells like a Jamaican Night
Club in here.
STEVE
Oh...
ANNA
What the hell are you growing down there?
STEVE
Nothing. Just, you know, working on a new strain. It’s more potent.
ANNA
What was wrong with the last stuff? That was pretty great.
STEVE
Nothing, you know. Science... experimentation. Shit like that.
ANNA
Yeah. Whatever. Well you better do something to mask the smell. The whole
neighborhood’s gonna get a contact high.
273
STEVE
Sure, I’ll take care of it.
ANNA
Speaking of which, you have any more?
STEVE
M ore what?
ANNA
Of your stuff, stupid.
STEVE
Uh...
SAM
Yeah, baby. Got it right here.
ANNA
Oh you’re a lifesaver Sammy. Thank you.
SAM
No problem chicka. Sammy knows what you want.
Hands her a pre-rolled joint. She lights it.
ANNA
Yes you do. Oh, you would not believe what’s happening at work. Oh, by the way,
Sam. (She reaches into her briefcase and pulls out a mug shot photo.) M erry
Christmas.
SAM
No fuckin’ way.
ANNA
Yup. And that’s the real mug shot too.
SAM
Dude, check this out: “A mi mejor amigo Sam, Miguel “El Carnicero” Salazar.”
Look, he even drew a little axe. Awesome, dude! Thanks Anna Banana!
274
ANNA
Well, just remember me in your will.
SAM
Shit, girl, you can have my Playstation.
ANNA
And don’t share that with anyone.
SAM
Oh, come on. Let me at least call my cousin Hector. He’s gonna flip.
ANNA
Sam.
SAM
Please.
ANNA
Fuck it. All right. It doesn’t matter anyway.
SAM
Hells yeah! I’ll be right back!
He runs to the front door and exits.
ANNA
What’s the problem?
STEVE
Nothing, me and him just had a little argument.
ANNA
Awww, are you two boys fighting? That’s cute.
STEVE
It’s not anything to worry about.
ANNA
I’m not. He’s your friend.
275
STEVE
Your ex-boyfriend.
ANNA
For like a millisecond. What are you guys fighting about?
STEVE
Nothing. Nothing at all.
ANNA
What is it?
STEVE
Too stupid to even talk about.
ANNA
That’s Sam for ya. Well, I’m sure you two will figure something out. You’ve been
best friends most of your life. God if I was still friends with some of the people I
was friends with in high school I’d probably, I don’t know, shoot myself.
STEVE
Yeah.
ANNA
I don’t mean anything bad. You know I love Sam.
STEVE
Yeah, no. I got it.
ANNA
It’s just, the guy is a floater. You know? Always moving from this to that. Always
with the “punk rawk” bullshit.
STEVE
What’s wrong with it?
ANNA
Nothing, until you want something else.
276
STEVE
What do you mean?
ANNA
I mean, guys like him, they get stuck. They only know one thing. And that thing
controls everything about them. Soon, all you do is try to keep the lifestyle, no
matter what. It’s like you become institutionalized, you can’t see anything that’s not
the scene.
STEVE
You don’t think I’m like that?
ANNA
Well...
STEVE
Hey!
ANNA
Look, all I’m saying is that you could do better than a warehouse job.
STEVE
M an, first him, now you’re gonna give me shit?
ANNA
Hey, you asked.
STEVE
I work that shit job for you. So you can finish your school. I don’t do it cause I love
the atmosphere.
ANNA
And I thank you, I really do. But Stevie I know you can be more. I hate the fact that
I’m in school, pursuing my dream, and your working in some dead end hell hole.
STEVE
I don’t believe this. It’s like everyone is busting my balls today.
ANNA
Well, maybe they should be busted.
277
STEVE
You know what, I don’t want to talk about this.
ANNA
Stevie, you have so much going for you.
STEVE
Yeah, right.
ANNA
I just feel bad that you’re getting left out in the cold.
STEVE
Fine. Feel bad all you want. As long as you change the subject. (Pause.) So what’s
happening in the big case there, M atlock?
ANNA
Okay, fine. We can talk about that. And for the record, if you are going to use pop
culture lawyer references, I prefer Atticus.
STEVE
(Under his breath.) Whatever, you’re more like Robert Duvall from The Godfather
now.
ANNA
What?
STEVE
Nothing. So what’s the story? Give me details.
ANNA
I can’t.
STEVE
Come on.
ANNA
Attorney-client privilege still applies even to interns.
STEVE
Boo! Come on. Is the guy as whacked as everyone says?
278
ANNA
Oh yeah.
STEVE
Whoa.
ANNA
Tell me about it. I mean this guy...you know I thought some of the dudes you hung
out with were crazy.
STEVE
He’s the real deal, huh?
ANNA
Stone-cold psychopath. You saw the little drawing he did on the autograph. It’s like
it’s all a joke to him.
STEVE
So, what did he do exactly?
ANNA
Our client did nothing.
STEVE
Cut the lawyer shit, girl. Come on.
ANNA
I can’t say.
STEVE
Come on, who am I going to tell?
ANNA
What about Sam, our client’s best friend?
STEVE
I won’t say anything.
ANNA
You promise. Cause I don’t want everything I’m going to say going up on his blog.
279
STEVE
You know he can’t read.
ANNA
Ha! I’m serious. You don’t tell him anything.
STEVE
Pinky swear.
ANNA
Okay. So these guys that got hacked up, two of them are running a meth lab out of
their house. M aking some real high-grade shit. Apparently one was a chemistry grad-
student and the another was his friend who moved the stuff. The three other guys
were their runners who sold it on the streets. Turns out the cops have been looking
for them for a while, but the Ventura family found them first.
STEVE
Ventura family?
ANNA
It’s the family El Carnicero allegedly works for. So anyway, according to the
neighbor, who’s another junkie by the way, El Carnicero went to the door and
knocked three times, real slow like this. (She demonstrates).
STEVE
Why like that?
ANNA
Something about he’s imitating the ghost of Christmas Future from that Charles
Dicken’s novel. It’s like a calling card for this guy. It doesn’t make sense.
STEVE
Wow. That’s so completely random.
ANNA
Personally I think he just watched the movie. So witness says he walks up, knocks,
fire-axe in hand. One of them opens the door and bam, axe to the head. The other’s
make a run for it, but the front door is the only actual working entrance. It seems
these boneheads decided to “fortify” their lab against intrusions by sealing up the
back door and all the windows with brick, except the one in their lab of course.
280
STEVE
Didn’t the neighbors like call the cops?
ANNA
No, you can’t hear anything from inside the house. See the bricks made it totally
sound proof. And since the neighbors a junkie his testimony is, well questionable to
say the least.
STEVE
Holy shit.
ANNA
Yeah, so. There ya go. But remember, no one else can know about this.
STEVE
M y lips are sealed, sis.
Three slow knocks at the door. Steve and Anna

stare at each other, not moving.
ANNA
You gonna get the door?
STEVE
M aybe.
ANNA
Jesus. (She starts to get up.)
STEVE
No I got it.
ANNA
Stevie, please.
Three more knocks. Steve walks to the door and

open it slowly. Sam charges in.
281
SAM
El Carnicero, puto! Agggghh!
STEVE
Goddammit!
ANNA
Dammit, Sam!
STEVE
You scared the shit out of me!
ANNA
How much did you hear?
SAM
Uh, only the most awesome parts. Which was everything.
ANNA
Sam, you cannot tell anyone.
SAM
Shit, I just posted everything on Facebook.
ANNA
Sam, I’m serious! If this gets out I could be in some serious shit.
SAM
All right all right. Just kidding. I wouldn’t sell you out, girl. M an I got you good.
STEVE
I’m having a heart attack man.
ANNA
Hey, you to morons are killing my buzz. Damn, how do you do this Stevie?
STEVE
Do what?
ANNA
M ake this stuff so awesome?
282
SAM
Friggin’ Johnny Appleweed, over here.
STEVE
You know. M om taught me everything.
ANNA
Well, it’s amazing Stevie.
SAM
You like it, huh?
ANNA
Oh yeah.
SAM
I bet someone could make a lot of money off this.
ANNA
Oh yeah. No, you could move this by the bushel. Little brother if you sold this, you
could make millions.
SAM
M illions?
ANNA
M illions.
STEVE
Yeah, and I bet if someone did that they could get in some serious shit.
ANNA
Oh yeah. Serious shit.
SAM
But I bet there are ways around that, right? From a legal standpoint?
ANNA
Always a way around it.
283
STEVE
But I bet she doesn’t want to comment on such things cause she wouldn’t know,
right?
ANNA
Psssh, oh no. I know all about it. Took two classes on drug policy in school. And
I’ve worked dozens of cases at the office. There’s always a way.
SAM
Oh yeah. And what would those ways be?
ANNA
Well, first off I’d have to advise myself that in Texas the growing a marijuana with the
intent to distribute is a felony. Then I’d move to Colorado.
SAM
Colorado you say?
ANNA
Oh yeah. It’s a different ball of wax over there. Everything is up in the air right now.
SAM
Cause it’s legal?
ANNA
Legal to possess in small amounts. However, where it gets shaky, legally speaking, is
the growing. Now, mind you, it’s no guarantee, but it’s possible that you could get
away with it over there.
SAM
Really?
ANNA
At the very least, you could sell it only in states where it is legal. Then you just
have to get it across the state lines. For that, you would need a distributer.
SAM
And who would do something like that?
284
ANNA
Oh, the Ventura family maybe.
SAM
Really?
STEVE
You mean the same people that hacked up a bunch of junkies?
ANNA
Allegedly.
SAM
Yeah, allegedly dumbass!
ANNA
Yeah, they could do it. They already do, at least that’s what the cops think. In a few
years the whole thing is going legit anyway. Yup, that’s what I’d do.
SAM
And, how much do you think they’d pay for something like this?
ANNA
Oh, depends on how much you got. Several thousand a pound probably. It’s really
good. This stuff. Would probably make millions in the long run.
STEVE
And what happens when these distributors decide to turn on you?
ANNA
Why would they do that?
STEVE
Just saying.
ANNA
And ruin their profit? No way. They wouldn’t mess with you as long as they keep
making money. That’s what they care about. As long as you don’t sell them out
they’ll take care of you.
285
SAM
Really? That’s interesting.
ANNA
Of course, the flip side of it is that once they got you it’s over. Very hard to get out.
They tend to be very protective of their assets, if you catch my drift.
STEVE
What do you mean?
ANNA
They’d just as soon kill you rather than let you go. Less chance for it to come back
and bite them.
SAM
But, you know, someone would find out right?
ANNA
You have no idea about these people, do you? You’re so cute when you’re confused.
No they’d make sure you’re never found unless they want you to be found. Then
they’d take out your whole family, friends, pets. Yup, many a dumb shits have
found out too late that once you’re in, you’re in. You can’t get out unless you give
them something. M ost of the time, it’s your life.
ANNA (cont’d)
You guys aren’t planning to become big drug dealers are you?
SAM
No.
STEVE
Nope.
SAM
Nope, just wondering.
ANNA
What do you call it?
286
STEVE
It doesn’t have--
SAM
Aggroculture.
ANNA
(Nearly choking on the smoke.) Badass. Well, if you do decide to venture into the
growing world of illicit drugs...you better put a retainer down for my services.
(Laughs) You’re gonna need em. I’m gonna be lawyer, you know. You guys are silly.
Okay, well you boys continue your scheming. I’m going to find something to eat.
Anna exits.
STEVE
Well.
SAM
Yeah.
STEVE
I just wanna say thanks a lot for getting me involved in this. I really mean that.
Thank you.
SAM
Shut up, dude.
STEVE
No, seriously, I look forward to seeing the inside of an actual prison. I would say
there’s nothing to worry about, that my soon to be lawyer sister is going to take care
of everything, but you, me, and her are all gonna end up in jail.
SAM
Shut up, dude.
STEVE
Did you really think they’d just let us go?
SAM
M an, she doesn’t know anything.
287
STEVE
That’s it, right? You know, nobody else does. Sam the gangster has it all under
control. Typical.
SAM
What’s that supposed to mean?
STEVE
Nothing. I got work to do.
SAM
Hey you got something to say?
STEVE
Sam--
SAM
No man, you got something to say to me?
STEVE
Would you drop the aggro bullshit for one second and just take a look at where we’re
at. We’re screwed. Righteously, royally, totally screwed. And why? Cause Sam
had to have a plan. Sam and his get-rich quick schemes. (Pause.) You know we’re
both gonna die, right? They’re gonna kill us eventually.
SAM
I didn’t hear you say no to the money, guerro. Didn’t hear you come up with a
better idea. You’re fuckin’ bullshit man. Typical do nothin’ punk. Talk a bunch of
talk but then just sit on your ass while the world passes you by.
STEVE
M an this ain’t about the scene, or punk rock, or any of the bullshit. You’re living in a
fantasy. Well this is reality, the one where we end up in a cell or in shallow graves.
How’s that for doing nothing? That’s a whole lot of doing nothing.
SAM
Look, all right I’m dumbass. Okay? Is that what you want to hear?
STEVE
It’s a good start.
288
SAM
Fine, I’m not smart. I do stupid shit everyday. I’m the dumbest motherfucker that
ever lived. And you’re my best friend. So what does that make you? (Pause.)
STEVE
I guess that it makes me a dumb motherfucker too.
SAM
Yeah. I guess it does.
Sam exits. Lights fade.
289
SCENE 3
NEWSREPORTER (V.O.)
A stunning development in the trial of M iguel Salazar; prosecutors have dropped all
charges against the alleged St. M ary’s butcher after the defense successfully argued
that all the key evidence against the defendant was inadmissable because it was
obtained without a proper search warrant. The attorney for Salazar, M ark Lewis, had
this to say:
LEWIS (V.O.)
We are extremely pleased with the outcome. We had a great team working on this
case. M y client is looking forward to going home and spending time with his family.
Thank you.
Several days later. Steve sits on the couch staring

blankly into space. A knock at the door.
STEVE
Come in.
Sam enters. A moment of silent staring.
SAM
Hey.
STEVE
Hey.
SAM
So how’s it going?
STEVE
It’s going.
SAM
You hear about this shit? El Carnicero got off.
290
STEVE
Yup.
SAM
That Lewis guy must be a hell of a lawyer.
STEVE
That’s what I’ve heard.
SAM
I knew he was innocent.
STEVE
He’s not innocent. They just didn’t have any evidence.
SAM
Whatever, not harm no foul and shit. So, today’s the day.
STEVE
Yup.
SAM
You ready? (Pause.) Hey, I said you ready, man? (Pause.)
Hey, don’t look so down. Think of it this way...it’s job security.
STEVE
Yeah.
SAM
All right, dude. I know you’re pissed off. I get that. And, yeah, I sorta got you into
this.
STEVE
Sorta?
SAM
Okay, I mostly got you into this. But while you’re being a little stormy cloud over
there you’re missing the big picture. You’re about to be rich, guerro. Ridiculously,
stinkin’, filthy punk rock rich.
291
STEVE
I didn’t say no.
SAM
What?
STEVE
You were right. I could have said no. I didn’t.
SAM
Yeah, okay. What is this a after school special?
STEVE
I’m sorry Sam.
SAM
For what dude?
Anna bursts through the door.
ANNA
What has two thumbs and is the greatest intern on the fuckin’ planet? This chick
right here!
SAM
Hey, congrats Anna Banana! Victory!
ANNA
Thank you, thank you! Oh, I don’t believe it! I can’t believe it! Let this be a lesson
boys, always get a search warrant.
SAM
I hear that.
STEVE
So are you staying for the rest of the day?
ANNA
Uh, hi sis. Great job on finding the key piece of evidence that got the biggest case of
the year thrown out. Great job on securing your future with the law firm.
292
STEVE
Sorry. Congrats.
ANNA
Jesus, Stevie, what’s a matter with you?
STEVE
Nothing. Uh, Congrats. Good job.
ANNA
What a weirdo.
SAM
Hey, I’m happy!
ANNA
Oh, I want to get fucked up tonight! Woo!
SAM
Hey, you and all your friends should come down to the show tonight!
ANNA
You know what, Sam? We just might do that. Celebration!
SAM
Hell yeah, there’s gonna be lots of celebrating tonight.
ANNA
Oh yeah.
SAM
Yeah. I’m buying the club.
ANNA
What? Are you serious?
SAM
Yup. Gonna do it. Gonna be all mine.
293
ANNA
Sammy, that’s awesome. That’s been your dream.
SAM
Gonna be the place to be. Woo!
ANNA
Well, then it’s official. When I get hired by the firm at the end of the semester, which
is all but certain now, we’re going to throw a private party there.
SAM
That’s what I’m talkin’ about. Free booze all night.
ANNA
You think you can get Disaster Plan to play? I love that band.
SAM
Anyone you want.
ANNA
Sammy, you freakin’ rule.
SAM
Don’t I know it.
ANNA
What’s the matter Stevie?
STEVE
Nothing.
ANNA
Well, don’t be too excited. Jeez, you and your moods. So you guys gonna come
celebrate with me later?
STEVE
Uh--
SAM
Hell yeah. I’ll be there. Forget him.
294
ANNA
Come on Stevie, come celebrate with me. Everything is turning around. You’re not
going to have to work all the time for me anymore. You’re free.
STEVE
I wouldn’t trade it for anything, sis.
ANNA
You’re so sweet. So you coming, or what?
STEVE
Well...yeah, yeah I’ll be there.
ANNA
Gnarly, dude! All right, I just need to grab all the files and get out. We’re having a big
lunch celebration and putting all this away. (She grabs a file tub from behind the
couch.) So see you guys tonight?
SAM
You know it!
ANNA
Awesome. Hey, buck up Stevie. Everything is going to be fine now.
She exits.
SAM
Hell yeah. Party with smart chicks. You know I would normally try to find me a
sugar momma but since I’m about to be dirty filthy rich I think I’m gonna get to be a
sugar daddy! Ha! Wonder if I should get some new pants. Hey what’s wrong with
you?
STEVE
I blew it. We didn’t make the quota.
SAM
Shit. By how much?
STEVE
A half.
295
SAM
Half-ounce? Well, that’s not too bad. I mean, I think I could scrape together that. I
could call my guy Frankie, we could get a half of swag from him, cut into one--
STEVE
Pound.
SAM
What?
STEVE
A half-pound.
SAM
Shit.
STEVE
Yeah.
SAM
Are you sure?
STEVE
Yup. Just...didn’t come in.
SAM
Well, okay. M aybe we could, I don’t know, add some stem it.
STEVE
No. That’s not gonna work.
SAM
All right, well look. Half-pound, so what. We’ll just, make up for it on the next
round. You know, these things ain’t exact science.
STEVE
Did you hear me? It’s not gonna work.
296
SAM
Come on man, it’s not that bad. How pissed could he be? It was friggin’ impossible
anyway.
STEVE
I got rid of the plants.
SAM
What?
STEVE
I threw them out. Once I found out we were going to be short.
SAM
Okay, that was possibly the worst choice you could have made. What the fuck did
you do that for?
STEVE
I don’t know man! I just sorta freaked out!
SAM
M an, that was our only leverage. Okay, so we came in a little short. We could have
grown more. We could have at least had that. What were you thinking?
STEVE
I was thinking that we either are gonna be forced to do this forever now, or they were
gonna kill us. Either way, eventually the cops would come here. And when they
found the grow op they were going to arrest Anna. I can’t have that. So I took away
the option.
SAM
Dude are you crazy?
STEVE
Look, the one thing I can’t have is her going down for me being stupid.
SAM
What about us? What about me?
STEVE
You are stupid.
297
SAM
No, man. Look we can fix this. We can fix this now let me think. Give me your
watch.
STEVE
I don’t have a watch.
SAM
Damn, man! We need to do something!
STEVE
Like what?
Three slow knocks at the door. Sam opens the

door to reveal a gigantic Hispanic man with a
scarred face. Sam slams the door.
SAM
Oh shit! El Carnicero!
STEVE
What?
SAM
It’s him.
STEVE
Shit!
SAM
Don’t say anything about being short. Let me talk.
STEVE
What?
The door is forced open and EL CARNICERO

enters, followed by Lewis. Both are dressed in
fine suits. EL CARNICERO looks as if he’s
about to burst out of his. He carries two duffle
bags.
298
LEWIS
Hello boys. Well, today’s the day, thought we’d swing by and take care of this
business. Gotta big soiree to go to afterwards. Won a big case today. You probably
heard.
SAM
Yeah. We heard. Congratulations. Both of you.
LEWIS
Oh, yeah, and I’m sure my associate needs no introduction. M r. Salazar, these are the
boys I was telling you about.
SAM
Sup?
EL CARNICERO
You the one that wrote me all those letters while I was locked up?
SAM
Yeah, that was me.
EL CARNICERO
You’re a sick fuck, you know that?
SAM
Uh, thanks?
STEVE
Why is he here?
LEWIS
Now, Steven, that’s no way to treat a guest in your home. He’s just along for the ride,
make sure everyone gets where they’re going.
SAM
What’s in those bags?
LEWIS
That is a great question, Samuel. You see, one of them has all your dreams
aspirations rolled up in tight little bundles. The other one, well...
299
you don’t want him to open the other one. Now, let’s quit dickin’ around and get to
business. I’m a busy man.
Steve exits to the kitchen and returns with a large

bag. He sets it down on the coffee table. Lewis
moves in to inspect. He removes a one pound
brick of marijuana wrapped in plastic and
examines it.
LEWIS (cont’d)
Wow. You know, I had this crazy thought that you weren’t going to be able to pull
this off. Color me impressed boys. You really do have the magic touch.
SAM
Yeah, he does. I told you my man can do it.
LEWIS
And this is all of it? Twenty pounds?
SAM
Yeah.
LEWIS
You wouldn’t be trying to screw us over, would you?
SAM
No sir. It’s all there.
LEWIS
Cause we are going to weigh this when we get where we’re going. And M r. Salazar
would hate to have to come back here if it’s short. He’s had a rough couple of
months and I’m afraid he wouldn’t be in the best mood.
SAM
No, it’s there. Well, it’s like this--
LEWIS
Like what?
300
SAM
Well you see--
EL CARNICERO
Is it all of it or not, puto?
SAM
Yeah, about that--
STEVE
We’re short.
LEWIS
How much?
STEVE
Half pound.
LEWIS
Boys. I have to admit I’m a bit offended that you lied to me. M r. Salazar is
offended too. Aren’t you?
EL CARNICERO
Yup.
LEWIS
He takes that as a personal insult when you lie to us. Don’t you?
EL CARNICERO
Yup.
LEWIS
And when someone lies they usually don’t find all their body parts. Right?
EL CARNICERO
Nope.
LEWIS
Well, boys, what are we going to do about this?
301
SAM
What, what would you want us to do?
LEWIS
Well, for one thing you sure as hell aren’t getting all your money. I suppose you’ll
have to make up for it with the next crop. That shouldn’t be a problem now, should
it?
SAM
Well, see, the thing is, we sorta don’t have the plants anymore.
LEWIS
You what?
SAM
Well--
STEVE
I got rid of them. There’s nothing left. This is all we have.
LEWIS
Now, explain to me, something. Why in the world would you do such a thing?
STEVE
I...don’t want to be part of this anymore.
LEWIS
You don’t. Oh, well, that sure clears everything up then. Hell, son, I’m sorry for
putting you out like this. Here’s your good citizenship badge. Hell son, you’ve
inspired me. I think I’m gonna leave this life of crime and join a monastery. Find the
secret of existence.
STEVE
Look I know we didn’t come through and we’re sorry--
LEWIS
Sorry don’t exactly fuckin’ cut it, now does it? This is the business. Now, you boys
owe me. I’m willing to grant you a very small degree of latitude because your sister
did such a bang up job on the case. See, I originally thought that I’d just keep her
close to me so you to dickheads wouldn’t think about ripping me off or backing out.
Little did I know she was gonna come through like she did.
302
So, since I like her so much, and since I do think she’s gonna be a hell of a lawyer one
day, I’m willing to entertain a counter offer before I run out of patience. Now, the
way I see it, I own your heads. Unless you can give me something of real exceptional
value, I’m have M r. Salazar here collect. So what exactly do you have?
SAM
I got a rare LP collection.
LEWIS
Shut the fuck up. I don’t know who decided you should do the talking but it was a
very poor decision.
SAM
Okay.
LEWIS
Well? What do you got?
STEVE
What do you want?
LEWIS
Smart. Smart boy. Tell me, how exactly did you get these plants to grow so fast?
STEVE
It’s the breed.
LEWIS
Bullshit, son. I’ve been in this business since I was in high school. Ain’t never seen a
breed grow that fast and that full. So what’s the secret?
STEVE
I’ve got a grow formula.
LEWIS
A grow formula.
STEVE
Yeah.
303
LEWIS
Your own concoction?
STEVE
It was my mom’s.
LEWIS
M om’s grow formula. Hell, I like that. You like that M iguel? M om’s formula.
EL CARNICERO
Yeah. Classy.
LEWIS
And that’s what made them grow this fast?
STEVE
Yeah.
LEWIS
I’ll take that.
STEVE
The formula?
LEWIS
Yeah.
STEVE
No.
LEWIS
No?
STEVE
I’m sorry I can’t do that. Is there something else?
LEWIS
No, son. That’s what I want.
304
STEVE
Well, you can’t have it.
LEWIS
M r. Salazar. I think you’re gonna need your other bag now.
El Carnicero reaches into his bag and pulls out a

fire poker.
SAM
Whoa, whoa! Wait. Side bar, please, your honor! (Pulls Steve to the side.) What is
the matter with you? Just give it to him.
STEVE
No! It’s my mom’s formula.
SAM
It’s like Anna said, we gotta give em something. Preferably not my balls.
STEVE
No way.
SAM
Dude, you gotta do this.
STEVE
I can’t give away her formula. She made it herself and it’s the one thing that I got
from her.
SAM
It’s the one thing that’s gonna keep you alive, guerro. Give him the formula.
STEVE
So he could use it?
SAM
Who cares?
STEVE
You know how fucked up that is? M y mom would shit herself if she were alive and
found out her formula was in the hands of drug dealers.
305
SAM
Steve, her formula is already in the hands of drug dealers! Don’t you see that? Don’t
you get it? You are one. And now it’s going to save your drug dealing ass. And I bet
she would think that’s more important.
LEWIS
What’s it gonna be?
STEVE
Okay. Okay. I’ll give it to you.
LEWIS
Excellent.
STEVE
It’s downstairs. In a bottle marked with an X.
Lewis motions to El Carnicero to go get it. El

Carnicero exits downstairs.
LEWIS
You know, boys, there’s no shame in this. Some people just aren’t made for this line
of work. I always say the problem with the business--
STEVE
Is the business.
LEWIS
Amen to that. You do listen. You know one day, none of this is gonna be necessary.
This’ll be done at farmer’s markets instead of back alleys and seedy motels. M y dad
was a farmer, you know? Used to grow cotton. We had this big spread down in the
Valley.
STEVE
Sounds nice.
LEWIS
I fuckin’ hated it. Knew I was never going to be a farmer. I realized that early on.
Luckily, I had a few friends that knew some people who knew some people. Well,
you know how that goes. It wasn’t the life for me.
306
You see, you gotta be true to who you are, or else you can’t function. Your sister,
she’s true. She loves what she does. I can see it. She’s a lot like me. You, you’re
more like my dad.
STEVE
I don’t know what you mean.
LEWIS
I’m saying you should embrace it. Cast off this costume you’re wearing and do what
you want to do. He was happy, working the fields. Even in the rough times. You
could be too.
SAM
What about me?
LEWIS
You’re a moron with a big mouth. A peasant. It’s gonna get you in trouble one day.
And the thing is, you don’t even realize it.
El Carnicero returns with a spray bottle marked

X. He hands it to Lewis.
LEWIS (cont’d)
Ahh, very good. So this is the stuff?
STEVE
Yeah, that’s it.
LEWIS
You don’t have notes or something?
STEVE
They were all in my head.
LEWIS
(Pause.) Well, I think that’ll about do it.
STEVE
What are you going to do with it?
307
LEWIS
Well, not that it’s any of your business, but I’m going to take this to a lab and have it
analyzed. Then I’m gonna mass produce it and sell it all over the world and get dirty
filthy rich.
STEVE
With the grow formula?
LEWIS
Do you even understand what this is? No, you don’t. Ha! Boys, you could sell this
to every farmer in the country. Hell, you could sell it to governments in developing
nations. Governments. You know, the people that print money. Wow, you two.
All right, let’s get out of here.
He motions to El Carnicero, who drops one of the

bags and kicks it over to Steve and Sam. Lewis
and El Carnicero exit.
SAM
Holy shit.
STEVE
Yeah.
SAM
We’re alive.
STEVE
Yeah.
SAM
We’re stupid.
STEVE
Pretty much.
SAM
Sorry you had to give away your mom’s formula.
308
STEVE
It’s okay. Sorry he called you a peasant.
SAM
It’s cool. Hey, at least we have the money.
STEVE
Yeah.
SAM
That was a good idea, though. You gotta admit. He’s the man.
STEVE
That he is. I never thought about it. Selling the formula.
SAM
It was a way better idea than the weed. M an, you got a joint?
STEVE
Yeah.
Steve hands over a joint from his pocket. Sam

lights it up. They pass it around as they speak.
STEVE (cont’d)
So you gonna still buy the club?
SAM
I don’t know. I don’t think I’m much of a businessman.
STEVE
I could go for a drink.
SAM
I hear that. You know it sucks. We could have made a shit ton of money.
STEVE
Yeah. Well, I don’t think he’s gonna make that much.
SAM
Why not, he’s got the formula?
309
STEVE
Yeah. But it doesn’t work as good without the fertilizer.
SAM
What?
STEVE
M om’s fertilizer. Takes both of ‘em to really make it work. And the fertilizer works
just fine on it’s own. Even better than the grow.
Silence. Steve winks at Sam.
SAM
Damn, guerro. That’s fuckin’ aggro.
STEVE
He’ll never figure it out.
SAM
So what are you gonna do?
Steve takes a huge puff and passes the joint. He

smiles.
Lights fade. End of play.
310

White Dissertation 2013 PDF

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

White Dissertation 2013 PDF

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

The Anti-Hero as Social Critic: Two Original Scripts

Jeremy W. White, M.A., B.F.A.

Fine Arts - Theatre

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty

have provided assistance. I would like to thank my dissertation committee of Norman

Balboa for their unceasing personal support throughout this process.

II. EXAMPLES OF THE UN-HERO IN THE THREEPENNY OPERA

III. THE CREATION OF THE SOLUTION .....................................................47

IV. THE CREATION OF AGGROCULTURE ..................................................62

V.CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH ............................................80

B. FULL TEXT OF AGGROCULTURE ..........................................................195

hero, a dramatic protagonist who, whether by circumstances of birth or association (or

will be created to demonstrate the concepts examined in this dissertation.

dramatic works, focusing on two plays featuring prominent anti-heroic protagonists:

anti-heroic character. By comparison, Chapter 4 details the creation of the second

“Even the wholly anti-social can be a source of enjoyment to society so long as it

is presented forcefully and on a grand scale.” – Bertolt Brecht (“SOT” 187).

Solution was overall a success, as I began to research I discovered (somewhat to my

This dissertation will demonstrate how certain anti-heroic characters found in

dramatic works, focusing on two plays featuring prominent anti-heroic protagonists:

implications of the two applications, and draw conclusions.

designated gender-neutral. The use of the term “anti-heroine” to describe a female

understood that “anti-hero” applies to protagonists of either sex.

The term “anti-hero” is often found to be nebulous and fleeting in definition,

individual characters possess, including non-hero, romantic hero, intellectual hero,

genre, or specific author from which it was brought forth.

literary depictions of anti-heroes is the presence of conflict, resulting in a type of

character whom theorist Jo Brans describes as a dawdler, a self-serving character

tantamount to torture to subject an audience to a play where nothing happens.1

In light of this, I am forced to create a new subcategory of anti-hero, who we will

the viewing audience.

Often the term “anti-hero,” as it relates to traditional dramatic interpretations, is

anti-heroes, Al Pacinio’s titular Tony “Scarface” Montana and Breaking Bad’s

chemistry-teacher-turned-drug-kingpin Walter White (played by Brian Cranston), are

depictions of the traditional dramatic anti-hero it is often immediately assumed and

justification given, these characters are simply “bad people.”

In the 1970s we began to see an explosion of the anti-hero in popular

fulfillment of escapist revenge fantasies.

under the same hegemonic thought system.

To understand the un-hero, it is necessary to delve in to the past for further

vulgar anti-hero2” (27).

Odysseus’ non-heroism (13).

story, this scene would play out quite comically.

as a beggar to infiltrate the city before ultimately springing his trap.

Though Odysseus’ exploits showcase some of the traits of anti-heroism,

hero, puts it this way:

...the hero is he who embodies and preserves the highest

values of the community, the anti-hero is he who marches,

or dawdles, to a different drumbeat, the cadence of his own

iconoclastic sensibility. (437)

As mentioned before, the word “dawdles” is of importance when it comes to

that is self-centered and egotistical, often to the point of displaying symptoms of

Lillian Furst, in her article “Romantic Hero, or is he Anti-Hero?” describes the

His [the anti-hero’s] overwhelming presence is the

expression of that total self-absorption that makes his

universe--and that of the work in which he appears--pivot

entirely on his idiosyncratic ego. (56)

of heroism unfulfilled, however, as Jo Brans aptly states, “a failed or disillusioned or

untimely hero” (435).

anti-hero’s plight, Donald Buck gives us the following:

The anti-hero is similar to the hero in several respects. He

too is singled out by society for his deeds and is

distinguished from the norm by his superior abilities. In