MUTE FEMALE FINCHES: a satire by Stephen Ira
Dramatis Personae:
LOU SULLIVAN was a
gay trans activist
who passed away
in 1991
ANDREW SULLIVAN is an
English-born American author
editor and blogger
DAVID TOMLINSON was
best known as Mr. Banks
in Mary Poppins (1961)
Special Thanks:
George Michael
(Lights up on LOU SULLIVAN, alone, impassioned.)
LOU SULLIVAN:
I feel so unsure!
As I take your hand, and lead you to the dance floor.
(The smoke of dry ice is general.)
LOU SULLIVAN:
As the music dies! Something in your eyes!
calls to mind a silver screen
and all
its sad
goodbyes!
(Some smoke, stage left, clears, revealing ANDREW SULLIVAN, who is sitting down.)
ANDREW SULLIVAN:
It is possible to tell who has won a tennis contest not by watching the game, but by monitoring testosterone-filled saliva samples throughout.
LOU SULLIVAN:
So I’m never gonna dance again!
Guilty feet have got no rhythm!
Though it’s easy to pretend,
I know you’re not a fool!
ANDREW SULLIVAN:
I have always tended to bury or redirect my rage. I once thought this an inescapable part of my personality. It turns out I was wrong.
(LOU SULLIVAN is becoming visibly upset at these interruptions.)
ANDREW SULLIVAN: Other scientists theorizing that it was—
(LOU SULLIVAN retrieves a large net from a bag)
ANDREW SULLIVAN: —testosterone that enabled the male zebra finches to sing—
(LOU SULLIVAN creeping up on him)
ANDREW SULLIVAN: —injected mute female finches with testosterone—
(LOU SULLIVAN catches ANDREW SULLIVAN first try)
ANDREW SULLIVAN:
(Frustrated, from within the bag, but not to be silenced:)
Sure enough,
the females sang.