Dining Hall

                                                           

                                                            Dining Hall
                                                            By Jacob Juntunen

Characters:
WOMAN 1: A woman in her 20s.
MAN 1: A man in his 20s.
MAN 2: A man in his 20s.
WOMAN 2: A woman in her 20s.
WOMAN 3: A woman in her 20s.
WOMAN 4: A woman in her 20s.
LAWRENCE: A man in his 20s.

Setting:
Woman 1 is alone. Woman 4, Woman 3 and Woman 2 are together. Lawrence is alone. Man 1 and Man 2 are offstage.

                                                            WOMAN 1
(to the audience) I mean, it’s not as bad as high school, but I don’t know if I can stay here for years. Look around the dining hall.

                                                            WOMAN 4

(referring to LAWRENCE) Who’s the new guy?

                                                            WOMAN 2
I think he transferred in.

                                                            WOMAN 3
I should show him around.

                                                            WOMAN 4
Um, I saw him first?

                                                            WOMAN 1
(to audience) Same cliques as high school. Same mean girls.

                                                            WOMAN 3
It doesn’t matter who saw him first. It matters who sees him last. Tonight. Just before the lights get turned out.

                                                            WOMAN 4
Eat your lunch.

                                                            WOMAN 1
But it’s not like I can just leave. I’d be such a disappointment! They helped me with my application; they’re spending so much money to pay my bills; and they’re so happy I’m here. But they’re visiting today before lunch is over, so I’ll have to tell them: I want to leave. Oh, no.

(MAN 1 and MAN 2 enter.)

                                                            WOMAN 1 (cont)
These two finally came out and need all of us to know.

                                                            MAN 1
Hello ladies.

                                                            MAN 2
Hi.

                                                            WOMAN 2
I think there’s an empty table over there.

                                                            MAN 1
We don’t need to sit.

                                                            MAN 2
We’re just getting some food to go.

                                                            MAN 1
Things to do in the room. You know.

                                                            WOMAN 4
Gross.

                                                            WOMAN 3
So just go get your meatloaf and leave.

(MAN 1 and MAN 2 go stand in line.)

                                                            WOMAN 1
I can’t handle all these conservative politics. But I don’t want to hear about people making discoveries about their sexuality, either. I just want to eat lunch. All these people forced together that don’t have anything in common except that we’re here. It should make us more tolerant, I guess, except that we’re all too old, too set in our ways by now.

                                                            WOMAN 4
I need to go talk to a real man after that.

                                                            WOMAN 2
No, no, no—

(WOMAN 4 gets up and walks to LAWRENCE; WOMAN 3 and WOMAN 2 scurry behind WOMAN 4.)

                                                            WOMAN 4
Hey.

                                                            LAWRENCE
Hey.

                                                            WOMAN 4
What’s your name?

                                                            LAWRENCE
Lawrence.

                                                            WOMAN 4
I got a care package in the mail today. Wanna come back to my room after lunch and check it out?

                                                            WOMAN 3
Or I could show you around. There’s a pretty fountain near the gym.

                                                            WOMAN 2
My room doesn’t have a real kitchen, but the commons has a stove. I could bake you a cake…

                                                            LAWRENCE
Ladies, ladies. There’s enough of Lawrence to go around.

                                                            WOMAN 1
I just can’t handle this. We worked so hard to get me in. I was on the waitlist, then a slot opened, and they were able to pay for it somehow. But I’m going to have to tell them: the morals here are too loose, the people too gross. I need to live somewhere else. Lunch is almost over. They’ll be here soon.

(MAN 1 and MAN 2 move to the women and LAWRENCE.)

                                                            MAN 1
Why don’t you come to our room and give something completely new a try?

                                                            WOMAN 4
Gross.

                                                            MAN 2
I never thought I’d be with a guy before I met him. He’s amazing.

                                                            LAWRENCE
Why don’t we all just have some lunch?

                                                            MAN 2
Lunch is almost over.

                                                            MAN 1
My room’s number 3042 if you want to join us. We snuck in some whiskey, even with my heart condition. Just knock three times.

(MAN 1 and MAN 2 exit.)

                                                            WOMAN 3
Forget them. Come for a walk with us instead.

                                                            LAWRENCE
Well, it would have to be a slow one. I lost one of my legs to diabetes a few years back.

                                                            WOMAN 4
Oh.

                                                            WOMAN 2
That’s fine.

                                                            WOMAN 3
Yeah, that’s no problem. Physical therapy here’s the best. Let’s show you the fountain.

(They leave.)

                                                            WOMAN 1
Okay, it’s better than high school. But there’s nothing here for me. I just wait for my kids to call or visit. Every morning I look in the mirror expecting to see a twenty year old, but the wrinkles and gray hair staring back fuck that up. I bet everyone here thinks they look twenty, even if our kids have deposited us here to die. But my kids are going to visit today. And I’m going to tell them sorry for wasting their time and money, but I can’t stay here. That I need to live with them. To see my grandchildren everyday. I took my mother in when she got to be my age. So I don’t deserve to be all alone here. Right? I’ll tell them today. They said they’d be here before lunch is over. They’ll be here. They’ll definitely be here. Any minute now. And they’ll take me home.

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Damned if you Do

                                                           

                                                            Damned if you Do
                                                            By Jacob Juntunen

Characters:
OLDER WOMAN
YOUNG WOMAN
MAN

Setting:
The women sit facing one another at a table. They speak, but seem unaware of each other.

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN
When my grandmother was young, Krakow was still part of the Habsburg Empire. But she could travel! My grandfather was a jeweler, so they took trips to Austria, Germany, even France. Now everyone needs passports—why should we need a piece of paper just to move about? It’s ridiculous. And of course the bastard Communists aren’t going to give us one.

                                                            OLDER WOMAN
Now that Ryan Air has such cheap flights to Britain, it seems like all the young people are going. Just grab that EU passport and leave. But for what? To become a janitor? All our educated Poles are leaving and doing shit with their lives.

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN
And Martial Law? Because a bunch of unions want more independence? Are the Soviets so scared of us?

                                                            OLDER WOMAN
And it’s not like the British want us there. Are they scared too many shitty jobs are done by Poles?

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN
Thousands of Poles imprisoned, hundreds dead, because of strike? Is the Soviet Union so fragile that poor, occupied Poland could crush it?

                                                            OLDER WOMAN
We crippled the Soviet Union, all of us on the front lines, men, women, children, all together, fighting—for this? For McDonald’s, British stag parties treating our women like whores, and a pension I can’t live on?

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN
The Empires everyone fought to destroy in World War I—was that a mistake? If what replaced them was Communists and passport controls on the frontiers?

                                                            OLDER WOMAN
Was destroying the USSR a mistake if it just means these fucking Brits come here with their companies to get our cheap labor and treat our best and brightest like they’re fucking idiots?

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN
But at least there’s 100% employment.

                                                            OLDER WOMAN
But at least there’s a free press.

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN
And almost 100% literacy.

                                                            OLDER WOMAN
And my children can travel.

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN
And anyone can see a doctor now.

                                                            OLDER WOMAN
And no more censorship.

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN
And abortion is legal.

                                                            OLDER WOMAN
And we’re finally making peace with Poland’s Jewish heritage.

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN
And we’re finally seeing women as equal. At least in the law.

                                                            OLDER WOMAN
But at the end of the month, when my pension runs out, I’ve had to beg! Me! Who worked with Solidarity to crush the Soviet Union! “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall” my ass.

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN
But my sister had to flee the country in the boot of a car just because she believes in Solidarity! My sister! You bet your ass I’m working for Solidarity now.

MAN enters.

                                                            MAN
Krystyna?

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN & OLDER WOMAN
What is it?

                                                            MAN
Please stop talking about the past?

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN & OLDER WOMAN
What else is there for me?

                                                            MAN
Well, right now, there’s bed.

MAN exits.

                                                            YOUNGER WOMAN & OLDER WOMAN
To bed, then, to dream of a better future.

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See Him? (Belarusian Dream Theater)

I wrote this play for the Belarusian Dream Theater: 25 playwrights collaborating with 18 theaters in 13 countries to simultaneously produce plays raising awareness about the human rights violations in Belarus. The theaters could decide which plays they wanted to stage, and I was flattered that mine was chosen by seven theaters: Stage Left Theatre (Chicago, USA), SIU Playwriting and the SIU Department of Theater (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA), TLS Frankfurt (Germany), European Humanities University (Vilnius, Lithuania), the Global Theatre Project (Los Angeles, USA), the Global Theatre Project (Florence, Italy), and the Troika Collective (Vancouver, Canada).

The script is below, and an annotated version is on Poetry Genius. The Belarusian Dream Theater is the first time the site has included scripts.

What can you do to help Belarus? Check out Amnesty International's Belarus page.                                                            

                                                            See Him?

                                                            By Jacob Juntunen

Characters:
LYUBOV: A woman.
MARINA: A woman.

Setting:
They sit onstage.

(LYUBOV has a bottle of vodka. MARINA just sits.)

                                                            LYUBOV
See the way that guy gets the boat in the water? You can tell he’ll get it off the dock quick. Some of these guys take forever getting their boats in the water. Vladya hated that.

(LYUBOV takes a drink of the vodka.)

                                                            MARINA
You learned a lot about boats.

                                                            LYUBOV
He was out here every holiday, even in winter when it was frozen over so he couldn’t fish. Vladislav wanted to at least see the lake. “How’s Minsk?” I would ask. He just wanted to talk about the lake. About fishing. But in summers when it was crowded, I’d come out with him, and we had to wait for the other fishermen to get their boats in the water. You want a nip of this?

                                                            MARINA
The Interior Ministry just posted that presidential decree about drinking less.

                                                            LYUBOV
Why should I care what Lukashenko decrees?

                                                            MARINA
Please don’t insult the president. Not with all these people around.

                                                            LYUBOV
The sun’s starting to set already. Have a drink to warm you. Winter’s coming.

                                                            MARINA
He still wanted to come out here, even in winter?

                                                            LYUBOV
Right up to the last Christmas he spent here. He was a country boy to the end. He never liked Minsk, but that doesn’t mean he would commit such a horrible crime. Okay, once that guy gets his boat in the water, we should be able to see Vladya.

(LYUBOV takes another drink)

                                                            MARINA
Maybe you should take it easy on that vodka.

                                                            LYUBOV
I’m not so drunk that I’m hallucinating. We’ll just sit here in the grass, the sun will hit its golden hour, and the rays will be this nice diffuse red… And we’ll see him.

                                                            MARINA
It was nice of the Human Rights Alliance to pay for your trip to Minsk for the trial.

                                                            LYUBOV
(taking a swig) Yup.

                                                            MARINA
They risked a lot to do that. They did a lot to support your son.

                                                            LYUBOV
They brought the mourning mother to the trial. Even an asshole like Lukashenko couldn’t object—

                                                            MARINA
If you’re going to risk us both by talking that way about the president—

                                                            LYUBOV
There was very little risk. For Human Rights Alliance. Everybody knew Vladya’s trial was just for show. The New York Times even called me for an interview. For all the good it did.

(LYUBOV drinks.)

                                                            MARINA
Well. I’m glad coming out here helps.

                                                            LYUBOV
You don’t think we’re going to see him, do you?

                                                            MARINA
Well, he’s not here anymore.

                                                            LYUBOV
You’ll see. Oh, shit. There’s Zaleski. This is always a busy hour. Hey, Zaleski.

                                                            MARINA
Do they know why you’re out here?

                                                            LYUBOV
Would they want a woman out here otherwise? But once I explained that I see Vladya out here, they didn’t mind me sitting here.

                                                            MARINA
Maybe we should go.

                                                            LYUBOV
Don’t worry. Zaleski knows what he’s doing; he’ll get the boat right in there. Then you’ll see Vladya fishing. He looks more like when he was a boy. Those chubby cheeks and worried eyebrows. And he always makes this grunting sound while he casts, especially when he’s fly fishing from the shore. Casting it out, then reeling it in. Casting it out, then reeling it in.

                                                            MARINA
No, I mean, maybe we should go before you get drunker? I thought you were just going to tell me about him, that maybe it would be good for you to get it off your chest, not—

                                                            LYUBOV
Sure, I’ll tell you about him while we’re waiting for Zaleski to get his boat in—

                                                            MARINA
We’re not going to see Vladya—

                                                            LYUBOV
(overlapping) He cried the first time he caught a fish. Did I tell you that? I don’t think he ever completely got over killing those fish, you know? That’s how I know Vladya didn’t do what they accuse him of. He couldn’t. When he fished, he’d put them in a bucket of water, still half alive, and carry it all the way home so I could kill and clean them for him. He’d put the bucket down outside the kitchen door, and I’d carry it out behind the barn, straining, as he went in to clean up.

                                                            MARINA
Come on, let’s go—

                                                            LYUBOV
Even after he went to Minsk to be an electrician, he was gentle, like a boy. The city didn’t make him hard. As soon as he made enough money, he’d come back home for Christmas, for summers, and he’d come out here, and bring home that bucket of fish. It became a joke, “I could have killed these, but I know how much you love it, Mama.” So I’d carry the bucket—

                                                            MARINA
Put that vodka down and get up—

                                                            LYUBOV
Hey, let go of me—

                                                            MARINA
Come on, we’re getting out of here—

                                                            LYUBOV
What the fuck’s wrong with you?

                                                            MARINA
We’re not going to see him. He’s gone. If he’s lucky, they’ve already taken him somewhere behind the jail, knelt him down, and shot him in the head. That’s better than him waiting in the cell, not knowing when the bullet will come. I’m sorry, but it’s true, and coming out here, getting drunk, talking about him like he’s still around—

                                                            LYUBOV
I know he’s not around. Fuck you. I know that. I know the KGB will never tell me where his body is, that I can’t clean his grave, that I won’t know when they shot him, that I couldn’t even comfort him in the end. This past summer was the first time I haven’t had to carry a bucket of fish to kill everyday. I hate to say it, but it was exhausting doing that day after day. You think I don’t know that’s over? My whole body knows that’s over: my cracking back, my burning shoulders, my bloody hands, covered in guts and viscera—

                                                            MARINA
Let’s get you home.

                                                            LYUBOV
The sun sets, and I see him standing there on the shore, casting and reeling it in for hours, and still wanting more even as the sun set. Trying to get that last cast in as the sunlight died… When he was here, I could keep him safe. Before he left for Minsk and Lukashenko killed him—

                                                            MARINA
Quiet!

                                                            LYUBOV
Before he was the KGB’s scapegoat for a crime he didn’t commit. He never let me down. And I couldn’t be there for him. I couldn’t even hug him after the trial. They held me back while he screamed for me, as they dragged him away in cuffs. And you’ll see him. Right now. Casting on the shore. You’ll see how my trip to Minsk, how sitting through that horrible trial, was worth it. How it brought his soul back here. Just sit down. The sun is setting, and you’ll see Vladya’s soul standing right there, casting and reeling back in, casting and reeling back in. You’ll see it’s okay now.

(They sit)

                                                            LYUBOV (Cont)
Want a swig of this?

                                                            MARINA
Do you ever think maybe he did it?

                                                            LYUBOV
He would never kill innocent people on a subway.

                                                            MARINA
But he was an electrician, he’d know how to make the detonator—

                                                            LYUBOV
Even the judge admitted they found no explosive residue on him, and why would all the human rights groups get involved if they thought he was guilty?

                                                            MARINA
I guess you’re right.

                                                            LYUBOV
There Vladya is! Do you see him?

                                                            MARINA
Um…

                                                            LYUBOV
God. He’s adorable. Seeing him like this, how happy he is— Well, it just makes the trip to the trial worth it. What if his soul had gotten trapped in Minsk? I brought him back with me. Look at him. Right there. See him?

                                                            MARINA
Um… Yeah. Sure I do. He’s right there.

                                                            LYUBOV
Casting and reeling it back in.

                                                            MARINA
Casting and reeling it back in. Sure he is. And it makes it all worth it. Right?

                                                            LYUBOV
It sure does.

                                                            MARINA
Then yeah. I see him. He looks great. Pass that vodka.

(MARINA takes a drink. Blackout.)

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