Alysse Aallyn

Category: Soulmates

  • Rough Sleep – a play by Alysse Aallyn

    (BEX appears in a spot on the TOWER LIFT, holding a pair of binoculars and a shotgun.  Scans the stage)

    CHASE

    (Holding JAZZ close)

    You’re making me feel incredibly powerful 

    (They kiss with increasing urgency. BEX appears to focus on them. He racks his gun angrily, climbs down, his spot dissolving.  JAZZ and CHASE’s “shadows” explode hugely against the back wall, seeming to rise up in the air)

    JAZZ

    Feel that?

    CHASE

    I do. Don’t fight it.

    JAZZ

    Who’s fighting it?  You’re the one fighting it.

    SCENE X – SWAP MEET. (When the lights come up the curtain has fallen and JAZZ and CHASEstand outside it, hand in hand, staring into the audience.)

    JAZZ

    Where are we?

    CHASE

    Looks like a swap meet. But all they’re selling is Christmas stuff.

    JAZZ

    That’s weird.

    CHASE

    Especially since I hate Christmas.

    JAZZ

    Who could possibly hate Christmas?

    CHASE

    It never lives up to its billing.

    (RAD appears, pushing a shopping cart. Sets up a table and starts laying out junk)

    RAD

    Hi, guys! Long time no see. You in the market for a knickknack?  Ganja? Electronics?  Jewelry? 

    CHASE

    Is this your gig?

    RAD

    Gotta have a side hustle – gotta get the scratch. You’d be amazed what some people just throw away. How about a nice Christmas cactus? I did have a shotgun but I sold it.

    CHASE

    You sold a shotgun? Who to?

    RAD

    Biker dude from out of town. He said if it didn’t work he would come looking for me.

    JAZZ

    Does it work?

    RAD

    Let’s hope so. Just passing on whatever I find.

    CHASE

    We don’t want anything.

    JAZZ

    Speak for yourself. I’d love a Christmas cactus. 

    (RAD reaches into the depths of his cart and produces an unflowering – apparently dead plant – JAZZ takes it)

    CHASE

    Great. It’s dead.

    JAZZ

    It is not. It only blooms once a year.  Says here, this one’s going to have three blossoms.

    RAD

    Can’t go to the party without a present.

    CHASE

    What party?

    RAD

    Isn’t life a party?

    JAZZ

    So far. 

    CHASE

    More like a bribe for the deadboat captain. So we poor ghosts don’t get shoved into steerage.

    RAD

    That’ll be a hundred bucks.

    CHASE

    A hundred bucks!

    RAD

    This is a rare, one time offer. Not shown on TV. I’ve got bills.

    JAZZ

    Blood money, remember?

    CHASE

    If that’s what you want. You got giftwrap?

    (RAD  produces pink foil and a massive ribbon)

    JAZZ

    Wow. This says “Happy Birthday.” Do we know anybody born in December?

    CHASE

    My mom.

    JAZZ

    Oh, my God! Hide!

    (She drags CHASE down the stage steps to cower behind the stairs. BEX appears with a shotgun, racking the slide. RAD hastily packs up. Both exit offstage)

    JAZZ

    See that?

    CHASE

    He’s gone now. Let’s find the party.

    JAZZ

    Anything to get away from here.

  • Rough Sleep – a play by Alysse Aallyn

    (At Hadleigh Hall, a body lies under a tarp)

    SOLIZ

    They’re not letting anyone in. Do you know who lives in Room 824?

    JAZZ

    Actually, I live there.

    SOLIZ

    Oh, you do, do you? Well, some guy fell out your window.

    JAZZ

    Just like your dream!

    SOLIZ

    (threateningly)

    I don’t know what you’re talking about.

    CHASE

    Some guy? Who?

    SOLIZ

    Unidentified.  You can’t see him, he’s under a tent.

    CHASE

    Can’t Jazz collect her stuff?

    SOLIZ

    Come back later. It’s chaos over there.

    (SOLIZ frees them from tape; JAZZ and CHASE lurch off downstage)

    JAZZ

    This is Soliz’s dream. I remember if she doesn’t.

                               CHASE

    Except this was a guy.

    JAZZ

    Let’s hope it was Bex.

    CHASE

    So now you’re pro-violence?

    JAZZ

    Who’s saying I pushed him? It would be so unlike me.

    CHASE

    So, no going home for you.

    JAZZ

    Hadleigh was never my home.

    CHASE

    Well, you can camp out at my place while we figure out what to do with this new corpse.

    JAZZ

    Makes me harder for Bex to find. On the other hand when he does, he’ll just get madder.

    CHASE

    We’ve got enough problems without worrying about satisfying his unsatisfiable psyche. We’ve got three dead bodies!

    JAZZ

    And God knows how many crime scenes. Explain exactly why soulmating requires detective work?

    CHASE

    Maybe nature is one big crime scene. Red of tooth and claw.

    JAZZ

    You and your classical education.

                               CHASE

    Voilã! Here we are at my place.  

    SCENE VIII – Lights go up on CHASE’S APT – disheveled male bedroom/kitchenette

    JAZZ

    This is definitely a crime scene.

    (Throws herself into a low-slung chair)

    CHASE

    (Sitting close)

    You expected harp music? Hey, you admitted your life was a crime scene too. 

    JAZZ

    I guess I thought the point of soulmates is all the hard work would be magically be done.

    CHASE

    So no going over the past trying to understand and explain the mess? Wouldn’t that be nice!

    JAZZ

    Why can’t we just escape the mess?  The mess would no longer matter. We could rise above the mess.

    CHASE

    Your fantasy forgets about the demons. If we’ve unleashed demons –

    JAZZ

    Who’s to say we unleashed them?  I’m not responsible for Bex.

    CHASE

    Yet he’s out there, rampaging. At least I know I’m responsible for Corso.

    JAZZ

    But Corso’s using your involvement to keep his rampage going. Oh. Touché. I see what you mean.

    CHASE

    We’re dissociating. Living each other’s nightmares.

    JAZZ

    At least we’re braving hell together.

    (they touch hands) 

    CHASE

    If it’s purgatory, graduation’s a possibility.

    JAZZ

    We’re on a multiple universe scavenger hunt! 

    CHASE

    A time and space jigsaw puzzle!

    JAZZ

    We need to get to the crime scene before the crime happens.

    CHASE

    How would we know it was a crime scene?

    JAZZ

    Tell me what you know. What Corso did to you.

    CHASE

    God! You know I don’t want to talk about it.

                               JAZZ

    What specifically are you afraid will happen if you talk about it?

    CHASE

    That this whole thing would shatter right in front of me. I would wreck – whatever this is happening between us.

    JAZZ

    Maybe we’re meant to reveal, not repair, each other’s real selves.

    CHASE

    Let’s talk about your fears and malfeasance. That’s more fun for me.

    JAZZ

    Somebody increased power by sucking out ours. We’re going to reclaim it. Tell your soulmate what Dr. Corso did to you. 

    CHASE

    If you know, aren’t you ruined too? How can I stay with someone who knows this disgusting thing about me?

    JAZZ

    I guess we’ll just have to see.  We need to free ourselves to be with each other. 

    CHASE

    But there’s the difference, right there – you left Bex,  I pursued Corso. I came after him. 

    JAZZ

    You are so competitive. If you need to be “worst”, prove it.

    CHASE

    He was a teacher at my choir school. Latin, of all things. We spent an eternity on the Aeneid. God, I hate talking about this. I haven’t talked about it since I was fifteen, with the lawyers and judges.

    JAZZ

    He molested you?

    CHASE

    Between my ninth and thirteenth years. He had a way of making us compete to be “the favorite”. If you could just get on that easy street, life became golden. Finally I saw what a prisoner I was. Mustered up the courage to get the hell out of there.

    JAZZ

    Jesus.

    CHASE

    Great pillow talk, huh?  And that’s not the worst of it.

    JAZZ

    How could it get worse?

    CHASE

    I brought him other boys.  Whatever he wanted.

    JAZZ

    You were a kid.  None of this could possibly be your fault.

    CHASE

    Yet here I am. Still a slave.

    JAZZ

    But you found your soulmate.

    (They hug)

    How did it end?

    CHASE

    It hasn’t ended. I mean, the sex thing ended when Corso met my sister – my twin sister – and decided he was ready to branch out. He was like, deliver her or else.  That woke me up. I went home and refused to go back to school.  I finally told my parents.

    JAZZ

    And?

    CHASE

    They pretty much behaved the worst they possibly could.  First, they didn’t believe me. My dad has always been a total bastard making fun of me for singing in a high voice and wearing a lace collar and Mom was sort of a “the church can do no wrong” nut. You know, like, who are you going to believe, a priest or your own lying eyes?  They just couldn’t take it in.  But then a kid at school hanged himself and things started to snowball. Corso got kicked out. People started suing. My dad smelled a payday. The other families accepted settlements not to squeal. Everybody settled except my father. He was holding out for the Big Money that was going to make all his dreams come true.

    JAZZ

    Then what?

    CHASE

    What always happens with my Dad.  He was having such a good  time holding the whip, he waited too long. The minute I turned sixteen, I got legally emancipated. I could prove that Dad was hitting me – I had the sense to record him – so the judge refused to give Dad the cash. Dad declared bankruptcy and I finished high school on my own. Living at the Y.

    (Restless pacing)

    So on top of everything else, I’m singlehandedly responsible for the destruction of my family.

    JAZZ

    Scapegoating. People need someone to blame, it’s another form of hostage-taking. This isn’t your fault.  Time to forgive yourself.

    CHASE

    Oh, that’ll be easy. Walk in the park.

    JAZZ

    I’m still here.

  • Rough Sleep – a play by Alysse Aallyn

    CHASE

    Here’s more fodder for my theory that reality is totally submerged – it’s never what you think you see.

    JAZZ

    Sounds deep.

    (CHASE plays with his phone, paws through lists, makes a choice, phone to ear)

    CHASE

    Uh oh.

    JAZZ

    What gives?

    CHASE

    Howk’s work phone at the Health Center is disconnected.

    (Paws through more lists, tries another number)

    And her voicemail is full. I’m listening to it now.

    JAZZ

    You’re listening to her voicemail?

    CHASE

    Default pincode. Most employees never change it. Sounds like she didn’t show up Friday and they can’t get hold of her. 

    JAZZ

    That’s not good. Any calls from Corso?

    CHASE

    Not one. And that’s not good either. Let’s try something else.

    (Fingers phone)

    She lives at Punch Drunk Apartments.  Punch Brook’s it’s name but Punch Drunk’s more appropriate to the lowly adjuncts.

    JAZZ

    Poor Howk.

    CHASE

    Not answer there either.

    (Stands up)

    It’s a five minute walk.

    (They walk to the edge of the stage.  BEX darts out, snaps a picture of them)

    JAZZ

    Kiss me, quick.

    (Throws herself into CHASE’s arms for a long smooch. BEX exits.)

     SCENE VI – HOWK’s APARTMENT

    CHASE

    How’d you do that?

    JAZZ

    Giving Bex material for his revenge porn site.

    CHASE

    Not what I mean. How’d we get here so fast?

    JAZZ

    You said it was a short walk.

    CHASE

    Not that short. You kissed me.

    JAZZ

    You liked it.

    CHASE

    You triggered a flashback.  Maybe we’re dreaming. Maybe we’ve fallen into some weird wormhole vortex thing.

    JAZZ

    Ugh.  Just one more crime scene. What happened here?

    (She pushes a door, it falls down)

    Is this even true?

    CHASE

    Maybe it’s meta-truth. Super-truth.

    (Furniture thrown around, plants and upholstery dismembered)

    Somebody had fun.

    JAZZ

    Why’s the multiverse such a nasty place? And what’s all this pink stuff?

    CHASE

    Looks like insulation.  Somebody searching for something.

    JAZZ

    Well, they must have found it.  The bedroom’s untouched. 

    CHASE

    I don’t believe it. There’s no body?

    JAZZ

    I didn’t see one.

    CHASE

    Did you look under the bed?

    JAZZ

    You look under the bed! I’m opening this closet!

                      (Disgusting corpse falls out, suspended mid-air)

    Aaargh!

    CHASE

    That’s Howk all right. She looks – drowned. And her skin’s all eaten off with some kind of acid.

    JAZZ

    I’m getting out of here. Everywhere we go is death. 

    CHASE

    Smells like Corso. That’s Corso’s M.O. Find out what’s alive and kill it. He stinks of sulfur. My guess is he was searching for whatever she held over him. Better get the drop on him before he comes after us.

    JAZZ

    Maybe that sex tape?

    CHASE

    But that’s over at his place. 

    JAZZ

    Maybe we’re going backwards and forwards in time. A U-turn in the multiverse.

    CHASE

    Maybe he killed Howk and hid her body. Remember Zane’s dream?

    JAZZ

    The abandoned warehouse? The toxic condemned site?

    CHASE

    Perfect place to stash a corpse.  People are afraid to enter. Very Corso.  

    JAZZ

    OK you solved this one. God, you’re competitive. 

    CHASE

    History is moving us forward. It has to.

    JAZZ

    This just isn’t what the Tibetan monks promised me. The moment we considered love, death was everywhere.

    CHASE

    I prefer Dante. Dante’s my guide.  He says you go through hell to get to heaven.  

    JAZZ

    Dante! Weird subject for psych majors!

    CHASE

    There’s a lot about me you don’t know. You need a firm grip on purgatory to understand law.

    JAZZ

    I think I’m coming down with something.

    CHASE

    You’re coming down with me. Kiss me.

    JAZZ

    (Fending him off)

    What if I’m infectious?

    CHASE

    If you’re my soulmate I’m hoping you’re infectious. Maybe I could get back my soul.

                               JAZZ

    Where’d it go?

                               CHASE

    Taken hostage.

                               JAZZ

    By –

    (Their kiss triggers police car lights & sirens)

    You’re right, I feel better.

    CHASE

    Sirens when we kiss – that’s a first for me.

    (They kiss more)

    JAZZ

    Are they after us or our crime scene?

    CHASE

    We’re after them. Look where we are.

    JAZZ

    This is my dorm! Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

    CHASE

    Let’s kiss forever.

    SCENE VII – Outside Hadleigh, FRESHMAN DORM

     (Enter SOLIZ, dressed like a security guard, stringing crime scene tape)

    SOLIZ

    Hey!  Watch your step!  Respect my perimeter! O, hi guys.

    (They can’t step away – tape impedes)

    JAZZ

    What the hell happened here?

    SOLIZ

    Nobody knows. Keep moving.

    JAZZ

    But this is my dorm! I live here!

    SOLIZ

    They’re not letting anyone in. Do you know who lives in Room 824?

    JAZZ

    Actually, I live there.

    SOLIZ

    Oh, you do, do you? Well, some guy fell out your window.

    JAZZ

    Just like your dream!

    SOLIZ

    (threateningly)

    I don’t know what you’re talking about.

  • Rough Sleep – a play by Alysse Aallyn

    (CORSO doesn’t like CHASE and JAZZ’s new alliance. They walk toward steps while lights go down on DREAM LAB. CORSO exits huffily)

    Scene V – Cafe

    JAZZ

    You owe me a sandwich for backing up your lie, you lying liar.

    CHASE

    Liar? I was just being a gentleman. Don’t kiss and tell.

    JAZZ

    Somehow I doubt your motives.

    CHASE

    Never give monsters bones to make their soup.  

    (He shepherds JAZZ up the steps to SCENE V –  CAFÉ set: table and chairs are set up beneath Tiffany lamp upstage another table with two hunched unidentifiable figures in close conversation at distant table)

    Any truth you give Corso, he’ll use it against you.

    (Calls offstage)

    Two specials!  Meat on the side! And plenty of Joe.

    JAZZ

    What’s the special?

    CHASE

    Whatever it is, it’s the only thing they didn’t make yesterday. That’s why we call it “Chem Lab”. I take it you’ve never been here before? Vegan?  Gluten-intolerant? I’ll eat anything you don’t.

    JAZZ

    I’m on meal plan. I’m currently omnivorous but I aspire to someday be selective. How about your aspirations?

    CHASE

    Aspirations are good.  I’m pro-aspiration. At the moment, I aspire to anonymity.

    JAZZ

     You failed anonymity in dream lab. 

    CHASE

    I had a job to do. I did it.

    JAZZ

    Getting yourself kicked out?

    CHASE

    That was inevitable. I made it through one round, and I found out what kinds of dreams everybody’s having. Now we put it together, like a psychotic jigsaw puzzle.

    JAZZ

    Are you ever going to tell me why are you so pissed at Corso?

    CHASE

     Because he took something from me and he won’t give it back.

    JAZZ

    Maybe. What’d he take?

    CHASE

    My future. 

    JAZZ

    Can he prevent you from graduating?

    CHASE

    If he makes me a killer. Corso needs to be put down like a rabid dog. It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it.

    JAZZ

    Please don’t even joke like that. Nobody can take away your future without your cooperation. Go be a lawyer. You’d make such a great lawyer. You argue with everybody.

    CHASE

    So help me get evidence against him and I’ll let the cops take him off my hands.

    JAZZ

    You’re obsessed.

    CHASE

    I call it goal-oriented. Russian-Irish is a volatile mixture.

    JAZZ

    It’s tunnel vision. There we were, standing right at the edge of the soulmate multiverse and where do you want to go? Corso’s apartment! What is it with men and threesomes?

    CHASE

    You went to a morgue. So what do you know about the multiverse?

    JAZZ

    You should have done the reading! Retrocausation. Many Worlds theory.  If the universe is infinite then every possible outcome must happen somewhere.

    CHASE

    So I kill Corso in some other world?

    JAZZ

    Haven’t you heard that if you look too long at a monster you become the monster?

    CHASE

    Too late. 

    JAZZ

    Are you telling me that my soulmate is a monster?

    CHASE

    I’m starting to see why we belong together. You should segue out of pre-fashion into pre-law.

    JAZZ

    I’m allergic to violence. Violence is flirtation with losing control. It gives you nowhere to go. 

    CHASE

    You referring to that big bruiser who’s stalking you?

    JAZZ

    Maybe.  He represents my official knowledge of crazy. But now it’s over and I don’t have to talk about it.

    CHASE

    “Those who make a peaceful revolution impossible make violence inevitable.” 

    JAZZ

    Oh, please. Your evidence hunt makes sense at least. Let’s do that instead. You get to find out about Corso and I get to find out about you. Where would you go first?

    CHASE

    Well, I want to go to his office but I’m afraid he’s in there. That nympho-slut Nurse Howk is probably his weak link.

    JAZZ

    Don’t slut-shame. She’s probably one of his victims.

    CHASE

    Naah. She’s a fully consenting sub-monster. Didn’t she try to ooze all over you?

    JAZZ

    She’s just living up to the archetype. It’s one of the signs of a victim.

    CHASE

    Meaning what?

    JAZZ

    Don’t you know what an archetype is?

    CHASE

    I’m a psychology major, I hope I know what an archetype is. I’m asking if you know what it is, and since I’m not getting any answers, I’m going to go see what’s keeping our food.

    (Stands up, exits.  Big, ugly, longhaired BEX looms up from darkness and pounds his hands on JAZZ’s table)

    BEX

    Is that the guy? That’s the weasel you’re dumping me for?

    JAZZ

    Bex! I told you to get gone.

    BEX

    I’m just trying to talk to you since you won’t talk to me.

    JAZZ

    (Tries to stand up but he’s pushing the table into her)

    Bex it’s over!  How many ways can I say it? Don’t you have a job to get back to?

    BEX

    And that player doesn’t?  So now I’m not good enough for you?  Is that it?

    JAZZ

     I don’t get what you’re making a big deal about – you’re the one that said we’d never be exclusive! Go find someone else to torture!

    BEX

    (Leaning in threateningly)

    You’re not the boss of me. 

    (CHASE returns with tray) 

    CHASE

    This dude harassing you?

    JAZZ

    Just go, Bex. Go home.

    BEX

    Who’s gonna make me?

    (Two figures stand up at the distant table and advance – it’s ZANE and KOO)

    ZANE

    Having trouble here?

    (BEX knows when he’s outnumbered and retreats)

    BEX

    (Shouting over his shoulder)

    Better get ready! This means war!

    (ZANE and CHASE high-five, ZANE returns to his table – KOO puts a hand on JAZZ’s shoulder)

    KOO

    We’ve all been there.

    (Exit KOO and ZANE)

    CHASE 

    (Comforting JAZZ whose head is in her hands)

    Nice guy.  I think I understand what you saw in him.

    JAZZ

    (Writhing with mortification, sits down, head on table)

    I’m so sorry. What can I say? He’s a jerk, but pickings were slim. 

    CHASE

    (Serving sandwiches and coffee)

    Hey, everyone’s entitled to at least one monster. The good news is, today’s special is meatloaf.

    (JAZZ inspects inside her sandwich)

    JAZZ

    I think I lost my appetite.

    CHASE

    More for me.

    JAZZ

    The coffee’s good. Say, Zane and Koo! Huh?

    CHASE 

    I know, right? Think something’s – going on there? Traumatic bonding?

    JAZZ

    They didn’t say anything.

    CHASE 

    We didn’t say anything.

    JAZZ

    It’s hard to say anything when you don’t know what’s going on,

    CHASE

    More fodder for my theory that reality is totally submerged – it’s never what you think you see.

  • Rough Sleep – a play by Alysse Aallyn

    In the Dream Lab

    CHASE

    I flew! I did!

    (Waving his whole arm like a five year old)

    Me, me, me!

    CORSO

    (Repressively)

    I think Mr. Pettigrew is trying to speak.

    ZANE 

    (Acts out his dream)

     I was walking down a concrete tunnel with metal ribs. It seemed to be shifting like it was alive. It was hard to keep my feet. I felt like maybe it was on a giant truck where they shift the room around to make you fall – like at Great Adventure. There was water on the floor that looked diseased so I tried to keep out of it but it kept splashing on me.  I know I’m going to get sick just like my dad warned me. When I got to the end of the tunnel I was in an abandoned dump at the end of the world – signs everywhere saying things like, TOXIC WASTE and EXTREMELY HAZAROUS. The filled with gushing water and I couldn’t get back.

    RAD

    Abandon hope those who enter here.

    (CORSO gives him a squelching look)

    ZANE

    Something horrible was stalking the dump.  Every now and then it darted past.  I think I saw fur? I’m scared of fur. It was BIG. I could hear breathing. Maybe a bear – but when it stepped near the light I saw it had scales that glittered. It was coming right after me, kind of loping, with its back legs higher than its front.  In that second I realized I had created it – like it was the most terrible thing I could think of come to life.  I just took off running.  I knew I couldn’t outrun it – it had too many legs. I saw a chain-link fence, but I couldn’t get over that, so I went inside this shack to hide and maybe make a barricade. Most of all I was scared of anybody seeing what a coward I was – just another big talker who’s unable to cope. It was dark in there – and the floor was all torn up – I wanted to go back but – the thing was forcing me inside. It was peering in the windows so I ducked down, I stepped on a rotten board and pitched into the water. Toxic, disgusting water – smelled like sulfur – I could feel it poisoning me, rotting me, boiling me from the inside out. My skin was falling right off my bones.  Then somebody said, “Wake up” and I woke up.

    (CORSO looks bored and politely incredulous)

    CORSO

    Charming.  Our research project becomes a video game.

    ZANE

    (Rubbing the inside of his leg)

    I was never so glad to wake up. Man, I was really running. It felt like running in flip-flops.  My adductors are killing me and my paraformus feels like a rubber band.

    CORSO

    (Dismissive)

    Anything to be learned from this puerile meandering?  Could it be that the concept of “flight” itself creates a concept of falling and the context of humiliation and pursuit? I certainly wish you were all more imaginative. I see I need YEARS of work with you children to exorcise these primitive fears. Nobody has time for that. Oh, well.  Too late now. It is only in the course of the research that we discover how it should have been conducted.

    CHASE

    Flight creates pursuit?  That’s a good one!

    ZANE

    But I had the strangest feeling like…like I was watching myself. Like I was both inside and outside me. Like maybe I was the animal too.

    SOLIZ

    And I was the crowd. I felt that too.

    KOO

    Me, too.  I definitely did.

    CORSO

    (Silky-voiced)

    Ah, lucid dreaming. At long last, something informative. Do share.

    CHASE

    You said I could go next.

    CORSO

    Research makes no promises, Mr. Quinn.  Miss Loflin?

    KOO

    It was…so terrible.  I need to get rid of it so I can forget.    

    `        I was working in some kind of, mortuary.  These body bags were coming at me down a conveyor belt and I had to unzip them and take out the body pieces.  I was unzipping, unbuttoning, zipping and unzipping, but the bodies were so smashed I couldn’t even look at them. So disgusting — you couldn’t tell they ever had been people.  I thought there was people and garbage and animal parts all smashed together to trick me.  To make fun of me.  Someone was laughing at my expense. And some of those bags contained the remains of multiple people – a mess nobody could reassemble – a mass of legs and arms and guts. I thought this was a horrible job and I remember thinking, “Nothing is worth this. I should leave college plead bankruptcy and go work at my dad’s dealership.” I wanted to throw up the whole time.

    (Gagging)

     But I also felt guilty for not helping them. The heads were alive and they looked at me so pleadingly. Then in one bag I found my boyfriend Bo. He was looked accusing – I couldn’t convince him he was DEAD and I was helpless. and I just KNEW he was going to tell everyone I was responsible. Just it was all my fault! I just zipped him back up. Zipped him right back up. 

    (Gulping water, half crying)

    Then the next one was ME. I unzipped myself. I looking at my own body. I was dead and I was mangled, and I just hadn’t realized it.

    (KOO’s gasping and sobbing) 

    I just – lost it. Take me – take me –

    TAKE ME OUT OF HERE.

    (SOLIZ tries to comfort sobbing KOO.)

    SOLIZ

    So maybe Bo IS your soulmate and in your next dream you take him out of the bag –

    KOO

    I’m not going back there!  No, no, no, no, no!

    CORSO

    Please, Miss D’Accosta, no sophomoric interpretations. Good guinea pigs stay out of each other’s heads.

    JAZZ

    Wouldn’t soulmates be in each other’s heads?

    CHASE

    Me, me, me! Is it my turn now?

    CORSO

    By all means, Mr. Quinn, since you’re so eager to share.

    CHASE

    (Very smug and bad-ass)

    I flew all right. Right through the air. No pursuit, no humiliation, no falling – don’t I get an A?  It was like being in a wind tunnel. I went to your apartment; Doc. Didn’t bother with the locks – sailed right in through the front door.

    CORSO

    If this was a true out-of-body or remote viewing experience you’ll have to tell us something you could only have seen today, something that wasn’t there when you helped me move in.

    CHASE

    (Making a show of deep thought)

    Well, there were a lot of papers about a bankruptcy filing and restraining orders.  Is that the sort of thing you mean? Shouldn’t we run right over and look? Oh, and there was a sex tape featuring you and Nurse Howk on your bed.  Your bed had black sheets. She’s one smoky tomato, that girl. She has a piercing on her hoo-ha.  Shouldn’t we call her in and investigate?

    CORSO

    Mr. Quinn, you are fired again!  I knew you were a mistake! Off to the locker rooms with you. This minute. And don’t come back!

    CHASE

    (rises slowly, protesting) 

    Awwww... And I thought we were gonna be like so free.

    CORSO

    Every chance you are given, you destroy. I’m sure one of the alternates will be thrilled to assume your position.

    CHASE

    (Chucks him under the chin)

    You can always find somebody to “assume the position” but you’ll never find anyone like me.

    CORSO

    (Swats his hand away)

    Let’s hope not.  Get out, now.

    CHASE

    Can’t I listen to the others? I swilled your damn koolaid.

    CORSO

    No. You are incorrigible and disruptive.  You are leaving or I call security and this class is OVER.

    CHASE

    But I want to hear the others!

    CORSO

    (Upends recliner, dumping CHASE on the floor. Speaks into his earbud)

    You should have thought of that sooner.  Security!

    CHASE

    Oh all right. Jazz, I’ll be waiting for you to tell me what I missed.

    (He exits slowly, hangs out behind the door.)

    CORSO

    I do apologize for that. That is one troubled youth. He is a thief, an impostor and a poseur. No good deed goes unpunished there, I assure you. His alternate will be more cooperative. Miss Suzino? Mr. Bliven? Chop-chop! No more stalling.

    RAD

    (Looking panicked.)  

    It’s Borden. And – I don’t remember anything.

    (CORSO inspects him closely to see if he is lying)

    CORSO

    Hmmm. Come, come, Mr. whatever.  The others have been brave. Your clothing is strangely disarranged.

    SOLIZ

    Aren’t your pants on backwards?

    RAD

    (Gulps, blushes painfully)

    I know you’ll fire me and I don’t really want to leave but I just don’t remember. It’s just a blank.

    CORSO

    Fire you for amnesia? Hardly! I am much more likely to administer truth serum or attempt a little private hypnosis. Overcoming resistance is my raison d’être.

    (Looks at his watch.)

    We just don’t have the time.  How about if I give you one more chance, next week?

    RAD

    Th – thanks.

    (Is he relieved? Traumatized?  Hard to tell. CORSO stretches out on CHASE’s abandoned futon, very relaxed, crosses his hands behind his head.)

    CORSO

    You are hardly a “still water”, Mr. Bli – er, Borden. Perhaps that is why I am more relieved than otherwise to find you run so deep. Miss Suzino?  We are waiting. 

    (JAZZ’s face show she is desperately trying to think up a story.  Coming up empty)

    JAZZ

    I was blind. At first I couldn’t see.

    CORSO

    (Sighs luxuriously)

    Oh, Miss Suzino.  Blindfold games! Who among us hasn’t played them?  You always interest me so extremely! Pay attention, Mr. Bruden!  This is how it’s done!                        

    RAD

    Borden.

    CORSO

    Simmer down, class. Let Miss Suzino speak.  Poor little Jazz.  When she enrolled in this experiment she’s all, “I can’t dream” 

    (mimics her voice unflatteringly) 

    Now it’s “I can’t see!”  Whatever next? We’ll just have to do what we can to open your eyes.

    JAZZ

    I felt people rushing past me. I stumbled down steps into a basement. It smelled like dirt and death.   Someone kicked me – I fell over a body. A dead body.

    CORSO

    More falling. This is a tragic class.

    ZANE

    Anything chasing you?

    CORSO

    Please, class, I’ll ask the questions.

    JAZZ

    There was blood.

    SOLIZ

    But the blood was yours. Sorry. Just saying. 

    CORSO

    (Slams his notebook shut – rises) 

    Checks in your mailboxes the first of the week!  See you all next Saturday! Remember – no talking about what goes on in dream lab!

    RAD

    (Glad to escape)

    What happens in dream lab stays in dream lab!

  • Rough Sleep – a play by Alysse Aallyn

    Back in DREAM LAB – CORSO calling with baton and headphones)

    CORSO

    Children! Come back! Playtime is over! Wake up, children! Don’t get lost in NeverNeverLand!

    (CORSO conducts Flight of the Valkyrie. JAZZ and CHASE are sucked apart to opposite sides of the stage.  Lowlights come up on Dream Lab. CHASE falls back on his recliner. Other students thrashing and moaning. JAZZ falls to floor, CHASE struggles to her side to help her up) 

    JAZZ

    (Retching)

    I think I saw death.

    CHASE

    And I saw the face of evil.

    CORSO

    (Appearing with a roll of paper towels and a bucket of water bottles – lights up all the way, music down)

    Rough sleep?

    CHASE

    Yeah. But was worth it.

    CORSO

    I’m talking to Miss Suzino. Gave yourself a bloody nose there, sport.

    (CORSO hands out bottles of water)

    JAZZ

     (feels her face)

    I did? Is it my blood?

    KOO

    I’m definitely going to throw up.

    CORSO

    First times are always the worst times. Care for a basin?

    KOO

    No, I want a bathroom.

    (Staggers off futon, SOLIZ reaches out to her)

    SOLIZ

    I’ll help her.

    (They lurch off behind Ladies Locker)

    CORSO

    Any more foreheads require mopping? Allow me to audition my Florence Nightingale impersonation. I’ve been universally praised for my bedside manner.

    JAZZ

    (Mopping herself)

    Maybe I’m the one who died.

    CORSO

    Forget the safe word?

    RAD

    There’s a safe word?  Now he tells us.

    CHASE

    How about “Stop”. Or “No”?

    CORSO

    The problem with that is behind the fear lies the wish.

    CHASE

    Behind the wish lies the demon. So there is no safe word.

    CORSO

    How about “I quit”?  Is that what you’re trying to say, Mr. Quinn?

    CHASE

    You first.

    CORSO

    (They glare at each other. Horrible retching noises from locker room)

    Now, now, now. Just when we were getting along so well.

    (ZANE has stood up and is lurching around as if sleepwalking.)

    CORSO

    Mr. Braden, assist your colleague back to his launching pad.

    (RAD stands up, goes to ZANE, wakes him, and leads him to his futon to sit.  SOLIZbrings a green-faced KOO out of the Ladies’)

    RAD

    My name is Borden.

    CORSO

    Now wasn’t that fun? Good times. Upchucking can hardly be an unusual experience for you, Miss Loflin. 

    SOLIZ

    Don’t give her so much next time. She’s little. She can’t get the same dose as everyone else.

    CORSO

    I wish the guinea pigs would stop wrestling with me for control of this experiment. I make the decisions around here. The doctor knows what he’s doing.

    SOLIZ

    Sorry.

    CORSO

    Now I posit the ultimate question.  Anybody “fly”?  Did we achieve liftoff?

    SOLIZ

    I think I fell. It seemed so real. Maybe it was only a dream.

    CORSO

    Only a tear in the fabric the universe, a burp from the hippocampus, a haiku from the collective unconscious, an oracle of future empowerment? Speak to us, Miss D’Accosta. Tell us everything.

    SOLIZ

     (Stands up to act out events she describes)

    I was in the elevator at Hadleigh – for some reason I was in a big hurry.  I remember looking at my watch but my watch had stopped.  It was an analog watch without any hands. The elevator opened on the top floor and I rushed out.  All these people were staring at me and they started to laugh. I realized I was naked. I couldn’t get back in the elevator – the doors had melted. The floors were melting and the whole building lurched to one side.  I panicked. I was thrown against people and I hate people touching me but I was helpless. No soulmates, just a gang. I’m scared of gangs. They were herding me. But there was the window so I jumped right through, thinking, maybe I can fly. I felt the glass tearing apart my body. At first I felt this great release.  A sense of excitement. Like I can do anything I want, like I got away with it. I was trying to move my arms and legs – it seemed like slo-mo – so I pumped and pumped – moving more frantically – but I knew all along it wouldn’t work. It doesn’t work with swimming. You’ve got to find the peaceful center but there was no peaceful center.  So I fell – knowing you’d be disappointed and maybe flunk me but hoping my crushed body could tell the scientists something.  That second before I hit I was – it was the most disgusting feeling – suspended, staring at the chalk outline where I my corpse would be.  I remember thinking, “I hope we get a second chance” but all I heard was laughter. Others were getting it. Others were doing it. Splat! Face-first into the pavement. I felt my face pushed into my brain, my spine crumbling – body turning inside out, I became “the visible woman” with her organs on the outside. That was right before my organs exploded like water balloons and there was nothing left.   I was completely gone and so there was nothing left to go to heaven, no welcoming light, no happy faces. Just sadness and loss; a night of blackout drinking.  That couldn’t have been an out of body experience. It was more like a nightmare. Right? 

    (SOLIZ’s face is sweaty, anxious. CORSO, hand to chin, considering)

    CORSO

    A classic shame dream. You felt humiliated by your naked body – a very nice body I might add – as if by some unwilling revelation of your essential self. A common anxiety dream, I assure you.  Hampered by cultural imperatives your attempted  “escape” was disguised as self-punishment; you  “looked down”, ergo tumbled and fell. Almost Greek in its simplicity.  I especially liked the note about the handless watch.  Very Dali-esque.

    RAD

     I’m all for naked dreams.

    JAZZ

    Our naked selves aren’t our essential selves.

    CORSO

    (Looking at her very displeased. Those guinea pigs again)

    How so, Miss Suzino?

    JAZZ

    I mean, everyone’s naked body is alike.  Choices reveal our essential selves.

    CORSO

    Spoken like a fashion major. How jejeune.

    CHASE

    I know what she means. It’s why people get tattoos.

    CORSO

    Says a tattooed denizen of the underclass.

    ZANE

    Everybody’s naked body is not alike! I wish!

    RAD

    (Trying so hard to be ZANE’s buddy)

    Right! I mean, if only!

    JAZZ

    I mean generally.

    CORSO

    We split hairs.  Nevertheless you expose the dangers of word selection, Miss D’Accosta. Forget “flying”. Who went elsewhere? Absolutely elsewhere?  Just tell me that.

    (ZANE reacts visibly.)

    CHASE

    I did!

    (Waving his whole arm like a five year old)

    Me, me, me!

    CORSO

    (Repressively)

    I think Mr. Pettigrew is trying to speak.

  • Rough Sleep – a play by Alysse Aallyn

    (JAZZ shakes head impatiently and crabwalks out of Dream Lab down the steps toward audience. 

    JAZZ

    Where is this place? It smells like death. The end of everything.

    (A dead body falls from rafters ands hangs by its elbows obstructing JAZZ’s path – she struggles with it)

    JAZZ

    Hey! Watch where you’re going! Get out of my way!

    (Feels up the body in a panicked way)

    JAZZ

    Oh, my God, I’m so sorry! Did I bump into you? Are you all right? Are you OK?. What’s wrong?

    (She wrestles & dances with swinging corpse, batters it like a punching bag.  EnterCHASE who pulls her away. His eyes are open)

    CHASE

    What is this – a morgue?  Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.

    JAZZ

    (Can’t leave her partner)

    Someone died and I’ve gone blind. 

    CHASE

    You’re not blind.  Open your eyes. Just don’t look behind you.

    (Turns her, kisses her.  She resists at first, then leans into him as the kiss deepens.  She opens her eyes, feeling his face)

    JAZZ

    It’s you.

    CHASE

    What are you doing in a morgue?

    JAZZ

    This is the basement. 

                      (Turns, sees corpse)

    Aaagh!

    CHASE

    Leave her. She’s past help.

    JAZZ

    Did she fall?

    CHASE

    Not with her head bashed in.  Come on. We’re urgently required elsewhere.

    (Hustles her past the orchestra pit and back up on stage)

    JAZZ

    Shouldn’t we call somebody?

    CHASE

    We’ve got to keep moving. Something’s stalking us. 

    JAZZ

    That’s just my boyfriend. He won’t go home. Keeps threatening me.

    (Grabbing CHASE frenziedly)

    Maybe the dead body is me!

    CHASE

    It’s some old lady past her sell-by date.

    JAZZ

     Where are you taking me? Won’t we get into trouble for leaving?  Where are we?

    (SCENE III – Lights go up on CORSO’s APARTMENT set. Door stands between JAZZ, CHASE and a room of bed, bureau, chairs. Ambiance created by candles, tossed books and clothes)

    JAZZ

    Where did this come from? Did we like – soul travel?  

    CHASE

    (laughs)

    Maybe that bastard Corso really hit on something! The irony – you can’t imagine. Flying! Couldn’t you feel it? While we were kissing. 

    JAZZ

    All I know is you dragged me somewhere I don’t want to be. Where is this?  YUCK!  Smells like old socks in here.

    CHASE

    Better than your morgue. This is Corso’s place. 

    JAZZ

    How do you know?

    CHASE

    I helped him move in.

    JAZZ

    But why are we here? Is lab over? Maybe we won’t get paid.

    CHASE

    (Opening drawers and tossing clothes and papers)

    There are more important things than money.

    JAZZ

    Said by someone who obviously has some. Are we dreaming?

    CHASE

    Together? In my dream you would be more cooperative.

                               JAZZ

    And in my dream you wouldn’t waste time dragging me to Professor Corso’s bachelor hideaway.

                               CHASE

    We’re real. It’s Corso’s razzle-dazzle that isn’t real.

    JAZZ

    Why? How do you know? I need that money and those credits.

    CHASE

    The closer you get to it the further it will recede.

    JAZZ

    You don’t talk like a soulmate. I don’t think you care anything about me.

    CHASE

    I don’t know you. I’ve got obligations, is all.

    JAZZ

    You’re wasting precious dream time pawing through Dr. Corso’s private stuff when we should be getting to know each other.

    CHASE

     In my experience opportunities like this are one time only. 

    JAZZ

    It just doesn’t feel the way I expected.

    CHASE

    Don’t be so self-referential.

    JAZZ

    You literally CAN’T be my soulmate. I thought Corso lived on a farm in the country.

    CHASE

    His wife kicked him out.

    JAZZ

    She did? Aren’t you going to have to put everything back?

    CHASE

    He’ll never prove it was us – we’ve got the perfect alibi.

    JAZZ

    Why is my soulmate a criminal?  Lucky me. I really can pick ‘em. So what are you searching for?

    CHASE

    Evidence. What he’s really up to.  Don’t ever believe the magician’s misdirection. He’s the king of mind games. Look at this.

    (Flourishes paper)

    JAZZ

    What’s that?

    CHASE

    Bankruptcy filings! Divorce filings!

    JAZZ

    What’s THAT have to do with anything?

    CHASE

    A desperate Corso is a dangerous Corso. 

    (Throws her a scrapbook)

    See if there’s anything in here.

    JAZZ

    (Studying the pictures)

    “First mass, 1978!”  He did say he used to be a priest.

    CHASE

    True. Imagine Corso absolving people!

    JAZZ

     He told me the church expelled him.

    CHASE

    True again. The best lies always contain some truth.

    JAZZ

    For falling in love, he said.

    CHASE

    Bzzz! Not! Lie!

    JAZZ

    No pictures of his wife in here. I wonder what she looks like. All these pictures are of him.

    CHASE

    The prince of fauxmance cares only about himself. He married her for cash.   Look, here’s a picture of you. You must be his type.

    JAZZ

    That’s Bettie Page. People are always saying I look like her. I ‘ve never worn a leopardskin bra.  He certainly was a buck-toothed, buzz-cut wunderkind.  Must have had work done.

    CHASE

    Sold his soul to the devil, is what happened.

    JAZZ

    If this is astral projection – how come I still have a body?

    CHASE

    (Looks up briefly)

    You don’t like your body?  I like your body.

    JAZZ

    That’s not it…I just figured we’d be essences. I was looking forward to floating around like an essential spirit.

    CHASE

    But how would we recognize each other? Dante recognized the spirits that he saw in hell and heaven.  Makes sense to me. All things considered, I’d rather have a body to experience things with.

    JAZZ

    I get that. But why do some bodies wind up dead? I keep thinking about that poor old lady –

    CHASE

    (Still looting)

    Here’s a restraining order. He’s not allowed to come within a thousand feet of Evangeline Corso.

    JAZZ

    Wow. Have you ever met Mrs. Corso?

    CHASE

    Twice.  She was very nice the first time.  Obviously older than him, but an interesting talker.  But the second time she started screaming about eco-terrorism, about how something was poisoning her, how she was suddenly allergic to everything.  He had to pull her off me.

    JAZZ

     Corso, you suspect?

    CHASE

    Big time. He’s the only terrorist I know.

    JAZZ

    You can add Bex to that list.

    CHASE

    I doubt he equals Corso’s sheer lethality.

    JAZZ

    Give him time. You really have it in for Corso.

    CHASE

    He had it in for me.

    (The TV has its back to us. When CHASE bumps it, blue light flickers on)

    JAZZ

    Look at this.  Seems like Corso and the Howk are having a Thing.

    CHASE

    Are you surprised?  She really throws down, if you know what I’m saying. I was there at the same time as Soliz and she came on to both of us.

    JAZZ

    Some people are like that. It’s all performance art. 

    CHASE

    This look like performance art to you?

    (JAZZ jumps)

    JAZZ

    That’s disgusting! Turn it off.

    (TV off)

    Nobody really wants to be strangled. That must be a performance, for sure. Because don’t we know she’s still alive?

                               CHASE

    Do we?

                               JAZZ

    (She sits down on bed to watch him loot)

    Think we’ll remember this when we get back to normal?

    CHASE

    I’m pretty sure you and I have different definitions of normal.  I can’t tell you what will happen.  I’m a first timer, too. We have to play it the best we can.

    JAZZ

    If this is a dream, maybe we’re making it up as we go along.

    CHASE

    If you’re not a psychology major, you don’t know about the maze-solving worms.

    JAZZ

    (JAZZ puts chin on hand)

    You’re right. Never heard of it. Do tell.

    CHASE

    They taught these worms to solve complex mazes, you know, by giving them rewards.  And then they ground them up and fed them to these other worms.

    JAZZ

    What a mean thing to do!

    CHASE

    Except the new worms knew the maze first time.

    JAZZ

    So that proves…what?

    CHASE

    Memory is chemical.

    (Taps his head)

    JAZZ

    So Corso’s going to grind us up and feed us…to the alternates?

    CHASE

    Trust me.  He would if he could.

    (Pulling out drawers.  JAZZ tosses CORSO’s messy sheets)

    JAZZ

    I can’t believe we’ll get away with this.

                      (Jumps to her feet)

    Yuck! I’m wet. I sat in their wet spot! It’s blood!

    (Looks in a panic at her hands, wipes them on her pants, touches her cheeks, increasingly upset.)

    Yuck, yuck, yuck!  There’s blood on this sheet and now it’s on me!

    CHASE

    Sssh. You’re not really here.

    JAZZ

    You just said we were!

    (She throws the papers he’s gathering in the air, he grabs her and starts kissing her)

    Now you’re getting it on you.

    CHASE

    I’m getting you on me. I’m starting to think you really are my soulmate. 

    JAZZ

    (Kissing him back)

    So please get me out of this disgusting place. 

    CHASE

    I’m sorry I’m so bad at this. It’s just that I can never forget. 

  • Rough Sleep – a play by Alysse Aallyn

    (Perceptual Studies Student Lab at College . Enter CORSO in Burberry, cap and scarf)

    CORSO

    Sorry I’m late.  I’ll make it up.  Time’s our bitch, but that’s what we’re here for – get on top of it.  I see you’ve met my teaching assistant, Mr. Quinn. 

    (Indicates CHASE) 

    CHASE

    I thought you fired me.

    CORSO

    But you’re so charming as my warm-up act.  Who could resist you? Consider yourself re-hired.

    ZANE

    (Pointing at CHASE)

    Ringer! Ringer!

    CORSO

    (Opens a door)

    Welcome to Paradise. After you.

    (Lights up on  DREAM RESEARCH LAB ;  six recliners arranged in a circle – lockers to either side– students study their environment. Glittering disco ball lowers from ceiling shedding fractals. Padded floor; students step gingerly.  At center of recliners a black chalice on a tripod emits dry ice smoke)

    CORSO

    (Slams door aggressively)

    Now you’re committed.

    RAD

    My folks always said I’d end up committed.

                               ZANE

    And in a padded cell.

    CORSO

    God forbid you should fall down in your dream-throes and sue the institute that birthed your intellect.

    CHASE

    Where are the sensors?

    CORSO

    Everything’s wireless these days, poor Mr. Quinn! What are you worried about? Nobody would dare to censor you. 

    KOO

    (Gestures at the disco ball)

    Is that a camera?

    CORSO

    The Eye of History.

    (Claps hands)

    Chop, chop, little ones – Enough rubbernecking.  Time’s a-wasting.  Male locker room there, females that-away. Discard outerwear and belongings. Let’s get going.

    (As CHASE passes him, CORSO says dryly)

    The old razzle dazzle?  REALLY?

    (Banging of locker doors)

    CHASE

    We’ll see.

    CORSO

    We certainly will. Now, if you children would arrange yourselves male, female – thusly.

    RAD

    Like some antique dinner party?

    CORSO

    Sacred geometry.  We need all the energy we can harness. We are immersing ourselves in the flip side of reality- the Unseen. 

    (JAZZ and CHASE are side by side. CORSO distributes mugs)

    CORSO

    Tea time!

    CHASE

    What is this stuff?

    CORSO

    Sorry, Mr. Quinn, research is not a democracy. All that’s guaranteed is, you sleep on cue without allergic overdrive.

    ZANE

    I’m not allergic to Nurse Howk, either. Yowza!

    RAD

    (Shaking his hand as if from a burn)

    I know, right?

    CORSO

    Drink up and settle down.  I am collecting mugs so I will know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice.

    JAZZ

    Yuck! This stuff tastes like bark.

    (RAD barks like a dog)

    CORSO

    Shotgun it, Miss Suzino. Knock it back. Isn’t that the college way?

    .        (CORSO collects mugs, turning them upside down to be sure they’re empty)

    Musical selection?  Classical or non-classical?

    ZANE

    Anything so long as it’s not classical.

    CHASE

    Anything – so long as it’s classical.

    (They glare at each other. CORSO laughs)

    CORSO

    The bulls do clash! Ocean sounds it is!

    (He conducts the music) 

    Everyone hold hands and close eyes please. Let the bonding begin!

    CHASE

    (Muttering)

    Bondage, more like.

    CORSO

    Mr. Quinn!  Must I gag you? That can be arranged!

    (CHASE finally closes his eyes, rocking back and forth to get comfortable. Lights go down to twilight level on DREAM LAB.  CORSO ascends on TOWER LIFT, wearing earphones and holding a conductor’s baton)

    CORSO

    Welcome to cosmic dreaming. You will dream at such a depth your mind will burst the bonds of selfhood and explode free and untrammeled into the universe. Free from the chains of time, from identity itself, we uncover the truth the quotidian obscures;  we are one. Think on it. Think what it would means to be freed from debt, obligation, relationship, guilt, regret or loss. There are no mistakes.  Without identity you are released from suffering.  Everything you have ever wanted we can achieve together, effortlessly, and in abundance. Desires and longing are the fuel that rocket us to the stratosphere of rarest air. Once we merge in the great Oneness, we will dream uniquely and together.  

    (CORSO turns a page on his music stand)

    Learning to harness our dream, we will control it, uniting our powers generously to become a potent force of reckoning. Prepare yourselves for the ultimate luxury – surrender – lost in the imaginative union that has always been your birthright.  Time to claim and master your entitlement. In our relaxation mass consciousness will seize control…But you must be quick! The garden door is closing and you’ll be left behind… See, the stars are out. The world inside and the world without await your signal – longing to merge.  Only the clatter in your head prevents the natural fruition of your indissoluble longing. 

    Doesn’t it feel good leaving the world behind? The universe itself is lost beneath you now.  Now flesh itself melts away as invisible imperfections open themselves to perfection. Accept the freedom you are offered. When you open your eyes, you will be gazing down at the husk of your unwelcome, banished self.  

    (CORSO’S spot is extinguished, spot rises on JAZZ who stands up eyes closed, feeling out in front of her like sleepwalker.  She feels her way to the edge of the stage. No other students stir.  CORSO’s voice orates as if from space.)

    CORSO

    Now the room itself vanishes, your earthly fears becoming someone else’s problem. Release those worries.  Look how tiny they seem, as they disappear over the horizon. 

    (JAZZ shakes head impatiently and crabwalks down the steps toward audience. 

    JAZZ

    Where is this place? It smells like death. The end of everything.

  • The Demon Lover – a play for 2 voices by Alysse Aallyn

    SCENE IV – THE LAST SCENE

    EVA
    I am gnawed by an aching hopeless wish.
    Loneliness leads to breakdown,
    Becomes dementia. I batter
    Around the rooms of this castle,
    However brightly-plumaged,
    Knocking into furniture,
    A tragic bird who’s trapped indoors.
    Even dizzy with drink I maintain the frigidity
    Of an Edwardian hostess
    Intolerant of scenes at meals.
    Without you life’s a half-lit room.

    EVAN
    I’ve become a character in your melodrama
    An absurd creature of romantic vice.
    Hopeless dilemma.

    EVA
    What could be more beautiful than our ten days in New York,
    Walking among the perverted architecture.
    No loss of illusion, rather an increase.
    I’m in the midst of a dreary financial crisis,
    Having breakdown on my feet.
    I hope I don’t sound too shocked and sad.
    You are life to me as nothing is.
    My fingers still tremble,
    Touching you after 17 years.

    EVAN
    This is the Eva I first met, first knew, first loved.
    We waited it out and didn’t lose each other.
    I was sane or mad to doubt you & myself.
    We are like two people sweating blood
    I feel further from you than ever. I dread losing you
    But Elayna’s power still holds me.
    I fear I may do one of you harm.

    EVA
    Thanks for the money,
    I hope it doesn’t embarrass you too much.
    You are a reviver and a balm.
    We must be in Paris together before we die.

    EVAN
    If you want me to be unselfish, let me be unselfish.
    You are my greatest friend. I’m
    Trying to keep off the drink while you’re here,
    Otherwise I know I’ll wreck everything.
    Three manhattans makes me crazy.
    Your feverish cheer does not seem solid.
    Is this the wreckage of our love?
    Once frightened of your clinical eye
    Now I’m more frightened of my own.
    I’ve matriculated in
    Your fearful university.

    EVA
    We sheer away in horror
    Scenting fumes of evil
    As we lose control.
    Defeat and exhaustion, alarm and despondency.
    Demoralized and sad.
    Slam down the lid on pain and resentment:
    I have taken against your family.
    Let’s dance. To sit
    In silence denigrates our love.

    EVAN
    My heart aches for you.
    We talked for the first time in weeks
    About hurt and resentment.
    I could manage my life if it weren’t for you
    And you could manage yours if it weren’t for me.
    You infect me with your despair and I flee to my wife
    To release the pressure.
    Her quickening influence works my imagination.

    EVA
    I hate that you are in New York without me.
    You pervade that place as God pervades our hearts.
    My life is based on my assumption
    Of togetherness and my
    Secret fear you’re being got at
    When we could be snug together.
    I obsess that you’re in places where I’m not.
    I could not live without seeing you.
    I dread our visit may turn sour.

    EVAN
    Everything except your beautiful self rusts
    Or dies or goes away.
    My love only seems dead;
    it’s alive underneath. If you die
    I shall never forgive you
    We need ideas that are less about ourselves.

    EVAN
    I hurt Elayna tonight
    But there’s no help for it.
    She cares for me and I only care for a life apart.
    A clean break, an amputation
    Makes me frantic and guilty.
    She says we have a happy marriage only because
    She willed it. This smell of death and decay
    Makes me long for sex.
    Could you help me find a girl – any girl you choose –
    Or will you call me a sex mad degenerate?
    Panic makes my hands shake.
    I thought of Elayna and I wept.

    EVA
    I received your sad, wild letter.
    I accept that you can’t free yourself.
    Do you accept it?
    I feel so very near you.
    I accept that you make sex
    Desperately with strangers –
    Do you accept it?
    Can anyone love such a cold-blooded person?

    EVAN
    How silly I am, I thought
    I was reconciled to our ending,
    Expected a falling off of tension & illusion.
    But it’s a prospect I can’t face.

    EVA
    Miracles happen but
    The gift of love causes guilt & pain.

    EVAN
    I am utterly becalmed.
    What I dread most is silence,
    The latest form of impotence.
    I need stringing up and tautening.
    Revenge on love. Revenge on me.

    EVA
    I am suffused with love because I am free.
    My work becomes our child,
    An extension of us. Immortal. Still,
    Something vanishes when you’re not there.

    EVAN
    Elayna broke her hip.
    How irreplaceable she is to me.
    Our brand of married happiness is entirely unsung.
    I shrink to leave her even for a day.

    EVA
    I’m sorry it’s not fatal.
    Am I dispensable to you?
    You love no one. If you turn against me
    I’ll die in a week because
    I have no one looking after me.

    EVAN
    Turn against you! Agonizing!
    In spite of the hangover of humiliation
    I broke down all reserves so we could be together.
    A very happy day and I was sorry to leave you.

    EVA
    Wed & sad.
    Past distress is muffled by age & habit.
    Today we meet formally as if at a garden party.
    A promise unfulfilled.

    EVAN
    You looked so ill
    I was nagged by fear I bored you.
    I long for the happiness of old age,
    Guilt free, pain free, fear free.
    In your silence
    I feel your calming hand.

    EVA
    I invited Elayna to lunch.

    EVAN
    I am not best pleased.
    The day you come to like each other
    Our love will die. It will be
    Poison to our love.
    Elayna rarely admits depression.
    I have had not just love but loyalty.
    Your ghost will haunt me till I die.
    You force ruthlessness.
    It is a good thing your throat is sore
    Or you would never stop talking.

    EVA
    Are you sending me your signet ring?
    I want something solid to remember you
    As I dodge death, fight off this
    Paralyzing loneliness.
    Our last communion.

    (EVA fades away. EVAN is alone.)

    EVAN
    Is the flaw in love a flaw in me?
    I never should have married.
    My heart jumps with pain like a hooked fish.
    I am rudderless. Upon your death
    My ring comes back,
    All your contrivances revealed.
    Now you are gone, I find you everywhere.
    We will never see each other again;
    Never, never, never.
    You are gone from me forever.
    I walk the streets and weep.
    Is this delayed shock? Boredom or despair?
    I will never cease to feel this pain till
    I cease feeling anything.
    For the last three nights, I dreamed of you.
    Did I anger you, neglect you?
    It’s too late to pray –
    I await your final book with horror.
    I need to know I was your life.
    Please
    Come back one last time to tell me
    Just for an hour.
    If you ever thought you loved more than I
    You are revenged.

    THE END

  • Becoming a Warrior – the Warrior Oracle by Alysse Aallyn

    Sex – Soulmates:

    If This Card Chooses You – You are searching for your “other”. Do you look in the mirror and see another face? Do you dream of a lost twin? Do you imagine “the other” across a crowded room, and think when you touch their hand, you will feel a strange galvanic charge? Do you think soulmates are even possible? Is there only one or are soulmates developed? Are you disenchanted with sex? Do you have sex dreams that are more like night terrors? Does sex make you feel increasingly worthless and untouchable?

    Soulmates Are Real And You Have One – It’s never too late. You are never so “lost” you can’t find your soulmate. The problem is, your soulmate feels just the way you do and both of you are frightened of those feelings, isolating you further in an invisible, impenetrable membrane. You want your soulmate to rescue you, but warriors rescue each other. This takes a lot of bravery, a lot of humility, much insight and a little magic.

    When Warriors bond there is no going back.
    The potential magic of sexual connection ignites the search for a SoulMate. Warriors believe that once found, a Soul Pair becomes capable of Time Travel, TransSubstantiation, and Immortality. Genders merge; either one can be feminine, masculine or androgyne at will. One wing searches for another to form a bird and fly. The question we must ask ourselves is: are we willing to undergo the pain of having the boundaries of our borders breached to fully merge with another?

    Warriors Lift Each Other’s Souls – The power of a doubled pair is raised to the nth power by their knowledge, commitment and shared purpose.

    Warriors Release Each Other – There are so many permissions, forgivenesses, and skills we cannot give ourselves. Love literally gives you eyes in the back of your head. There is no hiding from your soulmate.

    Doubled Warriors Power the Universe – The constant clash of mating, sharing, satisfying and negotiating is the music of the spheres. It keeps us all spinning in an ecstasy of selfless selfhood.

    Warrior Challenge – There are plenty of frogs out there and some vipers, and you will kiss each. Possibly more than once. It’s also possible that we have “rewired” our system – through porn, games, and casual sex – so that it actually prevents us from recognizing a soulmate and forging a life bond. This is why starting as friends is so critical. It gets your defenses down to the point where you can talk about fears, desires and problematic reactions. Go slowly, welcome mistakes and be prepared to learn.

    Warrior Danger – Sometimes – let’s face it – most times, you and your soulmate are “sick.” You have “caught” infection from a society that says “fuck you” to eternal, mystical, mutual sexual union. That makes things hard. You don’t recover overnight. You must commit to good mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and sexual hygiene and you will both have to figure out what it is. You need to make a plan – yes, a map – out of each other’s minds and bodies. If the other person refuses to accept health you will have to detach for your own sanity and safety. Vampires make other vampires, and bliss will elude them. The most important part of soulmating is the mutual pledge for health and growth – for both of you.

    Warrior Opportunity – My book, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead – is about the supernatural powers of soulmates. It’s about what to do when you dislike and distrust your soulmate at first. It’s about what to do when you and your soulmate both have horrific pasts and are pursued by actual demons. I can’t say it clearer than that. Don’t be frightened. Your bond is eternal, across time, geography and multiverses. Take it slow. You have all the time in the multiverse.

    Bereavement Is Never The End – As life itself is not the end, bereavement cannot be. The glory of perfecting still awaits, and detached Soulmates have been known to find each other and form new spiritual and physical connections.

    Models & Mentors – “A soulmate’s purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life and then introduce you to your spiritual master” – Elizabeth Gilbert

    “A soulmate is the one person whose love is powerful enough to motivate you to meet your soul to do the emotional work of self-discovery and awakening” – Kenny Loggins

    “They fought all the time and challenged each other every day. They were crazy about each other” – Nicholas Sparks

    “I know what love is, because of you.” – Herman Hesse

    #Haiku: I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead

    Only soulmates can
    Slay each other’s dragons
    Says Tibetan Master