(BEXappears in a spot on theTOWER 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.
(RADappears, 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.
(RADreaches 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 CHASEdown the stage steps to cower behind the stairs. BEXappears with a shotgun, racking the slide. RAD hastily packs up. Both exit offstage)
CHASE You’re scared to leave because Bex is out there.
JAZZ That’s not it. I’m here because I want to be. I can handle Bex. His pride is hurt but he’s basically lazy. I don’t matter that much to him. He spent all our time together trying to convince me I was worthless and making him look bad.
CHASE Sounds like my dad. Except I really was all he had. His only son.
JAZZ You’re not responsible for him. Bex wanted me to believe that I was stuck with him, but he wasn’t stuck with me, that I owed him a debt that kept mysteriously increasing.
CHASE Ouch. I need a shower. Want to come?
JAZZ Oh, no you don’t! We’re not finished yet! Why come after Corso? Why pick this college?
CHASE You really want me to roll in it, don’t you? Can’t you just be a good soulmate and fill in the blanks?
JAZZ Total honesty. Full disclosure. Tell each other everything, don’t you agree?
CHASE Maybe.
JAZZ So when Bex bothers me you want me keeping it secret?
CHASE Hell no! Point taken. (forcing himself to reminisce) I just couldn’t get it out of my mind that nothing bad happened to Corso. No jail time! No publicity. No fines even. They made him promise not to work with children, but he’d graduated to teenagers by that time anyway. I gradually realized the money was to control me, so I wouldn’t tell the police. Blood money. What a bad deal that was. He wasn’t controlled! Rewarded, if anything. I might as well have been protecting him. When I looked him up – there he is running “perceptual studies” at a prestigious college! That sound like “punishment” to you?
JAZZ That would be punishment for me, but I get what you mean.
CHASE So I decided to kill him. It’s the only way. I mean, Corso’s a monster, right? And he’s only getting worse. I grew up, I bulked up, I legally changed my name, I disguised myself every way I could think of. I mean, he hadn’t seen me since I was a squeaky-voiced platinum haired tot of thirteen.
JAZZ But let me guess. He recognized you right away.
CHASE He just assumed I couldn’t live without him. I was there to bring him souls!
JAZZ You confronted him?
CHASE He says the university knows all about his “spot of bother.” There’s no official record. To hear him tell it, we were co-victims!
JAZZ Co-victims!
CHASE Yeah. Of religion. Of repression. Of the fifties, of his parents – you name it. But he’s fine now. Happily married, to a nice older lady who just happens to be rich! He’s “freed” himself, see, from his horrible past and he just wants to liberate everybody else.
JAZZ What a bastard.
CHASE So either I get the goods on him or I kill him. There aren’t other options. If that makes me a monster, then, that’s what I’ll be.
JAZZ Hard luck on me, having a monster for a soulmate. What did I do to deserve this?
CHASE Clearly you attract monsters.
JAZZ You sell us both short. If you wanted to be a monster, you would be one already. You’ve been here four years!
CHASE I got distracted. College is interesting – wrestling, debate club, research, biofeedback… Suddenly I found myself in a much bigger world. But whatever avenue I went down… he was always there ahead of me. Like, he’s the creator of everything and I’m just his mutant, the cuckoo on his clock. I want a world without Corso, a universe to call my own, but… he’s polluted everything.
JAZZ So he still holds you hostage.
CHASE He’s inside me. He’s like, taken over the inside of me. Robbed me of my self. I always seem to know exactly what he’ll do, or say, so in some sick way it’s me doing it. There’s no “me” any more, as long as he’s alive. My only hope is to off him.
JAZZ That’s stinking thinking. If you kill him, he still wins. You’d be linked to him forever. I refuse to lose a perfectly good soulmate. You’re nothing like Corso. He’s soulless and that’s why he collects souls. You’re real. Without a self, how could you have a soulmate? Knowing him just makes him easier to trap. If we’ve learned anything, it is that he’s up to no good. He’s a predator- parasite. We’ve got to keep that straight. Trust?
CHASE If only I could believe in souls. I don’t feel indestructible. I’m staying alive by the force of my resistance.
JAZZ You woke me.
CHASE That’s what we have in common. You resisted Bex.
JAZZ I’ll say! He worked so hard to keep me down. We recognized each other. We’re the same. (passionately kiss)
CHASE It’s only our worlds that keep changing.
JAZZ It’s love.
CHASE And we keep falling into it. “Falling” seems more than a metaphor.
JAZZ If we’re in the middle of something extraordinary, we’ve got to stop looking with ordinary eyes.
CHASE But everything’s corpses. Corso threatens life itself.
JAZZ Murderers do tend to round up the refugees.
CHASE He’s poisoning us. The question is whether it’s terminal. I wish I knew what was in that stuff he gave us.
JAZZ Who cares what he gave us? He wants you to think he’s some scientific mastermind wielding a secret weapon. We’re the ones with the secret weapon.
CHASE Some amnesiac, like scopolamine or propanolol. Without memory, he assumes we lose identity. But stress-based experiences are processed like dreams – we keep having flashbacks.
JAZZ And flash-forwards. But we all formed new memories – some of them pretty crazy I admit – but others right on target. Look at Soliz falling through my window, Zane at the toxic dump, Koo with her body-bags. Something happened to us and he doesn’t want us to find out what. Bex wants me thinking he’s all powerful and everywhere so I’ll feel weak and helpless and give up, and Corso’s exactly the same. You must have gotten close –that’s why he fired you.
CHASE He didn’t reckon with us happening.
JAZZ We have a superpower!
CHASE I’m scared the universe is setting us up, just to knock us back down.
JAZZ But the universe loves creators, and lovers are the ultimate creators.
CHASE Creation takes so long and destruction lasts forever.
JAZZ Doesn’t the green growth keep coming up?
CHASE Death is inevitable. It’s life that’s the surprise. In wrestling your attacker takes himself down. We need to find Corso’s weak spot –
JAZZ He’s not immortal, is he?
CHASE God, I hope not.
JAZZ I mean, if he keeps swelling up with everybody else’s souls he’s going to explode. The universe will take care of Corso.
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.
(SOLIZfrees them from tape; JAZZandCHASElurch 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’tended. 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. Butthena 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.
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.
(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 SCENEV – 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, Iaspire 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 putdown 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.
(CHASEreturns 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’sZANE 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!
(ZANEandCHASEhigh-five,ZANEreturns to his table –KOOputs ahand onJAZZ’s shoulder)
KOO
We’ve all been there.
(ExitKOOandZANE)
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.
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.
(CORSOgives 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 forcingme 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 createsa 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.
(SOLIZtries to comfort sobbingKOO.)
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.
(CORSOinspects 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.CORSOstretches 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!
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!
(CORSOconductsFlight of the Valkyrie. JAZZandCHASEare sucked apart to opposite sides of the stage. Lowlights come up on Dream Lab. CHASEfalls back on his recliner. Other students thrashing and moaning. JAZZ falls to floor, CHASEstruggles 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.
(CORSOhands 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.
(ZANEhas stood up and is lurching around as if sleepwalking.)
CORSO
Mr. Braden, assist your colleague back to his launching pad.
(RADstands up, goes toZANE, wakes him, and leads him to his futon to sit.SOLIZbrings a green-facedKOO 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’thave 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.
(JAZZshakes 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 obstructingJAZZ’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 notblind. 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. Doorstands between JAZZ, CHASE anda 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?
(JAZZjumps)
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
(JAZZputs 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 otherworms.
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.
(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.
(IndicatesCHASE)
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.
(JAZZandCHASEare 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.
(RADbarks like a dog)
CORSO
Shotgun it, Miss Suzino. Knock it back. Isn’t that the college way?
. (CORSOcollects 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.
(CORSOturns 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’Sspot is extinguished, spot rises onJAZZwho 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.
(JAZZshakes head impatiently and crabwalks down the steps toward audience.
JAZZ
Where is this place? It smells like death. The end of everything.
Cutter Farrell – older male – Chase’s mean, scary cold-eyed dad
Bex – male youth – Jazz’s scary biker ex
SCENE I –WAITING ROOM (i.e. circle of chairs) outside DREAM RESEARCH LAB. Visible DOOR to one side. Students – edgy, impressionable JAZZ , angry suspicious, punked out wrestler CHASE, King-of-the-World jock business major ZANE, RAD (Black, light-sprung guy with ornate dreads and gay overtones) SOLIZ (pretty, smoky, hot, ethnic, resentful) KOO (tiny blond cheerleader, very anxious alternately sprawl and rock on uncomfortable “waiting room” chairs)
JAZZ
(Fanning)
God, it’s hot in here. I’mmelting.
CHASE
(Offering a hand)
And I’m Chase.
JAZZ
(Blushing – takes his hand)
I mean, I’m Jazz. Hi.
SOLIZ
(A tad hostile)
Who’s named Jazz?
JAZZ
(shrugs)
Short for Jasmyn. Mothers – Disney – what can you do?
RAD
You got that right. My parents call me Grady. Grady Borden! Get a brother killed on the street. I go by Rad. Or G-Rad.
(He and Zane trade complicated fist bumps & bicep grabs)
SOLIZ
Shouldn’t it be“Raid”?
CHASE
Let people have the nickname they want. And you are?
SOLIZ
Soliz. I should be a third year but I transferred so I’m only a sophomore. That’s all the credits they would give me – and I graduated junior college.
RAD
Hey, I’m a transfer too! They turned me down straight outta high school. I mean, is this place a snob factory or what?
CHASE
I just assumed we’d all be psych majors but I don’t recognize anyone.
(Points)
ZANE
Zane. Business major.
(He waves)
KOO
I’m Koo. Like koo–kool. I was a communications major but they gave me such a bad internship I really couldn’t hack it. Now I’m uncommitted. I don’t know what to do. Everything available you hear bad things about.
RAD
(Points toKOO)
I know I’ve seen you. Top of the pyramid, right?
KOO
(Shrugs – happy at the perks of fame)
I’m the flier. My feet never touch ground.
RAD
You’re the one goes with that quarterback? Am I correct?
KOO
Bo Boyd. Yes.
RAD
Woo-hoo! Humptious!
(Fanning)
Hells YES it’s hot in here!
(Takes off his bomber jacket stunned byKOO’s hotness)
CHASE
It would be just like Dr. Corso turning up the heat to make us squirm.
(Waves up at presumably unseen camera)
Hi, doc!
ZANE
That’s a sprinkler, dog.
CHASE
You better believe there’s a camera in here someplace. He needs to collect his little trophies. Bargaining chips. His little icons.
RAD
So he turns up the heat till we boil? Like frogs in the experiment?
KOO
What frogs?
RAD
The frogs that were too stupid to get out of the hot water. ‘Cause it happened so slowly.
SOLIZ
Those frogs were in search of a paycheck.
ZANE
They never boiled any frogs! That’s for sure an urban legend!
CHASE
Listen to the marketing major! Always first with the non-facts.
ZANE
Well at least we know we’re not going to get boiled.
CHASE
Did you read what you signed? He can do any goddam thing he wants to us.
KOO
Well he can boil me if he pays me. You should see my VISA bill.
RAD
(Sycophantically trying – and failing – to be ZANE’s best buddy)
Like there’s a difference between psychology and marketing. Am I right? Everyone’s trying to sell you something.
JAZZ
Am I the only freshman?
CHASE
You’re a freshman?
JAZZ
I’m an old freshman. Took me awhile to get here.
KOO
If you’re a freshman you must live in Hadleigh!
JAZZ
Is that bad?
KOO
It’s pathetic is what it is! Hadleigh has sick building syndrome. And the girls are at the top where the bad air collects and it’s like the worst.
CHASE
All the poor little freshmen jumping out their windows!
JAZZ
Those windows don’t even open!
ZANE
They don’t open now because of all the suicides.
KOO
Because of the sick building syndrome!
(BEX – big, mean, long haired, motorcycle jacket & boots, appears on the opposite side of the door and starts hammering)
BEX
Jazz! Jazz! Jazz!
(Embarrassed JAZZ slides out the door and closes it carefullyafter her. BEX grabs her immediately)
JAZZ
Omigod, Bex, what are you doing here? You have to go!
BEX
Don’t answer my texts, don’t answer my emails – You’re forcing me to stalk you. Your choice, babe. MY LIFE.
(JAZZtries to detach)
JAZZ
You’ve GOT a life. You need to get back to it. We broke up, remember?
BEX
So that’s it? Kicking me to the curb?
JAZZ
You knew I wanted to go to college. I was lucky to get this scholarship.
BEX
So now you’re too good for me, is that it? Now you’re hanging out with that old guy who looks like your granddad!
JAZZ
(Pushing him away)
He’s my advisor. So stop with the paparazzi scheme, Bex, stop spying on me and posting the pictures. Scram. Go home.
(Manages to get behind the door – slams it in his face – barricadesit shut.BEXmarches offstage with a look of determination – like – he’s not quitting)
RAD
(Clueless)
Thought you were making a break for it.
CHASE
Need help with that?
JAZZ
Nah. No.
(She sits down but nervous glance at door)
RAD
It’s crunch time, am I right? Better get out now! More for us!
ZANE
Did you hear we all have alternates?
RAD
No. No way!
ZANE
Way. These are juicy gigs. Paid research jobs – I mean, it neverhappens.
CHASE
Makes you wonder what he’s up to.
ZANE
Just making sure we show, is all.
CHASE
And here we are. Why did you show up?
(points atJAZZ)
JAZZ
I’m sort of hoping it’s true. The soulmate thing.
RAD
The wha-?
JAZZ
Skydancers. Dakinis, they call them. Dreampower.
KOO
Didn’t you read the book? You were supposed to read the book. Soulmates can soultravel. Like, everywhere.
RAD
There’s an urban legend right there for sure.
ZANE
It’s the remote viewing thing that I want. Weapon of the future. Business of a lifetime. Defense contractors throw mad money at that stuff.
RAD
Mad money!
(High fives withZANE.)
SOLIZ
Astral projection? Out of body experiences? Impossible. I hopeit doesn’t work because I need the sleep. I’ve got like, two other jobs.
ZANE
Sleep’s a luxury. Too luxurious for us bottom feeders – this is hustle time.
KOO
Think everyone’s got a soulmate? Each one of us? Out there somewhere?
RAD
What’s Bo Boyd say to THAT?
KOO
Maybe it’s him.
(Not like she believes it)
CHASE
What is the likelihood we’ll find soulmates AMONG EACH OTHER? Six strangers? Seriously!
JAZZ
Maybe soulmates create each other.
CHASE
This here is exactly why Dr. Corso chose non-psych majors! Soulmates! Out-of-body experiences! It’s the old razzle-dazzle! Cover story. Dr. Corso’s the king of bullshit. That’s not what he’s interested in at all! They never tell you what they’re really testing.
RAD
Well, then, what do you think he’s testing?
CHASE
Beats me. But I sure would love to know.
JAZZ
He’s testing our dreams. I never dreamed before I came here. And ever since I moved in I’ve been having these fantastic dreams.
KOO
It’s that sick building. I’m telling you.
ZANE
It’s the drug the nurse gave us. You know, at the Health Center? The tolerance test? Whatever that stuff was. My dreams were crazy, too!
RAD
Who can forget Tolerance Test with Nurse Humptious! God knows what she did to me while I was out of it. Probably me-tooed this poor homeboy.
ZANE
Yeah, she got you in trouble and now she’ll have to marry you.
Alysse Aallyn 