Playwright’s Note

Every sound effect in the play is made, live or on tape, by the Event actor. Where possible, the audience should be able to recognize his voice.

The setting is a wide, shallow space, as bare of props and set pieces as possible. This will help to characterize the Event as the Reporter sees it: broadly, shallowly, and in sharply isolated fragments.

The back wall should be textured in a range of shades from green to greenish brown, perhaps with collage materials (bamboo, scraps of Asian writing, etc.) blended in. The backdrop must serve alike for city scenes and scenes set in the countryside. To facilitate the Event’s transformations, masked breaks should be provided in the back wall. Slides announcing the titles of the scenes, etc., appear on the back wall, as do photographs of the Event, as described.

A list of scenes follows:

ACT ONE

1  Accreditation 2  Tip 3  Audience 4  Strip 5  Field 6  Imprintment 7  Planes 8  Run

ACT TWO

1  Village 2  Self-Criticism 3  Rescue 4  Proposal 5  Work 6  Orphanage 7  Home