A dark stage. Tiny once more in the spotlight.
TINY:
So that was it. I had fully emerged from my big gay chrysalis and was now a big gay butterfly. I spread my wings. I flew around. It felt gooooood.
I had great friends. I had a supportive family. I had football. I should have felt complete.
And yet I didn’t.
The piano begins. Tiny looks around the stage, as if he’s just stepped outside the shtetl and is about to ask the immortal question, “Papa, can you hear me?” Only it’s not his dead father he’s addressing. For one, his father isn’t dead. For two, that’s already been done, like, a thousand times.
Tiny should remain in the spotlight throughout. The other characters should emerge from the darkness and then get spotlights of their own.
[“WHAT IS MISSING? (LOVE IS MISSING)”]
TINY:
Something’s missing.
What is missing?
It’s like a sense I’ve never used.
A place I’ve never been.
A chord I’ve never heard.
A shiver I’ve never felt.
Lynda, the lesbian babysitter, emerges from the darkness.
LYNDA:
Something’s missing?
What is missing?
It’s a thought you’ve never mused.
A harmony in the din.
The height of the absurd.
A card you’ll soon be dealt.
TINY:
Something’s missing?
What is missing?
The Ghost of Oscar Wilde emerges and completes the trinity.
THE GHOST OF OSCAR WILDE:
It’s the heart of the accused.
The fight you dare not win.
The sounds that make a word.
The unfastening of the belt.
TINY:
What is it?
What am I missing?
It’s like a sense I’ve never used.
LYNDA:
It’s a thought you’ve never mused.
THE GHOST OF OSCAR WILDE:
It’s the heart of the accused.
TINY:
A place I’ve never been.
LYNDA:
A harmony in the din.
THE GHOST OF OSCAR WILDE:
The fight you dare not win.
TINY:
A chord I’ve never heard.
LYNDA:
The height of the absurd.
THE GHOST OF OSCAR WILDE:
The sounds that make a word.
TINY:
A shiver I’ve never felt.
LYNDA:
A card you’ll soon be dealt.
THE GHOST OF OSCAR WILDE:
The unfastening of the belt.
LYNDA AND THE GHOST OF OSCAR WILDE:
Something’s missing.
What is missing?
TINY (spoken):
It’s love, isn’t it?
Lynda and The Ghost of Oscar Wilde nod, then resume singing.
LYNDA AND THE GHOST OF OSCAR WILDE:
If act one in life is about finding yourself,
then act two is about finding everyone else.
TINY:
And love?
LYNDA AND THE GHOST OF OSCAR WILDE:
And love.
THE GHOST OF OSCAR WILDE:
The pure and simple truth
is rarely pure and never simple.
What’s a boy to do
when lies and truth are both considered
sinful?
Now it’s Tiny’s turn to nod.
TINY:
I was born this way,
and this is the way I’ve managed to stay.
Now I embark on the search for love.
Yes, now I embark on the search for love!
END OF ACT I