FRIDAY ^#18

Poly Puppet Show

I’d never been so nervous to see Raven before. I told her I wanted to schedule some extra rehearsal time before class, but I didn’t tell her exactly what I was working on. I made her sit in the middle of the empty audience and stepped onstage with her ropes. Then I took a big breath and began performing.

“I first read about polyamory in a book. It sounded really interesting, but not having any role models, I had no choice but to continue drinking the monogamy Kool-Aid. I got fully indoctrinated into the idea that one person was supposed to meet all your needs. I was a serial monogamist, having to end one relationship every time I wanted to start another . . . until I met Damien and Raven.”

Raven called from her seat, “Wait! Hold on. Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.” I said, “You can direct me however you want, that’s why I’m here.”

Raven stood up and said, “Is this scripted or are you just speaking from your heart?”

I reached into the waistband of my skinny jeans and pulled out a napkin. “I wrote down some ideas. Do you want me to write it all out?”

“Let me see.” Raven came to the edge of the stage and took my notes. She unfolded it and read all four sides. “What’s your angle?”

“You asked me to tell a story about my sexual awakening and this is it. You and Damien are my guides. If you don’t like it, you can change it.”

“I like it. I do. But it’s so current. It’s still happening. It’s dangerously close to therapy. And since it’s about us, it runs the risk of being self-indulgent. Do you know the difference between art and therapy?”

“Does it have something to do with objectivity?” I guessed.

“And who the performance is for. Are you telling this story for your benefit, or for the audience? It also has a little something to do with skill. Performance is stagecraft, so if we are going to tell this story, it has to have a dramatic element.”

“Like the ropes!”

“Exactly. Except we can’t use the ropes. That’s not original.”

“What then? I’m not attached to ropes, not yet anyway.” I giggled at my own pun. “Direct me. I’ll be your puppet and you can be my puppet master.”

“Thank you!” Raven rushed onto the stage and after a few messy kisses she ran behind the curtain and returned with several tattered props. In one hand she held up a stuffed grinder monkey, with a torn vest. In the other, a Día De Los Muertos skeleton with a top hat and tux.

“Okay, let’s pretend these are puppets. I want you to give them a voice and personality and let them tell the story for you.”

I took the silly figurines into my hands and exaggerated a deep voice for Damien as the skeleton and an annoyingly high-pitched voice for me as the grinder monkey.

SUGAR SKULL: “Hello, Violet. I noticed your relationship status changed to single.”

MONKEY: “Hello, Damien! My boyfriend and I just broke up.”

Of course, I needed to narrate the story a bit, so I used my normal voice to explain, “Damien used to be one of my yoga students before we connected on Facebook.”

SUGAR SKULL: “I would love to take you on a date and talk all about planetary operating systems or some fascinating philosophy that I’m tackling with my think tank.”

MONKEY: “That sounds amazing, but first I have to ask you, are you faithful in your relationships?”

SUGAR SKULL: “I’m currently in a polyamorous relationship with a handful of women who all know about each other and are in full consent.”

MONKEY: “So you’re one of those guys who likes to worship the Goddess in everyone. You probably run around spreading your polyamorous seed all over town! I don’t want anything to do with that. I’m monogamous!”

SUGAR SKULL: “Well, I respect your decision and I make a really good friend.” (Wink, wink.)

I narrate, “After a week of amazing conversations, Damien started to grow on me.”

MONKEY: “Oh, Damien! I wish you weren’t so polyamorous!”

SUGAR SKULL: “Have you ever considered polyamory might be the perfect relationship paradigm for you, since you’ve been a serial monogamist? Instead of dumping your old relationship just to start a new one, you can add and multiply instead of subtracting and dividing. And since you’re bisexual, you’d be able to date women and men.”

“When Damien and I were first dating, I was terrified of losing him. When he spoke about other women, I had a lot of built-up resentments. I cried buckets of tears and even became less attracted to him.”

Raven was so engaged in my storytelling, she spontaneously interjected, “I remember. That’s when he decided to break up with me.”

“Actually, no. Not at first. I didn’t want him to break up with you. I liked what you two had. When he spoke about you, I wanted to hear more, but he did phase out of all his other relationships. Whenever he came back from his Monday night dates with you, I’d give him the third degree. I’d ask him to describe every detail. Show don’t tell,” Raven prompted.

MONKEY: “Did you kiss her? Did you touch her boobs? Did you have oral sex or penetrative sex? I need to know everything!”

SUGAR SKULL: “Raven and I did make love. It was beautiful. We talked about you and I really missed you.”

I explained, “One day, I was so irritated when he came home that I couldn’t get out of my head. But I knew if I could drop into my body and have an orgasm, I could literally change the chemistry in my brain so I would be able to hear about you with an open heart.”

MONKEY: “Oh, Damien! Why don’t we go have sex?”

I add, “But when we first started making love, there was this smell.”

MONKEY: (Sniff. Sniff.) “What is that smell? It’s Raven!”

“I was like, whoa! I really like that smell… And then I started to fantasize.”

“Fantasize? About what?” Raven couldn’t hide her enthusiasm.

“I imagined Damien was this dangerous gangster guy who barged in the door fresh from his date.

SUGAR SKULL: “Hey. Yo, Baby! I came back from my date with that hot bitch, Raven.”

MONKEY: “Oh Damien. I’m so mad at you right now!”

SUGAR SKULL: “I want to have sex with you while I still have her pussy juices all over my face.”

MONKEY: “How dare you!”

SUGAR SKULL: “I’m going to make you lick it off and you’re going to like it.”

MONKEY: “No! Please! I don’t want to do that.”

SUGAR SKULL: “Come here, Bitch. You’re going to take it.”

MONKEY: “Oh, No. Oh, Yes. Oh, Yes!”

And then I made the skeleton mount the monkey and pumped their bodies together while I thrust my pelvis against the podium until I nearly orgasmed as retold my fantasy of Damien forcing himself onto me.

SUGAR SKULL: “Oh, yeah baby. Take it like that!”

MONKEY: “Oh, God! Oh yes. I’m cumming!”

I felt Raven equally turned on from just watching me.

I continued to narrate: “When I told Damien every detail of my fantasy, he reassured me he loves every part of me, including my perverted fantasies. He said he wanted to share everything with me, everything including his girlfriend. And that’s why, even after Damien had broken up with you, I still had to come to your theater to get to know you!”

Raven interjected, “I think you came to the theater because deep down you are called to perform. I just happen to be able to help you play out your perverted fantasies, but clearly your true calling is puppeteering.”

I laughed, not as much from her joke, as from relief that she genuinely liked my story. I glanced at my little napkin to see if I missed anything and concluded with this:

“Unfortunately, it took a few more months of monogamy deprogramming before I got up the guts to finally meet Raven. Although it took Damien breaking up with her for me to feel safe, we’ve designed a new creative container where we can share everything—our fantasies, our future. We’re like family. And our love is based on freedom and wanting for each other’s full expression!”

Applause. Raven whistles and cheers. “Wonderful! Would you do something for me?”

“Anything.”

“Workshop it in class tonight so we can perform it for the storytelling showcase.”

MONKEY: “You bet!”

Then I covered her in kisses.

Raven wrestled her arms around me, firmly pinned my puppets down, and said, “You know, I never realized how much directing has in common with dominating, until today. I felt such a surge of creativity and power to watch you trust and surrender to my direction. I can’t imagine how magic it will feel to have this dual relationship with you.”

Yours,

Vi.