Lila Feinberg
ZIP
I went to his funeral. By myself. And nobody at his funeral knows who I am in the first place—nobody even knows my name. I’m just . . . this strange, nameless girl, hysterically crying. And the best part was, I got stung. Right in the middle of it. And I’ve never been stung before in my life!
So, his brother, who looks exactly like him, takes the stinger out for me. And he tells me that I was stung by a worker-bee—and that they sting one time in their entire life. Because when they do, it draws out part of their insides, and they die. So they only sting when they are in grave danger. They are like these little disposable soldiers for their colony . . .
And then I start to think that this bee, the one that stung me, is Matan. I’m not kidding. I become so convinced of this—that he had, somehow, given me his venom, his insides, as like, the final goodbye he never gave me—I mean, I’m obsessing over it so much that I break out into hives! Just covering my arm! And his mother feels so badly—even though she is the one that just buried her son—that she loads me up with all these jars of honey from her farm, to take back home with me. And how could I say no? Even though I felt so . . . stupid, you know?
When I finally get to the airport, I’m stopped by security because I had packed the 20 jars of freakin honey in my carry-on bag. Of course they let me keep my tweezers which could gauge someone’s eye out . . . But I had to throw out all of the jars, one by one, into the garbage—like I was conducting some kind of sacrificial cult ceremony in my bare feet, right in the middle of the airport. Like, goodbye wildflower honey! Goodbye citrus honey . . . Goodbye . . .
And the funny thing is—I realized that I had never actually tasted the honey. After all that. But even now, back home . . . I don’t know . . . It’s like I can’t rid myself of its stickiness. I am sticking to things. Or things are sticking to me. I can’t really tell which.
Analysis: Perched
Type: Seriocomic
Synopsis
The play takes place in New York City and Israel. It opens with Zip waking up naked in bed next to Jed, an indie/hipster rocker. Zip doesn’t remember anything about the night before. She suddenly remembers why she wasn’t supposed to go home with Jed—she has a paper due at 9:00 a.m. Jed has a girlfriend, and they’re in love but they have an open relationship. Jed asks her to sing in his band. Zip can’t do it, though, because she’s taking a trip to Israel. Jed sees that Zip has gotten her period in the bed and makes so she takes the sheets to get dry cleaned.
Zip and Becca go on their birthright trip to Israel. They have been friends since they were kids at summer camp. Love, sex, and relationships are the constant topic of conversation. Becca confesses to Zip that she and her hedge-fund boyfriend are secretly engaged and moving in together. That means that Zip and Becca are not going to look for an apartment together anymore.
On the bus a young soldier named Matan strikes up a conversation with the two girls. Although he seems interested in Becca, it’s Zip’s uniqueness that really begins to intrigue him. Matan thinks there is only one type of love, whereas Zip thinks there are a million. She and Matan start to fall for each other. He asks her to delay her return to New York and come with him to his honey farm after the trip. Matan and Zip are suddenly pulled apart when he is called back to fight because the cease-fire in Gaza gets violated.
Zip and Becca are stuck in a Jerusalem hotel because Zip has hurt her ankle. While she’s changing the bandage, Matan calls and talks to Becca. He says he’s coming through town and needs to give something to Zip, and asks if they’ll be at the hotel. Becca says yes, but then Zip gets the idea to go back to Tzfat and leaves. For some reason, Becca doesn’t tell Zip about Matan. Matan shows up with a lotto ticket from an art gallery he visited in Tzfat with Zip. He asks Becca to give it to her at some point. Zip finds it, and she and Becca have a huge fight because of all the lies Becca has been telling. Becca admits to sleeping with a guy a few nights ago. Then the trip leader arrives and tells the girls that Matan is dead.
The action jumps forward and back to New York. Zip is preparing to sing with Jed’s band. Becca shows up, and Zip tells her about the funeral. The girls make up.
Character Description
Zip, late teens
Zip’s full name is Tziporah, meaning “little bird,” but she never tells anyone that. Zip is a hot mess. She’s lost but searching, an undergrad at Sarah Lawrence. When she wakes up in bed with Jed, she realizes she’s been in this position before. She says she shouldn’t drink, because, unlike most people, she lies when she drinks instead of telling the truth. The title of her paper is “The Furious Flowering of Feminist Poetry.” It’s her dream to sing. She just did a musical version of Long Day’s Journey into Night. Zip is always there for Jed when he needs her (read: when he texts her for sex at 1:00 a.m.). Zip and her friend Becca take a birthright trip to Israel. She loves the show Rent. She thinks Becca is compromising by getting married. Her parents have been married for a million years. She never knows what she wants, but she knows what she doesn’t want.
Given Circumstances
Who are they? Zip and Becca used to be best friends.
Where are they? The bathroom of a Lower East Side music venue.
When does this take place? The present.
Why are they there? Zip is about to perform with a band.
What is the pre-beat? Becca has just given Zip a remembrance from Matan.
Questions
1. Can you state your objective in a simple, specific, and active way?
2. Whom are you talking to? Be specific and have a clear image.
3. Can you think of three adjectives to describe your character?
4. When was the last time you saw Becca?
5. What event precipitated your fight and separation?
6. How did your experience in Israel change you?
7. What was it like to go to Matan’s funeral on your own?
8. Where do you feel Matan in your body when you think about him?
9. Did you love him?
10. How has that experience changed your relationship with men?
11. How has that experience changed your relationship with New York City?
12. How does it feel to have this remembrance of Matan in your possession now?
13. Do you forgive Becca?
14. Are you excited or nervous to sing in front of people in a few minutes?
15. What’s the urgency behind this monologue?