Hi Readers,

I am thrilled to announce that LUST & LIBERTY, a rising theatre company in New York City, will be presenting my one act, The Star of Ash Hollow, in the company’s playreading series on March 23. True to its mission, Lust & Liberty seeks to “engage you in a visceral conversation… We lust for personal truth… [for] beautiful cruelty.” This might as well be a tagline for Ash Hollow, a macabre yarn I developed at the National Theatre Institute three summers ago.While there, I was fortunate enough to meet an impressive director, good friend, and future-founding artist of LUST & LIBERTY, Paul Markert. I am so thrilled for the chance to collaborate with him again after all these years. While I won’t be able to make it there in person, Paul, I’ll be sending good vibes all the way from Chicago.To celebrate, I’ve decided to post the script below. I hope you delight in this dark fable. There’s even a little ‘ol Tom Wait’s tie-in/finale at the bitter end, for all my fellow Waits aficionados. Step Right Up!

————–

THE STAR OF ASH HOLLOW
by Alex Lubischer

CHARACTERS
Charlotte:                  A woman in her thirties.
Katie:                        Her little girl.
A Chorus:                 Of at least three.
Red:                          A man of many talents.

SETTING
Ash Hollow, an American town in the Middle West.  The early 20th century.

THE SET
Everything in this play can be accomplished with language and lighting.  The set should be very sparse or even nonexistent.  Scene changes are done entirely with lighting.  The physical set should not be altered from the moment the play begins.

THE CHORUS
The chorus is comprised of at least three actors but may number as many as seven.  The lines of the chorus may be parceled out to individual actors or spoken in unison as the director sees fit.

——–
The curtain rises.

CHORUS
In the town of Ash Hollow lived a girl who was beautiful, who started out with all the advantages, yet she was unhappy. She could find no joy, no passion in life. She felt like the town was a big party in which all the guests were laughing at a joke she would never understand. So she laughed along anyway and hoped they wouldn’t notice it was false.

HAHAHAHAHA

She dreamed of escaping- for maybe somewhere else in the world there was joy. So in her seventh year in the woods behind the black church she taught herself to dance. She flung her body to the rhythms of music she could not understand and like a machine practiced to mechanical perfection she taught her body to mimic that joy she so envied in humans. And the townsfolk applauded and laughed at her mimicry. And the girl thought

CHARLOTTE
Is this Happiness?!

CHORUS
HAHAHAHAHA

But she knew that it wasn’t. She danced at all the big parties. The weddings. The balls. Even at wakes she’d ballet their sorrow. And the townsfolk applauded but kept her at a distance, for they saw there was something amiss in her eyes. And she yearned to escape. To find joy in the world so denied to her here. And when the talent scouts came she danced for them desperately, yet year after year they would turn her away. For though her prowess was unrivaled they could find in her no trace of human compassion, no joy, no life. And so she remained the star of Ash Hollow. And told herself

CHARLOTTE
The next year. Maybe the NEXT.

CHORUS
And it was like dancing in a birdcage.

HAHAHAHAHA

In her twenty-fifth year the woman lost hope and settled. She married a handsome farmer on the outskirts of town with a good house and a bright red barn and he laughed whenever she smiled, and she bore a girl nine months to the day from their honeymoon and she thought, maybe this is finally happiness- but she knew that it was not.

HAHAHAHA

She felt more trapped than ever. And life became a joke that everyone guffawed at even though they knew it wasn’t funny. And her dreams of finding happiness in the world died. The husband was the same. The farm was the same. The fields were plowed every year just the same and she knew there would be no Cities. No balls or applause or anything new. No life. No change. No Excitement. No Passion. And she came to hate her husband for his contentment, his constancy, and so she hated herself for her hate. But her daughter she hated most of all. For in her was all the humanity, all the passion and joy the mother had craved her whole life. When the daughter was nine the carnival came to town and once more the woman saw a way out.

(Enter RED, in the garb of a carnival barker.)

RED
Looking for Children!
Looking for Children!
Talented Youth for Red’s Carnival Show!
The National Pride- The Traveling Circus
Seeks Only Children For Your Entertainment!
Bring out your Daughters!
Looking for Youth!
We’ll Turn Your Children To Stars!

CHORUS
The Stranger crept into town, to the base of the church. He had an animal grin and all his clothes were of thread sewn by children and the cotton was stained the brown that blood dries and on his crown sat the tophat Lincoln wore to his lasssssT play. He bore no resemblance to any man that ever lived. When the woman came out-

(The Woman walks out of the church with her child. Red is waiting underneath the church steps. Charlotte gasps for air.)

CHARLOTTE
I can’t breathe!

KATIE
What’s wrong, Mama?

CHARLOTTE
Nothing. Nothing. Mama just needs some air.

KATIE
Are you feeling sick?

CHARLOTTE
No. I feel perfectly fine.  Normal and fine.

KATIE
Can we go back inside?

CHARLOTTE
You can run along in. Mama needs space.

KATIE
No I’ll stay here with you.

(Katie reaches for her mother.)

CHARLOTTE
Don’t touch me!  Don’t touch. Sometimes Mama needs a time out, Katie. Needs to be away, needs to be by herself.

KATIE
You don’t think a hug would make you feel better?

CHARLOTTE
No. That doesn’t work for me.

KATIE
I could sing you hymn.  I learned it in school.

(Katie sings a hymn. Her voice is beyond beautiful. Her mother listens. She interrupts her child before she can finish.)

CHARLOTTE
Katie? … (Earnestly)  How are you happy?

KATIE
I don’t know, I just am.

CHARLOTTE
Were you born that way?

(Katie thinks)

KATIE
I guess that’s just how God made me.

CHARLOTTE
How he made you…

KATIE
I love you mama.

(…)

CHARLOTTE
I know that you do.

KATIE
Say it back to me once.  Would you.  I love you.  Please?

(…)

CHARLOTTE
You run back inside now.

KATIE
Give me a kiss then.  Why don’t you kiss me?  All the other girl’s mommies kiss them all the time.

CHARLOTTE
If all the other mommies threw their daughters off bridges would you want me to do that to you?

KATIE
… No.

(Red emerges from under the stairs.)

RED
Greetings Missus!

CHARLOTTE
Jesus!  Sorry.  You scared me.  Who are you?

RED
The name is Red.  It’s the color of passion.

CHARLOTTE
You’re not from here.

RED
No.  I’m with the carnival.

CHARLOTTE
Oh.  The carnival! Really?  That must be fun.  Must be different.

RED
It is.  And who’s this?

CHARLOTTE
My daughter.  Katie this is Mr….?

RED
Red. Just Red.

KATIE
Like the color?

RED
Uh-huh.

KATIE
Can I go back into church now?

RED
You’ve got a real pretty voice.

(…)

CHARLOTTE
Katie say thank you.

KATIE
Thank you

RED
You’re welcome.

KATIE
Bye Mommy.  Feel better.  (She whispers in her Mother’s ear) He’s a bad man.

(Katie runs back inside the church.)

RED
She’s adorable.

CHARLOTTE
Thank you.

RED
She has your eyes.

CHARLOTTE
Yes… So you’re with the carnival?

RED
Yes. Have you been?

CHARLOTTE
No.  But I’ve wanted to go.  I love the trapeze.

RED
It’s like dancing on air.

CHARLOTTE
… Yes.

RED
You look like a dancer.

CHARLOTTE
Ha.

RED
What’s funny?

CHARLOTTE
No one says that anymore.

RED
I see it plain.

CHARLOTTE
Do you dance?

RED
I’m the barker.

CHARLOTTE
What does that mean?

RED
(Barking)  I BARK!  (He laughs)  Your face!

(Charlotte laughs nervously)

RED
That’s not a real laugh.

CHARLOTTE
No. I’ve learned how to fake it.

RED
You can’t fool old Red.

(…)

CHARLOTTE
I stare at your lights at night sometimes through my window. They turns the sky a queer orange.

RED
They never go out.

CHARLOTTE
It’s such a different shade. (…) I had to step out of church. We were right in the middle. Are you going inside?

RED
No.

CHARLOTTE
I shouldn’t have… Walked out.  I – Nevermind.

RED
Tell me.

CHARLOTTE
I’m eccentric.

RED
I love those!  Eccentrics!  Eccentricities!  They’re the most interesting people.  Please, tell me!  I haven’t any neighbors.  To whom would I gossip?

CHARLOTTE
Well…

RED
Confide.

CHARLOTTE
Are you Christian?

RED
I’m everything.  Beauty is my faith.

CHARLOTTE
I can’t- Breathe!  in that church.  The music is- Boring.  They sing but it’s chanting.  They don’t know what’s beautiful.  No passion, no life!  The entire community!  And everyone’s touching.  There’s no room to move. Praying and Prying. The people- They’re stifling!  They’re all the same.  And I’m not!  I can’t concentrate.  I can’t pray.  I’m not happy!  I don’t know!

RED
Stand Up Kneel Sit Down. That sort of thing?

CHARLOTTE
Yes!

RED
Everything’s patterned.

CHARLOTTE
It’s all the SAME!  There’s a mural of Joan of Arc burned at the stake.

RED
It’s your face.

CHARLOTTE
It is! I almost wish that would happen to me.  It would be so unusual.  So… out of the ordinary.  I close my eyes and the colors… they blur… I see-

RED
Red?

CHARLOTTE
Yes.  That.

RED
The color of fire.

CHARLOTTE
How exciting.

RED
I’m Red.

CHARLOTTE
Yes, your name-

RED
How old is your daughter?

CHARLOTTE
Nine.

RED
Has she bled yet?

(…)

CHARLOTTE
Pardon?

RED
That’s good if she hasn’t.  I want her for my show.

CHARLOTTE
You want her?

RED
Yes.  My show’s all about children.  See adults, I can’t work with them. They’re stubborn, they’re formed it’s like pulling teeth.  Children are… malleable.  Like Puppets.  Their souls burn brightest.  Bring her around to the Big Top for auditions.  I’d be delighted to make her acquaintance.

CHARLOTTE
That’s very kind of you, but she doesn’t have any talent.

RED
Come now, she’s your daughter. I bet she’s good at something.

CHARLOTTE
No.

RED
She has a voice like an angel.

CHARLOTTE
She’s not a performer.

RED
You could come along, too.

CHARLOTTE
What?

RED
On the road. It’s so exciting and… You could dance in my show!

CHARLOTTE
Me?

RED
Yes, you.  I’ve heard you’re a marvelous dancer.

CHARLOTTE
I was.

RED
You could be again.  You could dance in the carnival.  See the whole World.  We go all the way down to Mexico City.

CHARLOTTE
Couldn’t you just take me?

RED
No!  My show’s about children.  I need the child, missus, or nothing at all.

CHARLOTTE
I don’t know.

RED
Charlotte, you always regret the things you never did, far more than things that you do and regret later.

CHARLOTTE
You think so?

RED
Hasn’t anybody ever told you that?

CHARLOTTE
No.

RED
No of course not.  Because you haven’t lived.

CHARLOTTE
I have.  I just haven’t found-

RED
What?

CHARLOTTE
Nevermind.

RED
Confess.

CHARLOTTE
Happiness.

RED
Bring her to me.  I’ll change that for you.

(…)

CHARLOTTE
What if she doesn’t want to go?

RED
Change her mind.  All she has to do:  Is Sing.  One Song.  One Hymn.  And then she’s mine.  You can come, too.  Think of the excitement.  Red’s Traveling Carnival!

(…)

CHARLOTTE
I’ll get her to sing.

RED
Here’s my card.

(He hands her his card. It’s enormous.)

CHARLOTTE
Thank you.

RED
Show that at the tent slit.  They’ll let you in.

CHARLOTTE
Yes.

(She stares at the card. Red starts to leave.)

CHARLOTTE
You won’t hurt her, will you?

RED
Not her body.

(Red exits.  Charlotte exits a different way.)

CHORUS
Mass ended.  As the parish filed out in throngs down the steps the child climbed up to the choir loft and further heavenward through the door behind the organ, to the steeple.  Up a helix of stairs to the tip of the spire where the setting sun shone blood orange through the glass.  She peered down below but the man had vanished and her mother was nowhere to be seen.

(Charlotte enters behind her daughter.)

CHARLOTTE
Katie?

(Katie jumps and screams.)

KATIE
Mama you scared me.

(Charlotte embraces her and pets her hair.)

CHARLOTTE
There, there.  It’s alright.  Mama’s here now.

KATIE
I thought you had left me.

CHARLOTTE
I could never abandon my baby.

KATIE
You’re holding me…

CHARLOTTE
Yes… (laughs)  That’s what mother’s do.

KATIE
I love you so much.

CHARLOTTE
I love you.

(The child looks up at her and then buries her head in her mother’s breasts. The mother holds her child and rocks back and forth.)

CHARLOTTE
Baby, why are you crying?

KATIE
I thought you’d never say that to me.

CHARLOTTE
Hoh, silly goose. Momma was just waiting for the right moment. What are you doing up here?

KATIE
I’m scared of that man.

CHARLOTTE
Red?  Why?

(…)

KATIE
He’s the devil.

CHARLOTTE
Katie. (Charlotte pets her hair.)  There’s no such thing as the devil.

KATIE
If God exists…

CHARLOTTE
There’s just people, Katie.  People with desires.

KATIE
I’m scared of him.

CHARLOTTE
Sssshhh.  Don’t worry, he’s gone.  Just you and me now.  Just you and me, Katie.

KATIE
Can we go home now?  It’ll be dark soon.  I want to go home.

CHARLOTTE
Of course we can.  Mommy just has to stop somewhere first, and then we can go straight home.

KATIE
Where?

CHARLOTTE
The Carnival.

KATIE
But He’ll be there!

CHARLOTTE
Maybe.  But maybe not.  Come on, it’ll be fun.

KATIE
Daddy will be wondering where we are.

CHARLOTTE
Daddy can sit at home by himself for once!  (…)  He can wait.  We’re both big girls, right?

KATIE
You are.

CHARLOTTE
But you’re big inside. You have a big heart.

KATIE
I don’t want to go.  Please let’s go home.

CHARLOTTE
But it’ll be so much fun!  Just the two of us?!  Together?  We can ride all the rides.  Eat cotton candy.  Who knows, maybe you’ll never want to go home.

(…)

KATIE
Say it again.

CHARLOTTE
What?

KATIE
I love you?

CHARLOTTE
Okay.  (…)  I love you.  I love you.  I love you, Katie.  I love you I love you I love you I love you!

KATIE
(laughing)  It’s like music!

CHARLOTTE
(laughing)  Is it?

KATIE
Like what God must hear when we sing to him.

CHARLOTTE
Yes.  Especially when you sing it.  You have such a pretty voice.

KATIE
I thought you didn’t like it.

CHARLOTTE
Katie… Mommy was sick for a long time.  But she’s better now.  And everything’s going to be different.

KATIE
You’re my mommy.

(Katie hugs her, dearly.)

CHARLOTTE
That’s right.  I’ve always been that.  It just took me a while to figure things out.  Let’s go to the Carnival. I know you’ll have fun.

KATIE
You’ll protect me though, right?

CHARLOTTE
There’s nothing to be afraid of.

KATIE
Just say it though, will you?  Please?  Promise?  I know that I’m silly.

(Charlotte touches her daughter’s face.)

CHARLOTTE
I promise.

CHORUS
They left. The woman fled town with her daughter in tow, and their church shoes went CLICK CLACK CLACK on the brick streets like gun hammers on empty barrels.  By nightfall they’d reached the place she so sought. The tent on the outskirts, just dirt now beneath.  The corn stalks, dead brown, stuck like graves from the earth, marking the places where things had once grown.  The night clouds watercolored orange above them and the ruddy canvas, draped loose over towering poles, took the face of a woman lamenting- her red mug stretched upward to God or whatever Abyss might have triumphed in his abdication.

KATIE
Mama, where are all the other people?

CHARLOTTE
We have it all to ourselves tonight.  Isn’t that fun?

KATIE
What tent is this?

CHARLOTTE
Quiet.  Now where is the entrance?

CHORUS
But she saw it was hole-less.

KATIE
There’s no getting in.

CHORUS
That obstacle halted her only a moment.

CHARLOTTE
Wait. I have the ticket.

(Charlotte raises the ticket high in the air.)

CHARLOTTE
LET US IN!  I HAVE PASSAGE!  MY DAUGHTER IS WITH ME!

CHORUS
And the lips of the tent revealed themselves and they entered the dark of the tarpaulin womb.

(The mother and daughter are enveloped in sightless dark.)

CHARLOTTE
(Her voice quivering)  Hello?

KATIE
I can’t see.

CHARLOTTE
Shhh.

KATIE
I’m scared.

CHARLOTTE
Be brave.  Hold my hand.  Is anyone in here? (Silence)  There’s nobody else. Let’s go back.  Where’s the entrance?  Katie where’s the opening?

KATIE
It was right here.

CHARLOTTE
No. There’s no partition!  It’s seamless!

KATIE
Momma…

CHARLOTTE
Be quiet.

KATIE
Don’t let go of my hand!

CHARLOTTE
Maybe it’s this way.  There’s- AAAAAH!

(Charlotte trips over something in the dark and screams.)

KATIE
Mama!

CHARLOTTE
(hushed)  What was that?!  Katie where are you?

KATIE
Here.

CHARLOTTE
Don’t move.  I’ll find you.  (…)  This was a mistake.

(Red lights a match.  He’s standing there in the middle of the dark, hooded and cloaked in the patchwork rags of children’s blankets.  Around him, the bodies of three children litter the room with sheets draped over them like furniture coverings.  One stands lifeless against a wall.  One lies on the floor.  One sits upright.)

CHARLOTTE
Red!

RED
Greetings missus.

CHARLOTTE
What are you-?!

RED
Ssssshhh.  (a whisper) You’ll wake them.

(Charlotte takes in her surroundings.  Katie already has.  Red devours Katie with his eyes and gasps delightfully, putting his hand to his mouth.)

RED
You came!

CHARLOTTE
What are you-?

(Without looking at her, Red holds up a finger at the end of stiff arm behind him, commanding her wordlessly: “QUIET!”.  He brings the arm around to his front and caresses Katie’s chin with the same finger.)

RED
My gorgeous little china doll.

KATIE
What’s under those sheets?

RED
My puppets.

KATIE
They’re children.

RED
They’re Marionettes.

KATIE
They’re little Children!

(Red looks at them. He looks back at her)

RED
Not anymore.

CHARLOTTE
You said you wouldn’t hurt her.

RED
Not her body.

KATIE
Mama…

CHARLOTTE
It’ll be alright.

RED
We had a deal.

CHARLOTTE
Yes. Katie, sing for Mr. Red.

KATIE
No.

CHARLOTTE
Katie.

KATIE
He’s bad.

CHARLOTTE
Just sing a song.

KATIE
Mama!

(One of the puppets jerks violently- contorting its shape. Katie gasps. Nobody moves.)

(Silence.)

RED
(a whisper)  I told you not to wake them…

(Long pause. The puppet relaxes.)

RED
Phew. I think we’re safe for now. It’s gone back to sleep.

CHARLOTTE
Just sing a quiet little song and then we can go home.

RED
Don’t lie to her, Charlotte. (to Katie, about Charlotte) How soulless can a person be? (…) Katie.  Kaaaate?  Look at me.  You’re going to sing a song for me.  And then you and you’re mother are going to join me on the road.

KATIE
Join you?

RED
Yessss.

KATIE
I want to go home.

RED
Katie, how boring!  You’re not at all like your mother.

CHARLOTTE
Just let her go Red!

RED
What?

CHARLOTTE
I changed my mind. The bargain is off.

(He pivots on her.)

RED
Tsk Tsk Tsk.  Charlotte, do you really think you can renege on me?  You fool.  You Indian Giver.  It’s a deal.

CHARLOTTE
I changed my mind.

RED
It’s a deal.

CHARLOTTE
Let her go.  Just take me.  I’ll do whatever you want.

RED
HAA!  Don’t fret, Charlotte.  You are coming with me.  All the way down to Mexico City.

CHARLOTTE
Will you let her go?

RED
Kiss me.

CHARLOTTE
Will you?

RED
Kiss me and maybe there’ll be a way out.

KATIE
Mama don’t.

RED
I’ll show you the happiness.

KATIE
Mama?

(Silence.)

CHARLOTTE
You’ll understand when you’re older.

(With a predatory lunge, Red takes her and kisses her.  He clutches her neck where it joins with her skull.  His mouth widens to envelop the bottom half of her face and when she screams it goes into him and there is a violent sucking sound like the moon inhaling the earth’s soul through the mouth of a cave.  His children puppets vibrate and the violent inhalation seems to reverberate from their throats as well.  He lowers her down onto the floor and climbs on top of her, his cloak completely enveloping her.  The two become one form, his shroud falling over their conjoined faces until they are one thriving, wriggling, humping mass.  The inhalation grows louder.  The vibration quakes greater.  The thrashing form transposes into a rhythmic, back and forth pattern of movement in unison, and the puppets stomp their feet in tandem with Red and his prey and their bodies contort in identical, staccato movements. 1.2.3.4.1.2.3.4.1.2.3.41234!  Katie runs to her mother.)

RED and CHARLOTTE
KEEP AWAY!!!

(She flees. 1.2.3.4 and then process stops and Red slumps down, lifeless, on top of Charlotte’s limp body.  Silence.)

KATIE
Momma?

(Red shoots upright, and the puppets follow suit. He stands erect, unmoving. Charlotte’s face is turned away from the audience.  She is dead, a corpse, she does not move.  Silence.  Stillness.  Red removes the hood from his head. He turns around.  He has Charlotte’s face on the back of his head.  He contorts his body and advances backwards towards her.  The face of the dead mother on the back of his skull glaring into the child’s eyes.)

CHARLOTTE
Hello, baby. Sing a song for mommy.

KATIE
You’re not her.

CHARLOTTE
Who else would I be?

KATIE
The devil!  HELP!!!

CHARLOTTE
(Laughs)  Katie.

RED and CHARLOTTE
There’s no such thing as the devil.

KATIE
I know what you are.

CHARLOTTE
You have such a pretty voice.

RED
Like a tiny music box I want to wind again

CHARLOTTE
And again

RED and CHARLOTTE
And agaaaaain and agaaaaain.

CHARLOTTE
Sing for us, Katie.

KATIE
You can’t have me.

CHARLOTTE
It’s so warm in here, baby.  The lights never go out.  And everyone’s dancing and dancing

RED and CHARLOTTE
and dancing and dancing and

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
and dancing and DANCING!

(Charlotte laughs)

CHARLOTTE
I can laugh! (she laughs hysterically- real true laughter)  Finally! I know what’s so funny! (She laughs until she cries)  The Joke is so funny!

RED and CHARLOTTE
(Laughing) It’s all so hysterical! The Joy!

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
THE JOY!

(Katie shuts her eyes.)

KATIE
It’s pretend.  It’s not real!

RED
Everything’s real in

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
Red’s Carnival Show.

RED
That’s what makes it so special. We give REAL EXCITEMENT!

KATIE
I want to go home.

RED
Would you like to hear the joke?

RED and CHARLOTTE
What’s so funny about people?

RED
Most people detest real excitement in their lives and yet they crave it in little

RED and CHARLOTTE
Pill-sized doses.

RED
We call that entertainment.  But entertainment is not

RED and CHARLOTTE
REAL EXCITEMENT.

RED
It’s false.  REAL excitement is unbridled, violent Change.  Real excitement is-

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
TERROR.

RED
That’s what my carnival gives.

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
Real Excitement.

KATIE
I’ll never sing for you.

RED
But Katie… you will. You just don’t know the words yet.

(With stomps and claps, percussive laughs and barks- Red starts up his band.  The puppets dance with him in jagged, choreographed movements.  He uses the song and dance to bewitch and finally possess Katie.  The rest of the play is sung.)

RED
I’d sell your heart to the junkman baby
For a buck,

RED and PUPPETS
For a buck.

CHARLOTTE
SING!

RED
If you’re looking for someone to pull you out of that ditch
You’re out of luck,

RED AND PUPPETS
You’re out of luck!

CHARLOTTE
SING!

RED
It’s all over

RED and PUPPETS
It’s all over

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
It’s all over!

RED
There’s a leak, there’s a leak in the boiler room.
The poor!

RED and CHARLOTTE
The lame!

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
The blind!

RED
Who are the ones that we kept in charge?

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
Killers,

RED and CHARLOTTE
Thieves, and lawyers.

RED
God’s away,

RED and CHARLOTTE
God’s away,

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
God’s away on business, business.

RED
God’s away,

RED and CHARLOTTE
God’s away,

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
God’s away on business, business!

(A section of pure dance.  Red picks up Charlotte’s corpse and turns her into a marionette.  Eventually she starts dancing on her own- her head always hanging limp as though the strings to it have been cut. Red moves onto the daughter.  He dances around her- bewitching her.  Her feet and movements begin to mimic his, mirror his…)

CHARLOTTE
Godddamn there’s always such a big temptation, To be good,

RED and CHARLOTTE
To be good.

RED
There’s always free cheddar in a mousetrap, baby

RED and CHARLOTTE
It’s a deal, it’s a deal!
God’s away, God’s away

RED and CHARLOTTE and PUPPETS
God’s away on business, business!

RED
I narrow my eyes like a coin slot baby

CHARLOTTE
Let her ring,

RED and CHARLOTTE
Let her ring!

KATIE
God’s away, God’s away
God’s away on business, business!

ALL
God’s away, God’s away
God’s away on business, business!

Curtains.

“The Star of Ash Hollow” is copyright © 2010 by Alex Lubischer.
The lyrics to the song are from “God’s Away on Business” by Tom Waits. “God’s Away on Business” is copyright © by Tom Waits.

["The Star of Ash Hollow" was originally developed and workshopped at the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in July 2010.]

Hi Readers,

This week I do something in writing that I would rarely do in real life: admit ignorance. My latest article investigates sickle cell disease, an under-recognized condition afflicting roughly 70,000 Americans. There’s misconceptions abound with regards to this disease; read on as I debunk several of them and try to learn more.

“What do you know about sickle cell disease? Or, what don’t you know? It could be a lot because there are many misconceptions and vagaries surrounding this disease. I certainly didn’t know much when I started researching it.

One commonly made assumption (I made it) is that only black people can have it, but this is untrue. While African Americans can be carriers of the hemoglobin S gene that leads to the blood disease (you have a 1 in 4 chance of being born with it only if both of your parents carry the recessive gene trait), Illinois’ rising Hispanic population is also leading to a spike in the number of people living with the disease statewide.”

To read the full article, click here.

Also, if you would like to learn what you can do to help further research and awareness, please check out the Sickle Cell Disease Association of Illinois at www.scdai.org.