CONFESSION ZERO

(The stage is bare and awash in a low light and we hear songbirds and other creatures performing their wonderful incantation to life. The houselights fade and the natural sounds build to a wonderful crescendo. Lights, upstage center, come up and we see the most ancient of all existence, THE GRANDMOTHER, her flesh is bark, her legs are sturdy trunks, her arms, elegant green limbs, and her face, the rich soil. She holds a very large wooden staff in her hand. She is a magnificent sight to behold. The incantation fades out. On each of her first three words THE GRANDMOTHER brings her staff down to the ground with a mighty crash.) THE GRANDMOTHER: Fear! (The ground quakes.) Greed! (The wind blows.) War! (The thunder rolls as lightening strikes the top of her staff and lights on stage suddenly come up to full with a blinding flash. We are now somewhere in Iraq, afternoon, a war-zone. The dead bodies of many Iraqi men, women and children and US and coalition troops are scattered about.)...

Scene: Present day. We are greeted with a blank stage, save for a spotlight upon a beautiful green blanket (a comforter, perhaps) lying center, softly lit throughout the play. Just before houselights fade the symphony begins to joyfully play as backdrop for the eartH of Creation that begins its dance all around us. Houselights fade with the orchestra and the darkness begins to envelope the shadows as we here the stamp of feet begin to march toward our spirits until the stamping becomes fearful and as soon as it does, poof, it's replaced instantly with joyous strings reminding us that where we are is heavenly. ACT I PRELUDE: (A tree appears behind the green blanket, a massive weeping willow tree that is wafting gently in the ever-present wind blowing throughout the theater. (Hold on to your hats, or better yet, don't wear one.) After some time of this, the tranquility of wind and the tree changes to one caught in a fierce storm. The wind in the audience remains gentl...

A play about family, loss and dysfunction... AT CURTAIN: As the audience files in the dim glow of the television (a constant on stage throughout) can be seen but not much else, save for shadows. Music playing over the house speakers, “ I Wish I Was the Moon ” by Neko Case, timed to end as lights rise on Scene One. CHARACTERS: John McCutcheon- Fifty-four. Stephanie McCutcheon- Thirty-two. Debra Jameson- Forty. Matt Jameson- Twenty-two. TIME: From September 2005 to the present, between two next-door living rooms in the U.S., one in the present, the other memory. Each scene spills into the next seamlessly. PLACE: Stage left is the living room (in the present) of JOHN MCCUTCHEON’S home. A fireplace center with a whiskey bottle on the mantle, a television facing away from the audience, a couch sits right, next to a window that hovers beside the fireplace. Stage right is the living room (and bathroom) of DEBRA JAMESON’S home. A freestanding front door sits left. The ba...