Ana, a short play

A short play for stage, screen, Zoom, or audio ([email protected])

Characters:

ANA, 33 years old

ANA, as V.O. 23 years old

Ana pulls out a thread. She holds it in her hands and then starts walking. This should be more easily suggested via a well-crafted projection. As she walks visiting each inch of the stage, the thread (again, treat it lightly) becomes her tango partner.

ANA (To the thread): I had no idea you knew how to dance. (Chuckles) I am so thirsty.

She looks around as if doing inventory. She spots a bottle of wine. She starts to drink.

ANA: Too sour for me…

All lights start to go off one by one until there is full darkness. We then start to see the shape of her body onto which, projected, we see a site in construction, plus several blueprints scattered everywhere, scaffolds, bricks, mortar, more bricks, wheelbarrows, some men. Her own body is a site in construction. A moment.

ANA: That day I baked lots of sweet and savory pies. I was quite happy. I packed all the pies and started to walk. I knew he was hungry. As I approached the site, I noticed he was more nervous than usual. He moved back and forth frantically. He bumped into me not even realizing that. I asked him gently:

ANA (V.O.): Something wrong, honey?

ANA: He practically yelled at me, “Leave your damn pies and go away!”

ANA (V.O.): If something bothers you, maybe I can help. I barely see you these days… Take a break. For one minute. I promise I will leave after that.

ANA: Woman, I got problems.

ANA (V.O.): What kind of problems? Talk to me.

ANA: He said to leave the food I brought and go away. At first, I wanted to do that. I knew that if he did not want to say a word to me, if he wanted to carry the load on his shoulders, he would do that, and if I did not listen, he would get angrier. I kept my head to the ground. As I did that, I noticed there were some cracks inside the floor. I started to walk. One of my feet got stuck. He did not move. I wanted to cry, maybe by doing that I would feel less alone. I managed to release my foot. I left the food on the floor. I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could, although I was not sure where to go exactly. All of a sudden the idea of home collapsed. As I tried to get off of the scaffold, some workers grabbed me and asked my husband, who was still not facing me, “Boss, we proceed as we talked, right?” He nodded. They became more aggressive.

ANA (V.O.) (To her husband): Tell them to leave me alone! I got it. You are busy. I will go home now. (A moment)

ANA: They escorted me to this place I did not know it existed. My husband was now with them, too. They blindfolded me. For a second I thought this was a game, like hide-and-seek. My husband and I grew up in the same place and played together many games. But after a while:

ANA (V.O.) : I don’t like this. Let me see. 

ANA: I tried to move. I tried to take off the blind by myself. The more I moved my arms, the more I realized that I was stuck. I yelled:

ANA (V.O.): LET ME GO!

ANA: I tried to talk only to my husband, I told the other men to let me talk only to him. Everything around me smelled of bricks and heavy body odor. I knew it was a site in construction, so for a second I did not despair. But the smell intensified. My husband was not saying a word. And then:

ANA (V.O.): I am pregnant! Let me go! Now!

ANA: I could smell the manly breaths of their cowardice because no one was answering me. All of a sudden I heard a sigh. Followed by another labored sigh. Still, no words. I was trapped. Everything else after this felt like I was made out of threads and I was losing my body bit by bit…I felt extremely light… without carnality. I couldn’t talk. I opened my eyes and I saw a monastery erected. No scaffoldings. No workers. I saw that in my hand there was a thread and I knew that:

ANA (V.O.): That day, when my husband sacrificed me because he had heard a rumor that he needed a human to die in order for the monastery to stay erected I was a simple, gullible woman, in love with him. In lust with him. With child inside of me. Because of the lust I had for him. He buried me alive. He thought that whatever he was building was much more important than his family. He thought that some bricks and icons would validate his legacy. What a fool to have fallen for that lie! No one remembered him. He died unknown. But I … I … I had the rage of all the women before me who were held captive inside households… mutilated by domesticity… silenced by patriarchy… tired of being ignored and left alone. (A moment)

A loud crash is heard. Followed by a cloud of dust. The monastery fell. Another crush. Another cloud of dust. Eventually, we see Ana holding the thread in her hands.

ANA (To the audience): You cannot leave. I have sewn you to my hips.

Three bells are heard.

                                         END OF PLAY