Light of Night - by - Cecilia - Copeland - FINAL

© Cecilia Copeland 2014 1

Light of Night
By Cecilia Copeland
Cecilia Copeland
845-901-4427
ceciliacopeland@gmail.com
© Cecilia Copeland 2014


CAST:
STEPHANIE A pretty woman under 25. She is very thin, anorexic looking. Her hair is
unkempt and she has the quality of a baby bird that has fallen out of its
nest without the ability to fly. She has medium length dark hair and olive
skin.
ISABEL A beautiful and curvaceous Latina about 40. She is a commanding
presence.
JIM A white man between 40-60. He should look like an average guy.
Stage Note: There are no actual glasses or cutlery. Every cup, plate, knife, spoon etc. all are
made of plastic. Nothing breakable can be used.
Actor’s Note: Jim never addresses or looks at Isabel unless Stephanie leaves them alone.
Synopsis:
A modern Latina retelling of the Persephone Myth. Light of Night is, Stephanie’s poetic descent
into the dark underworld of marriage. Her charismatic husband and seductive best friend fight
over who she should be. In the end, Stephanie must decide which windows and doors to leave
open for light.

SCENE 1: Verbal Tango

STEPHANIE wears a white man’s T-shirt that is too large
for her. It is the right size for Jim. She wears it over shorts
and she’s barefoot.
STEPHANIE is in the living room/kitchen. The room has a
very low ceiling, no taller than about seven feet high. The
lamp hangs from the ceiling and must be ducked around.
The back wall has a large window with pink curtains with
flowers on them. The blue sky can be seen through the
curtains. There is a couch and a kitchen table with two
chairs. There is also a small bookshelf with stacks and
stacks of magazines on it. STEPHANIE is standing in
front of one of the windows looking out through a small
space in the curtains. We cannot see past her to the outside.
She closes the small space in the curtains carefully and
turns around.
STEPHANIE
Where is she? She knows I’m bored. I can’t read. I mean I do read, but then I think, ‘what am I
doing?’ I’m giving myself over to some passive moment, existing in the world as it is, and I’m
not okay with that. I have to keep moving all the time. I can let myself sleep. That’s something
I can sanction for a few hours at a time because I need sleep to function, but I can’t just sit and
read. I get a few lines in and then as soon as I forget where I am, I remember where I am, and I
have to get up and pace. I’m making a carving in the earth. It’s just one straight line, but if you
read the floor boards like brail, it says, ‘Stephanie was here.’ ‘Stephanie ate the chocolate.
Stephanie did it.’
(She pours one cup of wine from a box of wine.)
Ha ha, I did it! It’s been a long time… years… but I did it… I made myself bleed... Now I have
to try to hide it… When you go crazy, it’s not any different from being normal… because
everyone pretends to be normal in some way… going crazy is just not caring if people think
you’re normal. So, now… I have to hide it…
(She pours a second cup of wine.)
or not…
ISABEL comes in the front door at the top of the stairs like
a wild summer wind.
ISABEL
(She unwraps her long black coat like Zoro swirling a cape.
She throws it over the couch.)
¡Hola, Chiquitita! ¿Cómo estás?
STEPHANIE
You finished teaching at 3:20. It’s after four. We won’t have much time now.
ISABEL

Sure we will mamasita! Who were you talking to?
STEPHANIE
No one. And would you like me to hang up your coat?
ISABEL
I could take it in the bedroom.
STEPHANIE
No, that’s fine. It can stay there.
ISABEL
Who were you talking to when I came in?
STEPHANIE
No one. Myself.
ISABEL
You know, Stephanie it’s not good to talk to yourself.
STEPHANIE
It’s fine to talk to yourself. It’s fine to ask yourself questions. It’s even fine to answer them…
It’s if you answer them incorrectly that you have a problem. Like, if I said, ‘Stephanie, did you
put on underwear today, and I said ‘yes’, when in fact, I had not put on underwear. Or if I said
‘no’, when in fact I had put on underwear. I think that’s when you have a problem. I’m not
crazy until I don’t know if I put on underwear.
ISABEL
Well, I can tell you that I did not put on any underwear today. Would you like to check?
STEPHANIE
Is that a “direct” invitation?
ISABEL
You’re the one who brought up underwear. I simply stated a fact and offered you the
opportunity to check… if you don’t believe me. So, Stephanie do you believe me?
STEPHANIE
I have no doubt you leave the house without wearing underwear.
ISABEL
(Laughs.)
¡¡Muy bien!! Wine please?!
STEPHANIE
It feels wrong that I have to get you drunk to do this.

ISABEL
Well you do. Seeing as how you always win and I always have to leave frustrated and angry.
(Takes a sip.)
Oh, I’m sorry darling I take that back. I would play with you even if you didn’t distract me from
my doing my work and getting me drunk every afternoon for free.
STEPHANIE
Now I don’t know if you’re playing or not.
ISABEL
(Laughs.)
Kiss me and find out.
STEPHANIE
We ARE playing!
ISABEL
Stop it.
STEPHANIE
Are you playing now?
ISABEL
No, I’m not fucking playing now. This is bullshit. You can’t keep referencing the game. It
takes all the fun out of it and it’s a pointless if I never win.
STEPHANIE
If the rules aren’t followed-
ISABEL
Then there will be no prize.
STEPHANIE
I win every time and my prize is for you to come back play again. If You win… Your stated
prize will be yours. I made preparations for the possibility of you winning.
ISABEL
Show me.
STEPHANIE
See! You see. It’s you who doesn’t believe me.
ISABEL
Okay, fine. I don’t believe you. As a matter of fact, I’m not going to play unless you show me
what preparations you’ve made. Do it. I’m telling you what to do as a concession.

STEPHANIE
Fine Isabel… Just so you know, this you referencing the game, this is just what you said you
didn’t want.
ISABEL
Because referencing the game takes the magic, the love, the mystery all right out of it, but if
there’s no point to the game I’m not going to invest in it. There can be no truth if it’s all a lie.
STEPHANIE
I don’t lie. And here, I’ll even bring your coat into the bedroom for you.
(Stephanie exits with the coat and comes back with a beach
bag.)
Here. If it makes you feel better about losing all the time… If… If you win, I will go with you to
the beach in Panama, as in Central America. Take a look. Here, I got one of those big double
towels in there… It was a serious pain in the ass to get. So how do you plan to take care of the
prize?
ISABEL looks in the beach bag.
ISABEL
I’ve got savings. I know people down there. When I win… I’ll take you. I promise.
STEPHANIE
As you promised… or so you keep promising… We’ll go to the beach and drink coconut water
from a coconut. We’ll sing-
ISABEL
Cantaremos la canción de la luna y el mar.
STEPHANIE
Sing the song of the ocean together.
ISABEL
Si, si, si chiquitita.
(Sings.)
Y haremos el amor en la playa con el agua y el sol.
STEPHANIE
That’s if you win, but you always lose. Give it back now you’ve seen your proof.
(She goes to put the bag back in the bedroom.)
ISABEL
No, no, don’t put it away. I’m gonna win tonight! Leave it here in the living room.
STEPHANIE

Have you won yet?
ISABEL
My mistake. Do whatever you want with it. Put it away then.
STEPHANIE
I will. Don’t you worry.
(She exits with the bag to the bedroom and comes back
without it.)
I’m actually bored of winning. It’s the same thing every day. You give up too soon.
ISABEL
Oooo, mira tú. All this time you’ve been a closed bud, and I just felt you flower in my hand. Mi
flor! Mi flor de la noche, yo seré tu luz de la noche. You’re a night blooming flower and I am
your moon.
STEPHANIE
You’re not a man. I need a man.
ISABEL
And you don’t need me? You call me over everyday and ploy me with alcohol like I’m some 12
year old girl and you’re a math teacher giving me extra credit and cigarettes so you can look
down my shirt. I catch you looking at me.
STEPHANIE
Why do you have to make it sexual? That’s so low. I call you over so to engage my imagination
and challenge my intellect. So you can enrich my experience of life. It’s transporting. It’s not...
It’s Not sexual. Sure, I would be blind not to think you’re physically beautiful, but that’s not
why I like to be near you. It’s your words and your mind… your smell…
(She comes very close to ISABEL)
What perfume do you wear?
ISABEL
(Almost kisses STEPHANIE, but speaks the poem
she is making on the spot instead.)
“Freedom Perfume”
It’s not available in any stores now, not now, not ever
It smells like riding a bike without training wheels for the first time.
It smells like an extra marital affair.
like a life lived without compromise.
With pleasures you never dreamed of.
I smell like passion and ridiculousness
I taste sweeter than a pomegranate dipped in honey
Making love to me feels like the first time you said No
And didn’t apologize
The pleasure is deep and dark and rich

Giving me an orgasm is the moment you realize god isn’t a man…

It’s the moment when you take all the rules that were ever handed down to you
All the bullshit that makes you think
your value is dependant on your beauty
And your knowledge
that some of it is.
That makes you think you need a man
That fools you into passivity
Fools you into thinking you must make yourself prey
Fools you into thinking, ‘if you like to fuck
That you are bad.
So you don’t
You sit back
Lay back
On your back
You let it
That fear.
You infantilize yourself
You demonize your period every month.
As if it’s bad thing
As if you can’t bleed
As if it’s wrong.
It’s not wrong.
When you make me come
When no one is watching
When it isn’t to titillate a man
When it’s just for you
Then, in that moment of power
In that moment of surrender
In that safety
In that danger
You will have an epiphany that will change your life forever.
Touch me
Taste me
Kiss me
STEPHANIE
(Pause.)
I can’t.
ISABEL
You’re a bloodless corpse in a coffin of fear. I paint out my naked passion like a Picasso and
you respond like a heartless bitch.
STEPHANIE
I have a heart.

ISABEL
Then stop playing with me! Make it real.
STEPHANIE
I’m sorry.
ISABEL
Are you gonna make it all better now Stephanie? If you were your own woman you wouldn’t
need me to come over and entertain you. I see you staring out your window at me. Bored.
Bored housewife with nothing to do but get into trouble. Well here I am and you won’t do
anything about it! I’m the life you could have lived if you hadn’t settled for a shitty suburban
nightmare from the pages of Good Housekeeping Magazine like all those worn out rags on the
rack over there. I’m the woman your husband never had the courage to try to win, but the one he
and all men lust after and fear. The sound of my voice makes his dick shrink.
STEPHANIE
Fuck you!
ISABEL
I wish you would. Don’t you want to?
STEPHANIE
You’re cruel.
ISABEL
And honest! And strong! Touch me. Do it. C’mon Stephie slide your fingers over my flesh.
STEPHANIE
I’m not a lesbian.
ISABEL
Human beings cannot be defined with labels. I am, I am not… Words only have the meaning we
give them with other words. At best, language is only an inexact shorthand.
STEPHANIE
So why are you an English teacher?
ISABEL
Come sit next to me and I’ll whisper it in your ear.
(She pats the place next to her.)
Ven, ven, acércate.
STEPHANIE
(Sits very close next to ISABEL and whispers into her ear.)
So tell me Isabel, why are you an English teacher?

ISABEL
(Leans in to STEPHANIE.)
Because I want to take part in the White Washing of America. Ha ha! No, that’s not true. I’m
an English teacher so I can teach the few board approved works in the bone picked pages of the
All White, All Male, American Cannon that still have some blood left on them. It’s a challenge.
I like anything that can challenge me. It makes me feel alive.
STEPHANIE
(Backs away.)
I’m just a challenge to you.
ISABEL
No, no, no, but you won’t touch me to learn the truth of my body with your hands. You force me
to convey my meaning in words, and yes that is challenge! I make myself a spider… una
araña… I’m weaving a web of words. I use a thin thread… un hilo delgado…
STEPHANIE
The thread of a spider?
ISABEL
Yes… el hilo de una araña… to catch you in my web. It doesn’t matter to me if you are gay or
straight. I am nothing. I am not even the air I exhale, and yet you can feel me, you can touch
me. You can affirm yourself and me in the moment you decide to take me into your arms and
kiss me.
STEPHANIE
How does touching you affirm who I am?
ISABEL
It is an aggressive action of taking your fate into your own hands. Every woman, and man,
should make love to one of their own at least once to understand what they are. They should
know what it’s like to negotiate the genderless rules of sexuality so they can determine which of
those feel instinctual and which feel like a dumb show played for a porn film.
STEPHANIE
I’m not as smart as you are. I don’t understand what you’re-
ISABEL
I’m not trying to make you feel stupid. This is not a debate.
STEPHANIE
What is it then?
ISABEL
Es un baile de palabras. A verbal tango… It’s a spinning of thought to its highest possible level.

We are holding an idea up to the light and turning it to examine the rainbow of beauty from
every angle. You, for instance, are a shiny new penny covered in filth.
STEPHANIE
That was pretty condescending and rude.
ISABEL
Youth is an asset until it becomes a liability to adulthood. If you can’t abandon the notion of the
world as it was handed to you, then you’ll never be your own person.
STEPHANIE
I’m glad you think you can so easily sum up who I am.
ISABEL
Your every thought process is a retro hit recording of who I was fifteen years ago. You’re
playing me just as much as I’m playing you… See that. That look… You’re giving me exactly
what you think I want to see…
STEPHANIE
No I’m not. I mean, I’m being nice to you. I’m trying to understand you. Why wouldn’t I try to
understand you? I want to be nice to you. I want to be nice to everybody.
ISABEL
We don’t deserve it and you ruin yourself. God, it’s terrifying to hear it in your voice. It’s
horrible. Every other second you have me. You know that right? Every other second I want to
take you in my arms and kiss you and then I smell it. Bullshit. At least I’m honest with you.
STEPHANIE
I’m honest-
ISABEL
THINK (Pause.)before you speak. You don’t even know you’re doing it, but I do. I see it.
Here… Tell me to leave. Do it. (Pause.) No, you don’t have to tell me to go. I’ll just go.
(She walks to the door.)
STEPHANIE
Don’t go. Please.
ISABEL
You see. You just do it. It’s that uncontrollable smile and nod as I talk to you. You want me to
feel good about whatever it is I’m saying, so you’re agreeing with me before I finish my
sentence. So feminine! You’re charming me. I’m not a snake in a basket about to strike.
STEPHANIE
But you’re a spider. Una araña.

ISABEL
Look at me.
STEPHANIE
(Looks ISABEL in the eye.)
…I’m a married woman.
ISABEL
You’re a child who likes to play games.
STEPHANIE
I’m just not rude.
ISABEL
You mean you’re not a bitch like me? (Laugh.) It’s a reflex. Like a baby sucking. I’m the
nipple between your lips… you suck… I know you do, I can feel it. I like it. I’m drawn into it.
I just need you to do it with your eyes open… so you can stop when you stop liking it. I used to
be you. I’m afraid of you… That smile!
STEPHANIE
Afraid of my smile?
ISABEL
Deathly afraid.
STEPHANIE
I wouldn’t hurt you. I can’t hurt anybody.
ISABEL
That’s a pity, but let’s go back to the sucking. I like that. I like saying it. Suck… It sounds like
fuck… but you don’t do that.
STEPHANIE
No, I don’t fuck. It’s wrong.
ISABEL
But you get fucked don’t you.
STEPHANIE
I hate you.
ISABEL
You don’t know yourself well enough to hate me. You haven’t a clue what you’re made of let
alone me. I know you though, don’t I? C’mon sweet-cakes, give us a little more wine.
STEPHANIE

(She gets more wine for ISABEL.)

You are infuriating.
ISABEL
Nice word. Impressive. Chew it. Iinnfuuuurrriiiiaaating… rage and intellect. Sexy. You see,
just when I’m about to give up on you, you say something like “infuriating” and I remember how
attractive you can be.
STEPHANIE
Was that supposed to be a compliment?
ISABEL
Not really. I hadn’t meant to flatter you or insult you, only to point out when you are truly
beautiful… And yes, that was meant to be a compliment.
STEPHANIE
Well, I still don’t… I don’t… Can I get you anything?
ISABEL
I would love a snack.
STEPHANIE
What?
ISABEL
Food.
STEPHANIE
We have some-
ISABEL
We?
STEPHANIE
Well, yes. We.
ISABEL
You mean you.
STEPHANIE
You know Jim.
ISABEL
Unfortunately yes, and thankfully he’s not here now so why do you say “we”? As if I had
addressed both of you?

STEPHANIE
Everyone says “we”. All married couples say we.
ISABEL
You say “we” for what? To lord the power of your “we” over those who aren’t a we? Like,
“Tell me Stephanie can you and Jim come over for the forth of July BBQ Picnic Pool Party at the
Peterson’s place?”, and you say, “Oh well “WEEE” have so much to do don’t we honey?”, like
your combined we-ness cancels out a… a social responsibility to participate in the bullshit of
society that we who are not in a couple must abide? Because I live alone I don’t get to invoke
the power of the we and so therefore I’m obliged to… Oh fucking never mind it just makes me
sick, the whole “we” thing. But tell me, do we have any snacks?
STEPHANIE
Marriage isn’t like that. When you’re a We you do have to look out for the We. The we takes
work, maybe that’s why We’s get out of things because they’re a We. It’s worth it though. I
mean, you need each other and provide a reason to live… it’s for one another. Otherwise, life is
just a selfish endeavor. The We might be cliché… So is a sunrise... So is love. My husband is
a sweet man. He loves me. He brings me presents all the time… clothes, flowers, wine...
chocolate… You want some chocolate?
ISABEL
Some of his precious gift chocolate? Ooo, yes, I’d love some. You never share your secrete
stash with me.
STEPHANIE
(She goes to get the chocolate.)
I used to love the pomegranate cordials.
ISABEL
I’m glad you won’t be holding out on me forever.
STEPHANIE
I used to save them all… Eat them slowly… one by one… but I’m done with them. They make
me sick now.
STEPHANIE places three chocolates in ISABEL’S hand.
ISABEL
Only three?
STEPHANIE
If you’re good I’ll give you more later.
ISABEL
Well then I’ll never get any more! I’m decidedly bad.
(Opens one and eats it.)

God, these are fantastic. The tartness and the sweetness… You should have more wine. It’s
rude to make your guest indulge alone.
STEPHANIE
(She drinks more.)
I shouldn’t have another drink.
ISABEL
I drink every day. I drink at lunch. The rest of the teachers are pills. Anti anxiety, anti-
depression, anti-psychotics… whatever, so nobody says anything when I have a drink. All I
have to do is rattle a purse here or there and that shuts them up. We all need it to deal with the
annoying little pricks in our classes. On the weekends I drink with breakfast. By the time most
people are crawling out of bed, I’ve been for a run along the river, watched the morning news on
mute, I just read the scrolls mind you because the male anchors are soooo patronizing to the
female anchors that I can’t stand to hear their snide remarks and constant interruptions, and for
that matter the female anchors are sooo insipid with their tacky fake nails and bleached hair and
their “hahahaha but… but… George, I wasn’t gonna say anything smart anyway. George just let
me finish.” Ugh, vomit. So, a nice run along the river, the news, have a bath, treat myself to
little special alone time where I give myself what I deserve… or make love with someone, the
guest from the night before perhaps. When I kiss them goodbye at the door… I see you stalking
me at your window, and then breakfast with a Bloody Mary or a Mimosa. Usually I’ll have a
little siesta around two and then stare out the window… watch the wind blow waves in the
grass… and then catch you staring at me again. You know, I think I’m doing this noble thing,
but perhaps you really are happy in your conventional little nonexistent life. Maybe I’m
corrupting you into a life of debauchery and sin. I mean what would you do with me? Fuck all
day and fuck all night? Drink your way in to AA? Find yourself enwrapped with one of my 18
year old students and get thrown in jail because you couldn’t keep your little hands to yourself?
I should let you rot here.
STEPHANIE
You can’t just quit again! You always give up and turn cruel. Why do you do that?
ISABEL
First of all, I didn’t give up, you only think I did. There is nothing wrong with fucking an 18
year old… as long as they want it of course and as long as you leave them better than how you
found them! I have scruples!
STEPHANIE
I love my husband, but I always do the right thing. There’s no choice in that. It’s like planting a
seed in an ice cube tray. I feel like life should be more beautiful than it actually is. I feel like…
the average, the mediocre, the day in day out of eating and sleeping in a place that never changes
is just not enough… I mean there’s more to it than that but-
ISABEL
Oh, I know it’s much more than that.
STEPHANIE

Okay, yes, I’ve told you I think you’re pretty.
ISABEL
Wow, thanks Casanova.
STEPHANIE
I’m not trying to seduce you.
ISABEL
Of course you aren’t. You just stare out your window at me everyday and call me to come over
to seduce you.
STEPHANIE
We’re friends. Good friends. Aren’t we?
ISABEL
Yes. That we are.
STEPHANIE
The first time I asked you over was to see your dress up close. You always look so daring.
ISABEL
Tell me then, do you like this one?
STEPHANIE
It’s perfect. Red velvet, black trim… I would never wear that, but on you, it… looks stunning.
ISABEL
Come here... Give me your hand.
(She strokes her dress with STEPHANIE’S hand.)
How does the fabric feel under you fingers?
STEPHANIE
Dangerous.
ISABEL
(Laughs.)
I hope so. And soft?
STEPHANIE
(Still touching ISABEL.)
Beautiful. You feel beautiful. I can’t touch you anymore.
(Withdraws.)
ISABEL
But you liked it.

STEPHANIE
I want to… I want you to… please.
ISABEL
No. The rules are that you have to do it to me.
STEPHANIE
I can’t.
ISABEL
You just did.
STEPHANIE
You helped me.
ISABEL
Just close your eyes and reach out your hand.
STEPHANIE
I don’t want to close my eyes anymore.
ISABEL
Good, that’s a start.
STEPHANIE
I want to see the world. Stare at it in the face and cut a gash in the stomach down to the hip.
Scrape my knife along it, until the blood spills… drips…
STEPHANIE (CONT.) and ISABEL

pooling in the belly button, down to the knees, and all over the floor until my feet and toes are
wet and squishing…
STEPHANIE CONT.
No. I didn’t mean that. I don’t mean that. I’m not like that.
ISABEL
Should I stay tonight?
STEPHANIE
Jim doesn’t like having company unannounced.
ISABEL
Now you’re his little flower floating in water, no stem, no roots, no thorns, just delicate petals
spinning in a glass bowl… No not even glass.
(She holds up the plastic cup.)

Plastic. God, how do you stand it?
STEPHANIE
The only reason you don’t like him is because he doesn’t like you. You think he’s boring
because he sells health food. Love isn’t supposed to be an adventure when you grow up. It’s
supposed to be peaceful and calm and happy, but not perfect. Neither of us is perfect. Marriage
isn’t a perfect institution. I used to think it would be, but I’m an adult now and I know that not
everything goes the way you think it will. I’m not a normal woman. I get mad and scared at all
kinds of things that don’t bother anyone else. Jim makes me feel normal. When I was young… I
would be walking down the street… and I would see some guy staring at me while he was
driving by. He would be craning his neck out the window and staring at me all creepy like I was
a crash that he wanted to look at. He would stare glassy eyed and I would know what he was
thinking, and I couldn’t just ignore it, because I could feel his thoughts coming at me… So I
would imagine stabbing him in the throat. I would picture myself with a big sword, like a
Samurai, and I would be slicing his neck open, and there would be blood spraying out of his
jugular vein. I could see it in my mind when I looked at him. When I would picture that and
stare at his neck… the man… whoever he was, would suddenly… not be imposing his thoughts
on me. He would turn pale. He would look away and drive on. I could scare strangers. That’s
not fucking normal. I know that. Okay, sometimes normal gets boring, but it’s stable. Stability
and comfort are not exciting. If they were exciting they wouldn’t be stable.
ISABEL
Are you done selling me on that idea? It sounds a lot more like you were selling yourself.
STEPHANIE
I’m trying to make you see that I have my reasons for loving him. It’s not just that he’s strong
and that he can protect me… It’s that he does protect me. He wraps his arms around my whole
world… Instead of going to Marshals where I have to smell the plastic of the fake purses to find
that double towel, where I would have to wait in line wondering… is it on sale… is it not on
sale… how much is it… can I afford it… I ask him to do it and he does. He’ll watch any silly
romantic movie I want to watch. He’ll watch it over and over if I want.
ISABEL
So you got him to buy you the towel that you plan to use with me on the beach?
STEPHANIE
Well, yeah.
ISABEL
What did you tell him?
STEPHANIE
I… I told him I wanted it.
ISABEL
And he didn’t think that was strange?

STEPHANIE
He knows I’m strange and he’s okay with it… I mean, no, he’s not okay with it… but he
understands I like… I do… sometimes I just want things and he lets me have them.
ISABEL
He allows you. Don’t you see the flaw in that?
STEPHANIE
It’s not a flaw. It’s a compromise. Don’t you get lonely being single?
ISABEL
You’re lonely and you’re married. I think that’s worse. Do you need to be with a man? Is it
because you’re incapable of taking care of yourself? Jim has to do it for you?
STEPHANIE
Partners don’t take care of themselves they take care of each other. Otherwise, what’s the point
in living?
ISABEL
Aren’t I enough? Just me… alone.
STEPHANIE
Forever?
ISABEL
You talk about your marriage like it’s a prison. Your only crime is being a woman. Use me as
your get out of jail card.
STEPHANIE
I mean, yeah, sure there are times I wonder…
ISABEL
Maybe he’s full of shit.
STEPHANIE
But if that’s the case then my whole life is a lie and it’s not. I’m happy, just not all the time.
When you’re with me I feel different.
ISABEL
That’s why he hates me. What he doesn’t know is that I am not doing anything but getting drunk
on his wife’s wine and playing the part she wants me to play.
STEPHANIE
You’re rude to him. You speak Spanish at him.

ISABEL
He’s stupid.
STEPHANIE
He’s not dumb.
ISABEL
Deaf, dumb and blind. Why are we talking about Jim? I’ll leave and you can spend all night
with him, you can spend the rest of your life with him if he’s so great.
STEPHANIE
Please stay.
ISABEL
Ha ha! Youuuu love me. You can’t help it. Are you going to let me stay after he comes back?
STEPHANIE
You know I can’t.
ISABEL
Then I’m going.
(She downs her glass.)
STEPHANIE
Okay.
ISABEL
Okay what?
STEPHANIE
Come here.
ISABEL
No, No, NO! You come to me. I know the rules. I can’t touch you or I lose. I can’t be the one
to kiss you or I lose. I have to inspire you to act. Build you up or tear you down enough so that
you break the barriers that you’ve blindly accepted. I’ve seen you tonight, Stephanie. Between
the lies where you tell me you love your life… I heard the truth. I’m not afraid of you and I
don’t want to control you… but I’m not coming back again to hear more lies. Don’t hide behind
this game where you make me chase you and you pretend like you don’t want to kiss me. Come
and get me. Hold the back of my head with your small hand and press your soft frightened lips
against mine. Do it so slowly… that the whole time… the whole time I’m waiting for it, I think,
“she’s not going to do it. She doesn’t have the strength…” Then, when the only space between
us is filled with the heat from the glowing embers of your meaningless marriage license…
STEPHANIE leans into ISABEL about to kiss her. The

garage door makes noise.

STEPHANIE
Shit. He’s coming. You have to hide.
ISABEL
No! I’m not hiding from him.
STEPHANIE
Go in the bedroom and be quiet.
ISABEL
I’m not the postman.
STEPHANIE
Just hide for now. Please. He won’t stay tonight. He’ll go back to work after dinner.
ISABEL
I want it noted that I made a concession. You must reciprocate.
STEPHANIE
I will. I promise. Please hide.
ISABEL exits to the bedroom.
STEPHANIE runs to the kitchen area and starts to get food

ready. JIM comes in.
JIM
Hi Babydoll! You miss me?
STEPHANIE
Of course I missed you! Where’s my kiss?
JIM
Don’t move. Stay right there and I’m coming over to give it to you right now.
(He puts his things down and walks over to her.)
STEPHANIE
(She lifts her face up for JIM to kiss her cheek. He does.)
Thank you my love. How was your day?
He wraps his arms around STEPHANIE and strokes her

hair.
JIM

Much better now that I’m here with you. God you are so beautiful. You are a bouquet of
beauty. Stand by the wall there so I can gaze at you and forget all about my day in hell. No, get
up on the chair. Hop up on the chair there.
(JIM puts STEPHANIE on a chair.)
You’re like a statue of a Greek Goddess.
(STEPHANIE strikes a pose like a statue.)
My Venus, my Echo, my Hera… My Stephanie. Perfect and pretty, fragile, beautiful. You’re
my world. I bought you a present.
STEPHANIE
Another one!?
JIM
You deserve presents. You deserve a castle. You deserve fur coats and jewels, but you don’t
need them. If I put a diamond on your neck the diamond would cry because it would know that
it has nothing to offer you to make you more beautiful.
STEPHANIE
Should I just stay up here?
JIM
Yes!
(He runs and gets her present and brings it back.)
Here you go my princess.
STEPHANIE opens the bag and pulls out a pink nightgown

with white marabou trim.
JIM CONT.
You like pink. I would never get you a black one. Black and red are slutty. Those colors are for
funerals and whores, but pink and white are pretty.
STEPHANIE
It’s really pretty. Fluffy.
JIM
It’s soft.
STEPHANIE
Oh, it’s short.
JIM
The woman said it’s called a Babydoll. That’s what you are. You’re my Babydoll.
STEPHANIE
It’s very pretty.

JIM
Just like you.
(He strokes her arms.)
STEPHANIE
I’ll go put it on.
JIM
Right now?
STEPHANIE
Yeah, don’t you want to see me in it?
JIM
Don’t you want to have dinner? I wouldn’t want you to get anything on it.
STEPHANIE
Well, I’ll just put it in the bedroom for now.
JIM
Why don’t you put it in the bathroom and you can put it on after you take a bath.
STEHPANIE
Good idea. Can you help me get down?
JIM
Take my hand.
STEPHANIE
(Takes his hand.)
Thank you.
(She gets down off the chair and heads into the bathroom.)
I made pasta for us. It’s ready, I just have to warm it up.
JIM
Not yet.
(He goes to the couch and sits. He starts taking his shoes
off.)
STEPHANIE enters.
STEPHANIE
Your feet hurt?
JIM

Yeah.
STEPHANIE
(Gets his slippers and sits on the floor at his feet.)
Here you go.
(She puts them down in front of his feet.)
If you smoked a pipe I would get you a pipe. I know you don’t smoke a pipe.
JIM
Did you watch My Fair Lady this morning?
STEPHANIE
(Laughs.)
Mm Hm. Do you want me to rub your feet?
JIM
(He puts the slippers on.)
No, no, you don’t have to do that. My feet are disgusting and you shouldn’t have to touch them.
STEPHANIE
Would you like me to warm up dinner?
JIM
Who is the wine for?
STEPHANIE
It’s for us.
JIM
You were drinking alone?
STEPHANIE
I knew you would be home soon. I set the table and poured the wine so it would breathe.
JIM
And you didn’t have any?
STEPHANIE
(She hands him one of the glasses.)
I put some in the pasta sauce. I maybe had a sip or two, but not more than that. I was waiting
for you. I haven’t eaten anything all day since you left.
JIM
Was she here today?
STEPHANIE

What? No.
JIM
Because I’m not in the mood for this tonight.
STEPHANIE
She hasn’t been here.
JIM
I’m not stupid. I see the wine glasses.
STEPHANIE
It’s for you.
JIM
And she wasn’t here this afternoon?
STEPHANIE
No Daddy. I just get lonely. I miss you.
JIM
I told you. You can’t talk to her. She’s not good for you.
STEPHANIE
I know that.
JIM
Stephanie, we… honey… I…
STEPHANIE
I know.
JIM
Damn it Stephanie! This is serious.
STEPHANIE
What?
JIM
Don’t play dumb.
STEPHANIE
I’m not.
JIM
I thought you said you were fine without the medication. You said-

STEPHANIE
I am. I am fine.
JIM
How can I trust you?
STEPHANIE
I love you.
JIM
Don’t start that. That’s not fair.
STEPHANIE
I do. I do love you.
JIM
Then why?
STEPHANIE
You have to believe me. She wasn’t here.
JIM
I know she wasn’t here. I also know I can’t trust you.
STEPHANIE
Jiiiimmmm. I need you. I’ve been missing you all day. I’ve been here waiting for you.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder my love. Can’t we just eat dinner? I can sit on your lap
and you can feed me like I like. C’mon honey please? Aren’t you hungry?
JIM
What did you make?
STEPHANIE
Pasta and salad. I just have to put the dressing on and warm up the pasta in the microwave.
JIM
I’ll dress the salad. You can put the pasta in the microwave.
STEPHANIE
(She hops up and going to the kitchen area.)
Thank you Daddy.
JIM follows her.
STEPHANIE CONT.

(She gets the dressing and hands it to him.)

Here’s the Ranch.
JIM
Good girl.
STEPHANIE stirs the sauce through the pasta and puts it in

the microwave. JIM starts picking through the salad and
takes out one piece of lettuce and then another and another.
JIM CONT.
This lettuce is wilted. It’s bad. We can’t eat it. Did you leave it sitting out all afternoon?
(He turns and looks at her.)
STEPHANIE
No. I just took it out before you got home.
JIM
What else did you make?
STEPHANIE
I made some pasta… I just put it in the-
JIM
Since the salad is bad, we can eat the pasta cold. It’ll be like pasta salad.
STEPHANIE
(She opens the microwave and takes the pasta out.)
Okay honey, should I serve us dinner then?
JIM
No, I’ll do it.
STEPHANIE gets the wine cups and sneaks a sip on the

way back. JIM serves dinner. He gives STEPHANIE a
much smaller portion than his.
STEPHANIE
Here you go.
JIM
I don’t need wine tonight. I have work to do later, but you can have wine if you want.
STEPHANIE
Since I was drinking wine before…
(Looks at JIM.)

I guess I don’t really need any now.
JIM
C’mere. Come sit on my lap.
STEPHANIE
(She claps a few times in a row.)
Yea’. Good, good!
STEPHANIE goes to him.
JIM
(He pats his thigh.)
Sit right here.
STEPHANIE sits on his leg.
JIM CONT.
You hungry?
STEPHANIE nods.
JIM CONT.
Let’s feed you some dinner shall we?
STEPHANIE
Yes.
JIM
Don’t be a little pig. We have to pray first.
STEPHANIE
Of course.
JIM
Together…
JIM and STEPHANIE

Dear Father God, He who made all mankind, He who made woman of man so she could love and
care for him and he could love and protect her, He who spared our lives when Woman ate from
the tree of knowledge, He who lead our forefathers out of Egypt, He who saved us from the
Wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah by purification of the great floods so we could pair up in
safety on the ark and start anew, clean, fresh, innocent and good… He who looks down on us
now. Thank You Father God. Amen.

STEPHANIE nods. He takes a spoonful of food and holds

it to STEPHANIE’S mouth.
JIM CONT.
Open up.
STEPHANIE tentatively opens her mouth. He puts the

food in her mouth. Pause.
JIM CONT.
Chew.
STEPHANIE chews. Pause.
JIM CONT.
Swallow.
STEPHANIE swallows.
JIM CONT.
Bigger bite?
STEPHANIE
Mmhm.
JIM
(He puts more food on the spoon.)
Open up.
STEPHANIE opens her mouth wider.
JIM CONT.
Now be careful. Don’t spill any.
He puts the spoonful in STEPHANIE’S mouth.
JIM CONT.
Chew it.
STEPHANIE chews.
JIM CONT.
There’s a store I’ve been working with. The owner is being a huge pain in the ass. You know,
there are times when I…Swallow.
She swallows.

STEPHANIE
(She is turned on.)
Mmmm.
He puts another spoonful of food in her mouth. He’s

getting aroused as well, but remains in control and hides it.
JIM
Wait… Taste it. You aren’t tasting it. (Pause.) Good girl. Now chew…
She chews very slowly.
JIM CONT.
Swallow.
She swallows.
JIM CONT.
You are my precious little angel. You do exactly as you’re told and you’re rewarded with
goodness.
(He feeds her another spoonful.)
Go ahead and chew it.
She does.
JIM CONT.
So the shop owner. He’s trying to screw me. He doesn’t think I know it, but I do. I deliver
refills for the machines and he-Swallow… Good job.
(He kisses her cheek and strokes her.)
More?
STEPHANIE
Yes please.
JIM
Here we go.
(He gives her another bite.)
Now really chew it honey. Here I’ll take a bite too.
(He gives himself a bite. He chews and swallows.)
JIM CONT.
Mmm. It’s good… So, I just want you to know Babydoll. Every time I think I’m going to punch
that guy in the face. I think of you. How you couldn’t live without me making money to take
care of you. It gives me strength to put up with all that bullshit from those store owners who
think they can push me around. They think they don’t need the machines, but I know we
supplement their income. I know-Go ahead and swallow baby.

She swallows.
STEPHANIE
Do you like it?
JIM
It’s sweet and soft. Just like you. I love it. Here, you still hungry?
STEPHANIE
I’m starving.
JIM
Fine then. Time for a really big bite.
STEPHANIE shakes her head no.
JIM CONT.
Don’t tell me no!
(He feeds her a huge bite and some spills.)
Look what you did.
STEPHANIE freezes like a baby bunny in shock.
JIM CONT.
Spit it out.
STEPHANIE holds her hand up to spit the food out.
JIM CONT.
Not in your hand dirty girl. Spit it on the plate. No more dinner. I need to clean you up.
STEPHANIE spits the food onto her plate.
JIM CONT.
Get off me.
She crawls off his lap.
JIM CONT.
Get a wet rag.
STEPHANIE
One second. Just one second.
(She goes to the sink and wets a small cloth. She brings it
back.)

Here.
JIM
Sit.
STEPHANIE sits on her knees and lifts her face up to JIM.
JIM CONT.
So dirty.
(He wipes her face with the cloth.)
Look at that. It’s all over your face.
(He wipes all the food off of her face.)
Let me see your hands.
(STEPHANIE holds up her hands.)
Dirty nails. Dirty shoulders. You need a bath. Come with me. Stand up.
STEPHANIE stands. JIM exits and STEPHANIE follows.

We hear the sound of water running.
JIM
(From offstage.)
No, don’t touch me. You don’t touch me ever! You’re dirty!
STEPHANIE
(From offstage.)
Please.
JIM
(From offstage.)
You’re filthy. Don’t act like a whore! Stop looking at me. Get in.
STEPHANIE
(From offstage.)
It’s cold.
JIM
(From offstage.)
You’re not supposed to have hot baths. It’s not good for you! Get in right now. Don’t make me
do something to punish you. I don’t like it when I have to-
We hear a splash.
STEPHANIE yelps from the cold.
JIM Cont.
(From offstage.)

Good. Put your hands up. Put your arms up. Take that off… sit down… open your knees…
wider… do it.
There is the sound of more splashing.
JIM CONT.
(From offstage.)
Oh my God! Are you bleeding? You are! You’re a disgusting monster! You’re evil! Get out!
Get out of there. I have to clean this tub now. I have to clean myself. Get Out!
End Scene, but the action continues…
SCENE 0: The Split

We are in the past and the present.
ISABEL enters from the bathroom. She is younger. She
looks emaciated. She is wearing a long white men’s T-shirt
like the one STEPHANIE wears in SCENE 1. Her hair
looks like Stephanie’s hair. She holds a long wire hanger
that has been straightened out. She goes to the door and
begins to scratch the door with it trying to cut it open. She
can’t.
ISABEL
Open! Fuck you. Open!
Finally she shoves the hanger into the keyhole and then
doubles over in pain screaming and crying.
ISABEL
Ahhhhhhh!!!!

ISABEL goes to the table and begins to drink the wine.

She is in agony. She takes all the food and scoops it up
into her arms. She slides down to the floor and pours the
red wine on her stomach, between her legs, and over her
face. She eats the food from her lap with her hands. It
goes all over the floor. She pours more wine on her face.
ISABEL
So much blood. I can feel it drying on my chin… I can feel it pulling the little hairs on my
cheek… Iron…
(She takes one of the pomegranate cordials and holds it in
her hand. Wine drips from her fingers. She speaks to the
little cordial.)
Are you alive?... I can see the blood moving, but does that mean you feel?... Wait, just wait…
(She brushes the small thing in her hands with one of her
fingers.)
That probably hurt. I wanted to see you… I wanted to… You’re cold… Here…
(She leans back against the couch and puts the small thing
between her breasts. She covers it with one hand.)
Are you warmer now?... Can you hear my heart beating?... I don’t think you can hear me. YOU
CAN’T HEAR ME! YOU’RE DEAD! You’re Dead… You can’t feel pain now. You’re
dead… I’m sorry… Stephanie… I destroyed your home. I broke the door. You were starving
me… He was starving me because of you and you were starving my body. I couldn’t keep you.
I couldn’t feed you… I can’t feed me… I can’t do that… Yes I can. I can. I will… Fuck. La
Puta Madre!… No es posible… Yo soy un monstro! I’m evil.
JIM CONT.
(From offstage.)
Oh my God! Are you bleeding? You are! You’re a monster! You’re evil. Get out! Get out of
there. Don’t touch me… Get Out!
STEPHANIE appears in the doorway. She is wearing the

Babydoll and socks. Her legs and shoulders have bruises
on them that were not visible before in her long shorts.
Some are new and some are old. She walks over to
ISABEL and stands behind her.
STEPHANIE
Isabel.
ISABEL
(Responds as if the sound came from the small thing in her
hands.)
¿Qué?
STEPHANIE

Isabel. It’s okay.
ISABEL
No. No esta bien.
STEPHANIE
You’re hungry.
ISABEL
Estoy loca.
STEPHANIE
Go ahead.
ISABEL
You could never have lived. You… You would never have-
STEPHANIE
I can live inside you. Like it was before. I can be inside of you. I’m a part of you. I belong to
you. Let me in Isabel. I’m good. I’m sweet. I’m a pomegranate seed swimming in rose honey.
Go ahead.
ISABEL puts the chocolate in STEPHANIE’S hand.
STEPHANIE CONT.
You can go.
ISABEL
No I can’t. The door is locked.
STEPHANIE
Not anymore.
ISABEL
He always locks the door.
STEPHANIE
For you he did. He leaves the door open now.
ISABEL
When is now?
STEPHANIE
Later.
ISABEL

I can go?
STEPHANIE
You can come and go whenever you want.
ISABEL
Why don’t you come with me?
STEPHANIE
I had to stay here so you could go, but he trusts me now. The door is open. You can go. Go.
ISABEL
I’ll come back. I’ll come and get you.
STEPHANIE
I won’t remember you.
ISABEL
I’m Isabel.
STEPHANIE
You’re Stephanie.
ISABEL
No, I’m Isabel.
STEPHANIE
No, I’m Stephanie.
STEPHANIE holds the chocolate and starts to eat it.

ISABEL exits out the front door.
End of Act One.


SCENE 2: Going Out
JIM enters.
JIM
What did you do?
STEPHANIE
I don’t remember.
JIM
Don’t eat that.
STEHPANIE puts the chocolate down.
JIM
(He sees the table and the mess on the floor.)
What the hell happened?
STEPHANIE
I don’t know… It was Isabel.
JIM
Stephanie! I told you I don’t want her in this house!
STEPHANIE
She’s not here.
JIM
Then you did this? You made this mess? I don’t think so. This was Isabel. It reeks of her. It
has her hands all over it. Tell me you’re sorry you let her come here again.
STEPHANIE
I’m sorry.
JIM
She’s ugly. She’s an ugly person. Why would you want to have her as a friend?
STEPHANIE
She’s not my friend. I don’t know her. She just shows up. She’s sorry though. I’m sure she
would be sorry.
ISABEL
(From offstage in the bedroom.)
¡Lo siento! Es mi culpa. (I’m sorry! It’s my fault.)

JIM
It’s hot in here.
(He goes to the wall thermostat and turns the heat down.)
Stephanie my love. I would very much like it if you would clean up after your dirty friend. I
can’t stand things when they are hot or dirty. This isn’t hell. Satan should not feel comfortable
in our home.
STEPHANIE
Isabel didn’t mean it. She’s sorry.
ISABEL
(From offstage in the bedroom.)
En serio, lo siento.
JIM
I’m not gonna to do this anymore Stephanie. I don’t think it’s too much to ask to come home, to
my home and my wife and not have to put up with this kind of crazy bullshit.
ISABEL enters from the bedroom. She is back to how she

looked when we first saw her.
ISABEL
De Echo. (Actually)
STEPHANIE
Isabel!
JIM
Stephanie.
ISABEL
No puedo- (I can’t)
JIM
Stephanie!
STEPHANIE
Stop it, stop it. Please, I’m sorry. I’m a bad person sometimes. I don’t mean to do bad things,
but I get lonely. I let her come over because I-
JIM
When I get back, I want the mess cleaned up.
ISABEL begins to cough.


STEPHANIE
Are you coming back tonight?
JIM
Maybe. But you won’t be feeding your fat friend Isabel with my food.
(He goes to the refrigerator and takes out the few items in it
leaving it empty. Then he does the same to the cupboards.
He leaves a few pomegranate cordials on the table.)
Here, you can feed her some of your chocolates you like so much.
STEPHANIE
I’m sorry. Please don’t go.
JIM
I can’t help you if you don’t want to be helped. You won’t take the pills I get for you and
instead you get drunk everyday and act like I don’t know. I know. You’re covered in bruises.
Where did you get those?
ISABEL
¡De ti cabróne!
STEPHANIE
Isabel, go away. I’m serious.
ISABEL takes her wine back into the bedroom.
STEPHANIE CONT.
She’s gone.
JIM
She’s not real. She doesn’t exist. Your imaginary friend is not welcome in this house. It’s like
having ghosts around. It’s creepy Stephanie, and it’s evil.
STEPHANIE
She’s gone now.
JIM
She was never here!
STEPHANIE
She’s gone. I swear she’s not coming back. Please honey, don’t I look pretty in your present?
JIM
You know you are much more of a temptation in that nightgown.
(He examines her closely and sees a fresh bruise.)

Honey look at you… I leave you alone and... If I didn’t know better I would say, I mean it looks
like someone threw you down the stairs. Please don’t let her in here. I love you so much and
then I see you all… All those scrapes and scratches.
(He finds an old bruise and presses it gently.)
Does that hurt?
STEPHANIE
A little.
JIM
(He presses it a little deeper.)
How about now?
STEPHANIE
Yes.
JIM
But it’s getting better. It’s better. I remember that one. It’s a lot smaller now. No more black
and blue, just pee yellow and green grass. That’s a good sign. Soon it will be completely gone
and you’ll be clean again.
(He rubs his thumb into the bruise as if to disperse the dead
blood into the muscle.)
STEPHANIE
Ssss.
JIM
It helps. You know it does. It hurts now, but it helps if I rub it. It will heal faster. You have to
trust me.
STEPHANIE
I know. I do trust you.
JIM
(He continues to rub her bruise, but more gently.)
Then you need to listen to me. Isabel is not real. I come home to you covered in marks like this.
You’re filthy and bloody and then talk that, that other language.
STEPHANIE
It’s not me. It’s her.
JIM
You know, you’re in America now. We speak English here. Baby, I love you. I can’t have that
other language said to my face when I don’t know what you are saying.

STEPHANIE
I’m not doi-
JIM
(He stops rubbing the bruise.)
You don’t know how much you mean to me Stephanie. Do you know how much I love you?
STEPHANIE
And I love you.
JIM
No one else would put up with this bullshit. I do because I know your soul. Yes, you can be
nasty and filthy, but you only do it until you know I can’t take it anymore. I have to help keep
you pure for your own sake. Just like I can’t fight the world without you to fight for, you can’t
stay pure without me to help you, to make sure you don’t eat too much, so you don’t bleed, and
you don’t hurt yourself… but you did it again… God Stephanie… I’m strong but I’m not that
strong… I want you to be okay. I want us to be okay. How can I be a great man without a great
woman behind me? I need you to believe me, and believe in me. If you start giving into every
little whim, every little petty fear and complaint what hope do I have for either of us?
STEPHANIE
I know that, but then… I want to go out with you. I’m sorry. I just miss you so much I want to
be with you all the time. I want to go where you go and do what you do.
JIM
You can’t do what I do. First of all, there is no way you could lift all the boxes I have to carry. I
show up with real healthy alternative snacks in box after box, which you would think people
want. They should want to eat better, eat organic, no sugar, dairy free and animal free, but they
don’t. They can’t stop themselves from destroying our planet with their gluttony for flesh and
poison. They eat suicide food, food that’s killing them. I get shot down all the time from offices
and schools, the very places that need it most. Forget about the physical labor, you couldn’t take
the rejection. And then carrying around all that cash. You’ld be a walking target, an easy mark.
The world is full of spiders who will try to snare you in a trap and use you. Innocence has no
place in a world of predators. What would you do if you had to come up against those shop
owners I deal with? Always trying to get a discount for nothing. They would walk all over you
and you would tell yourself stories about how you would hurt them, but then… your Friend
Isabel would actually do violence. I know how you are. You would let her out and she would
hurt people, and then you would end up in jail or an insane asylum. Do you want that?
STEPHANIE
No. Of course not. I just get lonely. It’s hard to be here all alone.
JIM
You aren’t alone. I’m with you in your heart. Even when I’m not here, I leave my heart here
with you to keep you company. It’s my job to keep you safe and yours is to be the reason for my
life. I know it’s not easy to do what you do. Let me help you fight the insanity that would take

over your mind. Don’t disobey me. You can’t pull away from me and lie to me if you want me
to help you. You love me don’t you?
STEPHANIE
You know I love you.
JIM
I hear you say the words, but I don’t believe you. If I come back tonight, it had better not be hot
in here.
(He takes the food and exits.)
ISABEL enters.
ISABEL
(Turns it up.)
Do you want to freeze to death?
STEPHANIE
He’ll come back and check.
ISABEL
Not right now.
STEPHANIE
Just for a little bit. I’ll do it.
(STEPHANIE goes to the thermostat and turns it up.)
Just until I’m dry and then we have to turn it back down.
ISABEL
We? You and Jim?
STEPHANIE
No, you and me, you know what I meant. I mean, I will turn it up, no down I’ll turn it back
down as soon as I’m dry.
(She goes and begins to eat the food off the floor. She
cleans up the mess that’s been made and eats.)
ISABEL
(She watches STEPHANIE for a while.)
Me pregunto, ¿te gusta? (I’m curious. Do you like that?)
STEPHANIE
What?
ISABEL
¿Es mejor en el piso? (You like it better on the floor?)

STEPHANIE
I don’t understand you.
ISABEL
Yo tampoco. Me too.
STEPHANIE
Now? You wanna play games now?
ISABEL
No. Pero no es amla idea when the shit gets this bad. A veces lo único que se puede hacer es
reir. (No, but it’s not a bad idea… Sometimes, to laugh is the only thing to do.)
STEPHANIE
This isn’t funny. Look at me. This is sad, okay. My life is sad.
ISABEL
Con eso estoy de acuerdo. (I don’t disagree with you.)
STEPHANIE
Stop speaking in Spanish! I can’t understand you.
ISABEL
¡No me entiendes ni en Inglés ni en Español, entonces que importa el idioma! (You don’t
understand me in English or Spanish so it doesn’t matter what language I use!)
STEPHANIE
I’m not going to cry for you. I’m making the best of this life. This is not a good moment. I
know that. I can’t do anything about it. So, you can either stand there making fun of me in a
language I can’t understand or help me. Please. Please fucking help me.
ISABEL
(Bends down and scoops some of the food off the floor and
she throws it across the room.)
Now you do it.
STEPHANIE
He’ll come down and then he’ll be really mad.
ISABEL
So, skull-fuck him with a Good House Keeping Magazine!
STEPHANIE
I would never hurt him!

ISABEL
He hurts you!
STEPHANIE
He can’t help himself. I can help myself.
ISABEL
What?
STEPHANIE
He doesn’t mean to hurt me. He can’t help himself.
ISABEL
You’re the one playing games. You want my help, but you can help yourself. He Can’t help
himself so he hurts you? In Spanish or English you don’t make sense! Help Yourself.
STEPHANIE
I don’t know what to do.
ISABEL
Just do it.
STEPHANIE kisses ISABEL quickly.
ISABEL CONT.
Oh no. That was not enough. You owe me. I hid from him again so you could sit on his lap and
play your little game to get him to feed you. I was quiet and good. You need to prove to me that
you’re worthy.
STEPHANIE
I’m freezing. I’m tired. I wanna rest. Let me sleep for a little while. I’ll try again later.
ISABEL
You walk around here like a polar bear at the zoo. You play with your toys in the bath and then
you eat the shit off the floor. You should be running naked on a beach instead of cleaning this
shit off the floor.
STEPHANIE
You don’t understand!
ISABEL
You believe his words, but not mine.
STEPHANIE
You aren’t real.

ISABEL
Now that was a cruel thing to say. Tell me Stephanie, should I rub your bruises now that he is
gone? Should I cut you or throw you down the stairs? Is that what you want? I’m sick of
waiting for you to do something.
STEPHANIE
No, please. I want to go to the beach with you, drink coconut water, sit on a big towel. You
need to convince him to let me go out with you. Be nice to him. Please.
ISABEL
I don’t know why you have those curtains hanging up there. It’s not like you need to block the
sun.
ISABEL goes to the curtains and pulls them back. The

window is fake. She pulls the curtains back and reveals it’s
just a rod hanging on a brick wall. She rips the curtain rod
off the wall.
STEPHANIE
Don’t.
ISABEL
You can’t get out through the walls. You need to walk out the door.
STEPHANIE
Help me seduce him and make him see that he loves me enough to-
ISABEL
Disgusting.
STEPHANIE
If I hurt him it’s over, then I am what he says I am. I’m not evil. I’m not a bad person.
ISABEL
Who cares? He is what he is. He feeds you just enough to keep you alive and then you worry
about becoming him in order to get out? Fuck it. Kill him!
STEPHANIE
No. It’s not like that. I need help. I have problems.
STEPHANIE slowly goes back to the floor and tries to eat

the food off the floor. Pause.
ISABEL
Tell me Stephanie, did you put on underwear today? Don’t reach your hand down under that
little Babydoll and touch yourself, just tell me the answer! Are you wearing underwear?

STEPHANIE
I’m going crazy. I’m fucking crazy. This isn’t happening.
ISABEL
It’s because you pretend to be someone you’re not, every day. You pretend you’re weak, you
pretend you’re wholesome and harmless.
STEPHANIE
I am wholesome. I am harml-
ISABEL
Why SHOULD you be harmless? What is the virtue in that? Just because He tells you, you need
to be perfectly kind at all times towards everyone but yourself…? Why do you believe it? If
you are unkind to yourself then you are unkind. True?
STEPHANIE
No… He.
ISABEL
He what? He’s big and strong. Sure, compared to you. Compared to someone who doesn’t eat
and never sees the sun. You’re a frozen flower in an everlasting winter. Of course he seems like
a god to you. He get’s to go out in the world and do things. What do you do? You sit here and
count the seeds in a pomegranate while you lick your stained fingers for a taste of life.
STEPHANIE
I’ll never get out if I go crazy.
ISABEL
You won’t survive if you stay sane. You don’t even know all the ways he’s hurt you. Here, eat
another chocolate. I know you’re hungry.
(Pause.)
You don’t want any more? Then don’t eat anything. SAY SOMETHING! Disagree with me.
Tell me fuck off!
STEPHANIE
What do you want me to say?
ISABEL
Act! Don’t speak, Act! The longer you stay here, the more dead you’ll become. You could
always die.
STEPHANIE
That’s not a choice that’s death.

ISABEL
Alright, now we’re getting somewhere. So you don’t want to die? Are you sure about that?
STEPHANIE
Stop talking to me like I’m an idiot.
ISABEL
Then stop acting like one. I can help you distract him so you can catch him off guard at the top
of the stairs.
STEPHANIE
What if he sees me and then-
ISABEL
Stop it! So what? He is going to kill you, now or later, it makes no difference.
STEPHANIE
Easy for you to say… I… I’m sorry.
ISABEL
Yeah, you’re fucking sorry now, but who will you be tomorrow?
STEPHANIE
I’ll be me.
ISABEL
You’ll be whoever he wants you to be. If that means you send me out of the room, out of the
house, if it means you made me up then that’s what you do. You sell me out! You wear a pink
trashy nightgown for Him. You are whatever he wants you to be. If it means, no Spanish it
means no Spanish, if it means no sneezing or coughing or making a sound while you breathe as
you fall asleep, if it means freezing… Stop, please just stop. Leave it to me. Don’t you want to
feel the ocean waves kiss your toes? Kiss me…
(Pause.)
Fine. Stay here by yourself. I’m not real. You made me up. I’m just a vision, but if that’s what
I am, then I’m a shard of a shattered reflection of your fractured mind. You’re as much me as I
am you. Unless you don’t want what you think you want. Am I just an excuse for you to live
behind a wall without having to touch the world?
STEPHANIE
No. I need you.
ISABEL
If you kiss me the terror of death that haunts you will be transformed into the exhilaration of
survival… I can’t do it for you.
STEPHANIE

(Goes over to ISABEL and touches her.)

You exist.
(She leans in slowly.)
I am terrified, but I love you. I’m afraid that you’re not real, that I’m not real, but I can’t live
like this any more. I’m going to kiss your cheek bones that lift when you smile (She does) your
eyes that never close, but they will now, for me (She does), and even though I’m afraid,
(She kisses Isabel’s lips.)
Don’t be mad at me. Help me. Please I need you to help me.
ISABEL
Prove to me I exist.
STEPHANIE
(She glides her fingertips along ISABEL’S shoulders.)
Your shoulders are perfection. Your hips are the dunes in the desert. Your neck is proud and
your chin is strong and still feminine. I can touch all of you.
ISABEL
Love me.
STEPHANIE
I do.
ISABEL
Say you love me.
(Pause.)
Why is it so hard to say you love me?
STEPHANIE
It isn’t possible. I know that this is madness.
ISABEL
And yet here I am. And you do love me don’t you?
STEPHANIE
Yes.
ISABEL
So does it matter if it’s possible? It is. Love is and it defies any boundaries we would put on it.
I Isabel love you Stephanie. Here and now in this imperfect moment.

STEPHANIE
You love me.
I love your love
I need it
I long for it
And I feel it back for you
And it’s impossible
But I love you anyway
STEPHANIE holds ISABEL close with her arms tightly
around her.
You’re so good to hold. You’re so warm and safe. I do love you so much Isabel.
STEPHANIE kisses ISABEL.
ISABEL
How does it feel to kiss me?
STEPHANIE
I’m not sure.
ISABEL
Well, that wasn’t very flattering.
STEPHANIE
No, it’s just that… I don’t know who I’m kissing.
ISABEL
Does it feel good?
STEPHANIE
Yes.
ISABEL
Good. I think it feels like home.
STEPHANIE
But how are you real? How can I feel you?
ISABEL
We’re connected. I want you to come with me and we can both be free. Grab a chair and stand
by the door.
STEPHANIE
I can do this.
ISABEL
Yes.

STEPHANIE
I’m not crazy.
ISABEL
How long have you been down here? Think about it.
STEPHANIE
For… I… I don’t know… I think… eight years.
ISABEL
And finally tonight you’re bleeding again like a normal woman.
STEPHANIE
Sometimes… I bleed a tiny little bit, but I hide it. There was too much to hide this time. He saw
it.
ISABEL
When he sees that you’re getting strong, he has to make you small so he can control you. Why is
it so hard for you to trust me?
STEPHANIE
You’re in my head.
ISABEL
How did you get those bruises? I didn’t give them to you if I’m not real.
STEPHANIE
He doesn’t know his own strength. He doesn’t mean to hurt me. He buys me creams to make it
better. He puts ice on-
ISABEL
He freezes you. He keeps you sick. He only wants your heart strong enough to die so he can
resuscitate it.
STEPHANIE
Why would he do that? I don’t understand. If he did that… It just… Why? It’s wrong.
ISABEL
There is no why for evil. It just is.
STEPHANIE
There is always a reason.

ISABEL
No! End your naive marriage to reason. The world is a place of paradoxes and hypocrisies. A
plus B does Not equal C, it equals You live in prison. His logic can’t be yours. Why does his
fear dominate him and make him need to control you? I don’t know. Who fucking knows?
Whatever he is, he justifies hurting you. He’s evil and you should be evil too. You should slice
his throat and then-
JIM enters.
JIM
Stephanie, it’s hot in here. You want to live like… You don’t listen to me, and all that food is
still on the floor. You know, I can’t believe you would do that. You leave all that food on the
floor and you turn the heat up like you are trying to make this place into a garbage heap. This is
not a dump. It is our home. I work very hard for this home. I… She was here again wasn’t she?
STEPHANIE
I’m cold honey. I’m…
JIM
You, you, you. Stephanie I can only try to teach you the ways of world. You can lead a horse to
water, but you can’t make her drink. I try to show you how to be good and you blatantly disobey
me.
STEPHANIE
Who taught you?
JIM
Are you questioning my authority?
STEPHANIE
I want to go out.
JIM
You already have evil inside of you and if you go out in the world the pollution of the other
women there would grow inside of you. You would become pregnant with evil. Isabel wants
you to grow fat with evil and give birth to it. Your child would consume all your kindness for
any other creature and you would be a mother of selfishness and sin. This world is over
populated.
STEPHANIE
It’s natural to have babies.
JIM
Then why, tell me Stephanie, why does our government need to keep passing law after law
taking care of women? We don’t have to pass any laws over men’s bodies, because there is no
natural way to stop us from spreading our seed. For women, there is a way… we all know it and

it saves resources and it keeps you from getting pregnant. There is no need to take pills if you
just don’t eat like a pig! This world cannot sustain more population growth and we can’t keep
pouring more and more chemicals into our bodies. You know I’m right. When you’re a glutton,
you bleed. I can’t even go near you when you-
STEPHANIE
But what if-
JIM
What did you do to the window?
STEPHANIE
Isabel pulled the curtains-
JIM
You’re crazy! If I let you out, you would hurt people. You would hurt yourself. I can’t even
keep any metal or glass here. What if you decided to kill yourself? You talk to yourself and you
pretend like it’s okay. It’s not okay. You can’t talk to yourself like you do. It’s not normal.
You won’t take medication. I can’t have any metal hangers in the house. Don’t you remember
what happened with the hangers?
STEPHANIE
No. I don’t remember.
JIM
Lift up your Babydoll. Look at your stomach. C’mon, lift it up. Show me. You have a scar.
STEPHANIE lifts up the Babydoll and sees the scar on her

stomach.
JIM
That’s what she did to you. You nearly sliced yourself open.
STEPHANIE
She was inside of me?
ISABEL
You were inside of me.
JIM
She wants to kill you.
STEPHANIE
Take me to a doctor then. Please. You can take me out. You can watch me. I won’t run away.
I love you.

JIM
I can’t for your own good. You have to trust me. If I let you go out, Isabel would never leave.
She would destroy you. I can’t allow that. I love you too much.
STEPHANIE
Who is Isabel?
JIM
I came home… I found you on the floor… blood everywhere… It was disgusting. You kept
saying, ‘Isabel tried to kill me.’ You were frightened. You were sick and bleeding as if you’d
given birth to original sin. You nearly died. You couldn’t eat. I took care of you. I fed you a
little bit at a time until you got better. Every time you do something bad… It’s Isabel. I know
it’s Isabel, because you would never act that way. My Stephanie is sweet, but sometimes Isabel
comes out of your mouth.
STEPHANIE
How does she know Spanish?
JIM
What?
STEPHANIE
How does she… she speaks Spanish, but if I don’t speak Spanish… how does she speak
Spanish?
JIM
You used to speak Spanish when you were little. But you don’t anymore.
STEPHANIE
But I did.
JIM
Yes.
STEPHANIE
How?
ISABEL
Por que eres Latina. (Because you’re Latin.)
JIM
(Covers Stephanie’s mouth.)
Don’t start with that. You don’t speak that anymore. Not here. Not in my house. Get rid of
her!
ISABEL

No.
JIM
That’s it Isabel- I- Stephanie! I have had enough of this Stephanie. I’m going upstairs for the
next week.
STEPHANIE
Take me with you. Leave her down here. Take me.
JIM
I can’t trust you! You’ll bring her with you in your head!
STEPHANIE
No, she comes on her own. I wouldn’t bring her. She would stay here. Wouldn’t you Isabel,
you would stay here?
JIM
You’re crazy! There is no one there!
ISABEL
(To Him spoken clearly and pointedly in English)
I’m going to cut your balls off and eat them. I’m going to slice the scrotum from your anus up to
the base of your penis, and then I’m going to rip your testicles out with my hands.
JIM
(Slowly backs away from Stephanie.)
That’s Isabel talking now.
ISABEL
Mmhmm. ¿Prefieras que hable en español? (You like it better when I speak in Spanish.) Then
you know exactly when it’s me talking, but I think you should get used to me speaking in
English. I’m American right?
JIM
Stephanie. You need to stop her. If you don’t stop her I’m going upstairs for a week.
(He smashes the thermostat.)
No more heat.
ISABEL
Stephanie. Do you have anything to say to your husband?
STEPHANIE
I wanna come upstairs with you.
JIM
You’re staying down here.

ISABEL
No. She is not staying down here any more.
JIM
Is that Isabel?
STEPHANIE
Yes.
JIM rushes at STEPHANIE and puts his hand over her

mouth. STEPHANIE is weak and easily succumbs to his
weight.
JIM
You are Stephanie, my wife Stephanie. I will not let you tell me I’m stupid with your words I
can’t understand. I’m not stupid, you fucking hear me. I’m strong. I am stronger than you. I’m
not stupid!
ISABEL
You aren’t stupid. You just aren’t as smart as me. I’m your wife not her.
JIM
(Takes his hand away from STEPHANIE’S mouth.)
What did you say?
ISABEL
I’m your wife.
JIM
(He holds STEPHANIE’S face in his hands.)
Stephanie.
ISABEL
Isabel.
(ISABEL grabs a chair and swings it at JIM’S legs. JIM
falls to the floor behind the couch. ISABEL hits him again
with the chair one time very hard. The violence is hidden
so we don’t know how severe the damage is.)
STEPHANIE
Isabel?
ISABEL
You okay?

STEPHANIE
I think so.
ISABEL
He’s out cold. We need to tie him up.
STEPHANIE
That will just make it worse.
ISABEL
Worse than him starving you for a week and making you drink toilet water?
STEPHANIE
I can’t believe you hit him.
ISABEL
I’m going to strangle you in a minute if you don’t help me. Get some of those ties he used to use
from the bedroom.
STEPHANIE exits into the bedroom.
ISABEL CONT.
Hola you fucking blanquito piece of shit. You sick motherfucker. I’m going to cut you into a
soup. I’m going to boil your hands until the meat falls off and I can suck on the-
STEPHANIE gets back with police plastic cuffs which are

like the old garbage bag ties.
STEPHANIE
Should we tie his hands?
ISABEL
Oh yeah.
STEPHANIE
This is wrong.
ISABEL
No. Shut up. Tie him up.
STEPHANIE
Don’t you start being mean to me now.
ISABEL
Stop being weak! Give them to me.
(She takes the ties and ties his hands.)

STEPHANIE
That’s enough. He’s tied.
ISABEL
He can’t get out of those. Not while he’s sitting in a chair.
STEPHANIE
They’re cutting his wrists.
ISABEL
Hey, wake up. Wake Up!
STEPHANIE
Honey wake up.
ISABEL
(Spits in his face.)
Get up.
STEPHANIE
Don’t do that.
ISABEL
He’s waking up now.
STEPHANIE
Honey?
JIM
Stephanie, how could you?
STEPHANIE
You were hurting me.
ISABEL
I did it asshole!
JIM
Untie me.
ISABEL
No fucking way. Tell her she can go out.

JIM
Stephanie, look what Isabel did to me. Stephanie, you’re my good little girl. You need to untie
me right now.
STEPHANIE
I’m cold.
JIM
Come sit on my lap.
ISABEL
Stephanie do you love me?
STEPHANIE
I…
ISABEL
Kiss me Stephanie. Come to me and kiss me. Remember how it feels.
STEPHANIE goes to ISABEL
STEPHANIE
He’s watching us.
ISABEL
Then I’ll dig his eyes out with my fingers.
STEPHANIE
Don’t hurt him.
ISABEL
What do you think he’ll do to you if I let him go?
JIM
I protect you from her.
ISABEL
He starves you. He rapes you.
JIM
I wash you and purify you.
STEPHANIE
I’m not dirty. I’m not bad.
ISABEL

Let’s go! It’s time to go Stephanie.
JIM
No, it’s dangerous. She’s evil. She’s just like the rest of the world. I keep you here because I
love you so much Stephanie. I can’t have you ruined by what Isabel would do to you.
ISABEL
You cannot love something you keep in a cage. You can admire her, you feel affection for her,
pet her, train her, possess her, but you cannot love something which is not free.
STEPHANIE
I’ll come back. I just need to go out. I need to see-
JIM
Isabel wants to kill you. She’ll convince you to do bad things. Look at me. This is what she
does. Isabel can’t be trusted.
ISABEL
I’ll make him let you go. I’ll make him-
STEPHANIE
Jim, I need you to tell me it’s okay, that you will still love me if I go. Please.
JIM
You can’t go out.
ISABEL
You can and you will.
STEPHANIE
I don’t want you to hurt him.
ISABEL
Tell me, Stephanie are you hungry?
JIM
You wouldn’t.
ISABEL
Yes I would. She wouldn’t but I would. I would love to.
STEPHANIE
There’s chocolate to eat. We can eat that.
ISABEL
You said they made you puke. How about that food on the floor? Do you want to eat that now?

STEPHANIE
I’m not hungry. This isn’t right. We need to let him go.
JIM
See, you can be good.
ISABEL
How many days have you gone without food? Be honest Stephanie. Don’t lie to me.
STEPHANIE
Four days. He made me go for four days with no heat and only cordials to eat.
ISABEL
Did you deserve that?
STEPHANIE
I don’t remember what I did.
JIM
You needed to purify. I had to do it. You were leaking. You were leaking evil. It was
disgusting. Every religion in the world knows that! The Native Americans know it, the Jews
know it, the Christians know it, the Muslims know it. Everybody knows women are dirty. I
never said you needed to cover your body from head to toe. I never said you should cut out
your… your… I never said you needed a female circumcision. Other countries do that to all
their women! I’m good to you. I bring you presents. You should be grateful!
ISABEL
Stephanie, I want you to go into the bedroom.
JIM
Don’t leave me with her.
ISABEL
Stephanie, go into the bedroom and get the beach bag. I’m not gonna hurt him.
JIM
Yes she will.
ISABEL
Stephanie, have I ever lied to you? Go get the bag.
JIM
You said… you said that bag was for bath time.
STEPHANIE

I maybe lied about that. I prayed about it though. I’m sorry. Isabel, promise me you won’t hurt
him.
ISABEL
If I’m going to hurt him I will bring you back out first. Go in the bedroom and put some clothes
on. Put on anything you want.
JIM
Don’t leave me-
STEPHANIE
I’m not leaving. I’m just going to change my clothes.
JIM
No don’t-
ISABEL
Stephanie, you need to get warm.
STEPHANIE
Yeah, I’m cold in the Babydoll.
ISABEL
Go put something on.
STEPHANIE goes into the bedroom.
ISABEL CONT.
I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.
JIM
What are you going to do to me?
ISABEL
I am not weak and I am not dirty.
(ISABEL reaches under her skirt into her underpants
and touches herself. We can’t see what she’s doing
exactly. She then brings her hand out and it is covered in
blood.)
You see that? Red like a beating heart. Life.
JIM
Oh my god that’s gross.
ISABEL
(She licks one of her fingers.)

No it isn’t!
(She goes over to JIM and puts her hand on his face wiping
blood down his face.)
JIM
Stop it! Don’t touch me. Don’t. You’re sick. You’re evil. You… I’m gonna be sick. Stop it.
ISABEL
Open your mouth.
JIM
No.
ISABEL
Let her out.
JIM
No.
ISABEL
(She reaches into herself again and gets more blood on her
hand and shows it to him.)
It’s beautiful isn’t it? Shiny, dark red, almost black… Not pink and girly. Not blancito white.
Open your mouth. C’mon, part your lips just a little bit.
JIM
No-
As JIM opens his mouth to say no ISABEL pushes some

of her blood into his mouth and then covers his mouth with
both of her hands.
ISABEL
Don’t spit it out. Chew it… Taste it... Good boy, now I want you to swallow it.
JIM gags and cries.
ISABEL
What’s the matter Jim? You don’t like it when I feed you.
JIM
No.
ISABEL
But you like to feed me. Come on. Here I’ll help you. I’ll sit on your lap.

JIM
Don’t! Don’t touch me.
ISABEL
It’s okay. I’ll just…
ISABEL takes more of her blood and holds it in front of his

face. JIM closes his eyes and looks away.
ISABEL
This is not a curse. It’s not evil. You should be aroused by this. It’s healthy.
(She puts her hand down his pants and starts to touch him.)
Why is your cock soft? What’s wrong with you?
JIM
Stop touching me. I’ll-
ISABEL
No. I want you get hard and I want you to eat my blood and like it, and then I want you to let her
out of here! See… I know you’ll get hard if I keep touching you.
She puts blood on his face while she has her hand down his
pants.
JIM
Stop it!
ISABEL
I’m not evil!
JIM
Yes you are!
ISABEL
You’re hard.
She moves away from him.
JIM
That’s… that’s… I have no control over that.
ISABEL
You know that what you’re doing to her is wrong!
JIM spits. STEPHANIE enters in ISABEL’S coat. She has

on a sundress underneath it. She is carrying the beach bag.

STEPHANIE
You promised you wouldn’t hurt him!
ISABEL
He’s fine. That’s my blood.
STEPHANIE
Oh. Good. Isabel, can we go? Did he say I can go?
ISABEL
Yes we should go. And don’t you spit. You had better swallow that. If you can’t eat what I
give you then I will feed you your own cock. I’ll cut it off and shove it in your mouth and make
you-
STEPHANIE
Isabel! Have mercy on him. Don’t be cruel to him. There’s no justification for cruelty.
JIM
Oh Stephanie. It’s you! Don’t leave me Stephanie. Don’t go with her. She’ll kill you! Look at
what she did to me.
ISABEL
Stephanie is coming with me this time.
STEPHANIE
I want to go with Isabel.
JIM
She’s crazy. You’re crazy. You’re making me crazy.
ISABEL
You’re the crazy one.
JIM
Don’t leave me alone Stephanie. I can’t… I can’t live without you. How can I go on knowing I
failed to save my own wife? Everything I am is for you. Don’t go. You’re my wife.
STEPHANIE
Will you stay with him?
ISABEL
What? No way.
STEPHANIE

I can’t leave him alone here. Look at him.
ISABEL
I can leave and I’m going to leave. I’m never coming back if you don’t leave now.
STEPHANIE
Please Isabel. Isabel, let me go. Stay here with him. Take care of him. I can’t leave him alone
and just go out knowing that he’s here by himself. I can’t do that. I love him.
JIM
No! Isabel, you are the one who needs to leave.
ISABEL
Don’t tell her what to do! She wants to go. She’s leaving you.
STEPHANIE
Just for a little while. Please Isabel. I want to go so bad. I can feel the air on my cheeks. It
tastes like salt. I’ll come back.
ISABEL
No, don’t come back.
JIM
Stay with me.
STEPHANIE
I’ll come back and get you.
ISABEL
No. If I agree to stay here, then you have to promise to never come back here. You don’t need
to come back for him. I’m strong enough to stay here without you. If you don’t go now, I will,
and I won’t come back.
STEPHANIE
But I’m afraid… I’ll be alone.
ISABEL
I’ll always be inside of you a little bit. Remember how it felt to kiss me?
STEPHANIE
Yes.
ISABEL
You’ll be in the sun. I’m your roots… we planted them here, but you can’t flower here. I’ll stay
here reaching deeper into soil. Do you want to feel the light on your petals? Even a night
blooming flower still needs to feel the light of night. You can’t let it touch you if you stay here.

JIM
Don’t touch that door!
ISABEL
You are not in a position to say anything about anything.
STEPHANIE
He doesn’t mean to be mean.
JIM
I love you Stephanie. You need me! I keep you pure. I keep you safe.
ISABEL
Kiss me.
(STEPHANIE kisses her.)
This is what love is. I’ll stay with him so you can go. Love is more than safety and self-sacrifice
it’s also freedom and receiving someone else’s sacrifice. Open the door.
STEPHANIE
I’m not coming back. Thank you Isabel. I love you.
ISABEL
I love you too Stephanie.
STEPHANIE exits.
ISABEL
Let’s leave the door open. I would like some fresh air.
JIM
I don’t like you Isabel. I want you to leave. Get out of here.
ISABEL
But the door is locked.
JIM
It’s open.
ISABEL
No. The door is locked.
JIM
I want my sweet Stephanie. I am the only person who can bring the goodness out of you.
You’re a fucked up person. You’re rotten inside.

ISABEL
(She licks his face and JIM whimpers.)
Mmmm, but I taste beautiful. Even after I have been sitting on your face I still taste sweeter than
a juicy pomegranate dipped in honey. Tell me honey, what do you think we should have for
dinner tonight?
JIM
I’m not hungry Isabel.
ISABEL
I am. I’m starving. Do we have anything in the cupboards? Let’s see… nope, nothing in
there… nothing in the fridge...
The lights fade on ISABEL and JIM.
STEPHANIE enters downstage. She has a basket with a

large two person towel and a coconut inside. She lays out
the towel and sits on it with her feet hanging off into space.
She takes out a coconut with a straw in it and the lights
brighten on her face. She takes a sip of the coconut and
sets it down next to her on the towel. She takes out a
pomegranate cordial. She unwraps it slowly. She eats it.
She takes another sip of the coconut. She stares out into
the expanse.
STEPHANIE
Blue-Grey, Plumb, and Silver
A reflection in sync with the sky
Undulating and rolling
In a landscape of motion
I am on top of it
Climbing each living mountain higher than the last
And then I am beneath the surface
Going deeper and deeper
Reaching through the dark eternity
For a firm place to stop
My hands grope
My legs kick
My lungs burn
My eyes are blind
But I am alive…
ISABEL
(From the darkness.)
A veces no tengo palabras,

STEPHANIE
Sometimes I don’t have the words,
ISABEL
pero si espero en silencio,
STEPHANIE
but if I wait in the silence,
ISABEL
Buscando en la oscuridad un hilo de araña...
STEPHANIE
groping in the darkness for the thread of a spider...
ISABEL
ellos regresan a mí.
STEPHANIE
they come back to me.
The End.

Light of Night - by - Cecilia - Copeland - FINAL

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Light of Night - by - Cecilia - Copeland - FINAL

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© Cecilia Copeland 2014 1

© Cecilia Copeland 2014

SCENE 1: Verbal Tango

Sure we will mamasita! Who were you talking to?

ISABEL looks in the beach bag.

Have you won yet?

Giving me an orgasm is the moment you realize god isn’t a man…

(She gets more wine for ISABEL.)

Okay, yes, I’ve told you I think you’re pretty.

STEPHANIE (CONT.) and ISABEL

Plastic. God, how do you stand it?

STEPHANIE leans into ISABEL about to kiss her. The

ISABEL exits to the bedroom.

STEPHANIE runs to the kitchen area and starts to get food

He wraps his arms around STEPHANIE and strokes her

STEPHANIE opens the bag and pulls out a pink nightgown

JIM follows her.

(She gets the dressing and hands it to him.)

STEPHANIE stirs the sauce through the pasta and puts it in

STEPHANIE gets the wine cups and sneaks a sip on the

I guess I don’t really need any now.

STEPHANIE goes to him.

STEPHANIE sits on his leg.

JIM and STEPHANIE

STEPHANIE nods. He takes a spoonful of food and holds

STEPHANIE tentatively opens her mouth. He puts the

STEPHANIE chews. Pause.

STEPHANIE opens her mouth wider.

He puts another spoonful of food in her mouth. He’s

She chews very slowly.

STEPHANIE shakes her head no.

STEPHANIE freezes like a baby bunny in shock.

STEPHANIE holds her hand up to spit the food out.

STEPHANIE spits the food onto her plate.

She crawls off his lap.

STEPHANIE sits on her knees and lifts her face up to JIM.

STEPHANIE stands. JIM exits and STEPHANIE follows.

There is the sound of more splashing.

End Scene, but the action continues…

SCENE 0: The Split

ISABEL goes to the table and begins to drink the wine.

STEPHANIE appears in the doorway. She is wearing the

Isabel. It’s okay.

ISABEL puts the chocolate in STEPHANIE’S hand.

STEPHANIE holds the chocolate and starts to eat it.

End of Act One.

SCENE 2: Going Out

STEHPANIE puts the chocolate down.

ISABEL enters from the bedroom. She is back to how she

ISABEL begins to cough.

ISABEL takes her wine back into the bedroom.

STEPHANIE kisses ISABEL quickly.

ISABEL goes to the curtains and pulls them back. The

STEPHANIE slowly goes back to the floor and tries to eat

(Goes over to ISABEL and touches her.)

STEPHANIE lifts up the Babydoll and sees the scar on her

JIM rushes at STEPHANIE and puts his hand over her

STEPHANIE exits into the bedroom.

STEPHANIE gets back with police plastic cuffs which are

STEPHANIE goes to ISABEL

Let’s go! It’s time to go Stephanie.

STEPHANIE goes into the bedroom.

As JIM opens his mouth to say no ISABEL pushes some