copyright © 1998
"LIGHT" OR "DARKNESS, WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF LIGHT" IS COPYRIGHTED
MATERIAL AND MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED, TRANSMITTED, PRINTED OR
PERFORMED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR
[Lights down. Lights up.]
[Dan and James are seated at a table, center stage. They are playing paper scissors rock. They tie the first time _ scissors _ then a second time _ paper. The third time, James wins (J: rock, D: scissors). James walks around the table and punches Dan in the face. Dan falls to floor, writhes in agony for awhile, then returns to seat.]
DAN
Let's not play this game anymore.
JAMES
Okay.
[Three beat pause.]
DAN
Wasn't it Hume who suggested that the world as we know it is ony a function of our perceptions? I mean, that everything we know... everything we experience... everything we are is just a pale reflection of objective reality. And that nothing has inherent existence aside from the arbitrary labels we try to pigeonhole reality with?
JAMES
Uh.. no. Nope, that was Kant.
DAN
Oh. Okay.
[Dan slides back from table. James hits him again.]
DAN
You ever notice how serrated edges cut so much quicker? I mean, why don't they make the whole blade that deep? That way, it'd cut a lot faster. Or even if they didn't do that, why doesn't a smooth knife cut better, cause there's less friction. You see?
JAMES
Hmm. No again. Serrated edges are more effective... because there's more surface area.
DAN
[unconvinced] Ah.
JAMES
Here.
[slaps Dan with open hand]
See?
DAN
Yeah, I guess.
[slides back from table. James hits him. He writhes.]
DAN
[while getting back up]
So, how about those Knicks?
[Is hit. falls back over. James sits.]
DAN
Missed you at Temple this week. What's going on?
JAMES
I've been working double shifts pouring concrete on 17th and Maple. While I once believed that the God of my fathers was a kind and merciful God, I've come to realize that I live in a place beyond the sight or compassion of Yahweh.
DAN
Oh. So you're not working at the architecture place?
JAMES
We got a new boss. He fired me for being Korean.
DAN
Oh my God. That's ridiculous. I can't... I mean, how can someone... I just can't even imagine being Korean.
JAMES
Yeah, he called me a Gook in front of my son.
DAN
Huh. Well, one for me then.
[James slides back. Lights down.]
"Light" or "Darkness, Which Is The Opposite of Light" debuted March 27, 1998, performed by Dan Brooks and James Erwin.
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