Copyright held by the Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop
View Permission for Production Policy
Written & performed by the company
Directed by the directing team
I have stood.
I have walked.
I have come to a stop.
I filled negative space
I felt complete
I used my diaphragm.
I felt oxygen.
I fed knowledge through facial orifices and waited for it to be translated via dige-se-se-stional systems. I have listened for knowledge. I listened hard. My ear was not uncomfortable.
I grieved for an air-conditioning vent.
I burned with desire for a lighting instrument.
I dated the lighting instrument.
I broke up with the lighting instrument.
The closest I have ever felt to total loss and abandonment
My body found itself like a river
My fingertips tip toed like a secret in an attic.
I grew like a memory.
I cowered like a coward.
I moved heavily like a robot in late pregnancy.
I was the roughest edge in town.
I felt liberated
I was a vortex of movement and energy.
I have stood.
I have walked.
I have come to a stop.
“Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet. . .for the place you stand is Holy land.”
The Commandments will be announced like Commandments.
1.Thou shalt pay attention.
2.Thou shalt wash behind thine ears.
3.Thou shalt not eat candy with crinkly wrappers.
4.Thou shalt silence thy cellular phones and small children.
5.Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s seat.
6.Thou shalt not think of Charlton Heston.
7.Thou shalt not throw away thy program. It is our gift to thee.
8.THOU SHALT NOT TXT MSG.
9.Thou shalt not scoff.
10.Thou shalt not be afraid to react
The commandments will be followed like commandments.
The pillar of fire will burn like a pillar of fire.
The plagues will spread like the plague.
The slaves will work like slaves.
I AM will act as I AM.
A man set in his ways will stay set in his ways.
There will be pleading. There will be curses. There will be Death. There will be Blood. There will be lice. There will be frogs. There will be fire. There will be red. There will be walking. There will be locusts. There will be desert.
Men will be strangers in a foreign land. Aaron’s staff will swallow other staffs. The Pharaoh will be obstinate. They will search for the land of milk and honey. They will eat manna from heaven. The water will be like a wall to their right and to their left.
The people will believe. Coincidence and miracles will merge. An old man will climb up a hill and speak to the sky.
You will sit in the audience like a person sitting in the audience. We will perform like performers performing. The set will support us like a supportive set. The lights will shine like lights shining. The fire exits will be there and there like fire exits that are there and there. A desert will cross our path like a vulture of the shadowland.
You may be confused at first.
You will find more meaning than you should.
You will experience laughter sadness and confusion
You will engage in smiles disgust love.
You may experience hatred sympathy and sorrow.
You will experience new thoughts.
You will think about hot dust. You will feel the sun.
You will feel the dirt of the Sinai Desert grind in your teeth.
You will think about plagues and pompishness
You will see big hands everywhere.
We will sweat.
We will present fear of God and his Power.
The fine but fickle dust will be lost at sea like fine but fickle dust.
I will set foot on the shores of my homeland like one who has never known his homeland.
We will stand.
We will walk.
We will come to a stop.
