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This is a performance piece
for stage, performed in five parts, with two actors: a white
man and a Chicana/Latina woman. Props include spotlights (gels),
the actors' costumes, a chair, and a newspaper.
PART 1
(Lights go down until the stage
is completely dark. After a few moments, a single white spotlight
illuminates the front, center stage, where the MAN is standing
motionless. He is dressed in a navy blue, double-breasted suit
with a tie, shiny shoes; he poses, arrogantly confident. The
MAN is fair-skinned, blonde, and blue-eyed. Spotlight out after
8 to 10 seconds.
After several seconds, a white spotlight shines at a point on
extreme stage left where the Chicana WOMAN is standing motionless
in a "hooker" pose, dressed scantily in a tight-fitting,
black mini-skirt, a black top which reveals shoulders and cleavage,
and black stiletto high heels. After several seconds, the woman
begins to walk across the stage in an indifferent, yet self-assured
and sensual manner. As the woman begins moving, a second white
spotlight illuminates the man. The woman walks approximately
two feet past the man, then turns and looking at him, begins
to address him verbally.)
WOMAN: What are you looking
at? Are you looking at me?
(As she begins to address him,
she walks toward him and stands at the rim of his spotlight,
during which time her spotlight has blended with his. As she
is speaking, she circles him, but never approaches him closer
than the rim of his light.)
WOMAN: (Her tone is hostile
and biting.) Goddamn gabacho--don't even get close to
me. Don't even look at me. You think you own the whole goddamn
world. Don't even try to fuck me around. Fuck off! (During the
entire scene, the man remains standing, looking off into the
audience in boredom or indifference. Spotlights out.)
PART 2
(After several seconds of silence
and darkness, a red spotlight illuminates the middle stage, where
the man is now sitting in a chair, facing the audience, holding
papers. The woman has entered the circle of light. She is standing
about a foot away from him in a "hooker" pose. She
addresses the man.)
WOMAN: Oye Gabacho, white
man.... (He looks up at her from the newspaper with an air of
indifference. The woman continues.) You know, maybe I've
changed my mind. How about a little nalga? You know: a
piece of ass?
(As she speaks, the woman removes the paper from the man's hands
and drops it to the floor while approaching him and standing
very close, with only a few inches keeping their bodies from
touching. She picks up one of his hands and presses it in between
her breasts, slides it down her torso and stops just above her
pubis.)
WOMAN: I only have one rule
about screwing white men, gringo...(She swings her leg
over him and straddles him on the chair.) I get the top.
(Spotlight out.)
PART 3
(After a few moments of darkness
and silence, a pale yellow spotlight shines middle stage. The
woman and the man are sitting on the floor, back to back, with
their arms interlocked. The woman is forcefully tugging and pulling
to free herself from the grip.)
WOMAN: Goddamn you, let me go!
Let me go! Goddamn pinche gringo -- chingada --
let me go! (During this time the man maintains his position on
the floor, his face is unmoved and expressionless. The woman
continues to struggle and fight to get away. She ends the scene
crying and whimpering, but cannot cover her face with her hands
or body, because she is deadlocked in the grip of the man.)
(SPOTLIGHT OUT.)
PART 4
(After several moments of darkness,
a white spotlight illuminates center from stage, where the woman
is sitting on the floor cross-legged. Her hair is in tangles
and her mascara and makeup are streaked. The man is sitting back
stage. From his position on the floor, the audience can only
see his right profile. After a few seconds, the woman addresses
the audience in a conversational tone.)
WOMAN: I'm a Chicana. I'm afraid
of white men. And white men fascinate me. They seem so all-powerful,
so confident and unafraid. If I could have power over them, I'd
control the whole world. I wouldn't be afraid anymore of what
they could do to me. Did you know white men are so powerful they
could steal my identity through sheer force, make me conform
to their Anglo world to survive? It's true. White men... I don't
think they have respect for anything. If they want something,
they just buy it. If they can run the whole world like that,
what makes anybody think that they would ever have respect for
a Chicana like me? I could maybe have control over them with
my body... But, I don't know... It's dangerous. If I let these
gringos close enough to gain power over me through my
body and their desire, I may lose my identity and my self. I
know these gringos. If you let 'em fuck, you, all they
end up doing is fucking you over. That's all I've ever got from
a gringo. Fucked over. I'm good enough for a fuck, but
I've never been good enough for any respect.
Not only that, but if I let a gringo close to me, what if I learn
to love him? It could happen. Then he wins. I'll want to please
him. I'll have to change. Then I'll have given away my heart,
my nalga, and.... my identity.
I hate white men. I hate all this hate. It's making me into something
I'm not.
(During the last half of the
woman's monologue, the man begins to remove his clothes until
all that remains are his trousers. He has bare feet and torso.
The woman removes her shoes. Simultaneously, he and the woman
stand and face each other. Tentatively, the hold up their hands
to each other, one hand at a time, but their palms do not touch.
They remain still, facing each other, their hands raised but
apart.)
(LIGHTS OUT.)
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