Mouthpiece

Amy Nostbakken, Norah Sadava

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781786824394
• eBook ISBN: 9781786824400
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

Two performers express the inner conflict that exists within a modern woman's head: the push and the pull, the past and the present, the progress and the regression. Interweaving a cappella harmony, dissonance, text and physicality, Mouthpiece is a harrowing, humorous, and heart-wrenching journey into the female psyche.

SCENE 1: THE MORNING

House lights dim, we are in total darkness and complete silence. The women begin to hum a soft melody (score pp. 60–61). After almost three minutes of singing in darkness, lights slowly dawn on the women. WOMAN LEFT is sitting on the inside edge of the tub. WOMAN RIGHT is lying with her legs resting on WOMAN LEFT’s lap. The humming ends. WOMAN LEFT is facing the audience, WOMAN RIGHT is looking up. This scene is the game we play with ourselves: wanting to move and wanting to stay put at the same time. All hand gestures are in perfect unison.

WOMAN RIGHT AND WOMAN LEFT: (In unison.) My mother always told me that you can cure almost anything with a hot bath.

My mother died last night. Mom died yesterday. I was out at a bar, and she died. So, yesterday I was a daughter, and today I am a motherless child/orphan.

Hi, hi, hi, Aunt Mary? Yeah, it’s Mom, she’s gone. Sorry, yeah it’s just, I’m just, well, I just found out this morning that my mom’s passed on, so … My. Mom. Is. Dead. She died. She’s not here anymore. If I try to call her, no one will answer the phone.

Both straighten backs. WOMAN LEFT uncrosses legs.

WOMAN RIGHT: (Overlapping with WOMAN LEFT.) Dead. Gone.
Done. Bit the dust. Sayonara.

WOMAN LEFT: (Overlapping with WOMAN RIGHT.) My mother, my mom, is gone. If I knock on her door, no one is gonna come out and offer me a tea.

RIGHT AND LEFT: (In unison.) My mom made really nice tea.

RIGHT AND LEFT: (In unison to audience.) It’s 6:30, it’s
Wednesday, it’s minus fourteen outside. I am a woman.
I am not a mother. I’m a writer. I live alone in my own apartment on Palmerston Avenue. I drink coffee – black.
Last night I was at a bar, I drank pale ale and whisky. This morning I woke up, masturbated, checked my messages, and found out that Mom’s dead. Tomorrow is the funeral. I have to give the eulogy and this morning … (Voices overlap creating a synth vocal effect.) I woke up with no voice/I woke up with no voice/I woke up with no voice/I woke up with no voice/I woke up with no voice.

RIGHT AND LEFT: (In unison.) Okay, I gotta get outta the tub now.

WOMAN RIGHT goes to exit tub, WOMAN LEFT hums, and RIGHT joins the humming as they slide down into the tub and position themselves so that only WOMAN LEFT’s head is visible at one end of the tub and only WOMAN RIGHT’s feet are visible at the other. It looks like there is only one woman lounging in the tub.

LEFT: Okay. One …

RIGHT: I’m gonna pull the plug.

LEFT: Two …

RIGHT: Leap out of the tub.

LEFT: Three …

RIGHT: Dry myself off.

LEFT: Four …

RIGHT: My black shoes.

LEFT: Under the stairs.

RIGHT: I’ll wear that grey sweater.

LEFT: Back of the kitchen chair.

RIGHT: My black jacket.

LEFT: Laundry hamper.

WOMAN LEFT starts to get out of tub. RIGHT hums and LEFT joins, sinking back into tub. WOMAN RIGHT climbs to kneeling on edge. As she speaks, she climbs until she is hovering right over WOMAN LEFT.

RIGHT AND LEFT: (In unison.) Okay, I’m gonna get out of the tub in five.

RIGHT: I have to get dressed.

LEFT: I have to leave the house.

LEFT AND RIGHT: (In unison.) Four.

RIGHT: I have to buy the flowers.

LEFT: I gotta write the eulogy.

LEFT AND RIGHT: (In unison.) Three.

RIGHT: I have to pick a casket to bury Mom in.

LEFT AND RIGHT: (In unison.) Jumping straight to logistics.

Typical.

Both move to sit on back edge of tub.

LEFT: I have to find a dress for my mom’s dead corpse.

LEFT AND RIGHT: (In unison, with a synchronized gesture of putting hair behind one ear.) Using blunt language to shield yourself. Typical.

RIGHT: What do you want me to do, cry about it? You want me to curl up in the fetal position?

LEFT: You want me to stop eating?

RIGHT: I don’t feel like it. I don’t feel anything. I don’t have time to cry.

LEFT: I gotta write a eulogy for my mother that I can’t even read.

RIGHT AND LEFT: (Facing audience, in unison.) ’Cause I got no voice to read it with. Typical. Okay. (Turning to face each other.) Two, One!

SCENE 2: HOW TO SPEAK

Lighting shift, as the women sing the lullaby ‘Hush My Baby’ (pp. 62–63) and exit tub.

RIGHT AND LEFT: (Singing in unison.)

Hush my baby, baby, baby, hush my baby blue,

I never thought I’d meet a girl as clever as …

WOMAN LEFT comes downstage left and interrupts the song to speak like an excited science lecturer. WOMAN RIGHT sits on front edge of tub, dries herself, and creates a rhythmic breathing to underscore the text.

LEFT: First, we take in some air. If this is gonna work, it’s gotta be more air than normal. The diaphragm lowers and the rib cage expands, drawing the air into the throat, down through the windpipe and into the lungs. Then, of course, the process reverses: the diaphragm contracts and the air leaves our lungs. It’s under a lot of pressure now. Pressure, you see, is the fuel of the voice. With all this pressure behind it, the airstream jets back up, past the windpipe, through the throat, and into the mouth. Here, all the resonators are working together: you got the jaw, nose, throat, tongue and teeth, soft palate, hard palate, cheeks, and lips all contorting themselves into different shapes and sizes. You got the back, the abdomen, the legs, the whole body – the entire body is called upon to give birth to ju...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• An Introduction
• A Note from the Creators
• Performance History
• Notes on Performance
• Scene 1: The Morning
• Scene 2: How to Speak
• Scene 3: Morning Ritual
• Scene 4: Auntie’s Message
• Scene 5: Getting Dressed
• Scene 6: Barbara and Amanda Messages
• Scene 7: Eulogy One
• Scene 8: The Bay
• Scene 9: A Mother’s Voice
• Scene 10: Nadia’s Message
• Scene 11: Funeral Home
• Scene 12: Second Speech
• Scene 13: The Power of the Voice
• Scene 14: The Street
• Scene 15: The Bar
• Scene 16: The Florist
• Scene 17: Roxanne Message
• Scene 18: Mom’s House
• Scene 19: Third Speech
• Scene 20: Fight/Final Speech
• Acknowledgments