In the Heart of America and Other Plays

Naomi Wallace

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9781559361866
• eBook ISBN: 9781559366144
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

Naomi Wallace's plays speak the underside of life. Her characters suffer and survive against the enormous weight of the times with a dignity that inspires. Her work challenges the audience and reader to reexamine the conflicts and meaning of our everyday lives through her singular, poetic imagery and language.

Includes: One Flea Spare
In the Heart of America
Slaughter City
The War Boys
The Trestle at Pope's Creek

SLAUGHTER CITY

1996

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For my father, Henry French Wallace

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PRODUCTION HISTORY

Slaughter City had its first performance on January 17, 1996, at the Royal Shakespeare Company. The director was Ron Daniels, design was by Ashley Martin-Davies, lighting design was by Hugh Vanstone, sound score was by Glyn Perrin, sound was by Monkey and Tony Brand, movement was by Struan Leslie, fights were by Terry King, dialect coach was Charmian Hoare, company voice work was by Barbara Houseman and Andrew Wade, the stage manager was Michele Enright, the deputy stage manager was Nick Chesterfield and the assistant stage manager was Lucy Bovington. The cast was as follows:

ROACH	Lisa Gaye Dixon
MAGGOT	Sophie Stanton
BRANDON	Alexis Daniel
COD	Olwen Fouéré
TUCK	Rudolph Walker
TEXTILE WORKER	Mairead Carty
SAUSAGE MAN	Robert Langdon Lloyd
BAQUIN	Linal Haft

In March 1996, Slaughter City was produced by American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA. The director was Ron Daniels. Set and costume design were by Ashley Martin-Davies, lighting design was by John Ambrosone, sound design was by Christopher Walker, original music was by Glyn Perrin and the stage manager was Jay McLeod. The cast was as follows:

ROACH	Starla Benford
MAGGOT	Judith Hawking
BRANDON	Jay Boyer
COD	S. J. Scruggs
TUCK	Terry Alexander
TEXTILE WORKER	Phoebe Jonas
SAUSAGE MAN	Alvin Epstein
BAQUIN	Remo Airaldi

CHARACTERS

ROACH, an African-American worker, mid-thirties

MAGGOT, a white worker, mid-thirties

BRANDON, a white worker, early twenties

COD, a white worker of Irish descent, mid-thirties

TUCK, an African-American, mid-forties

TEXTILE WORKER, a woman, twenties

SAUSAGE MAN, a white man, energetic, somewhat elderly

BAQUIN, a white company manager, fifties

TIME

Now and then.

PLACE

Slaughter City, USA.

SETTING

Should be minimal and not “realistic.”

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I came to the cities in a time of disorder
When hunger ruled.
I came among men in a time of uprising
And I revolted with them.
So the time passed away
Which on earth was given me.

I ate my food between massacres.
The shadow of murder lay upon my sleep.
And when I loved, I loved with indifference.
I looked upon nature with impatience.
So the time passed away
Which on earth was given me.

In my time streets led to the quicksand.
Speech betrayed me to the slaughterer.
There was little I could do. But without me
The rulers would have been more secure.
This was my hope.

—Bertolt Brecht
“To Those Born Later”

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ACT I

PRELUDE

The stage is empty but for a woman textile worker, her back to us, working over her cloth. She speaks as if in a trance. Cod is elsewhere on stage, watching her work. We are in a textile factory setting, “somewhere” in the past.

TEXTILE WORKER: Pull the cloth, punch it down, cut three out, and trace. Hurry, hurry, don’t slow down, keep your cheer and grace.

COD: Could you look up for a second? Hey.

TEXTILE WORKER: Pull the cloth, punch it down, cut three out, and trace.

COD (Calls): Is anybody out there?

TEXTILE WORKER: Hurry, hurry, don’t slow down, keep your cheer and grace.

COD: The doors are locked. (To Textile Worker) I’m talking to you.

TEXTILE WORKER: When I daydream, my hands sweep the cloth—

COD: What floor are we on?

TEXTILE WORKER:—like water over the keys of a piano.

(We hear the distorted sound of a siren in the distance.)

COD: We’ve got to get out of here.

TEXTILE WORKER (Touches his face gently): Oh, what eyes you have. Black eyes. Like my eyes.

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COD: I haven’t got any eyes. I’m not even born yet.

(The woman turns back to her cloth to work. Transfixed, Cod watches her.)

SCENE ONE

Lights up on Maggot, Roach and Brandon working. They are hosing down the heads of carcasses which are suspended above them, and slicing off bits of gristle from the bone. When the workers work, the feeling should be one of the intensity of industrial labor here on earth and perhaps also in hell.

ROACH: Maggot? (No answer) Maggot? Come on, sweetie. I said I was sorry. It was just a joke, wasn’t it, Brandon?

BRANDON: A masterstroke, an okeydoke joke.

MAGGOT: A just plain you-haven’t-got-any-brains-left-for-God-to-suck-out-of-your-skull joke.

ROACH: Did you eat it?

BRANDON: Didn’t even pause till she got to the claws.

ROACH: Maggot? Come on.

MAGGOT: Not unless you buy me three packs of brand name smokes and on third shift you snap guts and let me scale.

ROACH: You know I won’t snap guts.

MAGGOT: I’ve been snappin’ guts since I was seventeen.

BRANDON: Princess of Excrementis.

MAGGOT: Just because I turned you down three years ago for a Dairy Queen date . . .

BRANDON: That was before I realized that what you need is a dull blade, baby, a blade that won’t cut meat.

(Bell sounds, which means a short break for the workers. At the moment the bell sounds, all work/assembly line movement stops. Maggot flexes her hands, which are hurting her.)

ROACH: Two packs of generics, and I’ll go third shift on the night you want off, ’cept Saturday—

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BRANDON (Interrupts): Hey! Here it comes: I’m startin’ to itch.

(Cod enters, headed for the kill floor. He is a slim, young Irishman, who is stronger than he looks. Brandon jumps in front of Cod and pretends to sword fight.)

Unsheathe from your scabbard, you scoundrel, you fleabane, you scabrous snake.

(Cod does not respond.)

Look at this, ladies. Not a peep. Why, they’re no fun, these bacterial spots. And, Lord, how they—

MAGGOT AND ROACH: Itch, itch, itch.

BRANDON (Like a commercial): Are you covered with raised, roughened or unwholesome patches?

MAGGOT AND ROACH: Scratch, scratch, scratch.

BRANDON: Do you sometimes feel a little down, like a crust of hard blood and serum over a wound?

(The three workers circle Cod.)

MAGGOT AND ROACH: Are you characterized by crustaceous spots?

BRANDON: Then you need Local 226.

MAGGOT: Only Local 226—

ROACH, MAGGOT AND BRANDON: Don’t need you.

(They stand in a circle around Cod.)

You know what Scab stands for?

MAGGOT, BRANDON AND ROACH: Stupid Cunts And Bastards.

(Cod spits on the ground at their feet.)

ROACH (Speaks): It’s raining, it’s pouring . . .

MAGGOT AND ROACH: The scab’s gone a-whoring!

MAGGOT: Watch you don’t bump your head.

BRANDON: Or you won’t be back in the morning!

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(Maggot begins to sharpen her knife, the others do the same. Roach hums a tune and then the three workers sing the following. When one of them sings, the others hum.)

I’m gonna cut you, Scabby, gonna cut you deep with my sweet, blue kisses, gonna send you off to sleep.

MAGGOT:

I’m gonna slice you, sweetheart, gonna slice you wide—

ROACH:

—with my hot, fast lips I’m gonna take you for a ride.

(Bell sounds again. The workers move back to their jobs. Cod stands silently, watching them.)

SCENE TWO

Baquin in his office, with Tuck, a supervi...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• ONE FLEA SPARE - 1995
• IN THE HEART OF AMERICA - 1994
• THE WAR BOYS - 1993
• SLAUGHTER CITY - 1996
• THE TRESTLE AT POPE LICK CREEK - 1998
• Copyright Page