Spontaneity Through Discipline

SPONTANEITY THROUGH DISCIPLINE

Javi Mulero

Javi Mulero
2449 N. Beachwood Dr. # 13
LA, CA 90068
Tel #: (323)966-9235
Mujavier2000@yahoo.com

Moscow. Mid-1920’s.
A small, modest apartment in the city.
Front door, living room, closet, and door leading to the lavatory.

A door is fuzzed with: someone is trying to open it, first subtly – then with more determination. Then, quiet again. Pause. Then later, a person is seen through the fire ladder. She peers in through the window, and then she decides to come in through it.
She’s very quiet, this girl. She’s a young woman, early 20’s She looks at the entire place, and walks and looks through everything – soaking it in.

We hear steps outside. Then – the doorknob makes noise again! The girl panics. Where to go?!? She looks out the window. No time to do anything but – run to the closet – which she does – and go in, shutting its door closed, hiding herself inside.

Konstantin walks in; a much older guy, in his 60’s or 70’s in appearance. White-ish hair and beard. He sets his umbrella (or cane) down and goes straight to the lavatory. We hear him wash his hands and whatever else might be appropriate; then he comes back in, grabs the umbrella (or cane), opens the closet door, and –

GIRL: Aaaah!! –

KONSTANTIN: Whoah! –

GIRL: Please – don’t! I’m sorry! I’m – I didn’t mean to--! Please!

KONSTANTIN: Mother of God! Who in heaven’s name are you? What are you doing in there!

GIRL: I made a mistake, I…

KONSTANTIN: Answer me! Who are you?

GIRL: I panicked, and –

KONSTANTIN: Your name, or I shall call the police and you will answer for this!

GIRL: Adela! No!

(He has lifted his cane by reflex)

ADELA: Please don’t hurt me! I shall go away, I promise! I shall leave and never come back, only please don’t hurt this poor girl!

KONSTANTIN: Don’t be idiotic, girl. Now, come out at once. Do you hear?

ADELA: Yes, but – the cane, sir?

KONSTANTIN: I was going to put it in the closet when I found you there. I shall now hold on to it a little longer. You wouldn’t begrudge me that, would you now?

ADELA: But – how shall I come out, if –

KONSTANTIN: I shall not use it if you promise to come out. If you refuse, then I shall beat you to a senseless pulp right here and now.

(ADELA runs out of the closet, scared)

KONSTANTIN: Now sit down..

(She does.)

ADELA: I really apologize, sir. I saw you going into the market in the corner and heard you say to Mr. Mordcha that you were going to the studio to teach. So I thought—

KONSTANTIN: Yes, that’s later. But not yet. Now tell me – do you usually break into people’s homes while they’re out on business?

ADELA: Never in my life before. I swear, sir.

KONSTANTIN: And why now, child? Why today? Why me?

ADELA: Oh, sir. I always wondered – how someone like you would live…

KONSTANTIN: I?...

ADELA: What it would be like to be here. In the presence of – of a Master.

KONSTANTIN: (Beat) Would you like some tea or coffee, my child?

ADELA: Thank you. Coffee would be fine.

KONSTANTIN: Of course it would be. Excuse me.

(KONSTANTIN goes into the kitchen)

KONSTANTIN’s VOICE: I am very interested: how do you know who I am?

ADELA: Why, your performances – often times when I was half the age I am now – my mother took me to see you in “The Inspector General.” Not to mention your legendary Vershinin in “The Three Sisters”! Those lives you breathed changed mine forever, sir.
They surely did…

KONSTANTIN’s VOICE: I breathed!...

ADELA: And once that happens – there is no going back.

KONSTANTIN: I must confess I am enjoying being flattered very much right now.

ADELA: But I do mean it, sir. Most sincerely and honestly, sir!

KONSTANTIN: I know you do mean it, my dear. I am most grateful myself for your kind words. Yet, there is something else, is there not?

ADELA: Ah – yes.

KONSTANTIN: And what is it?

ADELA: Why – I’m afraid to say it.

KONSTANTIN: After breaking into a stranger’s home? You’re not afraid of anything.

ADELA: I am most embarrassed and I am feeling miserable about it, sir.

KONSTANTIN: Nonsense. That’s only because you were caught.

ADELA: No, sir! – Well, yes, that, but – I felt miserable the moment I came inside. Well, not really miserable, but –

KONSTANTIN: Regretful?

ADELA: Yes, but – yet, I knew I – that I had to.

KONSTANTIN: You had to? You had to do what?

ADELA: To be here. To breathe it. To be in it.

(If he hasn’t before this, KONSTANTIN may come back in now, carrying two cups of coffee.)

KONSTANTIN: You would like to be an actress. (beat) That’s the short of it, isn’t it?

ADELA: Yes! YES!

KONSTANTIN: Here. Drink, my dear.

ADELA: Thank you.

KONSTANTIN: Where are you from?

ADELA: Just outside of Moscow. The outskirts, to the southeast.

KONSTANTIN: Family?

ADELA: Pool, srt. But they do work very hard, they do.

KONSTANTIN: That’s not always bad. Luckily we live in a country that subsidizes its Arts. Other so-called “fortunate” and “progressive” countries do NOT. Do you like your coffee?

ADELA: I do, sir. Thank you, sir.

KONSTANTIN: I can now always make it quite right. The right balance. Practice, you know.

ADELA: You always make perfect coffee, sir?

KONSTANTIN: No, no, I wouldn’t say that, not quite. I work to never get it wrong. (beat) That’s what the professional does.

ADELA: Ah.

KONSTANTIN: It’s the amateur who works to get it right.

ADELA: I just didn’t know that you were a professional coffee maker too.

KONSTANTIN: You have a sense of humor. (then:) Although when it comes to coffee, for my taste, there isn’t much leeway for getting it right.

ADELA: I want to never get it wrong, too.

KONSTANTIN: You would?

ADELA: Yes! Oh, yes!

KONSTANTIN: Tell me. Why do you want to be an actress?

ADELA: It would mean – so much to me.

KONSTANTIN: And what would that be? To you, what would it mean?

ADELA: Oh, but the thrill! Night after night. The applause!

KONSTANTIN: You’re talking as an audience member. What we actors do for a living is what others do for dessert. Acting… is a lot of work. Work, work, work and more work! And it requires a lot of patience – and practice, practice, Practice.

ADELA: Yes, sir, yes. And I would give anything – with your permission – that is, if I may – ANYTHING to be a member of Master Konstantin Stanislavsky’s Moscow Acting Company.

KONSTANTIN: You do not ask for much. Only the Keys to the Kingdom!

ADELA: I am being too bold.

KONSTANTIN: You would like to audition, is what you mean. Not the same thing.

ADELA: Please, sir. I would love to audition. And, God willing, the other wish might also be granted.

KONSTANTIN: Ah, but you have not yet answered my question: why?

ADELA: I do not just want to be any regular person.

KONSTANTIN: Well, that’s tragic, since we just cannot be regular hyenas…

ADELA: Sir, I want to lift others by my rising. I want to point the way by exposing my secrets, without actually telling them. I want to hide them; yet, make others want to see them all the more.

KONSTANTIN: (beat) What’s wrong, then, with being a Writer? Or a Painter?

ADELA: That is all very well and fine for people who want to do that, to DO that. I want to act!

KONSTANTIN: Which only requires various great skills. And all the greater because they are all to be done at the same time. Skills learned the hard way – out of the laborious discipline of doing the same thing over and over and over again! – because you have to! Because you have another show tonight. And tomorrow. And two on Thursday. Hoping to improve it each time. Thankful that you have that opportunity. The ability to see life through someone else’s eyes – skills we need in life. Rehearsing Life over and over – until we get it right!

ADELA: Or never wrong.

KONSTANTIN: Right. And it’s a great responsibility. So many people looking up to you. And still having others look down on you! – yet you keep doing your job.

ADELA: “Disturb the Comfortable! Comfort the Disturnbed!”

KONSTANTIN: Ah!... you have heard my lectures before.

ADELA: I have. At the University, once. You spoke to the students. I had to go see you speak. I went. I sneaked in. I got in.

KONSTANTIN: I believe it!

(Pause)

KONSTANTIN: Why would I take you as a student? Strike that. Why should I even let you audition?

ADELA: Oh, because you must! You must! To even consider the – the squalor of the other option! Where Life is merely life.

KONSTANTIN: Only the basis of Everything!

ADELA: Yes, but to keep it raw and unsifted! Without passing it through the loftier rays of beauty and noble ideals. You spoke about how art transcends all reality – is BIGGER than Life! How with art we take out all that is unnecessary, so that its point will be all the more sharper to feel and to grasp. And us lucky ones, we do it with our voices! With our bodies! We become our own instruments and we are the story’s own storytellers and one of its points of views – all in conflict with each other – and we take flight! And with us, so does the audience – breathing the same molecules of oxygen that we are! But “Life” – alone? Life alone is not enough! I want to be one of those storytellers of Life, and I want to be a part of that story! Oh, no, Mr. Stanislavsky! I don’t want Life as it is, sir! I want bigger than Life! I want Life as it unfortunately ISN’T! Life as it ought to be!...

(Pause)

KONSTANTIN: Lifting, lifting. Bravo. It lives in you.

ADELA: What, sir?

KONSTANTIN: You have a passion. And you have a voice. I could hear it. And not just the voice I could hear. But also the one that’s harder to hear.

ADELA: I don’t quite –

KONSTANTIN: My dear, you could most definitely be a member of the Acting Company.

ADELA: I could, sir? You mean – already??

KONSTANTIN: No, not already. Only if you could come back in and do absolutely everything and exactly what you have just done and said, up until right now – and as if for the first time.

ADELA: (aghast) I see.

KONSTANTIN: With all the Passion and Voice and Behavior. (pointing to himself:) And Obstacle. (sees her reaction) Not easy, I know. Only what Acting IS!... Like Life.
(beat) You would need a partner, and that was me, and frankly, I am too damn tired of doing all this again and I will not remember the lines. You might be able to make them all up again, if you hold on to the passion – whereas, I – I have to start getting ready for class. Can you come back in exactly one week?

ADELA: One week?

KONSTANTIN: I want you to audition for me. If I like you, you can study with us. If you don’t pass, well… We can rehearse a lot. And hopefully eventually maybe you can study a little with us. And then maybe who knows.

ADELA: Oh, sir!

KONSTANTIN: I can only promise you an audition. After that – who knows? (smiles) Just like life.

ADELA: Who knows.

KONSTANTIN: Yes.

ADELA: “Who knows” is not bad. Thank you, Mr. Stanislavsky.

KONSTANTIN: You’re welcome. What will you bring in next week?

ADELA: “Irina”.

KONSTANTIN: Ah, the Sisters!... They so want to go to Moscow, still.

ADELA: Yes!...

KONSTANTIN: But they do not know that they do not get there.

ADELA: Life is longer than the end of their play. Hopefully they’ll get there. They must absolutely most definitely want to.

KONSTANTIN: And that’s enough?

ADELA: Wanting? It’s only half-enough. The goal must be reached. That, they must believe. They must believe that they will get there. You’ve got to want!

KONSTANTIN: (beat) I look forward to your audition. You may go, my dear.

ADELA: I thank you most profusely, sir.

(As she goes:)

KONSTANTIN: My dear child! – You must excuse me! –

ADELA: Yes, sir?

KONSTANTIN: What was your name again?

ADELA: Adela, sir.

KONSTANTIN: Ah, yes. Adela… Will you promise me never to break into a person’s home again? It’s too dangerous.

ADELA: I apologize once again from the bottom of my heart.

KONSTANTIN: There’s no need for that. I already accepted your apology before. I am only suggesting that you should never do that again. I am, however, glad that you did it, today.

ADELA: I… me too, sir. Until next week, sir. Mr. Konstantin Stanislavsky!...

(With infinite joy and beaming face, she exits, closing the front door behind her.)

(KONSTANTIN remains there, digesting what has just transpired)

KONSTANTIN: Oh, dear, we must fix that window, I suppose. (walks over to the window, then stops:) But then again – who knows?... Who indeed knows?

THE END