Photo by María C. Piazza (1956 – 2021)
A street (scenography in package, not just painted).
(Darkness) A beam of light settles in the center of the stage, waits a moment, becomes restless, moves slowly towards one end, stops, zigzags back searching, goes crazy, walks the entire street at will, rests at one end, she tries to return to the center, but stopping again resignedly vanishes from the stage.
(Daylight) The entire set advances towards the stalls and stops almost at its threshold. These voices are heard muffled:
Pink Wall: That light
Gray Wall: Your wishes are imposed on memory
Blue Wall: Those who inhabited us searched for it until the last moment
Pink Wall: Especially the teenagers in their weeping
Gray Wall: And we powerless, always so powerless
Blue Wall: Yes, each one was left alone, very alone
Pink Wall: Children masturbated to scare off the terror
Blue Wall: They were blind to our affection, to our gratitude
Gray Wall: Some adults waited at the edge of the sea
Pink Wall: Others waited in the mountains
Blue Wall: At least they had that privilege
Gray Wall: The others were simply consumed by their own death
Blue Wall: At the expense of our lives
Pink Wall: Which we always wanted to share with them
Gray Wall: And they didn’t listen to us
Blue Wall: They spoke to each other in very loud voices
Pink Wall: Or did not speak
Gray Wall: They stepped on each other, and loudly
Blue Wall: We have their virtues!
Gray Wall: And our own nature
All: We hope the wind never blows too hard and often
Pink Wall: Just enough
Blue Wall: So that it’ll carry our voices to the other cities
CURTAIN
Exercise written, approximately, around 1980; and preserved unpublished to this day.
©Pedro Granados, 2022.