Shoppers
Contents (9)
Shoppers
Two Plays
Denis Johnson
This volume is dedicated with immense gratitude to
SEAN SAN JOSE
Contents
Hellhound on My Trail
Shoppers Carried by Escalators into the Flames
About the Author
Other Books by Denis Johnson
Copyright
About the Publisher
HELLHOUND ON MY TRAIL
A DRAMA IN THREE PARTS
Hellhound on My Trail was written for Campo Santo + Intersection and premiered at Intersection for the Arts (Deborah Cullinan, executive director) in San Francisco, California, on July 26, 2000. Produced by Campo Santo (James Faerron, Margo Hall, Sean San Jose, Luis Saguar, Michael Torres, Drew Yerys; Denis Johnson: playwright in residence)
Cast
MARIGOLD: Alexis Lezin
MRS. MAY: Anne Darragh
JACK TOAST: Michael Torres
KATE WENDELL: Delia MacDougall
CASS: Sean San Jose
SALAZAR: Brian Keith Russell
Original musical score by Marcus Shelby
Vocals by Scheherazade Stone
Designed by Jim Cave, Suzanne Castillo,
James Faerron, and Drew Yerys
Directed by Val Hendrickson
A workshop production of Hellhound on My Trail was staged in September-October 2001, by the Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, artistic director; Hillary Hinkel, managing director) in New York City.
Cast
MARIGOLD: Molly Powell
MRS. MAY: Jennifer Regan
KATE WENDELL: Sharon Scruggs
JACK TOAST: Kevin Hurley
CASS: Bill Dawes
SALAZAR: Jim Frangione
Directed by David Levine
1. An Exploration of the Colorado River
MARIGOLD: A woman in her late twenties
MRS. MAY: A woman in her late forties
Scene: An office in Houston
2. Head Rolling and Rolling
KATE WENDELL: A woman in her thirties
JACK TOAST: A man in his forties
Scene: A coffee shop in Houston
3. Hellhound on My Trail
CASS: A man just past thirty
SALAZAR: A man in his forties
Scene: A motel room fifty miles outside Houston
Sets and lighting should be simple and true-to-life; no music except as indicated.
1. An Exploration of the Colorado River
MRS. MAY’s office: At stage left a large desk and swivel chair, fronted by a comfortable chair for visitors. Across the space at right, a couch and a large chair separated by a low table. Looks like a cross between an office and a waiting room.
Upstage, a wall with venetian blinds over a window.
Morning outside.
Alone in the room, MARIGOLD CASSANDRA sits on the couch. Late twenties. Business suit.
She looks at magazines from a stack on the low table. Tosses one aside, and it slides off the table onto the floor. Crosses and uncrosses her legs, etc.
She opens her purse, rummages distractedly. Comes up with a bottle of pills. Pause. Unscrews the cap and downs one. Pause. Reaches in her mouth and takes it out. Pause. Puts it back in her mouth, clamped by her front teeth.
Hunts in her purse again. Finds a little airline liquor bottle and quickly unscrews its cap and washes down the pill with a swallow.
MARIGOLD: Oh. Jesus Christ.
Gets a breath spray from her purse and opens wide and hits her larynx. Finds some gum in her purse. Unwraps and chews it. Tosses the wrapper into the purse. Stares down into it.