MADAME POLENSKA Act 2 Scene 2

Scene Two

Through the blackout we hear CHARLOTTE's VOICE.

CHARLOTTE

Ernest Shrum...Madame Polenska. Madame Polenska...Mr. and Mrs. Farqueson...Wilma Cottonwood and her sister Hazel...

(LIGHTS RISE in the same room. A group of chairs has been set up facing the left wall, where there is a chair upon which IRENE sits. In front of her is a single candle which has already been lit. Her audience is made up of middle-aged and elderly very, very wealthy people.) CHARLOTTE Are we ready, Madame Polenska?

IRENE

Da.

CHARLOTTE

The lights, please, Hobart. (BUTLER switches off the lights. The single candle gives an eerie glow illuminating Irene's face.) IRENE Now, if you will all bow your heads in a moment of silent prayer.

Bhagavita, agavita, karma, jnana, joo,
Agavita, bhagavita, dhoti, lungi, too.
Are you there, my Masters?
Are you there, please let me know---
Knock once for yes
And twice for no.

(Loud knock. HAZEL gasps.)

Oh, Master Nu!
It is you!

We are very lucky tonight. We have Master Nu. He is the most buoyant of all the Masters, so don't be surprised if I start floating above your heads.

Master Nu,
Master Nu,
Madame Braden wants to know the path to inner peace...
What would you tell her?

(in a much deeper Hindu-sounding voice)

Each one of us is,
And whatever is, is not---
If you are cold,
You think you are cold,
Perhaps you are cold,
But what is cold is hot.
For it is truth
There is no truth,
Whatever you feel
Is never real,
And what is real
Is false.
This is the path,
No, that is the path,
The path is over there---
There is no path,
There can be no path,
There isn't even air.
The salvation lies in being,
But being is a lie---
Whatever you think you're seeing
You're not seeing with your eye.
There is no eye,
There is no ear,
You do not see,
You do not hear.
A circle is not a circle,
A dot is not a dot.
Each one of us is,
And whatever is, is not.

ERNIE I don't get it!

WILMA

I think it's perfectly brilliant.

IRENE

There is no eye,
There is no ear,
You do not see,
You do not hear.
A circle is not a circle,
A dot is not a dot.
Each one of us is,
And whatever is, is not.
(in her own voice)

Thank you, Master Nu. What? What's that you are telling me? There is someone in this room who has had a curse put on him? (The LIGHTS dim, we hear a GROUP singing Aum, Aum, Aum. The set gives way to a full stage rendering of the spiritual center in upstate New York. A GROUP of 12---8 women and 4 men---are busily at work hoeing, planting, weeding, picking vegetables, raking, etc. CHARLOTTE is among them, and so are three of the people we have glimpsed in the preceding scene: the COTTONWOOD sisters and MRS. FARQUESON. The new one in the foreground is ROSABELLE LAGONIA, a very very shy young lady who seldom speaks. On the backdrop, we can see a large, very impressive farm house.) GROUP Just chant aum, aum, aum,
Whether abroad or at home,
The mind's so incessant,
You'll make it quiescent...
If you chant aum, aum, aum. Just chant aum, aum, aum,
Chant it wherever you roam,
You'll want to continue
For God is within you
When you chant aum, aum, aum.

You must aspire
Higher and higher,
And maybe mañana
You'll find that your prana
Is perfectly free of Maya.

Just chant aum, aum, aum,
Chant from a roof or a or dome,
Your trips to the bank will
Be peaceful and tranquil
If you chant aum, aum, aum. HAZEL I've never felt better in my life.

MRS. FARQUESON

No wonder my servants used to hum when they cleaned the mansion.

ROSABELLE

She is so remarkable.

WILMA

Yes, Madame Polenska is so inspiring! Do you remember, Charlotte, that first night when out of no where, she made an ancient Greek coin appear?

HAZEL

Have you seen her this morning?

CHARLOTTE

Madame never rises till ten. She spends her nights communicating with the Masters.

IRENE'S VOICE

Carlotta!

CHARLOTTE

(gazing toward the farmhouse)
Coming, Madame!

WILMA

Hesperia, what are you doing?!

MRS. FARQUESON

What does it look like I'm doing? I'm cutting the peonies.

WILMA

I'm supposed to cut and arrange. You're supposed to fertilize.

MRS. FARQUESON

Madame Polenska said from now on I could cut and arrange.

WILMA

When? When did she say that?

MRS. FARQUESON

Yesterday afternoon.

WILMA

She did not!

MRS. FARQUESON

She did so! (LIGHTS DIM on the bickering couple, as a section of Irene's bedroom slides on stage left. IRENE has just awakened. SHE stuffs her hands over her ears.) IRENE Are they at it again?
(shouting out the window)
Stop it, you two! It is not spiritual!

(CHARLOTTE appears in the doorway.)

IRENE

Carlotta, this will never do!

CHARLOTTE

But , Madame Polenska, they are bickering over pleasing you.

IRENE

Oh, I don't mean them per se. I got an important communiqué last night from the Masters. They say this whole thing will never do¼

CHARLOTTE

But they love you.

IRENE

The Masters do not care about love. They care about influence.

CHARLOTTE

But you are influencing them.

IRENE

Fifteen people! We have been here almost a year and a half, and we have fifteen people!

CHARLOTTE

But we only started with eight.

IRENE

If we go on like that, I shall be one hundred and seven before we have enough for a ladies' soccer game.

CHARLOTTE

But it's not the number of people that's important.

IRENE

Oh, isn't it? The Masters say that in Bucks County Oliver de Koven has two hundred and twelve.

CHARLOTTE

But Dr. De Koven has been doing this for thirty-five years. First in England and now here.

IRENE

Don't be a fool. That is not why he has two hundred and twelve! He has two hundred and twelve because he has published. Book after stupid book. (SHE tosses some volumes from the night table onto the bed.) Here.
(SHE whips out a tattered manuscript and hands it to Charlotte.)

CHARLOTTE

"Five Years With the Masters".

IRENE

That was the book I was supposed to have published by Horace Standish when I met you. That was why I was coming to America.

CHARLOTTE

But what happened?

IRENE

At the last minute he had his office boy call and cancel the contract.

CHARLOTTE

But Horace Standish isn't the only publisher in the world.

IRENE

The Masters say he publishes the great Oliver de Koven. Why should not he publish the greater Polenska?

CHARLOTTE

I know Horace Standish. I'll insist he publish this! And if he refuses, I'll simply buy the company.
(A great smile comes over Irene's face.) LIGHTS DIM