Scene Eight



 

LIGHTS RISE on full stage with rear projection the front of Town Hall with a sign in front of the lobby announcing TONIGHT! POLENSKA! and a handbill pasted over it saying SOLD OUT. CHORUS dances on in great anticipation, each holding a ticket.
 
  CHORUS Oh, Madame Polenska!
Show us the way,
Show us the light!
Oh, Madame Polenska,
Teach us the truth,
Teach us what's right.
We've been searching for spiritual sparks,
But we've been searching through a prism;
We've tried Mohammed and we've tried Karl Marx,
Now let's try Polenskaism.
Oh, Madame Polenska,
We'll be your serf,
We'll be your slave!
Oh, Madame Polenska,
Teach us to get
All that we crave.
You're someone we need---
Our lives are so hollow---
Polenska, please lead,
We'll willingly follow. (As THEY dance off, HAYDEN appears, a ticket in his hand, also. LIGHTS DIM as HE follows the Chorus, then RISE on IRENE sitting before a curtained backdrop on a chair downstage center, addressing the audience.)
IRENE
So wonderful to see all of your beautiful faces...here for Polenska. As many of you know, my psychic abilities have been called into question. I have spoken to the Masters, and They told me tonight I must demonstrate to you my honesty and my sincerity. However, They refuse to take part in what They call a "sideshow".  In other words, I am on my own tonight, depending on the psychic gifts I possessed before I ever spent Five Years with the Masters in a Hut Near Kampur.
                                                            (Wild applause from the audience.)
Dear Mrs. Braden has already asked you to write a question on the small pieces of paper which were handed out to you as you entered the theatre. (CHARLOTTE comes up from the aisle and deposits a basketful of paper beside Irene, then exits to the right.)
IRENE
I will try to answer as many of your questions as I possibly can. (SHE reaches into the basket and extracts a piece of paper, holds it to her forehead.)
IRENE
I am picking up the intial R. The other initial I cannot see clearly. Is it an L? R.L. Is there an R.L. in the audience? (In the actual audience, ROSABELLE raises her hand.)
IRENE
Will you please stand up?
                                                           (ROSABELLE stands.)
Your question seems to concern someone close to you who is ill. Is that correct?

ROSABELLE

Yes.

IRENE

Speak up, please.

ROSABELLE

Yes.

IRENE

I pick up the initial C. It is a woman. Her name is Clarisse? No, Clara.

ROSABELLE

My aunt. Clara.                        (Gasps of admiration from the audience.)
  IRENE I feel pains in the area below the stomach.

ROSABELLE

Yes, yes.

IRENE

I see there may be an operation. But not serious. Your aunt will be fine.                      (Now opening the paper. For an instant, her face darkens, then brightens.) "Will my aunt survive the female problems she's been having?" (AUDIENCE applauds. IRENE extracts a second piece of paper, holds it to her head. A flash of anger crosses her face.)
IRENE
I believe this is a man. The initials are H.W.

                                                   (HAYDEN rises in the audience.)

HAYDEN

Hayden Waltzinger.

IRENE

                                                   (quickly, without looking at him)
You are asking about a woman. She is no longer with us. But she is thinking about you.
                                                   (unfolding the paper)
"Tell me about a woman named Irene Jouvetz."
 (hurriedly crumpling it and taking another from the basket and holding it to her  head)
Now, we have...

HAYDEN

That's not what I asked.

IRENE

The intials here are G. P. M....                           (HAYDEN storms up onto the stage.)
HAYDEN
What I asked this woman was "Are you Irene Jouvetz?"                            (HE siezes the crumpled paper she has discarded.)
IRENE
How dare you!

HAYDEN

This isn't my question! This is someone else's question.
                                                         (searching for the discarded piece of paper)
Here is my question! Ladies and gentlemen, this woman is a fraud! She was always a fraud! I met her twenty-two years ago in Baden-Baden...

IRENE

Butchie! (BUTCH races on from the wings, grabs Hayden. But HAYDEN refuses to be silenced. Gasps from the audience.)
HAYDEN
She claimed she was the daughter of a pill manufacturer...she said she would marry me...there was the theft of a very rare necklace...I wouldn't be surprised if she...
  (BUTCH has HAYDEN in a half nelson. HAYDEN knees him in the groin. BUTCH yelps, reaches out and socks Hayden on the jaw. IRENE clutches her heart and keels over. The MEN stop. A whistle blows, followed by sirens.)
BLACKOUT