HER HAPPINESS

Little Things in Your Hands Casting Call While we prepare to gird our loins against what may well be extended periods of privation, it is necessary that we don't neglect entertainment.  I realized that even for the purpose of reading it might be advantageous to render the short story subject dramatically, since this method is, after all, one of extreme realism, which should also result in an increase of interest.-Horace Holley. To that end I am proposing that we hearken back to a period when self sufficiency, in all matters, was a way of life.  I've planted below a script from a ca. 1916 play,  "Her Happiness" Do with it what you will, but I will offer some suggestions, just as I once did for a young dramatist named Lee Strasberg; you may have heard of him.  Method acting is dependent on  immersing oneself  in your character;  bathing yourself in a mood.  I suggest listening to  the above posted recording of John & Marsha to that end.  There are many possibilities.  If you and your partner would like to read for us,  simply record it and send it to me for review.  If you wish only to play one role, read those lines in sequence, and I will join yours with a counterpart.  If I receive only one character's lines, I will supply the other, and in that way we can off our own production right here.  In any event, I see interesting possibilities.   HER HAPPINESS Darkness. A door opens swiftly. Light from outside shows a woman entering. She is covered by a large cape, but the gleam of hair and brow indicates beauty. She closes the door behind her. Darkness. The Woman Paul! Paul! Are you here, Paul? A Voice Yes, Elizabeth, I am here. The Woman Oh thank God! You are here! I felt so strange—I thought ... Oh, I cannot tell you what I have been thinking! Turn on the light, Paul. The Voice You are troubled, dear. Let the darkness stay a moment. It will calm you. Sit down, Elizabeth. The Woman Yes.... I am so faint! I had to come, Paul! I had to see you, to know that you were.... I know I promised not to, but I was going mad! Just to touch you, to hold you ... but it's all right now. The Voice It is all right now, Elizabeth. The Woman I thought I could stand it, dear, I thought I could stand it. It wasn't myself—I swear to you it wasn't—nor him. I, I can stand all that, now. It was something else, something that came over me all at once. I saw—Oh Paul! the thing I saw! But it's all right now.... The Voice It is all right, Elizabeth, because ours is love, love that is made of light, and not merely blind desire. The Woman Ours is love. We are love! The Voice So that even if we are separated—even if you cannot come to me yet, we shall not lose conviction nor joy. The Woman Yes, Paul. I will not make it harder for you. I know it is hard, and that it was for my sake you could bring yourself to bind me not to see you again. The Voice Love is, world without end. That is all we need to know. The Woman World without end, amen. The Voice And because I knew the power and truth of love in you I put this separation upon us. The Woman For my sake. I know it now, Paul! And trust me! You can trust me, Paul! Not time, nor distance, nor trouble nor change shall move me from the heights of love where I dwell. The Voice And because I knew the happiness of love could not endure in deceit, nor the wine give life if we drank it in a cup that was stained, I put you from me—in the world's sight we meet no more. The Woman In the world's sight ... and in the sight of God and man shall I be faithful to him from now on, in thought and deed and word, as a heart may be. Yes, Paul ... even that can I endure for your sake. For I know that hereafter— The Voice For love there is neither here nor hereafter, but the realization of love is ever according to his triumph. This has come to me suddenly, a light in the darkness, and I have won the truth by supreme pain. The Woman That, too, Paul. Pain.... I have been weak. I gave way to my nerves, but now in your presence I am strong again, and I shall not fail you. The Voice My presence is where your love is, and as your love so my nearness. Love me as I love you now, and I shall be more real to you than your hands and your eyes. The Woman Bone of one bone, and flesh of one flesh.... The Voice Spirit of one spirit! The flesh we have put away. The Woman That, too, Paul. Oh the glory of it! So be my happiness that I shall not wish it changed, even before the Throne! The Voice I have given you happiness? The Woman Perfect happiness, Paul. I am happy, happier than I ever was before. But before I go home from here for the last time, turn on the light, Paul, that we may be to each other always as the wonder of this moment. For the last time, Paul. Paul?... Paul? Where are you? Why don't you answer?... Paul! (She turns on the light. It is a studio. At the piano, fallen forward upon the keys, sits the body of a man. There is a revolver on the floor beside him.) Paul!... As I saw him! Is this my happiness. Oh God, must I? [Dim Lights] ”