The hospital.
MASON and DIXON stand in a hallway next to a door. They appear bright and comfortable.
At the nurse’s station a NURSE and a DOCTOR lean in close to one another.
They whisper:
DOCTOR: What are their names?
NURSE: Their names are Mason and Dixon.
DOCTOR: Like the line.
NURSE: Like the line.
DOCTOR: Who sent them?
NURSE: I do not know.
DOCTOR: Does this have anything to do with the mauling of the mayor?
NURSE: I think it does.
DOCTOR: I also think it does.
A sort of calm-sounding alarm goes off at the nurse’s station. The NURSE and the DOCTOR rush down the hallway and enter the room MASON and DIXON seem to be guarding.
A patient’s room. The bed is occupied by THE PANTHER. A light blinks next to the bed.
They check THE PANTHER’s body and they check the equipment. The alarm sound ceases and the light stops blinking.
THE PANTHER convulses.
NURSE: I’m losing him!
DOCTOR: Clear!
Defibrillator. THE PANTHER’s body jumps then goes still.
NURSE: He’s gone.
THE PANTHER’s body sinks into the bed, passing through it. The body disappears into the floor.
One Year Ago
A grassy field.
MASON: Hey Dixon.
DIXON: What is it?
MASON: It’s a human hand.
DIXON: Oh.
MASON: Do you want to pick it up?
DIXON: No.
MASON: It’s decomposing into the earth.
DIXON: No.
MASON: You can see it decomposing.
DIXON: That hand is becoming one with this field.
MASON: That hand is merging with the dirt.
DIXON: It’s earth.
MASON: It’s gone.
DIXON: My watch fell out of my pocket.
MASON: Where?
DIXON: It fell into that hand grave.
MASON: Oh.
DIXON: The watch is sinking into the field.
MASON: The watch is merging with the earth.
DIXON: Yes.
MASON: Are you going to save it?
DIXON: No.
An incredible sunset.
***
The Underworld: The Palace of Night.
NIGHT sits on a throne. Her children, SLEEP and DEATH, languish on a step below her.
There are three doors.
A CAT enters.
NIGHT: Who goes there?
CAT: It is I, Mother Night, exhausted.
NIGHT: What is the matter, cat? You are pale and thin and there is mud in your whiskers.
CAT: Our secret is at stake! It’s the beginning of the end!
NIGHT: Why? What has happened?
CAT: Some panther confusion up top — a case of mistaken identity, a murder, a brutal attack. And the levitations have begun.
NIGHT: The gates are open!
CAT: They are open.
NIGHT: We must contain the blue bird.
CAT: We cannot prevent the living from doing as they please if they come here!
NIGHT: We will try.
CAT: Who is aware of the blue bird?
NIGHT: Only the panthers are aware that we have the bird, hidden here among the blue birds of the dreams that live on the rays of the moon and die as soon as they set eyes on the sun.
CAT: In any case, if they should lay their hands on the real blue bird, there would be nothing for us but to disappear.
NIGHT: What times we live in! I cannot understand these panthers, this infernal decade! What are they aiming at? Must they know absolutely everything?
CAT: I hear something.
They look up, deep into the earth. End.
Brian Torrey Scott is a doctoral student in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University. He is also a writer, director, performer, filmmaker, and teacher. Over the last 15 years he has created over 20 performances and plays. He has collaborated with groups such as The Curious Theatre Branch, Goat Island, Lucky Pierre, Weather Talking, and Every House Has a Door, and he has worked closely with artists such as Jeff Harms, Mary Walling Blackburn, Matthew Goulish, Lin Hixson, Leroy Bach, Emmett Kelly, Sam Wagster, Theo Stanley, and Lionel Maunz. Two records of songs he has written with Azita Youssefi have been released by Drag City Records. He taught Ridiculousness and Theatre of the Avant-Garde (and many other courses) to college students for about 7 years. He has a MFA in Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Find more here.