SESSION TEN Transcript

Previously in SESSION Nine

KACEY: Well – look who it is! The team of heroes!

MARI: Awww. Hush.

KACEY: And we’re going to have to give a medal to your Defense AND your Bad Feeling Meter for really stepping up. Four women in that basement, Mari! Four!

MARI: I knew he was a creep but yeah – this was…extreme sicko territory.

KACEY: And all of you taking care of those women, getting them safe and hydrated. I’m so glad you all were there for each other. Did they tell you anything?

LEILA: Not much. Just that they were being taken care of and a social worker was arriving to help interview them. They were so traumatized.

KACEY: Do we know what happens next?

MARI: They’re obviously very concerned about where this guy is now, so they asked me a lot about him and his whereabouts since I may have been the last person to see him. I mean we all know I was definitely the last to see him but you know what I mean.

KACEY: That sounds really stressful, Mari. What do you think about us getting you some legal support?

MARI: So far they don’t care about me. They just want him, so they want details from me. They’re going to check out his employer, etc. They might stop by my office to just look around.

 LORI: Well. You know how you said there was a Rage Time coming? Like a stage?

KACEY: Why, are you feeling it?

LORI: Well. No. It’s just that I got a little mad the other day thinking about everything. Like those women in the basement and then I started to wonder if one of them had the Defense and then I was mad when I realized she DIDN’T have the Defense because if she’d had it, she for sure wouldn’t have been in that basement for us to release her and I wished that all women had the Defense and was upset that we were such a small part of the population. And since I’d never really been mad before, I guess I wondered if that’s what rage felt like.

 BRIA: Oh buddy.

LEILA: The rage is going to be a shock.

Theme music begins

JACKI: Recorded live at Jalopy Theatre in Brooklyn

Messenger Theatre Company presents

The Defense

This is Session 10

LEILA: We forgot to do our affirmation last time.

KACEY: Not a big deal.

LEILA: We were so ready for those pancakes, we rushed out of here before an official end.

KACEY: Listen – if you don’t need it, you don’t need it.

LEILA: We said it quietly over our pancakes.

KACEY: Ha! That’s fun.

LEILA: Yeah, people thought we were praying or something.

KACEY: If they only knew.

LEILA: But we felt bad we left sort of unofficially –

MARI: Like, all afluster.

KACEY: If I thought it was important, I’d have stopped you before you left. The affirmation is just a way to help us create a little ritual, to help you bind together. If you’re binding without it, you don’t need it.

LEILA: We are binding.

BRIA: And the pancakes are definitely binding.

MARI: Do we need a club food that’s slightly less ridiculous?

LORI, BRIA, LEILA: No!

MARI: Okay! Wow.

BRIA: I love the pancakes. I really do. Even if they are binding.

MARI: Yeah?

BRIA: Yeah. It’s like – not a food I’ve generally eaten with other women. Like – it’s not a salad, you know? I love that it’s not a salad.

MARI: Sure. But if we go for pancakes and one of us isn’t feeling like pancakes, I’m just saying maybe we could have pancakes without necessarily having pancakes.

BRIA: Fair enough. But I usually just want pancakes.

MARI: Great. So. We still go for pancakes and if someone ends up getting something else, we won’t be distressed.

BRIA: No, no. No distress. Eat those scrambled eggs.

MARI: Hello grilled cheese!

LEILA: I’m gonna get a salad.

BRIA: Very funny.

LORI: Muffins!

MARI: In bed!

KACEY: This is excellent. Is there anything besides food that we need to talk about?

MARI: The police want to talk to me again.

KACEY: Do you know what they want?

MARI: They said it’s possible I was the last person to see him so they want some help pinning down his visit to my office. They want a timeline, I think.

KACEY: This is sticky.

MARI: Very.

KACEY: Normally – it’s not a great idea to talk to the police without a lawyer. Like, even if you haven’t ashed a villain in the copy room - but I think, in this case, a lawyer might just draw attention to you in a way we don’t want.

MARI: Right.

KACEY: Here’s what I recommend – just so it doesn’t get complicated. Tell them absolutely everything up to just before the ash pile. He creeped you out. You walked out. And that was it. There’s only one thing you have to remember and be consistent on that way. And if by some chance they have footage at your office, there’s a reasonable explanation.

MARI: That makes sense. Right.

KACEY: Unless, of course, you told them something different the first time you talked.

MARI: No, no. They were much more concerned about us turning up at the house last time, so I just sketched it out. He left his bag at our office so I brought it to him. That’s it.

KACEY: Great. Good.

MARI: The problem is that they really want to find this guy now. They’re all ready to bring him to justice and they can’t find him to bring him to justice so…

KACEY: But before you start to feel bad about preventing them finding him to bring him to justice – there would be no case if your Defense hadn’t acted. That’s just facts. Those girls would still be in his basement and the police would still be twiddling their thumbs at the station, not even investigating those missing girls, I bet. They’re into this case because the work has already been done for them here. Think about all the assaults they convinced women to just let go, all the flashers they gave a pass, all the women they’ve dismissed over the years.

MARI: Okay. Okay. I got it! I don’t feel bad anymore!

KACEY: Good. You go in, you give them your day and that’s that. And listen. The truth is so hard for them to comprehend, they’ll never get there. Never.

LORI: They really won’t?

KACEY: It hasn’t happened yet and it’s been quite a while since the Defense started manifesting.

LORI: But it’s not IMPOSSIBLE they could work it out?

KACEY: Sure. It’s not impossible. But if they did, it’d be the very first time. In the thousands and thousands of encounters with the Defense, not once has a law enforcement officer worked it out.

LORI: Not even the women who have the Defense in law enforcement?

KACEY: We don’t get a lot of those, truth be told. Sometimes we’ve had women in low level desk jobs develop the Defense. They do a lot of smiling knowingly. We call them Cheshire Cats or Mona Lisas. They include women who don’t necessarily have the Defense but they know things and they don’t say a thing. They are a real benefit to our community. I wish we had one in every precinct, just to ease a lot of women’s minds.

LORI: How do you mean?

KACEY: If we had a Mona Lisa at the precinct for this case, we’d know what was going on and we’d be able to head off any concerns. We’d know if they were sniffing around any of us.

MARI: Like me.

KACEY: Like anyone in our community. It’s just a real boon when we have a Mona Lisa in place.

LORI: Can we get one hired?

BRIA: Or make one? Like – could we encourage the Defense to emerge in someone?

KACEY: That would be amazing. I would be out growing our numbers every day if I could. But like just about everything else with the Defense, it’s not under our conscious control.

BRIA: I have a niece I’ve been hoping would turn out to have the Defense.

KACEY: She might! It’s just that you can’t really help her with its emergence.

BRIA: And she’s too young right now, too. But she’s a very likely candidate.

KACEY: Keep your eye on her. You never know. And if the Defense kicks in – we’ll be delighted to have her join us.

LEILA: Does she like pancakes?

BRIA: I’m sure.

LEILA: Then I hope she gets the Defense soon.

BRIA: Thanks, Leila.

LORI: But wait – CAN we send someone to work at the police station? Like – if someone who already has the Defense went in and became the Mona Lisa there.

LEILA: Or maybe there’s already a Mona Lisa type candidate there.

KACEY: Great idea. Maybe, Mari – when you’re over there, you can try and learn a little bit about anyone in possible positions for us to target.

MARI: Of course. Yeah. That’s good, actually. A project will keep my panic levels down at a more manageable level.

KACEY: Are you sure? Or maybe that’s a joke and it’s really too much.

MARI: No, no. I’m absolutely serious. I do much better when I’m on a mission.

LEILA: Same.

MARI: And I can have some nice friendly chats, get some names, maybe, and official positions. Mission, mission, mission.

KACEY: Great.

MARI: I mean – last time, we were just sitting there for an unholy amount of time.

KACEY: You can always tell when someone believes they have abundant power over you when they make you wait like that.

MARI: Yeah – It’s interesting because it IS such a power move but it’s an indirect power move. Like if one of those guys did something equivalent directly to me – I’m pretty sure they’d be piles of ash – but because there’s no one there to get mad at …. It doesn’t, it can’t, trigger the Defense.

BRIA: Maybe they designed it that way.

MARI: How do you mean?

BRIA: Well, maybe not consciously exactly – but maybe the first police stations were built as a kind of subconscious protection against the Defense.

MARI: But there definitely tend to be more men than women in police stations – why would they be worried about the Defense?

BRIA: Maybe they designed the WHOLE system as a defense against the Defense. Like not just the police, not just the court system, not just the work world, not just politics, not just schools but, like, the whole patriarchy was built as a preemptive strike against the Defense!

LEILA: Like, thousands of years ago?

BRIA: Yeah!

LEILA: But the Defense only came to light in the last century or so.

BRIA: Came to light, yes. But maybe it’s been here all along in the dark and the whole deal was just men building a world like this because they were afraid of our power.

LEILA: There is something sort of comforting about that idea.

KACEY: How do you mean, Leila?

LEILA: Well – just that there’d be some logic and sense in the world if that were the case. We could just chalk it all up to fear of the Defense – because otherwise, the world is built like this because it’s…built like this? Because they could? Because they felt like it? Bria’s idea makes it all a little easier to swallow.

LORI: Um. Yeah. I think. I just hit the rage stage.

KACEY: Did you? I’d never have known.

LORI: I could be wrong of course but it was a flood of heat that just went through me thinking about how our world was maybe made out of fear and how it is and how soulless that awful police station is and how many girls might be locked in basements or sheds or someplace and how everyone’s just been fine with that all these years – like we just expect girls to be stolen and victimized and how we have to learn so early how to watch out for ourselves – but at the SAME time we’re learning to be NICE to everyone – so if someone comes to steal you, we’d never dare to shout at him. Like, I only learned how to shout “No” a few weeks ago thanks to Mari – but what if that copy repairman had approached me and like, I don’t know, asked me for help or something – and even if I had a VIBE, I wouldn’t have said No and I could have ended up locked in that basement just like those girls. If I’d just been a little unlucky. And I’ve been a little unlucky but not as unlucky as so many more than me and the fact that almost every woman I know has been traumatized by some man and if they designed it this way? I think, my friends, I think I might start breaking things. Like, if this world is not built for us, then maybe I just need to break it open. Like get a baseball bat or something and just start knocking things over – breaking windows and smashing doors. Does anyone have a baseball bat? Or a crowbar?

KACEY: You’re right. You’re in the rage stage.

LORI: Holy hell! I’m in the rage stage! I’m furious! I don’t know how I thought I was mad before. This is….yes. Very clear.

KACEY: Maybe you all could go to the rage room this evening instead of the diner.

MARI: Works for me! But I think we should leave Lori in the car when we book the space.

LORI: Why? Because I’m dangerous now?

MARI: A little bit! Not in a bad way – but one thing I’ve noticed about these rage rooms is that they’re mostly run by fellas, and I’ve also noticed that they get visibly nervous around angry women and they might find some dumb excuse not to let us in. And if I were you, that might just be the final straw and suddenly their office is now our rage room and maybe we shouldn’t small a bunch of guys and  bust up their office.

BRIA: I don’t know. Sounds fun!

LORI: I don’t want to bust up an office. I wouldn’t do that!

MARI: You think so now – but have you ever been “handled” by a couple of men when they think you’re going crazy?

LORI: I don’t think so.

MARI: Well trust me, in that zone, if you weren’t already in the rage stage, you would be once they started “handling” you.

LORI: Like touching me?

MARI: Sometimes there’s touching – but I mean more like, “Oh that situation needs to be handled. That little lady is a handful; Somebody handle that.”

LORI: Ah. Like – managed.

MARI: Yeah. When you’re a problem for them.

LORI: Yes I could see how that might raise my rage temperature. It’s starting to raise it now.

MARI: I mean, for a place that exists to get out your anger, it’s kind of funny that they won’t rent it to you if you’re visibly angry – but we’ll have a smoother time if one or more of us goes in and we smile pretty and giggle when they hand us the sledgehammer.

BRIA: Teee hee hee. I could never lift such a big hammer! How in the heck?

LEILA: Gosh and gee whiz, I just break all these things? With this big hammer?

BRIA: Couldn’t we just glue things back together for you? I believe in peace, you know.

LEILA: Well, little lady, you don’t have to break anything if you don’t want to.

BRIA: I guess I could give it a try.

LEILA: I can show you girls how to use a sledgehammer if you want.

BRIA: Funnily enough, I have a lot of experience with a sledgehammer, thank you very much.

LEILA: A delicate flower like you?

BRIA: You would be surprised.

LORI: Tell me this didn’t really happen.

BRIA: That a man tried to explain how to break things? Oh yes he did.

MARI: And he tried to pick you up while he was doing it!

BRIA: Luckily, he’d already given me the sledgehammer so I just destroyed a computer and he left us alone.

LORI: I’m ready.

MARI: Ooooh yeah – you’re about to pop.

KACEY: Go, go. Get her there as quickly as you can.

MARI: Rage stage!

BRIA: Rage stage!

LEILA: I have very much enjoyed each and every one of your rage stages and this one is already no exception.

LORI: What is WRONG with this world?

KACEY: Go, go.

MARI: We’ll do the affirmation after.

KACEY: As you like. But go! Call me if you need me.

Theme music begins

JACKI:

The Defense is a production of Messenger Theatre Company.

 It is performed by Marcella Adams as Leila, Amber Jessie as Mari, Cosmic Kitty as Bria, Kristen Vaughan as Kacey and Toni Watterson as Lori.

 The writer/director is Emily Rainbow Davis.

Sound Design by Matt Powell

Sound Engineering by Daniel Massey

Sound Assistance by Angela Santillo

Stage Management by Ella Lieberman

The Producer is Melvin Yen.

The Defense theme is by Scott Ethier.

I’m Jacki Jing

I am safe but I’m not safe for everyone.