THE GORILLA SERIES

PART 1: LATE FOR WORK

Characters
JACK
GORILLA 1
GORILLA 2
COWORKER 1 (CW1)
COWORKER 2 (CW2)

(Morning. Jack gets ready for work. The doorbell rings. He walks to the door, opens it, and is immediately attacked and raped by two large, banana-wielding gorillas.)

GORILLAS drag JACK off stage. CW1 and CW2 stand stage left drinking coffee.)

CW1
Have you seen Jack this morning?

CW2
No. I wonder where he is.

(JACK enters SR, disheveled and dazed.)

CW2 (cont'd)
Hey, look who decided to come to work today. (Jack approaches the Coworkers) Darren's looking for you. So what happened? Car trouble?

JACK
Something like that.

(CW1 takes out a banana, peels it and starts to eat it. Jack looks nauseous.)

CW1
Damn, you look terrible.

CW2
I'll say. You look like you were banged in the ass by two hairy gorillas or something.

(Both Coworkers laugh. Jack runs offstage.)

CW1
What's with him?

END SCENE

PART 2: AT THE ZOO

Characters
Jack
Becky, Jack's girlfriend
Gorilla#1
Gorilla#2

(The Zoo. Jack and Becky enter stage right. Jack is a nervous wreck and keeps looking over his shoulder.)

BECKY
(Smiling) Don't you just love the zoo? Something about it makes me feel like a kid again.

JACK
(Looking over his shoulder) Yeah, like a kid.

BECKY
What's wrong, Honey? You haven't been yourself lately.

JACK
Nothing, I just don't feel comfortable here.

BECKY
Why not? It's the zoo! You used to love the zoo. (Becky turns, facing downstage.) Look, we're right next to the gorilla pit. I wonder where the gorillas are.

JACK
I want to leave, okay? Can we please go?

(Gorilla 1 and Gorilla 2 enter upstage.)

BECKY
(Pointing at the gorillas) Oh look! Here they come!

(Jack slowly turns around to face the gorillas, terrified.)

BECKY (cont'd)
Aren't they such majestic beasts? Let me get my camera.

(Becky turns downstage and rummages through her purse. While her back is turned to the gorillas, they wave at Jack and then start making obscene pelvic gestures.)

JACK
Becky, let's go look at the lions instead. Can we go see the lions?

(Becky turns back to face downstage. The gorillas return to their original position.)

BECKY
We can see the lions, but fist I want to get a picture of those gorillas.

(Becky rummages through her purse again. This time the gorillas point to Jack and perform a dramatization of his rape with one gorilla playing a cowering Jack, and the other humping him.)

(Becky looks up from her purse with camera in hand. The gorillas return to a natural position.)

BECKY
(Looking through the camera's peephole.) Say cheese!

(The gorillas put their arms around each other to pose. Jack manages a nervous smile. The gorillas conspiratorially turn their backs on Jack and Becky.)

BECKY (cont'd)
Okay, let's see those lions!

(Becky exits. Jack's cell phone rings as he's about to exit.)

JACK
(Answering his phone) Hello? (Beat) Hello?

(We hear sounds of heavy breathing mixed in with an occasional gorilla noise. The audience can see that the gorillas have made the phone call, but Jack cannot.)

JACK (cont'd)
Who the hell is this?

(Jack turns around and sees both gorillas making noises into a cell phone. He runs off stage to the maniacal laughing of the gorillas.)

END SCENE

PART 3: HOME SWEET HOME

Characters
JACK
DAD, played by Gorilla 1; wears a robe and reading glasses.
MOM, played by Gorilla 2; wears an apron.
DR. ELOISE BAUMKOPF, German psychiatrist; German accent.

(Dad sits at a table, reading a paper. His face is hidden by the newspaper. A frazzled Jack enters upstage and takes a seat at the table.)

JACK
It's so good to be home. I can't begin to tell you the horrible things that have happened to me, Dad. (Dad makes a gorilla noise.) I think I'm having a nervous breakdown.

(Mom enters upstage with a plate of bananas. She puts the plate down in front of Jack. Jack looks up at her and sees she is a gorilla. He then looks at his father who lowers the newspaper to reveal that he is also a gorilla.

JACK puts his hands to the side of his head like the figure in "The Scream".

BAUMKOPF enters carrying a podium.)

BAUMKOPF
(To JACK and Gorillas) Thank you, thank you. You've all been very helpful.

(JACK and Gorillas exit.)

BAUMKOPF (cont'd)
(To audience) Good evening, my name is Dr. Eloise Baumkopf. Tonight! you were forced to witness something extraordinary, something terrifying, something you have never seen before. Tonight you journeyed along a voyeuristic path through a bizarre series of events, watching as said events unfolded in the life of an ordinary soul named Jack.

I sense the question demanding an answer here is, "What the hell was that?" What was its essence? What did it teach us, if anything? Was it a meaningless flight of fancy? Was it a parable of sorts? Worse, was it the side effect of one of the author's many week-long binges of booze and weed? He assures us that it wasn't. No, my friends, The Gorilla Series is an illuminating glimpse into the human psyche, into what drives us as beings desperately fighting for survival.

The gorillas are a metaphor...or five. They represent some tragic event in our lives, an event that affected us so negatively and so profoundly that it is always at the forefront of our consciousness. Like such things, it is something we can't explain to others no matter how hard we try. We wouldn't know where to begin to explain them, just as Jack could not answer his coworkers' question regarding his whereabouts that fateful morning. They are experiences that we can't even explain to the ones we love. Jack couldn't confide in Becky, though he loved her. He would never truly be able to make her understand what happened to him and how God-awful it was. Finally, Jack goes to his last place of refuge, to his parents' home, only to find that it is not a refuge at all but rather the very root of his pain, symbolized by his parents being gorillas themselves.

(The GORILLAS enter, waiting to pounce on BAUMKOPF when he finishes. BAUMKOPF knows this.)

BAUMKOPF (cont'd)
So now, I want you all to take a moment to think of your own painful experience. (Beat) Think of your own gorillas.

(The GORILLAS tackle BAUMKOPF to the ground and carry him offstage.)

END OF PLAY

I nominate @tenhanger and @harpooninvestor