" CONSOLIDATION [and its adverse effects on a North American Soccer Mom ] " (2015)

"CONSOLIDATION" is one of two full-length plays I wrote by longhand -- with an actual pen on actual paper -- during 2014 and 2015, while I dealt with the onset of carpal tunnel issues and spine damage in my lower back and upper neck. Working at a computer became impossible, and writing longhand was what saved me. I rediscovered what it was to be a writer, and broke new ground as a playwright by completing two major large-scale works that I had been thinking about for 15 years.

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I began writing this play in the Fall 2008 while I was in residence at The MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, NH. It was finally re-started up again in the cafe bar of TEATER NO.99 in Tallinn, Estonia on December 4-5, 2014; and was completed in the cafe bar of the VOORUIT Arts Center in Ghent, Belgium during June 13-16, 2015 -- coinciding almost simultaneously with Donald Trump announcing his candidacy for President by floating down his golden escalator in New York. The bulk of the text was written while I was a recipient of a Saari Residence Fellowship at the Kone Foundation in Finland. Revisions were completed at the Monty Kultuurfaktorij in Antwerpen, Belgium. I remain indebted to the generous staffs at each institution for their support.

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"CONSOLIDATION" depicts the waiting room of a normal American car dealership as the room fills up to absurd levels with customers appearing from all aspects of American life and history -- all of them waiting in suspension for their car repairs to be completed. A suburban North American Soccer Mom waits and waits, but is unable to leave, due to the presence of a surreal Car Salesman -- who keeps re-appearing at the door to reassure her, while ushering in more and more customers, and absurd levels of donuts. The play operates within a large tapestry -- borrowing absurdist techniques from Václav Havel, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch, and Caryl Churchill.

 

The play warns of the threat of growing compression and consolidation in American culture, public discourse, and economy -- while issuing a clear (although absurdist) warning about the emergence of a "Trumpian" figure in the United States. As is often the case in history -- playwrights are the first to sound the alarm.

 

Like my other large-scale work from this time period -- "when after all, it was you and me" -- this play "CONSOLIDATION" remains un-produced.​

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I write these words as Donald Trump begins his second term in office as President. As the long-term process of "terraforming" the United States into a polar opposite of the version it once aspired to be in the post-Civil War/Mark Twain Era or the post WWII/New Deal Era -- is now complete. As the warnings first depicted in this play back in 2015 have now all finally come true -- an entrenched and permanent aspect of this new version of America. I believe it is in the public interest to make the full play text of "CONSOLIDATION" available for free on my website. I strongly recommend printing out an actual copy on actual paper, and reading this play while holding it in your own hands. It is how the play was written -- by hand and on actual paper.

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Good luck.

 

To all of us.​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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