SEARCHING for EDEN: the Diaries of Adam and Eve
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SEARCHING FOR EDEN: the diaries of adam and eve By JAMES STILL Adapted and inspired by Mark Twain’s short stories “Extracts from Adam’s Diary” and “Eve’s Diary.” Dramatic Publishing Woodstock, Illinois • England • Australia • New Zealand © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois *** NOTICE *** The amateur and stock acting rights to this work are controlled exclu- sively by THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY, without whose permission in writing no performance of it may be given. Royalty must be paid every time a play is performed whether or not it is presented for profit and whether or not admission is charged. A play is performed any time it is acted before an audience. Current royalty rates, applications and restrictions may be found at our Web site: www.dramaticpublishing.com, or we may be contacted by mail at: DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COM- PANY, P.O. Box 129, Woodstock IL 60098. COPYRIGHT LAW GIVES THE AUTHOR OR THE AUTHOR’S AGENT THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO MAKE COPIES. This law pro- vides authors with a fair return for their creative efforts. Authors earn their living from the royalties they receive from book sales and from the performance of their work. Conscientious observance of copyright law is not only ethical, it encourages authors to continue their creative work. This work is fully protected by copyright. No alterations, deletions or substitutions may be made in the work without the prior written consent of the publisher. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo- copy, recording, videotape, film, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. It may not be performed either by professionals or amateurs without payment of roy- alty. All rights, including, but not limited to, the professional, motion pic- ture, radio, television, videotape, foreign language, tabloid, recitation, lec- turing, publication and reading, are reserved. For performance of any songs, music and recordings mentioned in this play which are in copyright, the permission of the copyright owners must be obtained or other songs and recordings in the public domain substituted. ©MMVI by JAMES STILL Printed in the United States of America All Rights Reserved (SEARCHING FOR EDEN: THE DIARIES OF ADAM AND EVE) For inquiries concerning all other rights, contact: Judy Boals, Inc., 307 W. 38th St., #812, New York NY 10018 Phone: (212) 500-1424 - Fax: (212) 500-1426 ISBN: 1-58342-336-2 © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. — Robert Frost “Marriage is the deep, deep peace of the double bed after the hurly-burly of the chaise longue.” — Mrs. Patrick Campbell © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois IMPORTANT BILLING AND CREDIT REQUIREMENTS All producers of the Play must give credit to the Author of the Play in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all instances in which the title of the Play appears for purposes of adver- tising, publicizing or otherwise exploiting the Play and/or a production. The name of the Author must also appear on a separate line, on which no other name appears, immediately following the title, and must appear in size of type not less than fifty percent the size of the title type. Biographi- cal information on the Author, if included in the playbook, may be used in all programs. In all programs this notice must appear: Produced by special arrangement with THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock, Illinois All producers of SEARCHING FOR EDEN: THE DIARIES OF ADAM AND EVE must include the following acknowledgment on the title page of all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and on all advertising and promotional materials: “The play was originally produced by the American Heartland Theatre, Kansas City, Missouri; Paul Hough, Director of Production; Lilli A. Zarda, Executive Director.” © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTE There are many ways to approach adapting someone else’s material into another form. In the case of Searching for Eden, there were a couple of immediate challenges, questions I had to ask myself before I could go forward. “Is there enough source material to adapt?” is always a legiti- mate question, but it’s never the first question I ask myself. The first question is almost always the same: “Will this ma- terial make a good play?” The burning question for me is al- ways, “Do I feel an emotional connection to the source ma- terial?” which is quickly followed by “Can I love the origi- nal material enough to make it my own?” I know this about myself as a writer: I write from the emotional center of the play, from that uneasy place where characters are often pre- cariously off-balance, trying to find themselves in a world that is often out of control. The craft of structuring a story is complicated and full of pleasure for me—but it’s the emo- tional life of the play that keeps me returning day after day to the characters and their attempts to connect and reconnect to the world around them. And so it was with Searching for Eden. About the title: what drew me to Twain’s original stories was a deep sense of yearning. Beneath the hilarity and wit and devilish charm that Twain is still famous for a hundred years later, it was the yearning that struck me to the heart. Later I would discover that Twain wrote “Eve’s Diary” not long after his wife’s death, and knowing that made his sto- ries of Adam and Eve that much more poignant for me. But then one day, in spite of my real affection for Twain’s sto- ries and my eagerness to see them live on stage, there was the nagging reality that I would have to find an organic so- lution to the fact that Twain’s short stories are, indeed, short. So how to make it a full and satisfying evening in the theater? I can’t describe exactly how it happened—but I re- 5 © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois member the shock and thrill of discovering Act Two of Searching for Eden and then suddenly running to catch up with my play which was already racing ahead of me by then. I had been struck by a line in Twain’s “Extracts from Adam’s Diary” where Eve makes a remark about the Gar- den being a wonderful summer resort (and admitting that she had no idea what a summer resort is!)—and I kept thinking about that funny, sly observation. At the same time I was really struck by the notion that Adam and Eve were the first lovers, the first couple, the first marriage, and when you dare to remove the myths surrounding their story, you’re left with a love story, a relationship, the first rela- tionship, two people who felt like they were the only people on Earth! What could be more universal? Soon I was won- dering about Adam and Eve AFTER their famous time in the Garden. Soon I was asking myself, “I wonder whatever happened to Adam and Eve…?” Act Two is my response to that question. While there is a theatrical conceit at work in the play’s structure, I explored that question with real inten- tion. Who did Adam and Eve become, in their 40s, nearing middle age, who did they become, and how did their mar- riage change? And if they were in their 40s TODAY, what careers might they have settled into, what patterns from their youth have they continued to repeat, which ones have defined them as adults, and which ones are they still desper- ately trying to change after thousands of years of marriage? I think anyone who’s been married or in a relationship with another person for any length of time has felt like they’ve been with that other person for “a thousand years.” Searching for Eden takes that feeling and puts it into story. On a personal note, I’d like to thank Mark Twain for lending me his stories and for keeping me such good com- pany. — James Still 6 © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois SEARCHING FOR EDEN premiered at the American Heartland Theatre (Lilli Zarda, Executive Director) in Kan- sas City, Missouri, on September 5, 2003. Direction was Paul Hough, scenic design by Del Unruh, costume design by Mary Traylor, lighting design by Shane Rowse, sound design by Roger Stoddard and original music composed and performed by Anthony T. Edwards. The stage manager was William J. Christie. The cast was: Adam .............................Sean Grennan Eve...........................Barbara McCulloh In a revised script, SEARCHING FOR EDEN opened at the Indiana Repertory Theatre (Janet Allen, Artistic Direc- tor and Danny Baker, Managing Director) in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 6, 2005. Direction was by David Bradley, scenic design by Russell Metheny, costume design by Tracy Dorman, lighting design by Mary Louise Geiger, music and sound design by Michael Keck. The stage man- ager was Nathan Garrison. The cast was: Adam .......................David Alan Anderson Eve..................................OraJones 7 © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois SEARCHING FOR EDEN: the diary of adam and eve A Play in Two Acts For 1 Man and 1 Woman CHARACTERS ADAM EVE THE SETTING: The Garden of Eden. ACT ONE: The beginning of time.