Falling Skies By Brayden Frascone

Draft 4-11-18

[email protected] 74 1/2 West Union Street Athens, OH 45701 Cast of Characters CURTIS: Mid-twenties, non-white. A bartender at the Skylight Club.

ROBERT: Fifty-one, white. Kevin’s father. CURTIS wipes down the bar of THE SKYLIGHT CLUB. He has just closed for the night. The dance floor and sound system have seen better days, so has the bar. There are advertisements for themed events and autographed photos of drag queens and go-go boys on the walls. It’s very gay. An imposing skylight sits above the dance floor. Curtis calls after someone who has just left. CURTIS I’m going to finish cleaning and then get out of here. See you Friday, boss.

Curtis goes about his closing activities. As he finishes, he considers the dance floor. He hesitates and then switches on a slow love song on the sound system, and lays on the floor beneath the skylight, looking directly up. A few moments pass. The door is heard opening again. ROBERT steps through. Curtis quickly sits up.

Oh, hey, sorry, I think I just dropped a contact while I was sweeping up. Oh...um...hi. I thought you were someone else. We’re closed for the night. You’ll have to come back later in the week when we reopen.

ROBERT Is this the Skylight Club? CURTIS Uh, yeah. That’s what it says on the sign out front. Can I help you with something?

ROBERT I’ve come to the right place. CURTIS Right place for what?

ROBERT This isn’t an easy place to find. I don’t really get to this side of town much. 2.

CURTIS I’m sorry about that. Our address is listed. You can Google it. ROBERT I’m bad with technology. CURTIS Right...So, like I said, it’s 3am. We’re closed. Our hours are listed on the door, if you’d like to come back later...

ROBERT It’s different than I expected. Smaller. CURTIS Um, yeah, I guess. We can fit a lot of people in here though.

ROBERT The skylight is huge. I’ve never seen anything like it before. CURTIS It’s kind of what we’re known for. I do have to ask you to leave, though. ROBERT I can’t leave. Not yet. I just got here.

CURTIS Sir. We’re closed. You need to go. I don’t know how else to politely tell you that. I have another job to get to in the morning, and if I leave now I can maybe get three hours of sleep.

ROBERT I need to know what happens here. CURTIS Excuse me?

ROBERT What’s it like? When there are people, and music, and dancing. CURTIS I guess you just said it. There’s people. And music. And dancing. ROBERT I need you to paint the picture for me. Please. 3.

CURTIS Sir, I really don’t know what you’re going for here. We’re closed. Come back on Friday night. You’ll get to see it in all its glory.

ROBERT I might not make it to Friday. CURTIS Right. I feel that way too sometimes. I work three jobs. Just drink some coffee and you’ll be fine.

ROBERT I’m not going to make it because I’m dying. CURTIS Right...

Beat.

Well I’m very sorry to hear that. Truly. But you can’t die here. I’d recommend a hospital, personally. Unlike the Skylight, those are open 24 hours. ROBERT I’m serious. I’ll never get to see it. CURTIS Sir, why are you wasting my time? ROBERT It’s true. Can’t you grant a dying man this one favor? CURTIS Why should I? If you’re really dying shouldn’t we have gotten a call from Make-A-Wish? "Hey this 60-year-old man really wants to turn up one last time before taking the old dirt nap, you in?"

ROBERT Make-A-Wish is for children. When you get to be my age, everyone stop caring. CURTIS Great. Well, thank you for that insight. This is the part where I call the police. ROBERT Curtis, don’t. 4.

CURTIS How do you know my name. ROBERT Curtis Jackson?

CURTIS Yes. ROBERT I’m Kevin’s father.

Beat. CURTIS I don’t know anyone by that name.

ROBERT Kevin Hartman. You think he never showed me a picture of you? I didn’t know it at the time but you were his...you were his friend. CURTIS Get out. ROBERT I need to speak with you, Curtis. CURTIS I said get out. Now. ROBERT I’m not going anywhere. CURTIS How dare you come here. Of all places. ROBERT I need answers. This was the only place I knew for sure you’d be.

CURTIS If half of what I’ve heard about you is true, you don’t deserve answers. ROBERT What I’ve done is immaterial at this point. And you’re the only one who can give me what I need. CURTIS I can’t help you. 5.

ROBERT You can, and you will Curtis. CURTIS I don’t owe you a damn thing.

ROBERT Not even for a dying man? CURTIS Jesus Christ, you’re still on that? I know you’re not dying. I’m not playing this game. Certainly not with you. ROBERT I am dying. And I need answers before it happens. CURTIS Why should I? ROBERT Because he was my son. And think what you will about me, and the choices I’ve made, but I didn’t see him at all in his last year. It’s useless to think about what I would have done differently. I just need you to tell me what his life was like, before my time runs out. CURTIS Is that supposed to make me feel bad for you? You were a piece of shit in life, and even if you are dying, which I sincerely hope is true, you’ll be a piece of shit then too. ROBERT Brain Cancer, stage 4. They found a tumor a few weeks after he... Look, I’ve wanted to come here for a long time. To see you.

CURTIS Well how about that for poetic justice? Does it hurt? I hope it hurts. Because it hurt Kevin the whole time.

ROBERT I didn’t know he was going to...Of course, I have regrets about what happened, what father wouldn’t? I need to know, Curtis, I need to know about him. And I need to make it right.

CURTIS Make it right? ROBERT If I can. 6.

CURTIS That’s you want? His forgiveness? Really? What makes you think you deserve that?

ROBERT I don’t. Not yet. That’s why I’m here. I need you to tell me what I can do--to earn it. CURTIS You can start by leaving. And dying miserable and alone. That’ll put you in the ballpark. ROBERT Please, Curtis.

CURTIS You’re too late. He can’t forgive you. Because he’s dead. And even if he were here, he wouldn’t have. ROBERT He still can. He can still see me and what I’m doing. I know it. CURTIS Do you believe all of that? That he’s up on some cloud looking down at us? I don’t. He didn’t.

ROBERT You don’t? You don’t think he can see you? CURTIS No.

ROBERT Then what was that when I walked in? CURTIS I don’t know what you’re talking about.

ROBERT Lying on the ground, looking up at the stars. That was his favorite song playing, wasn’t it? CURTIS That’s not your business. ROBERT Fine. It’s not my business. But Kevin is. And I just want some questions answered.

CURTIS You have no right to know anything about him. You gave that up when you kicked him out. 7.

ROBERT Would some incentive help?

CURTIS Excuse me? ROBERT I didn’t want to have to do this, but you haven’t left me another option.

Pause.

Either you answer my questions or I’m going to buy the Skylight Club.

CURTIS ...What? ROBERT It’ll cost every penny of what I’ve saved for my retirement, but what the hell do I need it for now? Answer my questions or so help me I will knock this place to the ground. Beat. CURTIS You are one disturbed bastard, you know that? ROBERT I need answers. Now you see how far I’ll go for them. CURTIS Oh, no. I meant disturbed in that, you actually think I’d believe you. You wouldn’t buy this place. If you are dying, which, honestly, I’m still not convinced of, there’s no way you’d be able to accomplish that with the time you have left. Nice try.

ROBERT Appraised value of this lot is $786,000. After taxes, that leaves me at around $800,000 for the purchase. I called your boss yesterday, apparently he’s been looking to get out from under the business for a while, he said that the bar’s seen better days and a remodel would be more trouble than it’s worth. But then you knew that didn’t you? He said an employee had his eye on it for a while, but had no where near enough money for a down payment. I can only assume he meant you? A contractor for the demolition job will take a bit longer to come by, but at that point, if I am dead, the bank will take hold of my assets and I imagine that they’ll be very eager to sell. Maybe they’ll turn it into a Chipotle? 8.

CURTIS You seem to have all of this figured out. ROBERT I don’t have the time to argue about it anymore, Curtis. I’ll make a call in the morning and have it done. Simple as that. CURTIS Simple as that? You’re a monster.

ROBERT I can live with that, if it means I get what I need. CURTIS You really have no fucking idea what you’re talking about, do you? People’s lives depend on the Skylight Club. In what world do you think Kevin would forgive you for destroying the one place in the world where he felt safe? ROBERT I have my reasons. I’m not a bad man, Curtis. I’ve made mistakes that I’m trying to account for, that’s all.

CURTIS And you’re making that my responsibility. Brilliant. ROBERT 20 questions. Then I’ll leave. Fair?

CURTIS No part of this is fair. ROBERT It’s not exactly what I want either. But it’s the only way.

CURTIS Fine. 20 questions. Then drop dead. Christ, I need a drink. Do you want one? ROBERT I don’t drink. CURTIS That’s not what I heard.

ROBERT I don’t drink anymore. CURTIS Well I’m going to have several. Because this is one fucked up night. Cheers. 9.

ROBERT Cheers. CURTIS So, question one?

ROBERT What is this place? CURTIS Is that a serious question? Or are you really that naive?

ROBERT Serious question. CURTIS It’s a gay bar. Best one in all of Pittsburg, for that matter. ROBERT And what happens here? CURTIS What? What the hell do you mean "what happens here?" ROBERT What I just said. What happens here? CURTIS It’s a gay bar, what do you think? We get piss drunk and dry hump to Madonna songs. ROBERT And my son...he came here?

CURTIS Your son worked here. ROBERT He was a bartender?

CURTIS Ha. No, no he was not a bartender. ROBERT Then what did he do?

CURTIS Do you actually know the answers to these questions? I can’t imagine that you don’t already know this. 10.

ROBERT Please. CURTIS Your son entertained here. Friday and Saturday nights.

ROBERT Entertained? CURTIS He was a drag queen.

ROBERT A drag queen? CURTIS Yeah. A damn good one too. Persephone King, mistress of the Skylight. ROBERT No. You’re lying. That can’t be true. CURTIS It’s absolutely true. Do you want these answers or not? I’m not going to leave anything out. ROBERT I want to know.

CURTIS Then don’t look so damn shocked. ROBERT My son dressed up like a woman.

CURTIS Yeah. As a matter of fact he did. And he was great at it too. ROBERT It’s disgusting. CURTIS No. You’re not going to go throwing words like that around. Not here. I won’t allow it. This is a safe place, and I’ll be damned if I let you talk about him that way.

ROBERT I’m sorry but it’s not right. Men don’t do that. CURTIS Men, women, and everyone in-between have been doing it since the dawn of time. It’s not up to people like you to decide (MORE) 11.

CURTIS (cont’d) what’s right for people like me. For people like Kevin. We don’t need your permission. ROBERT I didn’t raise him that way. CURTIS If he lived his life the way that you raised him, I’m sure he would have been dead much, much sooner. I’m just glad he got the courage to come here when he did. We saved him. God knows what he would have done if he still lived with you. ROBERT Saved him? CURTIS Is that something else you don’t know? Kevin started coming here when he was 16. I wasn’t much older at the time, and the bouncers took pity on these two lost and scared little boys. They let us in, and over the years we got comfortable. ROBERT 16? CURTIS Where did you think he was sneaking off to? ROBERT I thought he had a girlfriend. CURTIS Seriously? Did you know him at all?

ROBERT No. I guess I didn’t. CURTIS That was rhetorical. I know you didn’t. You hated him.

ROBERT I did not. I loved him. In my own way I loved him. CURTIS Well you had a fucked up way of showing it.

ROBERT He knew my thoughts about this lifestyle. How he could have gone out and deliberately disobeyed me, I don’t understand. CURTIS You think this was about you? 12.

ROBERT He had no respect for me, or the beliefs I taught him. CURTIS I’m sorry, do you have another question, or was that it? Because by my count we’re at six, but if you’re done now I’d be happy to oblige. ROBERT Maybe I will have a drink of that after all.

CURTIS That’s probably a good idea. Here. ROBERT I haven’t had a drop, since he left.

CURTIS Since you kicked him out, you mean. ROBERT Yes. Since I kicked him out. It got bad that day, I had too much and things got out of hand.

CURTIS Would you have handled it any differently sober? ROBERT Yes. I think so, yes.

CURTIS You don’t sound too sure. ROBERT I’m not a bad person, Curtis. I’m a Christian man, and I think-- CURTIS Hypocrites love to blame their shitty choices on their religion don’t they? Christian this and Christian that. If there’s a God that can justify so much horrible shit in the world he’s probably not worth believing in, is he? ROBERT Question 7.

CURTIS Fine. ROBERT You were his...friend. 13.

CURTIS His boyfriend. Yes. Yes I was.

ROBERT Did you love him? CURTIS Are you serious?

ROBERT Did you? CURTIS Of course I did. He was the best thing in my life. Of course I loved him.

ROBERT Thank you. For that. CURTIS Excuse me?

ROBERT For loving him. CURTIS Well I didn’t do it for you.

ROBERT That’s not what I meant. Thank you for being there for him. He didn’t have any family around at the end. I’m glad he had someone to make him happy.

CURTIS Is this a question? ROBERT Just let me say this.

CURTIS The last thing I need is your appreciation, Mr. Hartman. ROBERT Well you’ve got it, whether you want it or not.

CURTIS Great. Your son had a partner for his disgusting lifestyle. Do you feel better now? ROBERT No parent wants their child to be alone, Curtis. I wanted anything but this for him but for some reason it made him happy. I’ll never understand. 14.

CURTIS You never needed to understand it. You only needed to love him anyway. And you didn’t. ROBERT I loved my son. I know you’ve done everything to convince yourself otherwise but it’s true. CURTIS I have a lot of evidence to the contrary. Love isn’t disowning your own family because of who they are.

ROBERT Maybe where you’re from it’s not. CURTIS Where everyone’s from it’s not.

ROBERT You’d be surprised what people will do in the name of love. CURTIS Yeah. I bet you would too.

ROBERT Question 9. How did he die? Beat.

CURTIS There’s no way you don’t know the answer to that. It was in all the papers. On the news, even. ROBERT I want to hear it from you. CURTIS I can’t imagine what difference that will make. ROBERT I want to know what this life--this place--cost him. CURTIS Cost him? It didn’t cost him anything. The Skylight saved him.

ROBERT You keep saying that, and yet he’s not here now. If he was still at home, maybe there’s a chance he’d still be alive. CURTIS Is that really what you think? 15.

ROBERT I don’t know. I just want you to tell me what happened. CURTIS You know what I think? I think that you’re guilty and grasping at anything you can to make yourself feel like you weren’t even a little responsible. ROBERT I asked you a question.

CURTIS I know. But I’m not going to answer it. Not yet. ROBERT Did you forget why we’re here?

CURTIS How could I? ROBERT Then you know what will happen if you don’t answer.

CURTIS I’ll tell you what, that will be question 20. I won’t answer it before then. ROBERT Why not?

CURTIS Because you seem to think that he was wasting his life here. You want to know more about how he spent his last year then fine, ask. But I refuse to have you believe that he was unhappy or damned to hell because he wanted better for his life. ROBERT Question 9. What’s is so goddamn special about this place?

CURTIS What? ROBERT You talk about it like it’s some sort of temple. All I see is a dive bar in the middle of Pittsburg.

CURTIS It is a dive bar. It’s a shitty building with cheap booze and a leaking roof. 16.

ROBERT Then why was it so important to Kevin? CURTIS Because his family lives here. None of us are related but we take care of each other because God knows no one outside of these walls is going to do it for us. The people that come here have been cast out from their homes or seen things that you can’t even imagine. But we come here and have a drink, or dance to music that was made for us, and it all feels a little less lonely.

ROBERT And you want to buy it. Why? CURTIS Because of him. We built a life here--and yeah, as unimpressive as it looks to you, it was ours. So that maybe someday we could help out the kids that were just like us. I’m working three jobs, to get enough money for a down payment on the loan. But the funeral set me back quite a bit.

ROBERT I didn’t know you paid for the funeral. I didn’t even know there was a funeral. CURTIS Good. Because you weren’t invited. We had a ceremony here. Churches weren’t our style, but we still had a pastor from the non-denominational church down the street come by to speak. His congregation takes a bathtub full of holy water to the pride parade every year and they do drive through blessings on anyone who wants them. I don’t believe in it myself, but Kevin thought it was a nice reminder that not everyone thinks God hates us. ROBERT God doesn’t hate anyone.

CURTIS Right. Just his fan club. ROBERT Were his friends all here?

CURTIS By the hundreds. ROBERT Hundreds? 17.

CURTIS He had so many friends, Mr. Hartman. And Persephone King, she had fans. And they all wanted to say goodbye. Beat.

ROBERT When he was in high school, he wanted to be in the drama club. He wanted to perform, he told me. They were doing Hairspray and he wanted to be Edna. He said it would made all of his friends laugh if he played the female part. I wouldn’t let him. I know what kids that I grew up with did to boys in the drama club, especially the feminine ones. I didn’t want my son to go through that. CURTIS When you put it that way it almost sounds noble.

ROBERT Yeah, it probably felt that way at the time too. CURTIS And now?

ROBERT And now I just wish I hadn’t tried so hard to stop him from being who he was. CURTIS And it only took him dying for you to realize that. ROBERT Curtis, the way I was raised, you couldn’t just "be yourself." That wasn’t an option. You were either a man with a woman, or a woman with a man. There wasn’t anything in-between. Anyone who tried was depraved and unworthy. CURTIS Do you still believe that, Mr. Hartman?

ROBERT I don’t know what I believe these days. CURTIS What question are we on?

ROBERT I’ve lost count. CURTIS Me too. 18.

ROBERT What was that, when I walked in? You were lying on the floor, looking up through the window. CURTIS I think it’s my turn to ask some questions. ROBERT That wasn’t part of our deal. CURTIS It is now. Are you really dying? Or is that just some sob story you were hoping would work in your favor? ROBERT I’m really dying. First it was the headaches, then the fainting spells, then the vomit. I’ve been healthy my entire life, but I can only assume that now I’m being punished. And I deserve every bit. CURTIS I want to disagree with you, but I don’t think I can.

ROBERT You think I’m the scum of the earth don’t you? CURTIS I haven’t made up my mind yet.

ROBERT I think that sometimes. All the time, maybe. Did Kevin ever mention me? How he grew up? CURTIS Not very often. He told me his mom died when he was young, and that you raised him. It was prying to get anymore information than that. But after a while I found the mental scars. ROBERT I keep asking myself if I did my best at raising him with what I had. I don’t know the answer. CURTIS Why are you here?

ROBERT For information. CURTIS And what will you do with it once you have it? 19.

ROBERT I don’t know. Something to make him forgive me. Some grand gesture to let him know that I’m trying to understand who he was.

CURTIS Why do you need that? ROBERT Because I just do. I know it may not sound like much to you, Curtis, but God is real. He’s real and he judges everything we do. I’m afraid that without something to make up for what I’ve done, he won’t let me see my son again. And that’s something I can’t bear. I need him to know how sorry I am. CURTIS You know, I’m not originally from Pittsburg. I was raised in Atlanta, in a Baptist family. And to make a very long story short, after they found out I was gay, I had an "accident" and ended up in the emergency room with six broken bones. I ran away after that. Wound up here at 17, broke and alone. My family probably thinks I’m dead, and they probably think that they still somehow have the moral high ground. I think the worst kinds of people are those who refuse to learn from their mistakes. So if it’s any consolation, I think you’re doing better than most. ROBERT Just in time for it not to matter. CURTIS Better late than not at all. ROBERT Almost sounds like you’re starting to forgive me. CURTIS I don’t know if I’d go that far. ROBERT Was he happy here? CURTIS He was incredible. ROBERT I suppose that’s all I ever should have wanted, right? CURTIS I’m not a parent Mr. Hartman. But I know that his life here isn’t something I would have wanted to miss out on. It was beautiful. 20.

ROBERT Did he perform right here? On this stage? CURTIS Yeah, he did. When he wasn’t spending three hours making sure every detail of his makeup was perfect.

ROBERT Yeah, well. He always was a //perfectionist. CURTIS //Perfectionist. Yeah. He sure was. Beat. ROBERT Tell me about Persephone.

CURTIS She was...a star. Best lip-sync artist in the city, biggest hair--biggest hip pads, too. She owned the room, and everyone in it. She made this place feel...I don’t know. Like it was worth it. Like the people that hurt us and hate us, sure they have the rest of the world, but we have right here. This magic moment where we were all happy, and together, and free to be whatever we wanted. And yeah, maybe thats a lot to take away from a man dancing in a dress, but...it was ours. It was his.

ROBERT I wish that I had gotten to see it. CURTIS Yeah. Me too.

Pause. You know--the skylight was part of his routine, he would do a Whitney Houston number and say: "You motherfuckers better not stop dancing tonight. God can see you and you don’t want to give him a clear shot for that lightning bolt." It’s stupid maybe, but that’s why I lay under it sometimes, after we’ve closed down for the night, right there on the dance floor. And I look up at the stars and I try to relive every single moment. He used to tell me that one-day the whole sky was going to fall and that we’d have the perfect view. And yeah, I’ll be honest; it was a nice thought, spending the last moments on earth in his arms, right here. But he died, and I had to go on without him. I thought your son would always be there for me. He taught me to love myself when I didn’t think it was possible. And he was just so good. He was the best person I ever knew.

Beat. (MORE) 21.

CURTIS (cont’d) And the sky never fell. But some nights, without him, God I wish it would. ROBERT Curtis, I’m going to call your boss in the morning and put in an offer for the club.

CURTIS What? Why? I answered your questions! ROBERT I’m going to buy it for you.

CURTIS For me? ROBERT Call it my grand gesture. Okay? I don’t know much about what Kevin would have wanted...but I know he’d approve of this. CURTIS Yeah. I think he would too. Thank you, Mr. Hartman.

ROBERT I just need one thing from you first. CURTIS And what’s that?

ROBERT How did he die, Curtis? CURTIS ...He was coming home from his usual Friday night show here. And he was in full drag. He looked stunning. It was his favorite outfit to perform in, it was custom made. He was wearing these shoes I bought him. They were black crystal Louboutin’s in the biggest size they make. They cost me a fortune but it was it birthday and I wanted to do something special for him. He told me that he was too tired to change back into his boy clothes and that he would be fine, it was just three blocks to our apartment. I begged him not to, to wait for me to get off at least, but he said that he was feeling fearless and that nobody would dare touch the Mistress of the Skylight. But he was wrong, and they found his body in the street two hours later.

ROBERT Curtis-- 22.

CURTIS I know that you think that this life is the reason he’s gone but it’s not. It’s the people out there that think this life isn’t one that’s worth living.

ROBERT I know. CURTIS Do you? Because I need you to know that. I bet I’ve had a hundred conversations with you in my head, Mr. Hartman. Each one ends with me telling you that you were wrong and that I wish it had been you. And it would be a big relief to know that after tonight I can finally stop fighting with you. ROBERT I do know. Thank you, Curtis.

Beat

I should go. I don’t know that I was expecting to get what I needed tonight. But I’m glad I did.

Beat

I don’t know where they’ll bury me, but once they find a place, maybe sometime when you get the club together--just how you and Kevin talked about--you can come and tell me about it? CURTIS I’d like that.

Robert takes a last look around the bar. ROBERT This place is a real dump, you know that?

CURTIS Yeah. I do. ROBERT I wish I could have seen it how Kevin did.

CURTIS Would you like to? ROBERT How? 23.

Curtis goes to the sound system and turns it on. The song from earlier plays. Curtis lies on the ground and looks up through the skylight. After a moment, Robert joins him. And they wait for the sky to fall. End of play.