INT.

‘THE HISTORICAL ROUNDHOUSE’-DAY

The Historical Roundhouse theatre has existed since 500 BC, but is now
facing a threat of destruction by a real estate company. The ghosts of
past actors from various eras gather to discuss their plan.

ROMAN (GREEK & ROMAN)

Well I for one say we bury their bodies next to ours. A reminder to
the daring, that fate forgets no one. Just as we would in our arenas,
before the whole ‘illegal’ idea came into play. So what if we were
barbaric? We were real.

ROMAN stands up on table in toast of his idea

ROMAN (GREEK & ROMAN)

Those who die for our cause, will do so in honor and... (brief pause)
entertainment.

ROMAN offers a slight smile but is ignored; COURTNEY helps ROMAN off
table

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

Calm down there big man, I don’t think we’ll have to resort to killing
them during a live performance.

FRANCIS (ENGLISH RENAISSANCE)

How about we name the forbidden play and curse them out!

DOBKA rolls her eyes

DOBKA (YIDDISH)
That would cause too many questions. You know, you must really have
some chutzpah to still belive in those old superstitions anyways.

FRANCIS (ENGLISH RENAISSANCE)

I invented those superstitions, Dobka! Shakespeare was my baby and his
plays have attracted crowds for hundreds of years!

DOBKA (YIDDISH)
Yeah well your ‘beybi’ spread the bubonic plague in his theatres
through those crowds, so I would stop kvelling if I were you. (rolls
eyes)

EDWARD (POST DADA)

Why are we still discussing this? Eventually they will discover their
lives are absurd and devoid of purpose, there problem solved.
 ANJALI (SANSKRIT)
No need to be dramatic. We simply need to distract them long enough to
damage their equipment. I can perform one of my classic 10 act plays
yet again.

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

No, they'd easily get bored and return to their work. We need
something bigger. Something that will distract them and entertain
them… I know! What if we-

ROMAN (GREEK & ROMAN)

Sorry to interrupt here, but I do believe if we return to my original
idea it would be quite an extravagance that would truly bewilder our
audience. (smiles deviously)

DOBKA (YIDDISH)
Feh! You just wish to recreate a time that no longer exists. Our
audience would not be interested in any of these ideas. We must let
Courtney speak, she knows what audiences want these days.

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

Adank Dobka. I know you all want to share your stories so what if we
do just that. Each of you may perform a story of your past and this
theatre, people of these days are interested in history, so long as
you make it . Let’s start from the beginning, as each of you go on,
the rest of us will take care of the construction equipment. They
won’t even notice until it’s too late!

ANJALI (SANSKRIT)
I agree! Although we may have lost our popularity in the mid 6th
century,we still can influence modern theater. It will be like our
tales of heroic figures but even better.

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

Exactly!

ROMAN (GREEK & ROMAN)

I don’t know… Will I still be able to stab someone?

FRANCIS (ENGLISH RENAISSANCE)

Ah! Just like in Caesar, we shall stab the might out of a great
leader. It is quite an interesting play.

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

 So, who’s in?

ALL
We are! (in varying tones dependent on character physicality)

ANNOUNCER:
And now the Historical Roundhouse Theatre presents a finale, “An
Actor’s History.”

ROMAN (GREEK & ROMAN)

I shall go first as my story begins when this theatre was built.
(walks onstage)(begins to sing) Hello all, it is my job to tell you a
wondrous tale of men entertaining the world. There were no women
actors, or audience members because history had its faults. We
performed plays like The Bad Tempered Man and Oedipus Tyranus, (steps
to side and whispers to audience) a shocker. And Marcus Pacuolis wrote
famous tragedies that went in high demand. The most surprising part
through all of this, is Greeks and Romans were not so different. Yes
we had our dissimilarities, but we each shared one common theme.
Luxury! Theatre was extravagant, art was lavish too.

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

Did you know he could sing?

DOBKA (YIDDISH)
(shakes head in surprise)

ROMAN (GREEK & ROMAN)

We have come today to explain our history, so sit down, enjoy and take
your seats! (holds high note) Thank you for coming, now I have to get
on running, here’s our next guest you’ll enjoy her, Sanskrit
performer, Anjali join us! (exits)

ANJALI (SANSKRIT)
Thank you Roman. I’m not exactly sure what that was, but fast forward
a couple years I would like to bring you into my world, the world of
Sanskrit. Sanskrit Theater was extremely successful in India during
the Gupta Dynasty. Similarly to Greek and Roman Theatre, women were
not allowed to perform. We used a variety of techniques including
movement based acting and the use of masks. Using rasas, also known as
moods, we set the tones for play such as comic, heroic and erotic. We
performed orally so it was just like storytelling! Today these moods
can be seen in traditional bollywood! Next we have-

FRANCIS (ENGLISH RENAISSANCE)

Now it is my turn! I am an actor from the English Renaissance. You may
know Shakespeare and Ben Johnson and all those other playwrights. But,
did you know about this theatre to which their plays were performed?
As time went by this theatre grew in size and revenge dramas took to
the stage. There was a boom in the 1400s, about 600 years ago. 80-40
plays were produced per year and-

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

Psst- Francis, we need you backstage!

FRANCIS (ENGLISH RENAISSANCE)

Huh? Oh, well folks (quickly speaks) the English Renaissance was open
to all, there were theatons opposed to theatre, and now I must leave
you, here’s Dobka, our Yiddish actor. Please enjoy! (runs offstage)

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

There’s been a problem!

FRANCIS (ENGLISH RENAISSANCE)

What happened?

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

We need someone to unscrew this bolt so we can destroy the rest of
this equipment!

FRANCIS (ENGLISH RENAISSANCE)

(pulls hard) It’s stuck!

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

We’re going to need someone strong enough to yank it out!

EDWARD (POST DADA)

I will do it! The show must go on and I did perform epic theatre.

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

Doesn’t that just mean your theatre didn’t make sense as a
representation of life?

EDWARD (POST DADA)

Well…, yes. But, I can do it!

DOBKA (YIDDISH)
Thank you, Francis! (she appears from offstage with a very forced
smile) Yiddish Theater originated in Europe but was brought over to
the US due to immigration. There were two major booms of this theater.
 One in the late 19th century and one around the 1920s. These plays
were mostly realist in the US and they represented the hardships of
immigrant life. We illustrated our pride in Judaism throughout our
plays and spoke our native language of Yiddish to sometimes drunken,
rowdy audiences.

EDWARD (POST DADA)

Almost got it! Almost got it! (unscrews bolt) There! Right on time.
(goes onstage) Post-Dada was categorized as either epic theater or
political theater. Some playwrights of the time were Lillian Hellman
and Bertolt Brecht. It was influenced by Vaudeville and it was very
revolutionary for its time. In my era, mysteries often went unsolved
in theatre. Now let’s skip ahead a few years to contemporary theatre!
Here’s Courtney, our contemporary actor. Courtney?

COURTNEY (CONTEMPORARY 80’S-PRESENT)

Yes here I am! Today theatre has become accessible through the
internet. In modern theatre audiences tend to be seated in rows.
Sitting closer to the stage had become more expensive rather then
being cheap as in the English Renaissance. During the 70’s there was
a downfall in theatre, so plays started to become more dramatic and
extravagant with crazy sound effects and visuals. Creating plays based
on interviews became more popular and is still a common idea used
today. The end! (runs backstage) Did we do it, did we save the
theatre! It’s almost time for our final bow!

ALL
(smiling) Yes we did it!