Chicken Salad is a Three Act play that is part of a larger work called Word Salad, a curio
Chicken Salad is a Three Act play that is part of a larger work called Word Salad, a curious mix of sense and non-sense. This neo-dada play extends the focus to meaning and meaninglessness in the style of the Theatre of the Absurd, i.e., comedy, mixed with horrific or tragic images; characters caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions; dialogue full of clichés, wordplay, and nonsense; plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive; either a parody or dismissal of realism and the concept of the "well-made play".
Chicken Salad,
Another Play on Words
John G. Young, M.D.
[at the Theatre of the Absurd Gallery. chicken formation, scan to animus picture on the wall] HALF MAN You go first. HALF WOMAN No, you go first HALF MAN
You go first HALF MAN
No, you go first GEORGE
Neither can go first. They are incapable of independent action. VIDEO OF ANIMUS/ANIMA
[spoken words in poem]
When the two became one,
two were missing.
Reaching to her
to find himself,
lonely, out of touch.
Clinging to her
as she clings to him,
two halves, no wholes,
something sure,
but not much. HALF WOMAN
No, you go first HALF MAN
Chicken HALF WOMAN
No, you're chicken HALF MAN
Just a little. MR LISA Chicken Little? MONA LISA
Is your sky falling? MR LISA Afraid to stick your neck out RUSSIAN MAN
Don't panic. Just go first. GEORGE
I was first. HALFBOY
da, da GEORGE
I was first. JUAN DE PAREJA Father of his country GEORGE
I was the first. BLONDIE
The rooster may crow but the hen delivers the goods JUAN DE PAREJA
Hot chick GEORGE
I was first. MONA LISA
We were earlier. At least I was. JUAN DE PAREJA Which came first, the chicken or the egg? BLONDIE
Don't count your chickens before they're hatched GEORGE
That one laid an egg. JUAN DE PAREJA
No, which came first, the chicken or the egg? BLONDIE
The chicken. The Judeo-Christian story of creation literally says God created birds, not eggs. GOD
That's right RUSSIAN MAN
No, it's the egg. Theistic evolution says chicken eggs are how God created chickens. REMBRANDT
Samuel Butler says 'A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.' GOD
That's right MR LISA Both answers can't be right GOD
That's right JUAN DE PAREJA
Over millennia birds and their eggs evolved from an ancestor species into the species we have today GOD
That's right HOODED WOMAN
Neither came first, since the chicken is the egg and the egg is the chicken-- both came first. MR LISA All the answers can't be right GOD
That's right.
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Added: 1 week ago
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[Act 2 of a three act play, start with act 1]
Chicken Salad is a Three Act play that is p
[Act 2 of a three act play, start with act 1]
Chicken Salad is a Three Act play that is part of a larger work called Word Salad, a curious mix of sense and non-sense. This play extends the focus to meaning and meaninglessness in the style of the Theatre of the Absurd, i.e., comedy, mixed with horrific or tragic images; characters caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions; dialogue full of clichés, wordplay, and nonsense; plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive; either a parody or dismissal of realism and the concept of the "well-made play".
ACT 2 REMBRANDT
What's left? JUAN DE PAREJA
It all began after the BIG Bang. MR LISA What was before the big bang? BLONDIE
The void.
[MT] HOODED WOMAN
The negative space. [earthworks art negative space clip, carving out the "R" negative space] HALFBOY
God REMBRANDT
Did god create man or man create god? MONA LISA
"In the beginning God . . .," the Old Testament writer's story of the creation begins with a creator. For the Genesis poets this is the central truth: Everything proceeded from the word of God. GEORGE
He was first HOODED WOMAN
When Job confronted God about the paternal abuse he was getting. He asked Him who He was. God replied: GOD
"I am who I am" HALFBOY
That's what his Da Da said. JUAN DE PAREJA St. John put it another way, "In the beginning was the Word." The creation was cosmic wordplay.
[put I into world] JUAN DE PAREJA God drops His "l" into the "word"
and forms a "world." Everything was a separate act of the power of God. HALFBOY
da, da HOODED WOMAN RUSSIAN MAN
Yes, yes. It's going to the dogs. BLONDIE
You mean doggerel. SOFIE
[Flip dog to god] RUSSIAN MAN
No, you got it backward, Becket. Get off the bucket
Stop waiting for Godot. [flip] HALFBOY
da, da RUSSIAN MAN
Get off your hobby-horse. HALFBOY
Dada, Dada. That is French for hobby-horse. REMBRANDT Speaking of chickens, did the chicken come before man? MONA LISA
You want to know the pecking order? JUAN DE PAREJA
Man was the last of His creation BLONDIE
No, woman was the Ultimate Creation. She came from Adam's Rib. HOODED WOMAN
[aside with video man with red pot]
painter hurls pigment
onto canvas,
communes with colors.
potter emerges,
throws red pot.
his wheel whirls
spins galaxies,
stars, planets,
black holes--
thrusts us
from primal soup
with 'scriptions
tossed in a bottle
too wet to read JUAN DE PAREJA
You must act, decide in a meaningless world, then fall.
[spider climbing sink] BLONDIE
You climb that mountain, fall back, and climb again. HOODED WOMAN Yet Camus thinks we must be happy BLONDIE
Don't cackle if you haven't laid. MONA LISA
But there is meaning. Religion fills that void. JUAN DE PAREJA
Only if you believe. HOODED WOMAN And which religion do you believe in?
[sophie] REMBRANDT
Don't believe the dogma of free verse. Creation ain't free. It's hard work. RUSSIAN MAN
Do we find meaning or create it? REMBRANDT
I create meaning with my art.
[aside create art] HALF WOMAN and HALF MAN
We find it in our love. GEORGE
But none of it lasts. We eventually fall back down that mountain.
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Added: 1 week ago
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[Act 3 of a three act play, start with act 1]
Chicken Salad is a Three Act play that is p
[Act 3 of a three act play, start with act 1]
Chicken Salad is a Three Act play that is part of a larger work called Word Salad, a curious mix of sense and non-sense. This play extends the focus to meaning and meaninglessness in the style of the Theatre of the Absurd, i.e., comedy, mixed with horrific or tragic images; characters caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions; dialogue full of clichés, wordplay, and nonsense; plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive; either a parody or dismissal of realism and the concept of the "well-made play".
ACT 3 MR LISA Why did the chicken cross the road? BLONDIE
To fly the coop? GEORGE
To get to the other side? JUAN DE PAREJA
No, to beat the egg HOODED WOMAN He wanted to be first? MONA LISA
I see you are early of late.
You used to be behind before,
but now you're first at last. GEORGE
I was first. BLONDIE
No, he was a she. Rosters are he's; hens are she's. HOODED WOMAN She wanted to come first? JUAN DE PAREJA
"A hen that struts like a rooster is often invited for dinner" MR LISA No, why did the chicken cross the road? GEORGE
To lay an egg? HOODED WOMAN She was playing chicken. BLONDIE
No, she wanted to make an omelet. JUAN DE PAREJA
Sounds like the Donner Party. HOODED WOMAN That was no party. BLONDIE
It didn't crack up to be one GEORGE
She ate her young? RUSSIAN MAN
Reminds me of Humpty BLONDIE
Humpty who? RUSSIAN MAN
Humpty Dumpty, the egghead.
Eggheads do fine
If they stay
in their place
But when stray
From their line
As if by design.
They fall in disgrace
With egg on their face. BLONDIE
splat! EGG [Frying]
So, this is global warming.
[aside to Live Green?] RUSSIAN MAN
Fear of violence makes us more defensive and violent
[Picture on me with an ax in tv]
HOODED WOMAN
That what happens when you stick your neck out.
[chickens running around with heads cut off]
[Picture on me with an ax in tv] REMBRANDT
That was no Occam's razor. RUSSIAN MAN
The resulting tension and violence causes more fear. HOODED WOMAN
That seems circular.
[whirlpool] god
That's right HALFBOY
What's left? RUSSIAN MAN
Karl Marx? HOODED WOMAN
No, Groucho. In a retort to a club that did not accept minorities, including Jews, Groucho Marx quipped: "I sent the club a wire stating: Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to any club that will make an exception to accept me as a member."
ANIMUS AND ANIMA
Why can't we get along together?
GEORGE
We want to be first. RUSSIAN MAN
We want to be unique. MR LISA
We want to standout GOD
That's right
ANIMUS AND ANIMA
We want to be part of the group.
MONA LISA
Birds of a feather flock together. REMBRANDT
We want to be a part of the group and we want to be apart from the group. GOD
That's right HALFBOY
We can't be both separate and together, can we?
[echo with foxes, flowers] EPILOGUE REMBRANDT
All chickens are the same color in the dark BLONDIE
Don't put all your eggs in that basket
[Autumn last scene] RUSSIAN MAN
Like the chicken, I wouldn't want to be the first to go into that good night.
GEORGE
Sometimes it's not good to be first. MR LISA
I'll wait for gaado
[spider dropping] MONA LISA
I'll stay with my religious dogma.
[sofie echo]
MAN-WOMAN
We can't leave each other. We' go together.
HOODED WOMAN
No more remarks. HALF-BOY
Ma ma RUSSIAN MAN
No, no more remarks. BLONDIE
Last one to leave, turn out the lights.
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Live Green
Love Mother Earth
As father sun to mother earth
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Live green
Love mother earth
• Reduce, re-use, recycle
• Bring your own bags to the grocery store
• Buy locally
• Take the bus, train, or walk or ride your bike
• Buy bamboo or sustainable wood products
• Turn off the lights when you leave the room
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• Turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth, wash your hands or wash the dishes
• Unplug electronics when you're not using them
• Use green cleaners
• Drive a hybrid
• Put up a clothes line
• Print on both sides of the paper
• Don't use pesticides
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• Bring your mug to your favorite coffee house
• Pay bills online
• Fix leaky faucets
• Upgrade your toilet to a low-flush model
• Plant a garden
• Compost
• Buy or borrow pre-used moving boxes
• Re-cycle, buy recycled materials
• Buy low-VOC paint and donate the leftovers
• Buy fair trade
• Use natural fragrances
• Carpool • Buy organic food and beauty products
• Use cloth napkins
• Replace lightbulbs with halogen bulbs (recycle halogen bulbs)
• Stop idling your car
• Use rechargeable batteries
• Use reusable containers for lunch and reuse your Ziploc bags
• Take your exercise outdoor
• Buy things that will last
• Give your car a tune up -- it will drive more efficiently
• Pick up litter
• Vote for change
• Join a food co-op
• Bring your own bottle of water
• Buy recycled toilet paper
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