 You're up in thank you You get this going here first Good evening ladies and gentlemen, we should not do that to the microphone Can you hear me back there? If I stand right here, can you hear me? Very good Welcome to Aromas, thank you for coming My name is Ed Whitaker, I am with Panglossian Productions And yes, thank you very much We are beginning to do a series of play readings Readings of new plays by new playwrights that we are presenting to the community In a way of developing them for a more fully realized production later on So we do these readings and we solicit feedback from the audience We might have our playwright and see, I don't know if he's Skyping in with us tonight Which I'll talk about in a little bit here But anyway, welcome to this, we thank you for coming And we want to thank Aromas very very much for allowing us to use this spot to do it They have a lot of support, yes They have a lot of support of the arts, if you don't know So they have open mic nights here for music Every week they have poetry readings I wonder if we should shut that door This one too? Yes They also have poetry readings, there's even photography over there A friend of mine actually has his pictures hanging on the wall for sale on the far side over there And they have Pulse Magazine here, which is an area mag about the events that are going on So Aromas supports the arts, thank you for letting us be here tonight If you want more information about Panglossian, it's www.panglossian.org And you can find information about our company on that website We have plays that are upcoming This season is going to be K2, Stream Queens, and Women in Black From about, oh somewhere around May through June, October or something like that So that's going to be, we'll have more information on the website about that But tonight's offering is called In Search of the Amherst County Wildman And it is about a man's 40 year search for Bigfoot He has hired a creature quest reality TV show guy to document his final search for Bigfoot And lots of interesting things ensue So this is by Elford Alley And Elford is, I'm just going to read you a little bit of bio Hello Elford, are you with us? I hope you are Elford is very excited to have his play be a part of Panglossian Productions Elford is a regular contributor to the music blog riffraff.net And has written for Craft.com He recently attended the End Station Playwrights Initiative And currently he lives in Texas with his wife Katie and daughter Ruby So Elford Alley is our playwright And thank him for letting us use his play to test on an audience here Now described a little bit about the play A reading is just that, it's just really actors up here reading their parts And testing out how it's sounding Because this particular production involves visuals as well From some screening and from video footage I decided to go ahead and add some of that into the reading So we're going to be hearing readings, we're also going to see some stuff on the screen And I'll be a little bit going on in the camera here Is that this was a documentary being made So that's what you're going to be seeing tonight And at the end of our production, for those of you who want to stick around We were also, and Lauren can you do this please, can you go ahead and Part of this play development is that We solicit feedback from the audience If you have, now these are some questions that you're getting here That the playwright has wished us to address So if you have comments or offerings about that Based on those questions, we'll be soliciting those from you at the end of the play And any other comments that you want to make There's room to answer the stuff there If you want to make comments in the back, you're welcome to do that So questions are on there, they're pretty self-forward But was any part of the play confusing? Were any of the characters and motivations unclear? Questions like that, that makes sense as you hear the rest of that Alright, so is there anything I'm leaving out? I'll think so Okay, ready Did you want to introduce Cass first? I guess I could, I don't do that afterwards I don't know, I don't I guess something might not get us there Yeah Robert Weathers Steve Holloway Christina Courtwright Westenberger Sharon Hollings Alex Morse Michael Westenberger Stage manager Amy Liles Brandon Lyles on the tech And, uh... I think we got it, Edward Whitaker already said me Always said me Alright, thanks folks In search of the Amherst County Wildman Act one, scene one On a screen above the stage we see eerie footage of woods and fog On stage, a hiker runs from the back of the theater Looking behind in terror Once on stage, she backs across the stage Until the beast leaps out at her roaring The beast is obviously a man in a poorly made suit They freeze In a suit with hair saturated in product James Cushing enters Every year, hundreds of people go missing in the back woods of America How many have fallen victim to the terrifying Wildman of the Amherst County? Good evening I'm James Cushing And this is Creature Quest The sound mixer's bell rings The hiker sits down The beast removes his mask Great job, guys Especially you, John Really felt the primal rage The beast shakes his head Walks off stage, flipping Cushing off Well, I'm serious You're really making that BFA work for you Jesus How many episodes of this? Twenty? We ran out of good monsters three seasons ago I swear to God, Johnson If I have to look at one more dead coyote If someone thinks it's a chupacabra I will murder you In another universe I'm probably giving my Oscar acceptance speech But there's probably another one where I'm trading head for crack So I guess I should count my blessings All right On to Virginia Scene two Mr. Earp? Yeah, he's been looking for big quits since God, probably the sixties It's embarrassing He just gave the map overdoses under control But we still have this guy right here who's looked at Did you know it's been three months since the last of that lead explosion? Small miracles Who's Carl Earp? Scene three Cushing is checking his hair in a small mirror Carl, seen Earp, is standing next to him Is it always this human? It's summer We should move this freak show inside, huh? Nervous? Well, actually Relax, we'll do fine You're working with a professional Thanks Just worried I'll say or do something stupid You like spending 40 years looking for big quits? What? And we're back James Cushing here And we're talking with professional Professional? Really? Oh, sorry Sorry, we'll go again James Cushing here We're talking with professional Monster Hunter, Carl Earp He spent nearly 40 years coming the backwoods of 40 years, really? By your tenure, were you seriously Thinking your life decisions? I mean, come on After 20 years of daytime TV And commercials for ITT Tech You never thought, hey, I ought to give them a call You're just going to make fun of me Relax, relax, I'm kidding Hey, I've been doing this gig for three years And I feel like eating a stuffed nose 38 every morning What? I'm not badgering the guests I'm not badgering, am I badgering? Wow See, Earpier says that I'm not badgering Tell you what, you tell your story And we'll end it later, okay? Yeah, sure You know the drill I mean, you've done a million of these shows, right? Well, 15 My god I got to meet Robert Stepp Terrific, let's do this My name is Carl C. Earp No relation Apparently someone, somewhere thought Why not? Alcoholism runs in my family I expected I had a lot to do with it I've been looking for Bigfoot since God, 1958 I was 10 years old when I saw it Here's where we'll insert a nice reenactment It was huge I mean, I've never seen anything like it before It was enormous, massive You got it still Some people say I've wasted my life But they haven't seen it for themselves Drill My dad, before he left my mom and me He'd tell me stories going way, way back Before there was even a town here People saw it then That's how we bonded, you know Now, this is your last outing, correct? Yeah, they didn't try to make this reservoir For as long as I've been here Now, people are clearing off the land And creeks are already rising Between that and being old as hell I haven't run out of time How old are you? 64 this May That is old I'm 42 So I have quite a few years left To accomplish things Go on I'm going out on a practice run Getting to do what I need And then I'm going out for the last time Staying out there as long as it takes I mean, sure I'd like to prove it exists I mean, if I had, it wouldn't be flooding the bottoms Also, kids might not be trash talking Or leaving with many bags of flaming dog excrement On my porch, I mean, that does get a lot And we're good Thanks Let's pack it up Can I have someone get me a Sierra Mist? Thank you Well, that's it? Yes Did you want some more FaceTime or something? I mean, that's all the footage you're going to get Of course, we'll throw in some reenactments And get some shots of the woods before we call it good Our guy in the suit is excellent Went to NYU, did you know that? I didn't You think you have regrets? Jesus Any day now with that Sierra Mist? I was kind of thinking you won't see me preparing Why? I mean, this is my last search I mean, that's a huge deal for me This is my last work You want this preserved for history or something? Pretty much, yeah I mean, you think it's dumb and I get it But this is all I have I'm only something behind Look, don't take this the wrong way, Mr. Irving These are the people who say that There's no other way to take it No one put a gun to your head and said Waste your life chasing excrement That doesn't matter Yeah, nobody put a gun to yours, neither I appreciate it But we don't have the time We're in the name of Jesus, Mary, and L. Ron Hubbard Is my Sierra Mist! Terrified crew member brings Cushing a glass And runs off stage Thank you They're like animals, you have to break them It won't take much of your time We have to be in Florida hunting this giant squid By next Thursday What if it wasn't for creature quest? Go on It could be a documentary On you? No, well, yes I mean, look at it this way I'm a crazy person Everybody says I'm a crazy person You think I'm a crazy person That could be your angle Interesting You could show this at festivals Oh, I'd be like that anvil documentary Jordan! What was that? Oh, these guys had a whole documentary on a band That was a complete failure I mean, they kept trying long after they should've quit That sounds romantic I mean, it was huge And this'll be just like it Are you gonna do it? The last days of Carl Earp That's a little dark Obsession The tragic last years of Carl Earp How about a title? Let's me hold on just to sliver my dignity Tough one Yeah, kind of is, right? Yeah Thank you Wait Kind of disheartening how difficult this is Got it In search of the Amherst County Wildman I like it You do? Yeah Well then, Mr. Earp, let's do this Scene four Cushing, cameraman, and Earp are entering They stopped at Earp's crumbling mobile home So it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this sighting changed your life? No way It was life changing You can't have an experience like that and not change it, you know? I mean, I saw something Bigfoot or whatever you want to Well, there it is Home sweet home It's a bit rustic Rustic? I'd say your door is nearly 70% duct tape Oh, it seemed better days Is the roof supposed to sink in like that? Not exactly a handyman or anything Do you even have insulation or do the rats in your living in your wall suffice? Hey, maybe I'll discover some lost Spanish gold while I'm out there That would pay for the gas to burn those eyesore to the ground Oh, now you're being dramatic There are homeless people living in boxes sturdier than this place You done, Mr. Cushing? It's leaning Ever lived in a mobile home before? No, but I've also never stepped in front of a moving truck or drank lighter food Well, another one of these Err, picks up an envelope from the ground On it in large letters is written Bigfoot proof photos Bigfoot photos, huh? People send you stuff like this often? Well, one person The light comes up on Robin Hell yeah, send those pictures And they're not Bigfoot pictures They're pictures of my dick If he's lucky Sometimes I just find really weird stuff off the mat Some of it's probably illegals Yeah, Roman's pretty much my best friend So you guys filming a documentary on this last search All these shows like on History and Discovery are coming down here They act like they're all interested But they end up just making Carl look like an idiot Yeah, he watches out for me And sends you dick pics Well, he's an eye guy, I'll give you that Yeah, I started sending him just to screw with him He caught me dropping one off one day We started talking, realized we had a lot in common New the same people He's a good guy I thought being friends he'd stop sending these But now I'm getting them twice a week Do I believe him? Yeah, I believe him He saw something Why else would he be out there doing this? He even said he shot it once But he got away He was so close He got so excited And then come home to find his dad and rent out on him That's Earp's luck He's not making money Everyone thinks he's bad I got a maintenance gig at Sweetbriar College I got retirement I got bonuses What's Carl got? He makes scratch, picking up trash On the square four days a week Oh, don't call him a trash man He's real sensitive about that I'm not a trash man No, pick up trash That'll make me a trash man, doesn't it? Yeah, Romans and I are a guy Mainly from the accident There's a scar in the back of his head It's all messed up When he was like 20 He was driving with his girl Whole country road Kind of drizzly And a car slams into him Kills her He spends all this time recovering He says it's all screwed up Earp told you about that, huh? Yeah, well, I couldn't control emotions For a long time Weird stuff Stabbed my brother with Philips head screwdriver We're arguing who was a better frontman For Van Halen Hagar or Roth Apparently I was a very passionate fan Of Cindy Hagar So there's that He's better He's got an odd sense of humor He tends to piss people off Karl gets me People may laugh But I don't know He has plenty of reasons to hate my guts But he doesn't He's good people Lights go down unruly Earp is showing pushing around his house Cameraman is present Yeah, it's a mess It's a war zone Yeah, but I bet there's fewer stacks Of TV guys in Iraq Most of these are from the mid-90s You know, Mom always said no point in getting new ones They always play the same thing over and over anyway You know, she passed several years ago I just never got around to picking a place up Don't really spend too much time here To be honest It's hard to hear that Yeah, cancer That's what got my mom, too She was younger, though Well, we have something in common Cancer is something everyone has in common Near the end, she pretty much slept around the clock At least it seemed that way Becky had come by That was our hospice nurse She moved her, bathed her I thought I wasn't exactly keen on doing She was a firecracker She said whatever was on her mind She used to say, Karl, dead gummit, you're a trash bin Not a monster hunter Ouch Yeah, I suspect, though Came with a place of love She loved as well as she could But her childhood was hard on her My dad running out didn't help either Something else we have in common I guess that's its own cancer Well, that's a mess But this is basically my command center I got my poster from the legend of Boggy Creek Jet, my ex She got that for me Jet? It's a nickname Her real name is Isis Her parents were... Different No They were cruel No They were also addicted to PCP Her old man was busted But trying to punch his way through a McDonald's window That is just one tractor reference away from being The ultimate redneck story Fair enough Anyway Watching your show Seeing the stuff you guys got That kind of inspired me Check it out Good to know we're making a difference Earth runs off stage briefly Returns dragging a plastic tub And what is this? My gear I got everything Let's see Now I work pretty hard to acquire all this But it's necessary If you want results, you know? Cushing motions for the camera to move in While Earth shows off the contents Of his tub and bag I got digital cameras A couple of those camera traps All on a trash man's I mean, a maintenance man's salary We have some of the same camera traps, actually I haven't had too much luck with them I mean, I got a lot of pictures that dare And marmots Once I thought I had a picture But it was just me walking around the woods So you have as much luck with them as we do? Yeah A couple tape recorders I got some infrared cameras on way away At Heart and Suns Incorporated Pond Have you got anything at all from all this stuff? I'll buy as much as you guys Bury pictures Nothing concrete, you know I'll keep a lot of it in the monstow mobile I am almost scared to ask That's how I get around I got a good deal on an old food truck And converting it to the ultimate big-footin' mobile Jesus, is big-footin' the natural term now? You want a documentary on my search Or a documentary on a sarcastic a-hole Who can't shut his damn mouth for five seconds Apologies Go on Well, I converted the food truck Or Roach Coach, as they're also known It's killing you not to say anything, isn't it? Yes, my God, yes Well, I have my recordings of big-foot yells I use for call blasting You have tapes of big-foot yells Well, so do you guys You use them all the time on the show Yeah, but there are a combo of bear growls And yodels or sound guy came up with What? Nothing Let's hear your call Earth pulls out a tape recorder Presses play, static, and howls are heard There's a ton of them on YouTube Plus, Maniac Vision goggles Tons of videotape from a camera Plus the bed It's honestly... You know, I'd rather sleep there than here So, a lot of memories in this house, huh? Yeah Then again Small town is made of memories You grew up here and never left? No, it's home I left home as soon as I could I wasn't sticking around Oh, not many people do There's a reason? There's a reason to stay, too At least for me My mission My monster It was just mom and me for a long time Dad left at 65 Places to pay for, so that's good Stopped to bring a girl home You know, when the whole town thinks you're a loon There aren't too many opportunities for getting laid Don't exactly have a wide selection No, not exactly So, how long are we talking? How long? You're dry, so when's the last time you get laid? Last time? Lights up on a prostitute Barely dressed Lay down Arms at your side You didn't bring a condom Well, crap You're clean, right? 20 bucks unless you want the fancy stuff Give me a heads up when Lights out on prostitute I don't recall, actually Okay, happens to the best of us Yeah, I guess Ooh, I got some footprints, too See, one of these is fake And the other is real You know how you tell? No The one on the right is fake The toes aren't splayed Which is what happens to a real foot When stepping on the muddy creek bed Leaving tracks behind Plus, there's no mid-tarsal break What? Real prints have a break in the middle Where the mid-tarsal joint is Well, this means they're flat footed And their transverse tarsal joint Has way bigger range of motion Than a human's ever could We have one, but theirs is very different They're definitely not human Plus, one on the left Has dermal ridges Those lines that make up your fingerprints We have them on our feet and toes, too They're impossible to fake Did you get the real one from here? Mail order But I'm still looking I've been reading a lot about primate locomotions So I can recognize the real thing You know, and I'm not trying to be a smartass here But if you put this much effort and study Into literally any other field You probably wouldn't be living in a trailer You sound like my ex She might have had a point Well, guess we'll see what all this has said and done Sure, that's the point of the documentary Uh-huh, well, you ready to go out there? Out there? To the bottom, where I'm going to be searching You can't go with me on the actual search Large group of people will just scare it away Certainly So, we should go out there now How far out there? Scene five Cushing, cameraman and Ir are walking around As they explore the woods Ir is carrying a rifle Cushing is exhausted And struggling with his cumbersome walking stick He sees a bug on it Throws the stick, wiping his hands on his leg How far? How far do we want? I don't know, maybe half a mile You're kidding I might die You're 10 years younger than me 15 That's worse Give me a break I'm a host of basic cable schlockfests I'm not a mountain man What happened to the walking stick I gave you? Had a bug on it So, just brush it off That was a perfectly good walking stick What if there were more? Hiding They watched me kill their friend And suddenly they're thirsty for revenge That's a completely logical thought process Mr. Cushing 2J It's usually quieter out here Damn cicadas How do you move through this stuff? Yeah, undergrowth is getting pretty thick down here Closer we get to the steel parts of the creek The worst of mosquitoes will get too So, heads up Lovely Did you spray yourself? Yeah, picked up the stuff for sensitive skin Smells like summer rain according to the bottle Awesome Better hope that stuff had deep Ticks are thick out here Ticks? Yeah, don't worry I'll check you when we get back I need a check from Ticks To be honest, it's going to get awkward So the forests of Virginia are ticking Mosquito-infested hellhole Crawling with monsters Sort of But the trees Look at them So tall So close together They block out the sun The ground is nothing but leaves and twigs Years, decades Layer after layer Everything out here is older than your parents' parents Anything could live out here Even a monster? Bingo In the 1800s, people would talk about the wild man That lived in the woods Any and said it was a lost tribe More animal than man Old stuff Ancient stuff Crazy stuff? That's such a sad way to see the world So, trumping through the woods Sweating my ass off his enlightenment Could be Works for me So, your dad believed all this stuff too? Yeah He told me stories about him when I was little When I saw the monster, he wasn't surprised He always said if more people saw it They wouldn't build a reservoir Well, it took a long time They're just now doing it I suppose They're flooding all of this? Yep Be one giant lake Hey, watch for copperheads What are those? Snakes Really, really poisonous snakes Of course they are Yeah, I thought you'd be used to all this kind of stuff What you doing creature quest? Work? We usually set up a park Throw on some night vision filters Throw on a guy in the suit Or have some intern hitting trees With sticks for wood knocking You fake that stuff? Seriously? Yes You don't think those close encounters are real, do you? Every show like ours is fake Well, this is real I know That's why we haven't found anything Well, just watch the ground Are you allowed to bring a gun out here? Yeah Anyone can bring a gun out here But technically I'm not There was an incident He shot me Yeah, like, a murder I put my little money To the trust of his big foot You know what I'm messing with here a little bit Got shot in the leg Hurt Bad Jesus, man I was blown out of proportion I nicked him But he started it Running around in the woods like that What do you think would happen? Apparently not that he'd get nicked By a trigger-heavy monster hunter But I did get a shot at The real thing It was the fourth time I saw it And I got a shot at it It fell and ran away How old were you? Just a kid, around 12 Did you kill it? Never found a body I was so close to proving it I got to save our land Makes rich Proved I wasn't crazy Instead, dead, left, bombed, drank And I stayed in the woods Have you seen it again? I saw it again in 1993 So you're okay killing it? Yep What if it's the last of its kind? Or it has a baby or something? Well, how else am I going to prove it? I mean, I'm not going to my grave With everyone thinking I've lost my mind And all I have is blurry pictures And a plastic tub full of footprint casts What? What if nothing is out here? Well, what did I see? A bear? Who knows? You said yourself you were just a kid It's too late to stop now That's not true It is I spent too long in the woods Lost too many years in the trees and creeks I understand, just calm down There's no stopping Okay, calm down Great, I'll shoot you Is there an answer to the guarantees you won't shoot me? Scene 6 Cushing stands in front of Earp's house Earp walks up with a bottle in hand Where did you go? Oh, just running a little errand That really isn't done You could definitely do better I was just thinking that Earp brings a beer bottle with a rag sticking out of it You guys ever hear of a Molotov cocktail? When did you make that? When you and your cameraman snuck out in the brush Smoke a joint I have a prescription I have no judgment here Earp fishes a layer from his pocket Wait What are you? Earp lights it Earp throws it all stage Explosion and fire Jesus, what's wrong with you? Well, don't worry There's plenty of nicer boxes that I can sleep in We should call the police The fire department It'll be burned out by the time they get here Why are you worried? It was your idea It was literally a shack But I didn't mean to burn it down You suggested it But please do not tell the police that What's wrong with you? I told you This is it My last time out No going back Scene seven Earp is on the phone A light comes up on Jet Wearing a uniform shirt from Sheep Hey, Jet Just get off Yeah, but I have to be in Ireland What do you need? You see No, Carl, he's not here Just me Well, there Carl, please I don't have time for this Come on, Jet I was just playing What do you want? I'm gonna be on TV You've already been on TV No, no It's about me, not Bigfoot Oh, really? Yep, just me and my search Good Good for you, I guess So maybe not everyone thinks it's so stupid I never said it was stupid I was with you for almost 25 years You gave up, though Yes When it became pretty damn obvious There wasn't anything out there Jet Carl, you saw the wooden feet That wasn't what I saw You saw them No, no, no That wasn't what I saw when I was a kid It wasn't when I saw 93 It couldn't have really been him Then, good And all that time You only saw it once After he left your mom and you What does that tell you? Nothing You're lying to yourself You never believed me, not really I did, Carl Honestly, I did What I saw wasn't human It wasn't a guy in a suit Aren't you tired of it? A looking? Yeah, I get tired No, well, being everyone's damn punchline Kids come in by to meet you And try enough to laugh When you tell them about what you saw Is that why you left? Because I was a joke to you Yes I guess I didn't expect you to be so honest Well, there it is Maybe you could deal with the smiles and giggles But I sure as hell couldn't Besides, I gave you a choice What choice? Your monster or me If you want to stay with me You wouldn't give me a choice Maybe you're right Maybe I just needed an excuse If I stopped tomorrow, would it help? You couldn't stop I could try I'm married and you can't stop You're right I've been at it too long I will find it, dammit Then what? What? Okay, you find it Then what are you going to do, Carl? Carl The lights go down on her Who exits? Who sits looking at his phone They say a bunch of it No No, I'm not surprised he hasn't given up He won't He'll die out there in those bottoms I don't know, it wasn't It was a lot of things What's the word? Resetment It was a lot of resentment I mean, of course there's always that one thing There's always a straw You'll have to ask him You'll have to ask him Ask him about the letter If he wants to say something he will Or ask him about the feet All I'm going to say is the last time He saw the monster Was right before his dad he left him Right after that time he said he shot at it Or whatever I don't know He just came home and he was gone My husband's about to come home Yes, my husband and Carl know each other It can be awkward You still talking to these guys? What's up? You want to catch Carl? I think he's going down to the bottom tonight Hey, honey Is there anything else? Seen it Cushing is on the bone Pacing I know I know we were supposed to be in Florida But you've got to trust me I've got something better But this is good stuff What? Replace me? You're firing me? Who's going to take my place, huh? John The ass hat and the monkey suit No, no, no This is better than squids This is real We're talking cover-ups Trust me, when you see Look, there are some major things that have happened here And I don't think anybody really understands what's going on We're talking murder, monsters, everything Fine And come get your stuff yourself I have a show to film Cushing hangs up the phone Unbelievable Cushing throws it across the stage Ah, my phone Real shame, guys Yeah, I remember Everybody did that there, doggy I think you can get a purse I think it'll be... Wow Place burned up quick Yeah, it did Well, still got about half a house I'd say a third Really enjoying our little tea party here Whiskey Yeah, it's good stuff I never figured you'd pull a whiskey drinker I blame Westerns I loved them when I was a kid You see these guys covered in dust, sweat Saunter up to a rotted wood bar Get a drink They pause, look it over You like Westerns? Every man likes Westerns Whether they admit it or not I see a man with a purpose, a code Even villains have something they're fighting for No offices, cubicles, just vast, empty spaces Never cared for Westerns much What do you like? Monster movies Makes sense to me So, what are you going to do now? Finish your documentary Really? It's your legacy Probably mine too Thanks You won't have much more to do What? I don't think I can stand up Lightweight Then again, I drink to drown sorrows And working a creature quest has given me Plenty of sorrows to drown Oh, God, come on I mean, there are worse jobs out there You weren't digging ditches So at least I can say It was better than digging ditches Maybe in another universe there is a me digging ditches A me that would have killed the host at that stupid show What are you talking about? We had this guy on the show Talking about multiple universes That every time you make a decision No matter how small It creates an entire universe You decide to drink a Dr. Pepper instead of a Pepsi There's two universes you created right there That sounds like a lot of bull to me Coming from a professional Bigfoot Hunter Touché So I always imagine these universes Where I'm rich, famous, or destitute and forgotten I wonder which ones are the better ones Which ones I'm the happiest in Or am I the same in them all? You know, you saw the kind of guy Who could be sharing a bed with 20 supermodels On a mansion on a hill And still find crap to complain about Probably right Damn straight We talked to Jet She mentioned some footprints I don't want you talking about it Also something about a letter She wouldn't say anymore Forget it I don't want to talk about it You wanted a documentary So I'm documenting the good with the bad I'm a joke to you I know that I'm the only chance I have to leave Something behind a record Even if it's this I don't think you're a joke I did I thought you were an uneducated Backward tick You're still an uneducated Backward tick You want to do something different Make your mark on the world Why are you still chasing this thing? To prove it exists You think you're destined To prove it exists You're destined to do something great Everyone thinks they're destined for greatness But few try and even fewer succeed Did you? My big boss was hosting creature Quest, what do you think? I wanted to do Shakespeare On Broadway I wanted to do edgy plays About drugs and sex off Broadway I wanted to star in movies Knowing all those little bastards That pushed me around in high school I wanted to be great You wanted a lot of things It's not over yet For me or you You saying we quit? No, I'm saying we do this I'll go with you, screw it I'll leave the cameras behind And do something great? Yes, tempting Very tempting But I still think we should finish the documentary first Oh, no I can't do that It's like a rocket of stuff Fake feet and lost letters And my star My star Is holding out on me Of this little film? Definitely Come on, just tell me But I don't want you to put it in the documentary We'll play it by ear Let's hear it The thing? I found him when my mom died She hid him from me I was going through her stuff Saying what to keep What trash I found Wouldn't cut out A giant human footprint Nailed to the bottom of a couple old work boots Whoa That had to be And there was a note? Yeah, the note She wrote it years before Telling me that it wasn't real And dad faked it There's no monster? I didn't say that Come on Don't look at me like that So she let you keep running around Hunting monsters In this note dated January 7, 1988 She told me how they first Wanted to build this reservoir back in the 50s And that's about the same time they found Those footprints up in California And coined the phrase bigfoot So my dad He got this idea Which was? Well convinced people that there was a monster in the woods Might delay the reservoir Had scientists and stuff looking around People could keep their land Nobody gets hurt Pretty clever But then I saw him He thought it was funny So he kept going out there So I could see the monster It was him the whole time? No, no, no, no There was a monster A real one That's what I saw That dad hit it I ran home to tell dad But he'd already left Yeah, Jett mentioned that Your dad disappeared the same day You shot the monster He left, he didn't disappear He just drove away? Well he left his truck But yeah, he was gone Left my mom and me I came home Told her I shot the monster So he started crying Leave a note or did she report him missing? Why are you asking? No idea where he went Never knew Mom and him never exactly got along So he was willing to dress up like a monster To make you feel good about yourself That's not the kind of dad that runs out My dad drank Mad Dog 2020 Like it was on tap And this turns wailing on me and my brother That's the kind of dad that walks out Well when I got home dad was gone Mom was torn pretty bad He wouldn't even look at me for the longest Without his truck? Did he hitchhike? I don't know Cushing And the first thing you told your mom was that you shot him Yeah You ever think that might be the reason she never gave you that letter? What are you talking about? Karl Don't take this the wrong way I think you killed your dad Blackout Act 2, scene 1 Blades a bun jet Why'd you have to say that? And we don't know that for sure Have you talked to him at all? I keep telling Roman to get over there And check on him He don't need me checking on him You're his friend He's a grown man He don't want to talk Don't do that Fine, I'm going That's how I got a new car And tickets to Travis Trick Without saying one word You did that one thing Roman used to bun me for all the time? I'm married, I made my dues Scene 2 In a stage shirt And boxers Roman enters Putting his wallet in his back pocket You could've knocked I did, you didn't answer You could've taken the hint Instead I picked your lock with my driver's license You picked the lock The entire half of the house was burned down Yeah But I would've got ash all over the floor Sink rude, you know What are you doing here? Checking on you Chet senior? Yeah Did she do that staring thing? Oh yeah Sucks Didn't shoot my dad Roman Ah So this wallowing and self pity thing Is completely unrelated to it Shouldn't you be nailing my ex-wife? Well there's time for that For sure Right now I just want to know how you're doing For real, not to get all mushy and all But You can't talk to me now I never I guess I never thought Those two things were related Two separate events I never put them together You were a kid I was 12 No better You weren't the one dressing up like a monster to scare people So I guess that's it But what? Your whole big part Your movie I'm not quitting Wait, why not? What's the point? You sound like Jet Because you know there's nothing out there No, there's a monster out there Roman Buddy, come on My dad might have been dressing up like one but he wasn't the only thing out there That there were sightings long before he was even born Yeah, sightings He told you about it You want me to quit? Yeah Jet wanted me to quit 40 years, just to quit Look, no one thinks any less of you for being trick I'm not stopping You're a grown man You know what you think is right Thank you I'm still here, you know For you Stop that crap I'll see you later Yeah, later Scene 3 Yeah, we heard People have been saying this for 3 years now Come on, old man What's up I don't Get out there trying to be some monster Boy looking for one Something was found to happen No I don't know if I have an investigation or anything Well, when they hailed There's nobody No sign of any foul play You can do any one of these Guys, who do you arrest? No No That's sad Bastards had enough to go wrong I don't know about how long I was a kid What is not a problem When we see the constitutional thing Talking about how long it took That stuff is Scene 4 Cushing, Err, and Camera Guy are walking Deep in the woods We don't have to finish the film What about your big comeback? Don't worry about me, I've got a few projects on hold Now you don't Fine, I don't But considering everything that's happened I've thought about it and we don't have to do this No, you put too much time in Are you okay? I keep asking No funny comments No rolling your eyes at me There's nothing to laugh at Carl This is serious Maybe that's not what happened Maybe your dad just ran off Yeah, if I'm lucky Maybe my dad just didn't love me I guess there's no win in this scenario Explain why my mom hit the note One of the monsters is better in prison I suppose What I don't understand is why you're still out here You saw the wooden feet Your dad disappears the same day you shoot the monster What are you looking for? Maybe dad pretended to be the monster once or twice But he wasn't there that day I mean there's something out here Let's stop and think for a moment No going back, remember? Look, I know what you're doing What are you talking about? You're the one who told me about my dad Now you're acting all sad like you want to help I do You don't want to stop the fool You're just saying so Convince me that you're looking out for it Carl, listen to me You're my friend I'm not trying to I know what you're doing You got canned Now you want to make sure this little movie is nice and juicy What are you talking about? That you just have and put together the clues No one else knew Everyone else knew Your mom knew Those barney five one of these downtown knew Earth pushes cushion Okay, okay, Carl Earth pushes cushion again Seriously, stop it Seriously, stop it, seriously You seriously want me to stop it? I'm warning you You better walk away This is ridiculous Okay I bet you used to get pushed around like this all the time Stop it Carl Earth gives him one defiant push Okay, that's it Earth stumbles backwards giving his biggest Come at me, bro expression Bring it on, weeny boy Don't ride and chase your social security Can't catch grandpa Earth yells and tackles cushion They grapple at each other until cushion awkwardly Crawls away That was the single saddest fight I've ever been in Earth remains on the ground Oh, God Are you crying? Oh You're like an old girl I was holding back you bastard I'm crying because you're right Okay About the film? About my dad, it was him It had to be Sorry I'll admit at first I thought it was something that could really push the documentary over the top But after I got to know you I haven't filmed anything about your dad Not one second Really? And I'm surprised too Actually And I won't I appreciate that Unless you want me to It would be a nice twist wouldn't it Nothing earth-shattering for the audience I didn't mean you But it could definitely help keep the audience invested I'll think about it Sure But I saw the monster in 1993 At least I thought so I mean it was dark out Why do you keep looking Carl We don't have to put this in or Anything else Because a dead beat dad is better than a dead one If I find that monster Then I didn't kill my dad If I'm a dad Well then I guess I'll have closure In a nice cell somewhere This really is your last chance Once they flood the bottoms Anything that was out there is lost forever I have to know What did I see Jesus look at this place Earth stands up Yeah People that own land are clearing it off Selling the trees for lumber Wow The bomb went off Yeah Might as well I've seen man made lakes and reservoirs where the trees were left They all die Top sticking out of the water like a bunch of skeletons Trying to stay above the waves Sad thing to see Do they just die and fall down? No They stand there jutting out of the water Like they haven't given up being what they were before Long after me and you were gone This is awful Seriously What are you going to do People need water People need land I'm just glad I had it as long as it did You grew up here Yep I don't give a home anymore Hell, the trailer will be under water too Why are you still there? Doesn't the government pay everyone? Yeah, but I guarantee most of that are staying His home isn't just a building Where are you going? I'm not worried You should be, you'll be homeless Maybe I'll pass from you Yeah, that would be a Maybe I'll find it Yeah I'll find it I'll find it I'll find those ones Going back to the van Go Get me a friend Ask me something Will you be honest with me? I dare This is a suicide mission We're doing this You get the tragic, tragic I'll get over you I'm going to get my own clothes. Swear, swear. OK, OK. Did she leave you for a woman or a woman? Feet, feet. After mom, down, down. Out you have. Hey, hey. My third, my third ex, I've been for my creature quest for clothes. He's hosting me on the exam. I'm the, I'm the, I'm the, I'm the, I'm the. In the whole of Earth, there's been a question. I think for a month or I haven't she decided she doesn't need to pay for it anymore. Sorry, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. Well, Jeff, I'm sorry. I'm not so happy about that. Couldn't stop, stop. Tell her she found something else. Flicks, go down, I know she can't. Scene's on it. I saw her. She didn't order the poor girl. She wasn't happy with him. He told me he wasn't happy. I told her all of a sudden that we had to stay right. Hell, if here's where we'd be, I don't know. You got over? I did my way. Away along with him. Like, I knew when Roman and I were down here. And we check in on him, just to see his stories. I mean, I'm supposed to grow out the pizzas after work, but I stay in my kitchen across so we can bait the student we're bringing in. You believe that? He baits the monster, the cold pizza. Or they eat some himself, which has too much point to say anything about it. So you know, this is an obsession, a blind obsession. I want to stand out there as long as it takes. Succession, state, and everything else from him. The only thing left is his life. Actress run, camp and trip. Then he's going out later for his hell or high water trip. He says this is it. He's probably right. Well, it's better water for him. Scene six. We've been trying to get the reservoir built for years now, brought a lot of money into town, for a lot of people and jobs too. Yeah, the people in the farms kept holding it up. Especially as your earth and his family. I don't know if the big deal is just buy another house. A home's a home, right? Plus, in the suburbs, you have no bugs, no animals. Just sidewalks, trim lawns, pretty houses. God knows we got enough homes empty too. Cheap. Right nice, you ask me. Scene seven. I mean, I'm supposed to grow up. Lights up on Carl. He's wearing a camo jacket and carrying a stuffed backpack. Here we go, fingers crossed, gentlemen. This is the trial run for the real thing. See how long I can make it out there? I think maybe. I think this time, I sent some food by some camera traps, pancakes. I hear they love pancakes with lots of syrup. Hopefully they got some. Otherwise, back out here for as long as it takes. OK, as far as you guys go, they'll want you spooking the beast. Scene eight. Three days. A foal breaks his ankle and is out there for three days. I don't know how he did it. Doctor says it's fine now. Some kids found it. All he says to me when I get there, did you check my camera traps? I told him not to go out there. I told him I don't think he's a bad guy. And I know he believed in something and never got it down. He never gave up. Can you guys say that? Can you say that you believed in something so much he wouldn't sacrifice everything? I know I'm crabbing for him. I ain't. He enjoyed me a lot. Lights up on Earth in a wheelchair and gown. Doctor said I'll be over there soon. pneumonia, exposure. I figured I'd die out there. How can I stop? No one remembers the guy who tried. They only remember the guy who did it. I haven't done it. I gave him my life. Check. My jobs. Hell, my reputation. My mom. God, she didn't need all that. Not with that guard. Is that all? You guys need anything else? Lights down on Earth. I mean, he won't stop. Look, I'm out there and he'll die out there. Wait. He's right. He's determined. He won't stop until the bottle is under water or he dies out there. I mean, stop there. Lights out. Earth is no longer a wheelchair bound. He's carrying a box. Jet approaches. Carl, Earth drops the box. Jet, how are you? Good. Roman said you'd burned your house down. Well, not all of it. I still got a third that's habitable. That's good. You're going to wish me luck? You can't go out there. You nearly died. It was an accident. Carl, you're old. We all are. We're not in spirit, baby. Jesus, Carl. My fire's still going strong. Shut up. I'm glad you came to see me. Now, we don't see you much outside of work, you know. I know. I appreciate it. No problem. We love you, you know. Stop that. What? You don't love me. I do. No. You pity me. Yeah. Well, I don't want that. We're still friends, Carl. I don't want to be your friend. Well, then what do you want, Carl? Jesus. Well, you love me like you did. I mean, I want you to look at me like you did. Well, what about Roman? Screw him. You know, I love the guys like you. I want you back. I want what we had. We can't, Carl. Just listen. I'm sorry. We can't. And I won't do no good talking like that either. I mean, you threw out my cameras and pushed the monster mobile into the lake? Even if they amass my tapes and plaster cast? I mean, everyone wants me to quit? Then do it. I will. This one time. I will, right now, if we can go back. Now, please, I'm serious. I'll quit. Complete cold turkey, right here, right now. Come on. What do you say? Excuse me, I need to get ready. What was that? I do love you, Erk. You do? Maybe not in the way you want, but I do. Scene 10. Erk is packing a bag and getting dressed. Cushing is standing beside him. Angle's almost healed up. Well, Jed Roman already tried to tell me out of it. I'm going. I'm not trying to talk you out of it. That was a stupid accident. What happened this time? I have another offer for you. Before you say no, hear me out. Go on. Cushing pulls a large wooden human foot from his coat. We fake it. No. Wait, now, just listen. I'm not a fraud. We have a suit. We have cameras. The trick is to make the footage just a tail enough to be intriguing, but just shaky enough to be inconclusive. Won't really prove anything, will it? Well, that's not the point. What? That's exactly the point. This way, you save face. You bring back footage. People will believe you. The law believed me. Well, not everyone, of course, but definitely more. No, it'll be suspicious. And I got this footage after hanging around the creature quest guy. I'll come out, and I'll say I never believed you. You don't. Well, that's not the point. I'll say the footage is compelling, that we need further expeditions. Think about it. What your dad tried to do, we'll do it. No more reservoir. But we'll have to keep it up. Keep faking pictures and prints. We won't. Well, then how are we going to keep convincing people? Look, people see what they want to see. You get a bunch of bigfoot hunters out here, and I promise you, they'll start telling stories of howls and wood knocking, quick sightings, a whole nine yards. It'll be in their heads. But what do you care? I know. Everyone that knows me, Roman and Jack, they know I sold out. I promise they'll be happy for you. Then what would I have? No, I'm going out. We can do this. I'm going. Just give yourself another week. Deal? Just one more week. I'm going out there. Well, let me go too. Seriously, I've been camping. I even hiked a little once. Sorry, James. This is just me. I get it. I do. I get it. You need this. And I'm not saying don't go out there ever, just not right now. Creeps are rising. The bottom's been cleared out. You saw it. I'll erase the tapes. That's right. No more documentary. Yes. I'll do it. Then what? Oh, you won't. You name as much as I do. Carl. Carl. Don't tell anyone. At least give me a head start. Go get a head start. That's all I'm promising. That's good enough. How long are you going? As long as it takes. Days, weeks, I don't care. I can send my camera, man. No. Like I said, don't want to risk scaring a monster. Hey, you know that stuff about alternate universes you were talking about? Yeah. I wonder if there's one where I don't site it. I wonder what happened to that universe. Nothing exciting. Yeah, you're probably right. If you're going to go, you better go. Clock is running on your head start. Thanks. Just please don't die. I may have to dub some of your audio when we start editing, and then I'll be a pain in the ass if you're dead. Yeah. Good one. Wish me luck. Good luck. Scene 11. Back in the 70s, people were really interested in that street. My uncle had a little stand. Hey, good money selling souvenirs and shirts. That's still up, Mr. Earp. I gave him a week until all the badger died out there. One week, two months. What do you say? On the screen, there are shots of the woods, of police cars, and police officers walking through the woods with dogs. We know these cops comb through those woods, walking in long lines, dogs, and everything. Rowland was out there for days looking for him. No, no, OK. That's a stupid question, is that? No, he wasted his life. He saw something. No one dies, just a mess of something. Put that in your documentary. Let them know, Carl Earp, was it crazy? I don't like to hit you. Help. Yeah, maybe those insurers will stop coming around. It's not what I'm talking about, it's nice. He was shot, so I'm really poor at filming that. I heard you was unbalanced, you know? I never really knew. Lights up on the hiker who is dressed in the same outfit as Earp, along with a fake pouch and terrible old age makeup. She's looking around, walking off stage. Cushing walks on stage. It's been three years. The body of Carl Earp was never found. And the bottoms are now a vast reservoir. Once the water rose, a couple of fishermen came upon a cave that was once high in the hills, now sitting at water level. Inside, there was a skeleton clad in a costume made from a ghillie suit and some scraps of a moth-eaten fur coat. He'd been there for decades. Using dental records, the body was positively identified as that of Franklin Bubba Earp, Carl Earp's father. They also found footprints where someone had recently visited the cave. Beast walks on stage, following hiker's path. In the end, I like to think that Mr. Earp found his monster, that he, I'm James Cushing, and this has been creature quest. The sound mixer's bell sounds. Beast pulls his mask off, wiping away the sweat. He smiles and pats Cushing on the shoulder as he walks off stage. Lights fade to black. End of shim. Thank you, cast. That matches better. All right, is Alfred online? Do we know? Can we tell? I know a way of knowing. Right. Maybe? Maybe. He could text you. Yeah, he could text me if my butt buzzes, then yeah. We'll know. Great. Anyway. Yeah, it's probably not done yet online. Probably not. So at this point, folks, what we'd like to do is just take a look at the questions that we passed out. And if you don't have a sheet here, I will reread them. Rather than collecting them and stuff, I thought maybe we'd just offer take your comments from right where you are. And we are recording this. And so any stuff we put down, Alfred will hear. Again, this is just feedback towards putting this on a more fully realized production. So I'll just sort of read these off and we'll get your comments down. I'll try to repeat them. And Lauren, is it OK if I can record these? Or are you looking at something else, too? I was going to. Yeah, OK, we can do that. Let me see. I can also. You're going to do both? Yeah, I actually, Michael, you want to write some stuff down? I'm going to video tape it. OK. OK, I've got one of those. Oh, can you read the right one? I'm just writing some of the stuff in the comments so we can get back. We can collect. We can also collect people's stuff afterwards if you want to. But I'm just making sure we record some of these things for folks who don't have the sheets. Anyway, let's just open this up. So first of all, let me just go to any general comments that people want to have to say, either related to the questions or just feedback you have right off the top of your head about it, if we can record. All right, any confusing parts? First question. Any characters' motivations unclear? Here's a better way of doing this. Tell you what, just read off what you got if you wrote anything down. I'm not going to go through the questions again, but what I put down here, one of the things I kind of noticed and cast, you also, as you've been doing this, please give your comments to this so we can record. But one of the things I'd like to see more, I think, is to flesh out Roman and Jett's characters, especially their relationship to Carl. I don't think we get enough of that in this particular iteration of it. So maybe some scenes that sort of flesh out some of the background stuff, but especially building that relationship between both Roman and Carl and Jett and Carl. We get a good backstory for Roman. It begins that, but that just made me curious. I wanted to see that stuff, especially more on the stage time. And also, I'd like maybe to see a little more in the play about the cost of losing the home. One of the things that struck me in listening to this today was that we hear a lot about the bottoms are going to be flooded. I'd like to see what the townspeople's reactions to that is, especially Carl's and Jett's and Roman's, and maybe that being another piece of the play. Not just a story about hunting bigfoot, but also what it's like to possibly lose this. So what is the cost and the advantage of continuing this thing for Carl? I think just need to see that more at the side. So those are my shots about that. Yes? I think the actors did very well in building the relationship. And I think that's something between Cushing and Herb all said a little bit more time. It kind of goes from this jerk to friends in a relatively short play. So you don't want to belabor it. I understand that. But I think a little bit more to just kind of understand Cushing and Herb. There are some good things in there, but I think you'll Yeah, good. OK, so between Cushing and Herb as well. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. There was a specific bonding moment. Yeah. Not a specific bonding moment. Yeah, OK. Hang on here. He's there. OK, yeah, that's what's here. And Katie, too. Katie Alley, 7, OK. Yes. So yeah, that's great. Thanks. Any others? Any other comments you got written down? Any confusions about the, I mean, it's hard to kind of know this, but I think it's easy. It's all right. It's Elford and Paul. It's us. Thank you. And one, just curiosity, the cutaways of that decision you made or was that indicated in the script? Some of the, good question, Joe. Thanks. The question, some of the, were some of the cutaways, what we made here is an indicated script, both. Elford Riddett wrote it. Elford wrote it. He done Riddett. He done Riddett. For there to be both video footage, film footage, and stage action going on. So some of the decisions that I made about what was up on screen were mine just for this reading and some of the continuity of it. The addition of the live camera feed was not necessarily something that was put in the script, but Elford leaves a lot of room for suggestion of making that work. He also, in the cast, we use different people for the, other than the cast for townspeople. He double casts it or triple casts it. So he's really kind of open to how that would work out. Not sure if it was done on stage by doing exactly the same thing as I was watching it today, but I think I would want to use both films. Yep. Yep, Jane. True. Question for Elford, if you can't hear it, is, was the reservoir an illusion to Smith Mountain Lake out there because certainly property values rose when they did that. I have no idea. Good question. Yeah, Joseph. I know it isn't a suggestion, but just kind of a curiosity. Did he ever consider putting any other people who were happy that the bigfoot searches pushed off the contractors or at least someone else who was appreciative or kind of anti-reservoir movement? We only saw that. Right. So the question, Elford, is could there be some other people who are happy about contractors being pushed off the land, so happy about possibly being successful? Yeah. Or at least the other people admit that they've come to terms with it. Or, yeah, or people admit that they've come to terms with it, with the reservoir being. Yeah, it was happy to move. Oh, it would be happy to move. Yeah, so both things, yeah. OK. The most thing that reservoir, I had thought about it, so I just heard you all talk about it, but it gives it the story of law on two different levels. Right. It's the community law abandoned person of law. Yeah, the reservoir aspect. Reservoir aspect being showing a loss in two different levels and the community involvement with that. Thanks, yeah. Any others? Thank you very much, folks. And if you would like to give us your forms, if you wrote anything down, please, you can leave with Lauren there, and we'll record that. And thanks for coming out. Thank you, Aromas, for letting us do this. And congratulations. Oh, thank you. OK, Mike's going to pass out, actually, a flyer that has Panglossian's season, or the plays that we're going to be doing this season, so add with that. And we're trying to do, what I didn't say before, Panglossian's trying to do something like this, so a new reading once a month. We have a date. And do you have a date? It's April 6th. OK, April 6th at Newtown Art Gallery. Newtown Art Gallery in Williamsburg. So at the 6th, I guess we don't know the time yet. 6 PM. OK, April 6th, 6 PM, Newtown Art Gallery. And the play is The King's Face. So come on out for that, if you like, and thank you all very much for showing up. Thank you. Thank you.