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The Jeweled Eye: Part I
A Play By:
Equilibrium Theater Company
The North Fourth Art Center and Statewide Outreach, offers people with disabilities the opportunity to create and present artwork in a dynamic and inclusive environment. VSA arts of New Mexico owns and operates the North Fourth Art Center, which houses a variety of resources, including an extensive visual arts studio, a 150-seat black box theatre, and a newly renovated gallery space. Programming at the center includes literary, theater, video, dance and performing arts classes, providing participants with opportunities to enhance their lives and community through rich and various interactions with the arts.
Equilibrium Theatre Company was founded four years ago as an outgrowth of theatre classes offered in the Day Arts Program. It is a mixed-ability company focusing on exploring and explaining social issues, especially those related to disabilities. Each year the company develops an original piece to present in educational and community theater venues.
VSA arts of New Mexico is an arts education and advocacy organization, dedicated to making the arts accessible to persons with disabilities. VSA arts of NM provides programs and services which enable individuals of all ages who have disabilities to take part in cultural life throughout the state of New Mexico. VSA arts of New Mexico is part of an international network of VSA arts organizations, coordinated through a headquarters office in Washington, D.C. and affiliated with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Act I:
Curtain Opens.
Many people are searching for something unknown. Suddenly, the music stops. Everyone freezes. The Woman in Gold enters and dances, but no one watches her. She sighs. A voice speaks.
-trumpet-
VOICE: The year is 1942. The place: a big, lonely city, surrounded by nothing. A lot of nobodies going nowhere. Dark times. And in the middle of it all, two detectives, Frank Logan and Mike Moon, try to do a little good.
A telephone rings. Detective Frank Logan enters. He answers the phone.
LOGAN: Logan here…Slow down. I can’t hear you…Stolen from where?… The museum, huh? Yeah, yeah. Give me twenty. I gotta get my wits about me. (hangs up the phone, and sighs)
VOICE: And that’s the way it started. A theft in the dark. A telephone call. A simple case.
Frank exits. Detective Maritsa “Mike” Moon appears, narrating.
MOON: There I was, in the dark of night, waiting to see about a stolen jewel. Or something like that. I made myself invisible at first so I could watch other people.
VOICE: It was nearly dawn by the time they got to the museum boss. He was as straight as a pencil but not as sharp.
The Museum Curator, Guard, Police Commissioner Oliver Jones, and Cop are all gathered.
CURATOR: I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it!
JONES: You fell asleep? Crime doesn’t sleep!
GUARD: I like to sleep.
MOON: We needed to talk to the guard, but he was getting grilled by Oliver Jones, the city’s head cop. Kinda guy you could hear on the other side of the room. He never stops talking and he never stops eating. You’d expect to see food flying out of his mouth.
JONES (to Logan and Moon): What do you two think you’re doing here? Get out, but quick!
CURATOR: Are you here to help? Our most precious item has been stolen!
LOGAN: Yeah, some jewel got hijacked?
CURATOR: Not just some jewel! THE jewel! The jeweled eye of the Golden Phoenix!
LOGAN: You didn’t see anything?
GUARD: No fingerprints, no nothin’.
JONES: You slugs are holding us up!
MOON: So what’s this Golden Phoenix? Is it a painting or something?
CURATOR: Heavenly days, no! The Golden Phoenix is an extremely rare artifact from the 7th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt!
LOGAN: Huh?
COP: A phoenix is a mythological bird that lives for 500 years. When it dies, it burns up and then rises from its own ashes.
LOGAN: But you said something about the eye?
CURATOR: Yes, the right eye is a jewel of such rarity…oh, it’s too much for me! Please, just find it! That jewel is worth more that life itself!
MOON: That’s a lot of dough.
JONES: All right, flat-feet, now we need to do some real work. Reporters are going to be all over my keester as soon as you can say—
Reporters enter in a frenzy!
REPORTER 1: Commissioner! Commissioner! Is it true that the jeweled eye of the Golden Phoenix has been stolen right under the nose of the museum?
REPORTER 2: How do you plan to find it?
REPORTER 3: Where do you plan to start looking?
JONES: People, please! All we know is that some no-brain guard fell asleep, and the jewel was gone!
GUARD: I didn’t mean to.
Reporters write furiously.
LOGAN: C’mon, let’s get outta here.
Logan exits.
MOON: I wanted to get the answers to the questions that lurked in my mind, but I didn’t know where to start.
Moon exits.
REPORTER 3: What do you think about the myth of the jewel?
JONES: What myth? This is a straight-forward case. There’s a jewel, and there’s a thief. Look, I’ve got work to do. This interview is over!
Jones chases the reporters off stage.
GUARD: I don’t mean to fall asleep.
CURATOR: I know you don’t. I came here to run a fine museum. But in this city, it’s all people chattering and loud noise. Strange town.
They exit. Logan and Moon enter. They set chairs up like a car and get in.
MOON: Frank and I headed to our office. Things to figure out.
LOGAN: Well, what do you figure, Mike?
MOON: I figure, why steal an eye when the whole bird is worth a lot?
They fall into silence. The Voice speaks.
-trumpet-
VOICE: Our lives are a mystery. Frank Logan and Mike Moon get paid to live in it. A gun, a cigarette, jazz music. It’s all the same. They take in tons of random nothings, and add it up to a solution. Mystery has a very strong power. Like two magnets, just dragged into each other.
Suddenly, a Woman in Gold flashes by them.
MOON: Look out!
Logan stops abruptly. The Woman in Gold vanishes.
LOGAN: What was that? Do you see anything?
MOON: Maybe it was a shadow.
Logan and Moon get out of the car and exit. Lorraine Honey, Moon and Logan’s secretary, enters. Their office is set up.
HONEY: I’m a night person. So I could walk around all night, have some coffee at three in the morning, and be at the office by four-thirty. It’s an exciting life. I take a lot of notes.
Moon and Logan enter, pass by Miss Honey.
MOON: Watch where you’re going next time!
HONEY: What happened?
LOGAN: Nothing important. Did you get all that over the phone?
HONEY: Every detail.
LOGAN: Good girl. Keep doing your paperwork.
MOON: And why don’t you make a pot of coffee?
HONEY: Just pretend I’m not here.
Miss Honey exits.
LOGAN: You’re right, Mike. There’s something to this eye business that’s more than the peacock it comes from.
MOON: Phoenix.
LOGAN: Whatever.
There is a ruckus outside.
LOGAN: What’s all the ruckus?
Miss Honey pushes in a chumpy-looking fellow.
HONEY: Look what the cat dragged in. It isn’t very nice to spy, you know.
MOON: Muffin Boy.
HONEY: Cheap crook.
MUFFIN: Hey! I got a job to do, you know.
LOGAN: You talk when we say you talk, punk.
MUFFIN: Suppose what I got to say is interesting.
MOON: Suppose we don’t care.
MUFFIN: Suppose it’s about Darius Adderly and a missing jewel.
MOON: Suppose we’re interested.
MUFFIN: That’s more like it, angel-cakes.
MOON: Suppose you get a face full of knuckles.
MUFFIN: Point taken.
HONEY: The case was already interesting. Darius Adderly, A K A The Sly Snake, was big time crook.
LOGAN: So what is a big-time crook like the Sly Snake want with the jewel?
MUFFIN: Mr. Adderly likes jewels. He’s had his eye on the eye of the Golden Phoenix. Now it’s missing. He’s concerned. He thinks you might have some information.
LOGAN: Don’t get coy, sweet-cheeks. Tell us the real scoop.
MUFFIN: I swear, I am telling the truth! He figures whoever hired you left it with you for safe-keeping.
HONEY: Who does he think hired us?
LOGAN: Take your notes, sweetheart, we’ll handle this fool.
MOON: Just tell us what we want to hear, Muffin.
MUFFIN: Fine. It’s your funeral. Nine o’clock. PM. Mclane’s on Fifth. No funny stuff.
LOGAN: Miss Honey will show you out.
HONEY: Right this way, Muffin Boy. No funny stuff.
MUFFIN: Hey, maybe I’m going clean! You know, getting on the right side of the law!
MOON: Yeah, which side would that be? The law here is crooked as a broken finger. Get outta here.
Miss Honey leads Muffin Boy out.
LOGAN: Yeesh. I need to clear my head. See if I can get some coffee. You want any?
MOON: No. A few dozen winks should do me.
Logan leaves. Moon settles back for a nap. The Woman in Gold enters and begins to dance. Moon “wakes up” and watches. The voice speaks.
-trumpet-
VOICE: Well, sometimes I feel like I don’t exist. Like a whole other person. Makes it hard to be me. I’m always wracking my mind trying to figure it out. You know what I mean by wracking? I’m a person like everyone else. Or maybe I’m just the shadow on the wall.
MOON: Hey! Hey, I wanna talk to you!
The Woman keeps dancing, then leaves. Moon really wakes up. Miss Honey rushes in.
HONEY: What’s wrong, Ms. Moon? You were yelling.
MOON: Did you see a woman in gold?
HONEY: What are you talking about?
Logan enters with his coffee.
LOGAN: Why all the pinched brows?
MOON: I saw a woman in gold in my dreams.
LOGAN: Geez. You gotta get out more.
MOON: Stay at the phone for the rest of your day, Miss Honey.
HONEY: Aren’t you going to need me at the club?
LOGAN: Nah, it’s grown-up talk. Nothing for you to do.
Moon and Logan walk out. Miss Honey is left by herself.
HONEY: I had plans that night, you know. I am a night person, after all.
Miss Honey gathers her things and leaves.
VOICE: I’m not in society. I’m a shadow that hangs behind the doors. I do not know the answers that everyone wants to hear. It’s all out of balance.
Mclane’s is set up onstage—piano player sits at his piano, a singer next to him. A waiter waits. The singer sings a few bars of a song.
PIANO PLAYER: The Sly Snake’s coming in?
WAITER: Yes. Twisted hopes and crooked dreams.
SINGER: The Snake was a man with shadows around his eyes and a Roman nose.
PIANO PLAYER: He’s up to no good.
The Singer sings a bit more. Logan and Moon enter.
LOGAN: We went to Mclane’s.
MOON: To see what we could see.
They take a seat. Darius Adderly “The Sly Snake” enters with two henchmen, Turkey Perez and Stubby and his second, The Brick. Everything goes silent.
ADDERLY: No, no, please don’t stop what you’re doing.
LOGAN: Adderly.
ADDERLY: Mr. Logan, I assume? And Ms. Moon. Your reputation is true to you.
TURKEY: Reputation is right. (whistles) Turkey Perez is the name, doll.
ADDERLY: Quite enough. A lady is not to be whistled at. Sit, please. These are my associates, The Brick and Stubby.
LOGAN: Charmed, I’m sure. It’s you I’m looking at, Adderly.
ADDERLY: And what do I look like?
MOON: A guy who likes to steal.
ADDERLY: I take offense to that. I’m not a thief, I’m a collector. And I want to collect this jewel. I believe you know where it is.
LOGAN: You believe wrong. We don’t even know what it is.
ADDERLY: I find you two quite different and strange. I like that. Very well. I will tell you why I seek this jewel.
He gestures to The Brick.
BRICK: The Golden Phoenix statue is almost as old as history itself.
TURKEY: I saw it once. That statue was like a woman luring you into a trap.
STUBBY: Yeah, all gussied up and alluring.
TURKEY: With that “I want you” look.
ADDERLY: Do you mind?
BRICK: The statue is dated to the 7th Dynasty of the Egyptian empire, made by an unknown artist. The Pharaoh at the time had two daughters. The older one was intelligent. The younger, more beautiful than the sun.
ADDERLY: While the artist made the phoenix statue in the palace, he fell in love with the younger sister. They began to see each other, secretly.
TURKEY: It’s always secretly, isn’t it? A pretty gal will do that to you.
STUBBY: Just like a black widow—traps ya, kills ya, and eats ya.
ADDERLY: As I was saying, the younger sister and the artist were having an affair, and no one suspected anything.
BRICK: That is, until the older sister lost a very valuable jewel one day. It was a jewel like no other. Brighter than a star, redder than a ruby.
MOON: Sounds nice.
ADDERLY: Nice doesn’t do it, Ms. Moon. The jewel is one of a kind.
LOGAN: And what do you want with it?
MOON: To make some cash, I bet.
ADDERLY: This jewel is worth more than money, Ms. Moon.
Miss Honey slips in, unnoticed.
BRICK: The older sister was very jealous of the younger sister, because the Pharaoh loved her sister more.
ADDERLY: The day her jewel went missing, she was sure who had stolen it.
TURKEY: Who?
STUBBY: The younger sister, you pea-brain!
BRICK: The Golden Phoenix, finished, sat in the hall of the palace. The precious jewel was in one of the statue’s eyes. The older sister was furious. Not only because of her jewel…
ADDERLY: But in the room just beyond she also saw her sister and the artist…well, there’s no need to be lewd.
MOON: Ouch. She must’ve been pretty upset.
ADDERLY: Yes. She told the Pharaoh, who kicked out the artist, locked his daughter in her bedroom, and hid the phoenix from sight.
LOGAN: So how’d it end up in the museum?
BRICK: It was passed from family to family over the years. Eventually, it was donated to the museum.
ADDERLY: And there is one more thing about the jewel.
BRICK: The older sister was so angry, she placed a curse on the jewel so that no one else would ever touch it.
TURKEY: Geez. That’s serious.
STUBBY: Don’t ask me to touch when we get it.
LOGAN: Do you believe it?
ADDERLY: I would not have gotten very far if I believed in every curse that comes with pretty jewels. It’s just a story to scare people away.
MOON: But not you.
ADDERLY: I’m scared of nothing. Now that I’ve told you what I know, you must tell me what you know.
LOGAN: Which is still zilch.
TURKEY: He’s lying, boss!
LOGAN: You better buzz off!
STUBBY: Let me at him!
MOON: Will you stop acting like little kids?
They stop yelling. Silence in the bar.
ADDERLY: You’re correct, Ms. Moon. Yelling will not find us the jewel. However, I do not like being lied to. I believe you know more.
BRICK: You’ll be hearing from us.
ADDERLY: Good evening.
Adderly and Henchmen leave. As Adderly passes by Miss Honey, he pauses.
ADDERLY: I believe we’ve met before.
HONEY: Not that I can recall.
ADDERLY: Strange.
Adderly and Henchmen leave.
LOGAN: So what next?
MOON: We should go see the Professors. They’ll know all about this thing.
LOGAN: Good thinking but I gotta get some sleep.
MOON: Right.
They begin to walk out. Miss Honey tries to get their attention.
HONEY: Care to stay and have a drink? I thought of something that might help the case.
Logan and Moon walk out. Miss Honey sighs deeply.
PIANO PLAYER: They’re all looking for the same thing, but they don’t know what they’re looking for.
WAITER: They were all looking for shadows.
SINGER: Something they imagined they saw, but didn’t really see.
HONEY: What’s that?
PIANO PLAYER (to Honey): Don’t worry, honey. Maybe the big mystery is the mystery. Who knows? Strange town. All right, doll, I’m gonna play, and you’re gonna sing.
Miss Honey walks out, disturbed. Piano player starts up again, and the singer sings as the lounge disappears. The Voice speaks. Only the bare table and a chair remain. Logan enters.