Lighthearted
by Cheyenne Mann
CHARACTERS
STELLA …………………………………… Trying to get her emotions surgically removed.
MIME .……………………………………… A mime.
FLESH ……………………………………… Stella’s skin.
*DOCTOR …………………………………. A doctor.
*RECEPTIONIST ………………………….. A receptionist.
*Indicates doubling.
SETTING
A surgeon's office.
TIME
Time moves the way it does in a hospital.
SCENE 1
LIGHTS UP.
STELLA, MIME, FLESH, and DOCTOR are onstage. STELLA is sitting at a doctor’s appointment. DOCTOR rhythmically clicks pen. MIME and FLESH stand in Stella’s orbit, FLESH is behind STELLA. MIME is in front of STELLA. No one should ever directly interact with FLESH except MIME. MIME mimes actions/events of STELLA’s monologue.
STELLA
The stars change every night. I wish I could catch them in the palm of my hand, like how kids catch fireflies. And I’d squish them until my fingers were dripping with toxic celestial light, and when I’d lift my hands into the sky, they’d fade into giant burning balls of gas.
STELLA and MIME lift their hands into the sky.
I ate a glow stick when I was a kid, I thought it would light me up inside. It was red. Plum. Pomegranate. It was sickly sweet chemicals that burned my tongue. I scrubbed my mouth out with toothpaste after. My mom called poison control, and they had me drink a glass of milk. Can you douse stars with a glass of milk? I’d douse all the lights in the universe until I was the only shining lightning bug flying in the sky, and then I’d be every constellation.
(A beat.)
If I couldn’t douse the stars, I’d eat them. I’d let them seep into my esophagus and coat my throat in fire, burn my stomach to shreds. I’d be nothing but smoking flesh and pools of evaporating blood. I’d digest and become. I’d embroider my skin with lightbulbs. I’d burn and burn and burn and the fire inside me would glow and the neuron spiders that swarm my brain would finally stop screaming. I want to be electricity. I want to be fireflies. I want to be cold, emotionless stars. I want to be light. I am light. I am—it is so cold.
DOCTOR
You’re here to get a referral for the procedure, then?
STELLA
Yes.
DOCTOR
To get your emotions surgically removed?
STELLA
Yes.
DOCTOR
Have you considered light therapy?
STELLA
I don’t want to photosynthesize. I’m not a flower. I want to be the sun. I want to shine and emit radiation and never emit emotions.
MIME
(Mimes picking a flower, smells it, peels petals off.)
DOCTOR
Okay, let me get the right form.
DOCTOR pulls out a form.
There’s a few questions you’ll need to answer first.
STELLA
Okay.
DOCTOR
Name and date of birth?
FLESH steps forward.
FLESH
Flesh.
STELLA
Stella. The fourth of November. 1997.
DOCTOR
Where is the discomfort located?
FLESH steps forward.
FLESH
Pain.
STELLA
My skin. I feel it in my skin. It buzzes. It swarms. It’s TV static. I’m—my skin.
DOCTOR
Your skin?
MIME
(Nods furiously. Gestures to skin.)
STELLA
Yes.
FLESH steps forward, no longer behind STELLA.
FLESH
So raw.
STELLA
Can you skin me?
FLESH
Bleeding.
STELLA
Flay me alive?
FLESH
Pain. Buzz. Like a bee. Like a bee sting. Buzz buzz buzz.
MIME
(Mimes bee. Mimes flower. Mimes stereotypical changing happy/sad trick.)
STELLA
I am so cold. It is so dark. I just want to see the light. I want to chew on lightning bugs and bleed extraplanetary glow stick juice. The blackhole in my skin sucks out all the light.
FLESH
It is dark.
STELLA
Can you help me? I want to be starlight. I want to be nothing but firing particles. Particles don’t feel. Particles don’t have emotion. Particles don’t have skin. Skin me alive, please.
FLESH
Particles?
DOCTOR
Have you had any cardiovascular or dermatological surgeries before?
STELLA
No.
FLESH
(To MIME.) Particles.
DOCTOR
Have you had any cardiovascular or dermatological issues before?
FLESH
(To STELLA.) I am particles.
STELLA
Acne. I fixed it with toothpaste. Mitral valve prolapse.
DOCTOR
When were you diagnosed?
STELLA
I was nine. It runs in my family. So do mood disorders.
FLESH pulses. FLESH bleeds.
FLESH
Particles of cells. I pulse. I bleed. I feel.
DOCTOR
You’re aware of the details of the procedure, correct? The surgeon will make an eight-inch incision down the chest and remove the heart along with any other organ that seems to be causing issues, in this case, the skin.
MIME
(Mimes the procedure. Bites heart at the end.)
FLESH
The skin.
STELLA
It sounds perfect. It sounds too good to be true.
FLESH stands directly in front of STELLA.
FLESH
(Singing to the tune of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”) Don’t go breaking my heart. I couldn’t if I tried—
DOCTOR
Before I okay the surgery, I need to run a quick test for eligibility. Is that alright with you?
STELLA
Yes.
FLESH
(Singing to the tune of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”) So don't misunderstand me, you put the light in my life. Oh, you put the spark to the flame, I've got your heart in my sights.
DOCTOR pulls out a Rorschach test. She holds one up to STELLA.
DOCTOR
What does this look like to you?
FLESH
It’s so cold.
STELLA
An orchid. Red. With the petals slightly crumpled. There’s a sun in the corner. It’s light.
MIME
(Mimes flower.)
DOCTOR changes cards.
DOCTOR
Okay. And this one?
FLESH
It looks like cold. It looks like warm.
STELLA
It looks like…like a broken lightbulb, like the electricity is buzzing and it’s setting the whole card on fire. Can you do that to me? To my skin? I’d like to be on fire.
MIME
(Mimes screwing in a lightbulb. Mimes getting caught on fire. Mimes rolling on the ground in pain.)
DOCTOR changes cards.
DOCTOR
And this one?
MIME
(Looks up. Jumps back with intense fright. Mimes being stuck in a box.)
FLESH cowers behind STELLA.
FLESH
I don’t know. I don’t want to say. It looks like nothing. It looks like—
(A beat.)
—I’m bleeding. There is blood, it drips to the floor red as plum, it drips it drips it drips it is cold. It is cold.
STELLA
It looks like bruises, sickly sweet, red as pomegranate. Plums spread over jaw and neck and blood that drips from nose and mouth and eyes and eyes and eyes and tears it looks like tears it looks like—it's so cold.
DOCTOR checks notes.
DOCTOR
It looks like the surgeon has an opening tomorrow. Are you free at 11:50am?
STELLA
Yes.
FLESH
No.
MIME
(Shakes head. Mimes flower. Mimes lightbulb. Mimes being stuck in a box. Sinks to knees. Cries.)
DOCTOR
Wonderful.
SCENE 2: A MIME’S INTERLUDE
Music plays. All characters still and focus on MIME.
MIME
(Mimes driving home. Showers. Cries. Yawns. Sleeps. Wakes up. Stretches. Cries. Yawns. Brushes hair. Brushes teeth. Eats breakfast. Cries. Checks watch. Picks flower. Smells flower. Puts on jacket (STELLA mirrors this with an actual jacket). Cries. Freezes in a crying position.)
Focus changes to DOCTOR. DOCTOR takes off lab coat and transitions into RECEPTIONIST. RECEPTIONIST starts typing at a computer.
SCENE 3
The waiting room of a surgeon’s office. MIME, STELLA, RECEPTIONIST and FLESH are onstage. FLESH cowers behind STELLA.
FLESH
Scared.
STELLA
Hi. I’m here to check in.
MIME
(Mimes RECEPTIONIST checking STELLA in.)
RECEPTIONIST
Great, can I get a name and date of birth?
FLESH steps forward and holds out a tentative hand.
FLESH
Flesh.
STELLA
Stella. The fourth of November. 1997.
RECEPTIONIST
Let’s see…You're here for the emotectomy?
FLESH withdraws hand.
FLESH
No.
MIME
(Shakes head “no” furiously.)
STELLA
Yes.
FLESH
It is cold. I will be scarred. Black stitches. The center of my chest. Disfigured. Split open. Cracked. Like a pomegranate. Red as pomegranate. It is cold. You are cold. I am red plum pomegranate. I am—it is so cold.
MIME
(Mimes reaching into chest and ripping out heart. Mimes peeling off skin.)
RECEPTIONIST
I’ll let the surgeon know you’re here and see if she’s ready for you. Take a seat while you wait. I’ll just be a minute.
STELLA
Thank you.
FLESH
Leave.
MIME
(Mimes crying.)
RECEPTIONIST leaves. STELLA moves to a seat. MIME and FLESH follow her. FLESH sits in the seat directly next to her.
FLESH
Leave.
A beat.
Leave.
A beat.
Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave—
A beat.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m cold. I’m sorry.
STELLA looks directly at MIME. They make eye contact for a while. Stillness.
MIME
(Mimes flower. Hands it to STELLA.)
STELLA reaches for the flower from MIME, when she pulls her hand back she is holding a real flower. It is red. FLESH gasps in delight.
FLESH
Flower!
The lights get brighter. Strings of lights behind STELLA and FLESH turn on. STELLA and FLESH stare at the flower.
STELLA
Oh. The light.
FLESH
Flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower flower—
STELLA
I bit into a lightbulb last year. The glass broke on my tongue and I bled. Seven stitches and a liquid diet, but it was worth it. For a second I felt that buzzing of electricity fry the nerves in my back molars. My skeleton absorbed the start of light. When the scalpel shreds my tissues, will it charge my lungs with tangy lightning? Will I catch on fire from the shock? Will I burn alive? They want to take my heart but I am light and light is electric and there is electricity in the heart and—it is cold, but light is warm.
RECEPTIONIST returns holding files.
RECEPTIONIST
Stella?
MIME
(Shakes head “no” furiously. Mimes running away.)
STELLA
Yes?
RECEPTIONIST
The surgeon will be ready to see you soon. Is there anything you need before your operation?
FLESH
(Intensely.) SunLIGHT. Not sunBURN. Not red. Leave. We can still sunlight. We can heal sunburn. Aloe. Plant. Flower.
STELLA
(To RECEPTIONIST.) I think I’m okay, thank you.
RECEPTIONIST
Wonderful. Let me know if you change your mind.
RECEPTIONIST leaves. STELLA looks back at MIME. She frowns and pulls a petal off the flower.
FLESH
Sunlight. Sweet pomegranate. Blood does not water flowers. The operating room is so cold.
MIME
(Mimes tapping a watch. Mimes “let’s go.” Mimes driving a car.)
STELLA
(To MIME.) I can’t leave now. My ride isn’t supposed to show up for a few more hours.
FLESH
Flower. Run. Run now. The light. You’re glowing. You’re fireflies, stars, broken light bulbs, electricity, glowsticks, fire. You’re bright.
STELLA pulls another petal from the flower.
Your emotions make you bright.
A long pause. STELLA thinks. MIME walks to the lights behind STELLA and FLESH and pulls them down. MIME drapes the lights over them and with that, embraces them both. Warmth. STELLA pulls back and hands the flower to MIME. It is still real. MIME holds it, tenderly.
STELLA
(To MIME.) Will you drive me home?
MIME
(Nods.)
STELLA
(To MIME.) Now? Right now?
MIME
(Nods. Mimes tapping a watch. Mimes driving a car. Does stereotypical mime alternating happy/sad trick, ends on happy.)
STELLA
I think I have some fruit at home. A pomegranate. A plum. They’ll go rotten if I don’t eat them soon. I should eat them now. So they don’t spoil.
FLESH
Flower. Fruit. Sunlight.
STELLA
I think I’m ready to leave.
FLESH
Flower. It is flower. It is light. It is—sometimes it is cold, but right now it is warm.
The lights get brighter. FLESH hums “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” FLESH, MIME and STELLA leave the surgeon’s office. It is empty. A beat or two.