Without a Word, an excerpt

Word

If only I could get into their minds, get to their words, since I cannot leave this chair to accept their offering.  If only I could understand, could know exactly how they color me, color themselves, then maybe…

Light

If only I could crawl behind their eyes and see what it is they select for their minds, select for the feelings that flow from their senses beneath their soft white skins.  The feelings that build and subside like ocean waves.  Together we could ride those waves.  And in this togetherness we could create a life for the ocean, a level for its motion.

Word

We would ride those waves as I do now, alone, in dream…Imagine – floating on top of the surf that rises, in rhythmic, undulating changes.  Rises to meet the white sky.  And as it descends, the sky is cast with the color of a prismatic sunset.  But now, in this space, my thoughts sink through coherent light, falling lower and lower into my darkness, searching for a semblance of time.  And as it sinks, my mind tells me that there is no connection.  That my thoughts cannot be theirs, even in word, in knowing, in screaming…for my scream is silent.

Dream

Space sinks in mink like a semblance of screaming connection, like a silent thought that falls to meet a final word, the word that sinks in sunset

Their my sinks in thought like darkness, searching the silent light for connection, for semblance like a scream searching for space

My mind sinks, searching for connection, searching for the light of thought in space, lowering the scream into a final, knowing heart

The connection sinks in word, a final, even darkness as in my heart a sunset screams for light, searching for a silent knowing

Shadow

During dream, shadow moves across the stage using her/his arms, in almost a swimming motion, reaches the door, and claws it with his/her hands like a dog paddling. 

Mirror

The door opens, mirror appears with a mask painted with the colors of a sunset.  Mirror rocks head back and forth a few times, then slams the door.

Shadow

 Shadow rolls back to the rug.

Word

Oh, that door…

Dream

That door that door that door that door that door that door that door that door

Word

Thoughts and visions

Dream

Thoughts and visions thoughts and visions thoughts and visions thoughts and visions

Light

Thoughts come in vision. 

Word

That’s it!  What is known is know through vision.  I take it from me, and give it to their words, so that they may have it.  But how do they take it?

Dream

Take it take it take it take it take it take it take it take it take it take it take it take it

Word

Take this silent offering that screams in word.  How can this window be?  When what I see within, they see without.  Without me, but with me.

Shadow

Shadow stands and begins to shuffle in circles.

Dream

Within without within without within without within without within without

Word

I am within, I am without.  Here in this space, now looking to see the vision welling up inside in waves

Light

I see it, I feel it, I understand it, I know it, I take it, I give it, they see it, they feel it, they take it, they give it…

Word

Yes, I dreamt it last night.

Light

I dreamt myself sitting above a massive white sphere, with color revolving, the color mine, evolving around it.

Word

And in the dream I reached for the color and as I reached and touched, the color entered me, entered my body and rushed through my veins like a surging stream.  And as the color took shape in my mind, the shape of a million faces, color poured out of my eyes and returned to its orbit around the sphere.

Shadow

Shadow approaches the door in circular steps as dream:

Dream

I you he she it we you they I you he she it we you they I you he she it we you they

Mirror

The door opens, Mirror appears wearing a white, circular mask painted with orbital colors.  Shadow and Mirror meet in motion.

Dream

Me you him her it us you them me you him her it us you them me you him her it us you them

Mirror

Mirror recedes, the door slams.

Shadow

Shadow returns to rug in circular steps and stands while dream:

Dream

I me you you he him she her it it we us you you they them I me you you he him she her it it we us you you they them

Word

But what if…loathsome chair, I am not a child again.

Dream

Am am not am am not am am not am am not am am not am am not am am not

Word

But what if…

Artwork Robert Parker    Many thanks.

Excerpted from Without a Word by Molly Brogan

The Unexpected Rewards of Being Published

When I decided to publish the script for my play Without A Word in 2007, I asked my friend Robert Parker for the right to use his blue self portrait shown here, for the cover art.  His painting spoke to me, went straight to my heart the first time I saw it.  I knew, it was the right cover for this book.  He enthusiastically said yes and I was deeply grateful.

I could not have anticipated the reader response to this image, and it has been tremendous.  People are drawn to this image, as I was on first seeing it.  If all of my books are displayed, people will first approach this one, often needing to reach out and touch the picture, even if they don't open the book.   Recently, I received a package in the mail, elaborately engineered and masterfully wrapped.  It was this beautiful painting, which now hangs framed in my office directly in front of me, so that I can see it as I work.

Thank you, my friend, for this inspiring gift.  You are an artist of great talent, and I will treasure it always.

Artwork by Robert Parker  Many, many thanks.

Writing About Essential Being

Ulysses said...

"energy that moves through the matrix of our being that we can FEEL." Interesting. What do you mean by "being?" I know this is a topic of discussion on your other blog, but I'd like to know what your idea of being is, and how it applies to your books.

The Essene’s think that being is consciousness, and consciousness is everything. Like that, I think being is that part of us that is connected to spirit, and as such, is all of us. Even those parts of us that feel separate from spirit, devoid of spirit, opposed to spirit, are those parts of us that eventually lead us back to spirit, and so, are of spirit. Like the notions of Lucifer being God’s favorite angel, or Judas the favorite apostle of Jesus, or Brahman – being is all pervasive.

That said, I do believe that there is an essential part of being that we can give to our attention. It is that part of us that is the witness to our life, the one that observes before we assign meaning or belief. I think that the more we can move through life posited in this essential part of our being, the more our lives will become what we can conceive is our highest potential. When I say highest potential I mean the best life that we can dream - and better, because spirit is leading the witness always.

I construct my poems from the position of the witness, although I will say, that in order to reach the reader I find that I must include not only observation but interpretation to bring feeling to the experience. I suppose this may be poetic license.

My play, Without a Word, is an examination of being from all aspects of character. It was written to be an exercise in consciousness raising while giving the audience a more holographic than linear experience.

My three novels, when looked at in succession, are one journey to this realm of essential being. On the way, like all humans, the characters make mistakes and self discoveries that create the stories. And they learn, in the end, that we write our own stories. We are the writers, and the readers and the stories and the Logos.

Thanks so much for posing this great question.

Symbols as the Language of the Soul

Dorothea said...
Without a Word is quite a play. It isn't easy to imagine the audience reception to it in the 70's. How did you work the dream chorus? I can think of many ways that it can be done because the book form leaves it open to interpretation.

This is a great question, Dorothea. Thanks for posting it. When writing the Dream chorus (a cluster of voices in echo) for Without a Word, I used the motif symbols from the play such as: night, day, sunset, window… The character Dream uses these as symbols and recreates interpretations that are not limited to linear or rational structures, just as our own dreams do for us during sleep. Ernest Hemmingway is the master of using motif symbols. He gradually defines character development throughout a story with motif, and then constructs sentences at the end of the story using these motifs that will decode for the reader, the characters’ triumph or tragedy. Motifs carry the reader along on the subconscious level and complete the story’s imagery.

I originally wrote the Dream character for Without a Word, as a chorus, with each voice expressing a different motif. This concept is obviously very complicated and while I could hear it in my head very clearly, I was never able to direct well enough to pull it off. Both of my productions of Without a Word had one person as Dream. In the Chicago production we combined the Dream and Light characters to accentuate the integration of the Word character.

I hope that the play is flexible enough to be staged any variety of ways, just as each one of us has individual characteristics of word, dream, shadow, mirror and light that make up our characters. I hope that any director could adapt the play to express their own voice, or the voice of their theatrical group. Molly Brogan

Archetype as a guiding template for humanity

Aiko said...
I have been looking at your google book preview. What do you mean by "the original man?"
October 16, 2007 1:03 PM

Aiko, your question is a very good one so I thought I would include it in a new post and new discussion of the role of archetypes in the development of our personal and collective consciousness.

In my play, Without a Word, the main character, Word, is described as the original man. Many writers have used the concept of "everyman" for their characters, but the original man is a little different. Word is the original man in the biblical sense, meaning he has functions and attributes that, together with the play's other characters, create the original man or the collective man or humanity as one. For instance, some bible scholars have theorized that the 12 apostles are each an attribute or archetype that together, create the Christ, or collective man. Here is an example: http://mollybroganenterprises.com/business%20form%20model.pdf

Throughout the play, Word articulates his process of integration as he becomes aware of his personal and collective archetypes, i.e., the other characters in the play. This is a process that we engage in throughout our lives, consciously or subconsciously. In microcosm, it is the fruition of an idea. In macrocosm, if we reach a point in our lives where we consciously understand self as other, and can feel the thread of connection in all of us, and hold that connection as sacred, we no longer need to hold the archetype in separation and can fully integrate.

By the end of the play, Word has integrated the other characters and owns his role as the original man. Every day I feel myself closer to this integration and every day marvel and how it effects the quality of my life. I can only imagine how wonderful the world can be when we are all consciously aware of the sacred nature of our relationships, including the relationship with self. I can feel it coming. I believe it will be brilliant.

Thanks for asking. If you have more questions, please feel free to post. We can recreate this play together. Molly Brogan

Discussion of Without a Word

Hi Molly,I am a theater buff and found your play, Without a Word, while surfing the web. I've read it over several times and each time understand it more. I see by the book description that it was staged in the 70s but published recently. Has it been staged since then? Is it available in any other format? Would you give permission for it to be staged again? Patrick.

Hi Patrick,
I'm very glad you enjoyed the play in book form. I wrote it in the 70s and staged it twice. At the time, I received wonderful feedback and was asked to continue staging it. Then, motherhood changed my life for awhile, as happens to many women writers. While in the process of self publishing my novels, I thought it a good time to resurrect this play that received such a wide range of response, so many years ago. It will be interesting to see how it is received 30 years later. To your questions, it has not been staged since. I did tape two productions in the seventies, but have not made them available publicly. That is a future project. And certainly, I would consider allowing another stage adaptation. Feel free to email me with your proposal.

I look forward to hearing from you, Molly Brogan