Writing Samples > Scriptwriting
Warsaw | by Warren Goldie
A Play
For my mother,
who survived Auschwitz
Copyright © 2003-2018 Warren Goldie • updated Dec. 17, 2018
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OPENING NOTES | Yiddish Glossary
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The family is at the dinner table, eating soup: The father, MYER, his wife ESTHER, their son FELIX, and Felix’s wife, SASHA. The GHOST, a young woman who is invisible to all, moves through the room, exploring.
The apartment is a small basement unit with drab, old furniture. Heavy winter coats hang on pegs near the front door. On each sleeve is the blue and white Star of David armband.
Bursts of machine gun fire outside shatter the calm. Truck engines roar, brakes squeal. Everyone stares at the door, frightened. The commotion ends and quiet returns.
MYER
Listen! Do you hear that?
ESTHER
No.
MYER
Are you deaf?
ESTHER
I choose not to hear it.
MYER
Felix, close the lights!
FELIX
They’re gone, Poppa. It’s fine. Calm down, please. You’re getting worked up again.
MYER
When they march into this room and shoot us all dead, then I will calm down. OK?
ESTHER
Why must you talk like this? You’re making it worse.
MYER
(wistful)
Ah, I miss our life. The way it was.
ESTHER
Maybe God will turn back the clock and we’ll wake up on Belker Street. And you can kvetch about the price of fabric and that Felix works only 10 hours a day. A real shlepper he is.
MYER
That is exactly what I would wish for.
The Ghost approaches, considering them curiously.
FELIX
That I don’t miss.
MYER
This is better, hmm? Now you have a nice long vacation.
Esther rises to her feet suddenly, peering in the direction of the Ghost.
MYER
What? What is it?
ESTHER
I feel something, like before. A presence. A dybbuk.
MYER
Ah! She’s seeing ghosts now.
ESTHER
No, I’m certain of it. There’s a dybbuk. It’s right here.
MYER
As if we don’t have enough tsorus, now we have dinner guests from beyond!
ESTHER
A woman.
MYER
The only dybbuks here are the ones in your head. (waves his fist) I’ll give you dybbuks.
ESTHER
From you I do have dybbuks! I have 35 years’ worth of dybbuks.
The Ghost exits.
ESTHER (cont’d)
Wait … She’s gone.
SASHA
Esther, I felt something.
MYER
Oh, no. Not you, too.
ESTHER
Something terrible happened in this flat. In this room. I can feel it.
MYER
Of course something terrible happened. What isn’t terrible?
SASHA
We don’t know from this place.
Gunshots ring outside, far away.
MYER
Oy! Again! Always with the shooting.
FELIX
I know what you’re seeing, Ma. It’s us. We’re the ones who will be dybbuks.
Myer ambles over to the room’s lone window, boarded up except for a sliver of an opening.
MYER
They’re outside.
ESTHER
No they’re not. Come, sit down. I have an idea.
MYER
Another idea.
ESTHER
Here is what we do: we change the feeling in here.
MYER
We do what?
SASHA
I like it.
ESTHER
If you just let me talk a minute—
MYER
Yes, talk! Just what we need.
ESTHER
An experiment. We “forget.”
MYER
Ha! First she sees ghosts, now she wants to make us amnesiacs.
ESTHER
Isn’t this what you want? You never stop talking about “the old days.” Now, we go there. Come on. It can’t hurt. Five minutes.
MYER
You tell me how to forget that everything you know is kaput — a shop that earns year after year, that supports a family and more — now it’s all gone — and I will be happy to forget, and not just for five minutes.
ESTHER
Here’s the instructions. We talk only about the good. Sasha? Think of a happy time.
SASHA
Our wedding day!
ESTHER
And?
SASHA
Felix, you remember what happened? Under the chupa?
FELIX
We said our vows.
SASHA
No. I mean the schpilkis you had.
FELIX
Who doesn’t have nerves the day he loses his freedom?
SASHA
Esther, you remember … The rabbi puts the glass down and Felix steps down so hard it explodes into pieces! Uncle Mordechai got clunked. He fainted from the shock.
ESTHER
Like a tree falling in the woods.
SASHA
That tree landed right in Sadie’s lap.
MYER
Aunt Sadie, who never touched a man in all her life.
ESTHER
He landed on her pupikel.
MYER
Where no man had ever been.
FELIX
No man ever tried.
MYER
The scream that came out that little woman, I think they heard all the way to Lonnish Street.
ESTHER
Mordechai asked for a refund!
MYER
No!
ESTHER
Yes!
FELIX
Oh, I remember it. It made a travesty of our wedding.
SASHA
Felix, really? I don’t think so. It blessed our wedding.
FELIX
How did it do that?
SASHA
Well … It’ll never be forgotten.
ESTHER
What do you think, Poppa? You see?
MYER
Interesting experiment, Momma. Come, give me more soup.
Sasha goes to a cabinet and retrieves a package and sets it on the table beside Myer.
MYER
What is this? What are you giving me?
FELIX
You think we forgot what day it is?
MYER
It’s a day for “experiments,” God help us.
FELIX
Happy birthday, Pop.
Myer keeps eating.
ESTHER
Poppa…
MYER
All right, all right! Whatever it is, I don’t need it.
He begins unwrapping the box.
MYER (cont’d)
Ridiculous.
The gift is a framed photo.
MYER (cont’d)
(joyfully)
God in heaven, where did you get this! How young Gordi is! And Max. That was before the big beard. Look, you can see his face.
ESTHER
That hair. Oy givalt.
FELIX
I thought it was a hat!
ESTHER
Maybe it’s not even Max in there. Who knows…
MYER
When was the last time I was with my brothers?
ESTHER
Passover, two years ago.
MYER
Ah. Too long.
ESTHER
You see? See what happens when you put your mind on the good? See how things change? The room feels … different.
MYER
Oh, no, Momma. Please don’t start with that again. It is exactly the same room.
ESTHER
So you think.
SASHA
Let’s celebrate. Let’s dance! Let’s do the Hora.
She reaches playfully for Myer.
MYER
No, no, child, I’m way too old for that.
SASHA
I’ll be gentle. I promise.
Myer pulls free of her grasp.
FELIX
He would rather have his teeth pulled out than to acknowledge his birthday.
MYER
What is there to celebrate when the grave is calling out to you? A birthday! What did you do that was so great? You fell from the womb. As if you had a choice. Another year has passed since this great feat. Mazel Tov.
SASHA
It is a great accomplishment. Think of the bond between mother and child. The will to come into this world. So much love. It’s the greatest thing of all.
ESTHER
Sasha, don’t waste your time. A man cannot understand such things. Not in his belly. He only knows with his mind. That’s the great tragedy of men. And the sorrow of the world.
MYER
I’m not saying such things are not important. But where is the choice? There is no choice. Now, making a home, running a business … these are feats worthy of celebration. They come from the will. Making a wool suit with no imperfections, that’s an accomplishment!
Myer holds out the frame for Esther to see.
MYER (cont’d)
You brought this?
ESTHER
It belonged to my mother. I wasn’t going to leave it.
MYER
What picture did it hold?
ESTHER
Sammy, when he was a boy…
Esther, frightened and upset, looks at Myer. She’s made a grave error.
ESTHER (con’t)
Oh, Poppa, I’m sorry.
MYER
Always it happens! Always. Stupid woman. What it is with you?
FELIX
Poppa, it was an accident. You asked her a question.
MYER
Oh, no, she means what she says. She enjoys to stick in the knife.
ESTHER
(quietly)
He is your son.
MYER
What did you say? I heard that!
ESTHER
Still you persist, and with this (she indicates “outside”). I would rather be out there with the Nazis.
MYER
Go ahead! I’m not stopping you. (he throws up his hands) Ah, forget it!
Myer starts back on the soup.
MYER
Why does this taste … It has taste.
ESTHER
Monica gave me pepper.
MYER
Pepper?
ESTHER
She got it on the black market.
SASHA
Saul sold it to her.
MYER
Saul?
FELIX
He gets it on the Polish side.
ESTHER
He has papers?
FELIX
Yes, but he never has to use them. He “passes”. The blond hair, the straight nose…
MYER
He “noses” over.
SASHA
(tearfully)
No. Not anymore.
FELIX
What? What are you talking about?
SASHA
Felix, I was going to tell you. I didn’t know how. Saul is … gone. His whole family, all of them.
ESTHER
His family?
SASHA
Yesterday. They took them away. I’m sorry.
The family absorbs the tragic news.
FELIX
(quietly, unhinged)
You know what would be good? What I would really like?
ESTHER
Sheina kindela, what?
FELIX
Jam.
MYER
What meshugas are you talking now?
FELIX
(holds up a piece of bread)
This bread needs jam. Delicious, sweet, sticky… Mmmm. I can almost taste it. I can taste it. It’s strange, I just think it and there it is, sweetness on my tongue. Why is that?
SASHA
Felix.
FELIX
I read about these explorers who went up to the North Pole. They had no comforts, just the essentials, you know? Do you want to know what pictures they had on the walls? Girls? Home? Their families? No. Food. Steaks, potatoes, cakes. They missed food more than they anything. More than even love.
MYER
Where do you get such nonsense?
FELIX
I understand the mistake of my ways. I know if I repent, maybe things can change. (lifts up his glass) I raise my glass to jam. I thank the jam god! He who brings us the sweetness. There must be such a being—for everything. A god of chicken soup, of wine. A god of dish-rags. (folds hands in prayer) Well, I shall not remain unappreciative. To the jam god! Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam—
MYER
Stop it. Stop it!
FELIX
Thank you for the wonderful jam sandwiches!
Myer reaches across the table, jabs Felix in the shoulder.
MYER
Enough. Enough already.
ESTHER
Felix, we’re OK. We’re safe.
FELIX
Today. What about tomorrow? And the day after that?
ESTHER
Tomorrow will take care of itself.
FELIX
Tell that to the three boys hanging in the square.
MYER
Be quiet, Felix.
ESTHER
(to Felix)
I’ll tell you what will happen. Things change. These evil ones, they’ll be erased. I know this. History teaches us this. Evil does not endure. It’s just for us to do one thing: we must stay strong. Now, eat your soup and don’t invite in such ideas. Be grateful it’s just us here. Monica has seven already.
MYER
Oh, I wish I had a cognac. Mmm. I’d give my eye teeth for a cognac.
FELIX
You’ve been saying that my whole life. You have no idea what eye teeth are.
MYER
Whatever they are is worth less than the cognac I can taste in my mouth right now!
ESTHER
(elevates her glass)
To Poppa’s birthday.
MYER
That’s water. (sees Esther’s stern look; everyone raises their glasses) All right, all right. It’s wine.
ESTHER
L’chaim!
FELIX
To life.
ESTHER
Our return home.
SASHA
Family.
ESTHER
Here’s what I think: the Americans are in England, planning an invasion to free Poland. I feel it.
MYER
L’chaim! She feels it!
ESTHER
(taps her chest)
Right here, where it matters.
Machine guns blast outside, close by.
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Copyright © 2003-2018 Warren Goldie
17-Dec.-18