Cages: A Play by Dramatists Play Service Inc.

THE STORIES: SNOWANGEL. Tormented by the memories of a past love, John comes to Connie, a prostitute, to get her to reenact certain scenes that have etched themselves in his mind and that have become the symbol for all that was ethereal and beautiful in his life. He makes her wear certain clothing. He applies make-up to her face, trying to get her to resemble the girl he lost. He feverishly constructs a scene where he first met this girl, in a museum. The action builds until he almost feels the moment is being relived, that Connie is really the other girl. At this moment Connie shatters his illusion by screaming, "I'm not her! I'm me! I'm me!" Shocked, John starts to leave, saying he is sorry, that he only wanted to feel the affection of those lost moments. Connie, shaken, asks him if he wants affection, what does he give in return? Quietly, she tells John what she imagines in this dirty little room while strangers use her. She tells her tale simply. When she finishes speaking, John is ashamed and has learned a simple lesson: that he must give to get, that he cannot erase the identity of another human being to suit his own needs. (1 man, 1 woman.) EPIPHANY. This is a play about a man who has failed so miserably as a man that he decides to become a chicken, a rooster. His wife, a successful advertising executive, taunts him with memories of his failures, memories that include a homosexual experience she witnessed between her husband and another man. Years have gone by since this occurrence and her husband, driven by his inability to assume the dominating role and by his wife's constant undercutting and reminders of the incident, plans horrible revenge. The play is a mixture of savage humor that gradually turns to horror as the man, donning a steel beak, begins his metamorphosis, his epiphany into a rooster, so that he may completely rule. He locks the bedroom door and then proceeds to assemble a roost on which he perches and gives orders. Just as all seems to be going in his favor, he has a grotesque demise. He ventures a rooster crow, but does not quite make it. Suddenly, his body contorts. He screams in agony. An egg drops from under him. His wife comforts him by saying it's really what he always wanted. The play ends in a sort of Gothic horror as his wife tears off his paper coxcomb and accepts him as her little "Henny Penny." (1 man, 1 woman.)

Cages Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc. Format: Play