a scene where "Terry's mother (a hand puppet) comes back from the dead, to hound Terry to marry her gay male friend so that Mom will have something to brag about in heaven."
I'm not going to do that either.
I DID do some work on that scene. I came up with an idea of Mom singing a song about "naches," which is a Yiddish word that refers to what your children do that you would like to brag about to other parents. Children are supposed to give their parents naches -- that is, things to brag about.
I gave my parents literally no naches when they were alive (until after I confronted my dad and demanded he be proud of me, but I digress.) And I thought it would be very funny to have Mom demand naches in a song. I asked David Hyman, my lyricist, to write the song, and he came up with some great lines:
I want naches I deserve some naches. Like my friends should say “hmm That young lesbo’s done some- thing to shock us.”
That's just a taste of the lyrics. So I did the work of coming up with an idea, and David did the real work of writing lyrics. And then I realized I did not have time for this scene either. I'm sure I will perform it eventually, but not as part of LESBO SOLO. Also, I'm a little concerned about the "Do not speak ill of the dead" issue. Am I speaking ill of my mom? Should I worry about some old saying that I don't necessarilly believe is true anyhow? Would Mom, who never said a Yiddish word, be insulted to sing about naches? Does she have the ability to curse me from Heaven, which I don't believe in anyhow? I don't have to think about these issues because truly there's no time for the song.
Here's me and Mom from the workshop production of WAITING FOR THE PODIATRIST: |
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