the greatest actress who ever lived

8/6/2019 The Greatest Actress Who Ever Lived

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The Greatest Actress Who Ever Lived

A One-Act Play

By Carolyn Gage


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Copyright of adaptation 2011 Carolyn Gage

Caution: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that The Greatest Actress Who Ever Lived is subject to a royalty. It is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America, and of all countriescovered by the International Copyright Union (including the Dominion of Canada and the rest of the British Commonwealth), and of all countriescovered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention and the UniversalCopyright Convention, and of all countries with which the United Stateshas reciprocal copyright relations. All rights including, but not limited to,

professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, video or sound taping, allother forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction, such as informationstorage and retrieval systems and photocopying, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this play byeducational institutions, permission for which must be secured in writingfrom the author or the author's representative. No amateur or stock

performance or reading of the play may be given without obtaining, inadvance, the written permission of the Author.

All inquiries concerning professional and amateur performance rightsshould be addressed to the Author via her website atwww.carolyngage.com.


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S YNOPSIS

A young, closeted reporter arrives at the dressing room of stage and film star Nance O'Neil. The year is 1930 and ONeilis playing Irene Dunne's mother in the film Cimarron.

The reporter is aware of the rumors about Nances lesbianaffairs, and Nance is aware that the reporter is closeted. As thetwo women spar over issues of authenticity and reputation,

Nance makes the intriguing proposal to give the reporter the

story of the greatest actress who ever lived in exchange for the opportunity to interview the reporter about her life.

The reporter reveals the fact that she is divorced with adaughter, and Nance begins to tell the story of her affair withalleged ax-murderer Lizzie Borden. In the telling of this story,

Nance claims to have discovered the identity of the realmurderer, as well as the deception that Lizzie practiced

throughout her life in order to protect this woman.The women share a moment of intimacy before the reality of their respective lives pulls them back to their respective

performances.

Two womenSingle set

30 minutes


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INTRODUCTION

All lesbians have needed to be the greatest actress who ever lived at various times in our lives, and this was especiallytrue for lesbians living in the homophobic decades thatfollowed the pathologizing of same-sex relationships by thesexologists of the early twentieth century.

Lesbians who were closeted often suffered through passionlessmarriages, or else negotiated a life of independence so sterile

as to never arouse any suspicions. The minority of lesbianswho, through either bold choice or unlucky disgrace, becameknown for their affinities, were often scapegoated and shunnedas the most unredeemable sinners and perverts.

In The Greatest Actress Who Ever Lived , I wanted to explore adynamic between one of these notoriously outed lesbiansand a woman still in the closet. Nance ONeil is sometimes

considered bisexual, because of a (falsely) rumored marriagewith her manager McKee Rankin and her late-in-life marriageto fellow-actor Alfred Hickman. On the other hand, thescandals surrounding her liaisons with women were numerous,and a vaudeville joke at the turn-of-the-century was, Do youknow Nance ONeil? No, who is he?

ONeils marriage as well as her close relationship to Rankinmay have provided her with beards to protect her reputation.For the purposes of my play, I focus on the lesbian aspect of her historical character, including her intense involvementwith Lizzie Borden.

The character of Virginia Houlton is fictional, representing arising class of women, groomed to be housewives, butsuddenly finding themselves in a very different world duringthe Depression.


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Nances character has become emotionally calloused from her experiences with a fickle public, as well as from her need to

adopt various ruses and personae. She is, after all, an actor.Its arguable that she may have exploited Lizzie, whoaccompanied her to court and paid off her creditors, and alsowho financially enabled her to buy a home in an expensiveresort town.

Virginia, on the other hand, comes off almost prissy in her judgments about Nances lifestyle. But it is Virginia who

treats her lesbian passion as sacred, chiding Nance for her facile dismissal of the embrace that marks her coming out.

In the background is the story of Lizzie Borden, whom Nancerefers to as the greatest actress who ever lived. Lizzies

passionate commitment to the women in her life caused her tosacrifice herself in ways that neither Virginia nor Nance canaccept.

This is a play about negotiations and boundaries and bottomlines. Nance is a touring artist. She needs her public and sheneeds to be mobile. Liaisons with men in her field offer her the best option for protection and camaraderie. Virginia is asingle mother, and the closet appears to be her best option for

protecting her custody. The end of the play suggests the possibility that Virginias integrity around her feelings for women may impel different choices.

At this point in their lives, all these women can do is steal anembrace together, but their connection is profound and life-changing for Virginia, and the witnessing of this may also

prove to be life-changing for Nance.

Our performances do transform us, for better or for worse, andlesbian attraction has the power to disrupt not only our roles,

but often our most deeply cherished notions about who we areand what we value.


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Cast of Characters

NANCE ONEIL: An American actress, 58.

VIRGINIA: A tabloid reporter in her mid-30s

SceneInterior of a dressing room on a Hollywood movie lot.

Time1930.


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THE GREATEST ACTRESS WHO EVER LIVED

The interior of a dressing room at the RKOs film studio at Encino Ranch in Los Angeles, 1930. This isthe dressing room of former stage star NANCE ONEIL. She has been hired to play a very minor role(the mother of Irene Dunnes character) in the WesternCimarron , which is currently being filmed. There aretwo doors: one to the outside, and one to a bathroom.The dressing room is decorated with photographs of

stage stars from the turn of the century, including photos of NANCE when she was a matine idol. The stage is empty for a moment. There is a knock on theoutside door. NANCEs voice is heard offstage.

NANCE: (Offstage.) Just let yourself in Ill be out in aminute. (VIRGINIA, 35, enters cautiously. She is a closeted lesbian. Abandoned by her husband, she has taken a

womans job as a tabloid reporter. She is aware of therumors about ONeils sexual orientation, and it both

fascinates and repels her. She wears a no-nonsense, Depression-era suit she has sewn herself. VIRGINIA studiesthe photos of NANCE, as NANCE continues to speak fromoffstage.) Just make yourself comfortable, hon The studiomoved up the shoot for my scene, so Im running a little

behind. Theres a scrapbook on the table... Thought the moviefans might be interested to know that Nance ONeil was a

big star, back before there even was any Hollywood NewYork, San Francisco, Boston, Honolulu, New Zealand, SouthAfrica (VIRGINIA has crossed over to the costume rack and

she is touching a black slip when NANCE, 58, appears in thedoorway from the bathroom. She wears a loose, flimsy robeover a plain camiknicker or teddy, with her hair up in aturban. NANCE is a tall, handsome woman with a deep voiceand a very theatrical presence. She takes special note of VIRGINIAs interest in the slip.) Egypt? (VIRGINIA turnswith a start. NANCE smiles suggestively at her.) You wont


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mind if I get dressed while we do the interview, will you?People are so much more candid without their clothes on

dont you think?

VIRGINIA: (Threatened, she turns away abruptly.) I wouldntknow.

NANCE: (Amused.) Apparently.

VIRGINIA: (Quickly extending her hand.) Virginia Houlton.

NANCE: (Ignoring the hand and crossing to the dressing table and sitting.) So which one are you? (VIRGINIA isconfused.) Photoplay, Screen Play, Screen Romances, ModernScreen or whats the new one Movie Story ?

VIRGINIA: Photoplay.

NANCE: Well the big-time. Good for you. (VIRGINIAresponds with a dismissive laugh.) No? Isnt Photoplay thegrand-daddy of all the movie magazines?

VIRGINIA: (Disdainfully.) I wouldnt know. (NANCE looksat her.) It was the only job I could get.

NANCE: Not your cup of tea, then?

VIRGINIA: It pays the bills.

NANCE: Ah, yes paying the bills. You know my scene inthis film is all of five minutes but it pays the bills Nosmall thing during a depression. Well (Opening her makeupkit, she laughs.) I could write a book about the things Ivedone to pay the bills.


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T HE G REATEST ACTRESS W HO E VER L IVED

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VIRGINIA: (With sudden aggression.) Im sure you could.(NANCE, surprised, turns and sizes her up. After a moment,

she turns back to the mirror.)

NANCE: I always do my own makeup. (She takes out a tin of base.) Not a makeup man in Hollywood with half theexperience Ive got. (Scrubbing her face.) I was putting on thegreasepaint before motion pictures were even invented. (Shebegins to apply the base.) D.W. Griffith? You know who heis?

VIRGINIA: (Affronted.) Of course. Birth of a Nation...

NANCE . Intolerance. (A beat.) Well, he was picking hops inUkiah when I met him. Thats right We were in adepression then, too. 1895. He was picking hops (Rubbing onher base vigorously.) sleeping in flophouses (Morerubbing.) and riding freight cars. (She puts down the base.)

Ten years Thats how long he was with the Nance ONeilCompany. Thats ONeile- i-l. With an i and one l.

VIRGINIA: (Bristling.) I know how to spell your name.

NANCE: (Touching up her face.) He learned everything heknew from us, but he wont admit it. Wont admit he evenworked for me! Ten years! You know what they call them?The lost years of D. W. Griffith Lost! Well, I knew wherehe was. (Turning suddenly to VIRGINIA.) Why do yousuppose Mr. Griffith is so forgetful about that decade of hisapprenticeship with me? (VIRGINIA freezes. NANCE turnsback to the mirror, painting her lips. She lets the questionhang for a moment.) I never allow anyone from Makeup totouch me. Ive been painting this face for forty years, and Iexpect Ill be painting it the next forty. Youd never guess Iwas fifty-seven, would you? (She turns to face VIRGINIA. A

pause.)


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VIRGINIA: (Aggressive.) Actually, I would.

NANCE: (Turning back to the mirror.) Virginia Houlton,youve got a lot to learn about interviewing actresses.

VIRGINIA: This is just a temporary situation for me.

NANCE: Sos life. Better get used to it.

VIRGINIA: (For the first time, she takes out her pad.) Whats

it like to work with Irene Dunne?

NANCE: (Focusing on her makeup.) A lot to learn.

VIRGINIA: Youre playing her mother, arent you? (NANCE shakes her head.) Thats what the studio publicitydepartment

NANCE: (Annoyed, she turns abruptly and cuts her off.) So just what is it that you would rather be doing, VirginiaHoulton? (VIRGINIA, taken aback, does not answer. NANCE

goes back to her makeup.) All right, then lets talk about themovie. I assume you read the book? No? Well, same titleCimarron. Edna Ferber. Woman follows her husband into theWest, helps him found a town and a newspaper and then heheads out for new territory and leaves her behind to run the

paper. Little bit of a twist She becomes a senator, and heturns out to be a drifter at the end. The moral of the story: The

pioneers of today will be the bums of tomorrow unless theyhustle. Good lesson to keep in mind

VIRGINIA: (Aggressively.) So whats it like, working withIrene Dunne?

NANCE: (Ignoring her.) Oh, RKOs going to make a run for best picture and all that, but theres nothing here that wouldshake the world. Not the way Hedda Gabler shook the world.


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(Focusing on VIRGINIA.) Now, there was something folkshadnt seen before (Pointedly.) A woman not a manwho

was bored with her marriage. Bored to death literally. That was the shot heard round the world, let me tell you. I know, because I played it around the world Honolulu, NewZealand, South Africa, Egypt appeared by royal command

before the khedive of Cairo (Pausing.) Youre not takingthis down.

VIRGINIA: My editor is expecting a story on Irene.

NANCE: Then youd best be talking to Irene.

VIRGINIA: She wasnt available.

NANCE: Miss Houlton

VIRGINIA: Mrs.

NANCE: (Surprised.) Really? (A beat.) Virginia Howwould you like to give your editor a story on the greatestactress who ever lived?

VIRGINIA: (Sarcastic.) You?

NANCE: No.

VIRGINIA: Who is it?

NANCE: Its a name your readers will all recognize, I promise. And its a story the world has never heard, and Imthe only one who knows it. (VIRGINIA looks at her.) Buttheres a condition. (A pause.) You have to tell me your story.

VIRGINIA: Why?


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NANCE: Because I study character. Thats what I use when I perform. Someday I might be called on to play a hostile

woman who doesnt know who she is or what she wants, andit would be important for me to understand how she got to bethat way. (VIRGINIA rises to leave.) Oh, no! (NANCE thunders at her, slamming down her makeup.) Stop!(VIRGINIA freezes.) No! (Pounding the table.) Do not flounce! Do not ever flounce! There is nothing that saysamateur to an audience more than the flounce! You walk outon someone, you must to do it with power . Like this. (She

rises.) You look your enemy in the eye Right in the eye.You burn a hole through them (Burning a hole throughVIRGINIA.) And then you start to say something You try you really trybecause you are a tolerant person(Illustrating.) But you realize they are too unaware of themselves to waste words on You stand there for amoment, struggling to discover a single, empathic quality towhich you might appeal, but you cannot find one. And so then

you turnbut not too fast! (Turning.) You turn with exquisitesadnesstenderness, evenaway from this lost, embitteredcreature (Quietly.) And then you make your exit, Mrs.Houlton. You make your exit, very slowly, with eloquentdignitysorrowfully and gentlywith reluctant acquiescenceto that damning, final verdict (Turning for a brief, final look.) Closing the door forever on this sorry spectacle of awoman who does not know who she is and who, because of that, is going to lose her precious lifethe only one she willever have. (She exits slowly and solemnly, closing the door

gently behind her. VIRGINIA is momentarily at a loss.Suddenly, she crosses to the door and throws it open. NANCE is waiting.)

VIRGINIA: (Angry.) You think you know who I am, but youdont!

NANCE: Well, then lets find out. (She checks her watch and crosses back to the makeup table.) Divorced?


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VIRGINIA: Yes.

NANCE: Children?

VIRGINIA: Yes.

NANCE: Ah.

VIRGINIA: I have a daughter.

NANCE: (Nodding.) Parents?

VIRGINIA: Living.

NANCE: Helping? (Silence.) No?

VIRGINIA: You were going to tell me about the greatest

actress who ever lived.

NANCE: Because they didnt approve of the marriage or theydont approve of the divorce?

VIRGINIA: (A beat.) Both.

NANCE: There appears to be a flaw in their logic.

VIRGINIA: So who is she?

NANCE: You know I never accept a role I unless its onethat I want to play.

VIRGINIA: Like the mother of Irene Dunne?

NANCE: (Laughing.) Touche.

VIRGINIA: So thats my story. Tell me yours.


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NANCE: (A dare.) Planning to remarry?

VIRGINIA: (Defiant.) I might.

NANCE: Well, then may I offer a word of advice? Never marry for love. Marry for convenience, marry for business,marry for companionship. Never marry for love.

VIRGINIA: (Scornfully.) Is that what you did?

NANCE: Of course. Having a husband can be very useful.

VIRGINIA: (Exploding.) Especially after your reputation has been ruined! (NANCE turns and studies her.)

NANCE: (After a long moment.) You must be referring to myrelationships with women (She looks directly at VIRGINIA,

who meets her gaze defiantly.) But you see, my reputation wasruined long before that. And do you know why? Because of these (NANCE puts her bare feet up on the dressing table.)These are what ruined my reputation. Caused a riot, actually.It was 1893. San Francisco. I made my entrance onto the stagewithout wearing shoes. The audience had never seen anactress barefoot before. They had to shut down the theatreDo they look pretty to you?

VIRGINIA: (With distaste.) No!

NANCE: Feminine?

VIRGINIA: No.

NANCE: I dont think so either. In fact, theyre rather big. If you didnt know they were attached to a womans body, youmight even mistake them for a mans. And that is what causedthe riot. Not that I showed my ankles, but that I showed my


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humanity. Because a woman cant be human. That spoils theillusion. Thats the problem with women who kill. Theyre not

really stageworthy If they knew how to perform, they probably could have figured out a less conspicuous way tosolve their problem. (Rising, she throws off her robe and crosses to the costumes.) No, the women who kill lack imaginationat least the ones who get caught. Garden-variety, the women who kill. Garden-variety, ordinary, dull,everyday women. Women who just cant take any more.(Turning pointedly to VIRGINIA.) Garden-variety, Virginia

Which is why the films always make them exotic (Pulling on a corset.) Demonic, demented, devil-women, monsters.Because nobody wants to believe that any woman, andespecially the woman who never complains, never raises her voice, never asks for anythingespecially her could be akiller. (Pause.) So, you see, whenever Im asked to play awoman who kills, I always take my shoes off and do it

barefoot. Not literally, I mean. I take my shoes off in terms of

making the audience see the woman as a human being, a person just like themselves. A person who cant take anymore.That breaks a huge taboo. Why? Because every woman on theface of this earth has more than enough reasons to kill, andmany times over, and that scares the hell out of an audience.(Suddenly, she picks up a broom and begins to bludgeon animaginary body on the floor. This is a shocking and realisticre-enactment. VIRGINIA freezes. Just as suddenly, NANCE comes out of character, does a little sweeping and returns thebroom to the corner.)

VIRGINIA: (Recovering from her shock.) Maybe taking off your shoes made you a star. Maybe having a ruined reputationis why people paid to see you, but it doesnt work for most of us. It means we wont get a job. It means we cant keep our children. You think youre so free, but what do you have? Youhave a pretend life! You never stay in one place. You have a

pretend husband. You dont have anything but make-believe,


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but you think youre better than women who are holding ontosomething real who have to live in the real world!

NANCE: And they use me to do it. Why do you think womencame to see me? Because I was living the life they couldnt.So they could watch me play the fallen woman, the woman, asyou say, with the ruined reputation the woman who kills.And they would weep and they would rage and they wouldsuffer and then they could bear to go home and pretend.These marriages, these lives? What I do on the stage on a bad

night is more real than what these women do with their besteffort! You know thats true! And I do pay for it! I pay dearly ! No, I never had a home. No, I dont have family. I gave themup so that women like you could have your vicarious thrills.Tell me, Virginia Houlton, who is it you would like to kill?

VIRGINIA: (Without hesitation.) My husband.

NANCE: Well, why dont you?

VIRGINIA: I dont know where he is.

NANCE: But if you did?

VIRGINIA: I would shoot him.

NANCE: Hmm. (She puts on a dress.) I think about killingIts my job Lady Macbeth. What made her kill? Well, whatif Lady Macbeth didnt feel like Lady Macbeth? What if shefelt more like a man than a woman? It happens. It probablyhappens more often than you think. So lets say she wants togo out and fight battles, and kill her enemies, and win all kindsof recognition for her courage. But instead, because shes awoman, shes stuck in her husbands castle year after year organizing dinner parties and doing needlework. And her husband, whos not half the man she is, gets to be the warrior.(Pause.) Have you ever done needlework? Personally, I like it.


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I find it relaxing, because its mindless, but if I had to do it allday long, Id probably kill someone, too. (Pause.) She came to

every performance I did of Lady Macbeth.

VIRGINIA: Who?

NANCE: (Still dressing.) The greatest actress in the world.Every show, matines included. Especially matines, becausethat is when the women came. Here help me with this.(Hesitating, VIRGINIA begins to fasten NANCEs dress.)

1904. I had a sensational season. You might want to take thisdown. (VIRGINIA hesitates and then picks up her note pad.) February 23, 1904, I opened at the Tremont Theatre in Boston.She came backstage afterwards. She and two hundred other

people. I didnt notice her then. But she came the next night,and the next. She never missed a performance. And I began tonotice. Of course, she hadnt told me her name. If she haddone that, believe me, that would have gotten my attention.

VIRGINIA: And what was her name?

NANCE: Her name Well. After the run was over, I went upto Tyngsboro, northwest of Boston. Do you know Tyngsboro?Its a resort area for the Back Bay crowd. And she musthave found out that I was going, because she turned up there,too. And, of course, I recognized her, and she told me howmuch she had enjoyed my performances, and I asked her if shewould like to join me for dinner. Well, she hesitated, and thenshe accepted. And it was only after we separated that Irealized I still did not know her name. You see, she wassetting the stage.

VIRGINIA: What was her name?

NANCE: I was about to find out. She arrived at my cottage inher carriage. She was wearing a lovely grey dress. I remember she reminded me of a mourning dove. That soft grey thats


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almost blue. Very elegant. She was always impeccablydressed. A handsome woman not pretty, but handsome. You

understad Well, I went out to greet her, and I opened thedoor, but she hesitated. She said that there was something sheneeded to tell me before she went in. She said that the namethat she was registered under at her hotel was not her realname Well, I smiled at that, because Nance ONeil is notmy real name either. I told her that I understood, and that I hadon occasion been compelled to register at hotels under thename Gertrude Lamson, which people believe is a false

name, but, in fact, it is the one I was born with. And then shesmiled at me and said, Tell people the truth and they willnever believe you. And then she paused and told me that shewas Lizzie Borden. (She turns to VIRGINIA.) Yes, the axmurderess of Fall River. Thats who she was. And I didntknow what to say! But she was very gracious. She smiled andsaid she would understand if I had another engagement. Shy,

but with a touch of defiance (Imitating Lizzie.) I understand

if you have another engagement. (A thoughtful pause.) Youknow, I play tragic heroines for a living. Or did beforegiving birth to Irene Dunne I played fallen women, andfrantic women, women with outraged honor, women driven tokill, women in miserable marriages, women whose childrenhave been taken from them. But I have never delivered a linemore tragic. It was a line she had practiced. She had perfectedthe delivery. She said it pleasantly, calmly. And with that oneline, I comprehended the entire horror of her existence: Awoman whose father and stepmother are brutally murdered, awoman who becomes the subject of the most celebratedcourtroom trial of the centurywho is found innocent by the

jury, but not by the townspeople, and who is the subject of whispers, and sneers, and jokes, and songswho is shunned

by society, not welcome anywhere, unable to be known for who she is, only accepted when she assumes a false name. Awoman living in the most desperate isolation that anyone canimagine. And bearing it all with absolute calm and perfectdignity. (Pause.) And I know something about that, as an


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actress. You see, people think an actress is a woman withloose morals. What is it you said ruined reputation? Why?

I suppose because she controls her own income, because shetravels about in the company of men. Its a hard life, and manyin my profession have succumbed to the bottle. Mr. Rankin,my manager, was one, and a great loss, too. I share my stigmawith the members of my profession. We band together. Weform a family. This was not true for Lizzie. Her stigma washers alone. She was the accused. She was the one who profitedfrom the deaths. There were none others. There was not even

another suspect. No one. But there was something about thegrace with which she accepted this stigma that intrigued me. Itold her that I had been looking forward to dining with her andthat I saw no reason why I shouldnt still look forward to it.But she was in complete control of the scene. Understand thatI was being upstaged entirely. She smiled again and said, Ineed to advise you, Miss ONeil, that I never discuss thecircumstances of my life, and there she paused and added,

even with my intimate friends. And I was hers. It was thatsimple. I took her to bed that very night. (Pause.) Well?(Pause.) What are you waiting for? Take that down!Goodness, dont you know a story when you hear one?Nance ONeil has lesbian affair with alleged axe murderer.You dont even have to make it up! (Pausing, she sighs.) Itstrue No one will believe it and I could sue you for libel.(She laughs.) Its like Lizzie said, Tell people the truth andno one will believe you! Ironic how people spend their wholelives protecting their secrets. (Laughing.) They should wear them on a sign around their necks, and people will force themto take it off!

VIRGINIA: (Blurting angrily.) Thats all right for people whohave nothing to lose!

NANCE: Whats all right?


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VIRGINIA: (Angry.) The sign around the neck. Not everyonecan afford disgrace.

NANCE: (A moment of authentic vulnerability.) Do I look likeI can afford it?

VIRGINIA: (Defiant and defensive.) Yes! (NANCE turns back to the mirror, adjusting her makeup. There is a long silence.)

NANCE: (Finally.) Irene Dunne grew up on a Mississippi

riverboat.

VIRGINIA: Some of us have responsibilities.

NANCE: I know. And the riverboat stories will sell likehotcakes. Your editor may even give you a bonus.

VIRGINIA: I have a daughter.

NANCE: Lizzie had a maid. Did I say that? An Irish girl.They were actually very close in age, in their twenties. Stopme if Im boring you. I never met this maid, because Lizziehad sent her back to Ireland after the trial. Gave her the moneyfor the passage and also enough money to buy herself a farm.Very generous, dont you think?

VIRGINIA: So the girl knew?

NANCE: Oh, yes. The girl knew. Why else would Lizzie buyher a farm?

VIRGINIA: And that didnt bother you?

NANCE: Of course it bothered me. It bothered me so much Iwent back and read all the newspapers about the trial. And thatwas when I began to understand that I was sleeping with thegreatest actress who ever lived.


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VIRGINIA: Because she fooled them all into believing she

was innocent.

NANCE: Because she fooled them all into believing she wasguilty.

VIRGINIA: I dont understand.

NANCE: People who cant afford disgrace will never

understand women like Lizzie. (Pause.) It was Bridgetitwas the Irish girlwho did it. It was Bridget who took the axand gave the Bordens forty whacks. And it was Lizzie whosaved her life Lizzie drawing all the attention to herself, sothey wouldnt start asking questions about the Irish girl withthe violent temper, the Irish girl who was so sick that day withfood poisoning, she had been throwing up in the yard, whenMrs. Borden told her she had to wash every window in the

house, inside and out. Because those windows never gotwashed and a half hour later, the woman who gave that order was face down with her skull smashed to smithereens.

VIRGINIA: So she protected her.

NANCE: She protected her. It nearly cost her her life.(Pausing.) What am I saying? It did! She had no life untilI came along. Do you have a life, Virginia Houlton a lifeworth living?

VIRGINIA: I have a daughter worth living for. My disgracewould ruin her life.

NANCE: And what disgrace is that? (VIRGINIA looks at her.Slowly NANCE rises and crosses to her. VIRGINIA continuesto face her without retreating. NANCE bends down and kissesher. VIRGINIA doesnt move. NANCE straightens up with awry smile.) I would ask you to meet me for a drink after the


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filming today, but I dont think you can afford to be seen withme.

VIRGINIA: (Turning away.) What happened to her?

NANCE: I left. (A beat.) This may be difficult for you to believe, but my reputation was being damaged by myassociation with her. The public expects an actress to haveloose morals but they dont expect us to side with their scapegoats.

VIRGINIA: That was cowardly.

NANCE: I play heroines on the stage. I never claimed to beone. She understood that, because, as I said, she was thegreatest actress who ever lived. (A beat.) Did you like mykiss?

VIRGINIA: Was it real?

NANCE: (Smiling.) So you cant tell the difference? (Stung,VIRGINIA retrieves her gloves.) Is that your exit cue?

VIRGINIA: (Facing NANCE.) If it wasnt mine, it would beyours.

NANCE: True. Back to our respective performances (Sheturns to the mirror, removing her turban. Her hair falls downher back. VIRGINIA starts for the door. Suddenly she turnsaround.)

VIRGINIA. No! (Surprised, NANCE turns.) No! When youare being leftwhen a woman is walking out on youawoman you have kissed!nothing says amateur more than

pretending you dont care! Because if it meant nothing to you,it may still have meant something to her. It may have changedher life foreveror it may have meant nothing to her either.


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But you cant know which it is, and so you mustnt assume. Itwould be cowardly, unchivalrous to maintain an attitude of

callous indifference. You may even have to put on an act, but,then, were all so good at that, arent we? So you pretend tocare. You touch her. Because you didnt really touch her whenyou kissed her. So you touch her now But where? Its easier to kiss her than to touch her, isnt it? But you have to choosesomething, so lets say you touch her face. (She touches

NANCEs face.) You didnt expect it to be so human, did you?And you look into her eyes. And maybe they are mocking

you they probably are, but you tell yourself you are lookingthrough that, looking behind the mask. Even if there isnt anymask. Even if she has become the mask. You look anyway,

because you kissed her. And, then, if you see somethingeven if you just think you see something (Suddenly NANCE rises and touches VIRGINIAs face. The two women really kissthis time. VIRGINIA, overwhelmed, turns away, speaking withher back to NANCE.) And that, Miss Nance ONeil with an

i and one l is how you leave a woman who is leavingyou (She crosses quickly, without turning, to the door and exits, closing the door behind her. NANCE, stunned, pauses

for a moment, and then crosses quickly to the door and throwsit open. A smile spreads slowly across her face.)

Blackout

End of Play


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Carolyn Gagewww.carolyngage.com

Carolyn Gage is a lesbian-feminist playwright, performer, director,and activist. The author of seven books on lesbian theatre and sixty-three plays, musicals, and one-woman shows, she specializes innon-traditional roles for women, especially those reclaiming famouslesbians whose stories have been distorted or erased from history.Her collection of plays The Second Coming of Joan of Arc and

Selected Plays won the 2008 Lambda Literary Award in Drama, thetop LGBT book award in the US.

Gage tours internationally in her award-winning, one-woman play,The Second Coming of Joan of Arc , offering workshops andlectures on lesbian theatre. In 2008, her new musical about BabeDidrikson was given concert readings in both Phoenix andMinneapolis, and her play The Countess and the Lesbians

premiered at the Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival, where itwas reviewed by The Irish Times and sold out the run. In 2008, twocollections of her plays were published: Nine Short Plays and The

Second Coming of Joan of Arc and Selected Plays . In 2009, arevised and expanded version of her collection of Monologues and

Scenes for Lesbian Actors was published, along with her anthologyThe Spindle and Other Lesbian Fairy Tales.

In 2004, her play Ugly Ducklings was nominated by the AmericanTheatre Critics Association for the prestigious ATCA/ Steinberg

New Play Award, an award with given annually for the best new

play produced outside New York. It won the Lesbian TheatreAward from Curve Magazine , and a $150,000 documentary on the play premiered at the Frameline International Film Festival in SanFrancisco. The Anastasia Trials in the Court of Women was namednational finalist for the Jane Chambers Award given by theAssociation for Theatre in Higher Education. Receiving top reviewsin Miami and in Washington, DC, it was the subject of a featurearticle in The Washington Post. Her one-act, Harriet Tubman Visitsa Therapist , was presented at Actors Theatre of Louisville in the

Juneteenth Festival of African American plays. It was a nationalwinner of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival, and is


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included in Random House's anthology Under 30: Plays for a NewGeneration .

Gage's musical, The Amazon All-Stars is the first lesbian full-book musical ever published by a mainstream play publisher. Published

by Applause Books, it is the title work of an anthology of lesbian plays that was a national finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.Her manual on lesbian theatre production, Take Stage! How to

Direct and Produce a Lesbian Play was published by ScarecrowPress. The University of Oregon has acquired her personal papersfor their Special Collections Archive.

In 2008, Gage lectured at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and she has been a Guest Lecturer at Bates College inMaine. She has won the Oregon Playwrights Award from theOregon Institute of Literary Arts. She has also been awarded grantsfrom the Maine Arts Commission, the Maine Women WritersCollection at the University of New England, the Walden Writer'sFellowship from Lewis and Clark College, the Oregon Institute of Literary Arts Writer's Grant, and the Oregon Arts Commission

Individual Artist Grant. In 2005, she won the national Lynda HartMemorial Grant from the Astraea Foundation. In 2010, she spentthree months as a Artist-in-Residence at the Wurlitzer Foundation inTaos, New Mexico.

One of the most prolific feminist playwrights in the world, CarolynGage is a dynamic speaker and a powerful role model.


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Books by Carolyn Gage

The Second Coming of Joan of Arc and Selected Plays

Nine Short Plays

Black Eye and Other Short Plays

Three Comedies

The Triple Goddess: Three Plays

Like Theres No Tomorrow: Meditations for Women Leaving PatriarchyMonologues and Scenes for Lesbian Actors: Revised and Expanded

Take Stage: How to Direct and Produce a Lesbian Play

The Spindle and Other Lesbian Fairy Tales

Sermons for a Lesbian Tent Revival

Supplemental Sermons for a Lesbian Tent Revival

Individual plays by Gage are available at www.carolyngage.com.

the greatest actress who ever lived

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