Lilly and Celeste by
It’s 1:30 a. m. and Manhattan has gone dark-- no power, no phone service. The
technological “fail-safes” did not live up to their names. Sounds of distant explosions and gunfire signal violent confrontation in the streets. Inside a dressing room in the city’s oldest theater, Lilly Largo awakens alone from a boozy post-performance nap. Amidst remains of the closing night party for her run in The Cherry...
technological “fail-safes” did not live up to their names. Sounds of distant explosions and gunfire signal violent confrontation in the streets. Inside a dressing room in the city’s oldest theater, Lilly Largo awakens alone from a boozy post-performance nap. Amidst remains of the closing night party for her run in The Cherry...
It’s 1:30 a. m. and Manhattan has gone dark-- no power, no phone service. The
technological “fail-safes” did not live up to their names. Sounds of distant explosions and gunfire signal violent confrontation in the streets. Inside a dressing room in the city’s oldest theater, Lilly Largo awakens alone from a boozy post-performance nap. Amidst remains of the closing night party for her run in The Cherry Orchard, she thinks her dangerous heart problem has saved her the trouble of ending her life. The thing she intended doing after tonight’s closing. As Lilly waits for the “crossing over” a member of the theater staff who chose not to evacuate the blacked-out building finds her wandering around the dark stage. The woman, Celeste Dusha, had recognized the actor’s self- destructive tendencies in recent days and stayed behind to save Lilly from herself. Years ago Lilly unknowingly had inspired an enormous change in the orphaned immigrant Celeste’s troubled life. Now Celeste believes it’s her obligation to rescue this illustrious artist from a tragic, ugly and untimely end. As the two women hole up in Lilly’s dressing room against the violence outside, they cut a deal for Lilly to abandon her plan if Celeste can prove to her that she has more quality life to live after tonight. Celeste uses Lilly’s passion for acting to distract her from the danger in the street, which Lilly believes is death coming for her. In an entertaining sequence Lilly performs highlights of her theatre life which parallel her personal history, then gives Celeste an acting lesson based on a scene from Chekhov’s The Seagull. Celeste’s clever strategy almost works to change Lilly’s mind until the mob attacks the theater. Lilly makes a run for the entrance to let them in. Celeste seizes her and drags her back into the dressing room, confusing the actress in this moment with her own dead mother. The two hide behind a costume rack as invaders break into the theater. One moves into the dressing room, sees the two women behind the pile of costumes, turns and leaves. In the silence that follows Lilly gives in and admits it’s not her time to die. “Because we both know something really has happened. To them. To us. I must see what the world after tonight will be, and what you and I, together, might still do to save the good in it.”
technological “fail-safes” did not live up to their names. Sounds of distant explosions and gunfire signal violent confrontation in the streets. Inside a dressing room in the city’s oldest theater, Lilly Largo awakens alone from a boozy post-performance nap. Amidst remains of the closing night party for her run in The Cherry Orchard, she thinks her dangerous heart problem has saved her the trouble of ending her life. The thing she intended doing after tonight’s closing. As Lilly waits for the “crossing over” a member of the theater staff who chose not to evacuate the blacked-out building finds her wandering around the dark stage. The woman, Celeste Dusha, had recognized the actor’s self- destructive tendencies in recent days and stayed behind to save Lilly from herself. Years ago Lilly unknowingly had inspired an enormous change in the orphaned immigrant Celeste’s troubled life. Now Celeste believes it’s her obligation to rescue this illustrious artist from a tragic, ugly and untimely end. As the two women hole up in Lilly’s dressing room against the violence outside, they cut a deal for Lilly to abandon her plan if Celeste can prove to her that she has more quality life to live after tonight. Celeste uses Lilly’s passion for acting to distract her from the danger in the street, which Lilly believes is death coming for her. In an entertaining sequence Lilly performs highlights of her theatre life which parallel her personal history, then gives Celeste an acting lesson based on a scene from Chekhov’s The Seagull. Celeste’s clever strategy almost works to change Lilly’s mind until the mob attacks the theater. Lilly makes a run for the entrance to let them in. Celeste seizes her and drags her back into the dressing room, confusing the actress in this moment with her own dead mother. The two hide behind a costume rack as invaders break into the theater. One moves into the dressing room, sees the two women behind the pile of costumes, turns and leaves. In the silence that follows Lilly gives in and admits it’s not her time to die. “Because we both know something really has happened. To them. To us. I must see what the world after tonight will be, and what you and I, together, might still do to save the good in it.”