CHARACTERS:

BERNICE/POCAHONTAS CENTER:	Male, any age.
JANE/POCAHONTAS RIGHT:	Male, any age.
WOMAN/POCAHONTAS LEFT:	Female, any age.

SETTING:

PART 1:	The theater the play is performed in.
PART 2:	A museum in a very cosmopolitan city.
PART 3:	A theater in the same city.
PART 4:	To be determined.

stupidity is evolving
normally

--Rozewicz

THE IMPOTENT GENERAL was performed as part of Brick Theater’s $ellout Festival in June, 2006.

Director:	Meredith McDonough
Actors:	Chad Goodridge, Drew Hildebrand, Meredith Holzman
Sound:	Emily Wright
Lights:	James Bedell

This play is for Lydia and Joshua.

Extraordinary liberty was taken in quoting and misquoting Tadeuz Rozewicz, Clement Greenberg, Cervantes, Li Po, Agnes Martin and Henry Nash Smith.

CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE

THE IMPOTENT GENERAL
PART 4

Pocahontas Left, Right and Center enter.
With feathers, as earlier.

PC
Ladies and gentlemen. Before we continue, did I tell you the one about the guy who asked the trapeze artist to marry him? Well, she flipped!

Okay-now what you've paid the big bucks to hear. Two real-life, unauthorized, unabridged, heartbreaking but true tales of two women who sold out, and their tragic consequences.

PC accompanies the dialogue with a different
instrument-perhaps a flute this time. But
the mood is different than part 1-that was
poetry, this is story telling.

PR
The story of Pocahontas, Native American.

PL
The story of Suzy-Dawn, midwest American.

PR
Pocahontas was an Indian princess, daughter of Powhatan, chief of the Algonquin Indians of..

PL
Virginia, but her friends called her Suzy-Dawn for her optimistic bright eyes.

PR
They named her Matoaka, though she is better known as Pocahontas, which means..

PL
"Little Wanton"-playful, frolicsome little girl.
She probably showed interest in men around..

PR
1607, when Englishmen landed at Jamestown. It was well-known among the Algonquin at that time that Pocahontas desired a career in..

PL
Modeling and acting. One morning, after milking the cows and tending to her pappa's gout, she spied an ad in the local newspaper for a modeling and acting agency in New York called Promised Land Modeling and Acting Agency that "Guaranteed a successful career as a model and actress."

PR
This was the break she was looking for. She new she could prove herself useful to the Jamestown settlement and her people, with her knowledge of local customs and command of English and French. So..

PL
The small-town gal from the midwest packed her bags, and with a dream and a bus ticket in her pocket made her way to the big city, where fame, or at least a rewarding career, awaited. She only had to make a positive impression on the head of the agency..

PR
Captain John Smith. At first, Smith was captured by Indians and tied to a sacrificial altar. As the ax rose above his head, he saw..

(Sounds of the Big City)

PL
The bright lights and strip joints of Times Square. Her life flashed before her-look at all the good times I have..

PR
Missed! Then a little Indian girl rushed in and took Smith’s head in her arms. "Silly," she said, "it was just a clever joke. We do this to all the Jamestown boys." Pocahontas and Smith were now..

PL
Friends. Oh how will I ever make any friends in..

PR
Actually, the "mock execution" was indeed an ancient tradition in..

PL
New York City? But she put on her most optimistic midwest smile when she stepped off that Greyhound bus, for..

PR
She was a lively gal, and accompanied the Indians bringing..

PL
Chinese take out..

PR
And furs to trade for hatchets, shrunken heads and trinkets at the Jamestown settlement, where..

PL
She hoped John Smith would take a liking to her.

PR
But then John Smith was injured in a gunpowder explosion and returned to England. When Pocahontas came..

PL
To visit the Promised Land Modeling and Acting agency, she was told that John Smith was dead. But sir, I have come from the midwest on a smile and a bus ticket, surely..

PR
He's dead lady! John Smith is dead! Whadya' want me to do, eh? Bring 'em back to life?! Can't you see I'm in fucking mourning here!! Now be a good girl and go back to the farm.

PL
Her dreams and money fading quickly, Suzy Dawn wandered the Streets of Times Square. It was the coldest winter in forty years, and it seemed there were as many people living in cardboard boxes as there were in her hometown, which now seemed a million miles away. But Suzy was always the..

PR
Resourceful English Captain Samuel Argall kidnapped Pocahontas, and held her for..

PL
Suzy Dawn was down to her last dime. The manager of the Red Stripe Motel held her winter coat until she could pay the..

PR
Ransom money. She became..

PL
Pensive and despondent.

PR
Argall wanted the Indians to release English prisoners, corn, and..

PL
Dirty films-the only place she could stay out of the cold. After this terrible ordeal..

PR
Pocahontas began her education in..

(Sound of Hebrew prayers)

PL
The Hebrew faith. You see, Edgar, the maintenance man in the small and decrepit synagogue on Tenth Avenue found her huddled in the doorway, half-frozen to death, took her in and let her sleep on a cot in the basement. What's more,the congregation needed ten men to form a minion, and so Suzy joined them every morning, Friday nights and all day Saturday for prayers. Edgar gave her a hat and overcoat to disguise her femininity. What a strange new religion, she thought. Yet somehow I feel so..renewed..so safe when I look upon..

PR
That sad man on the cross. This new faith will keep me strong.

(Jewish music and/or prayers heard)

PL
Her discovery of the God of Abraham, Moses and chicken soup, of Sarah and..

PR
The Virgin Mary..

PR
Harpo Marx; of Maimonades, Marty Feldman, Tony Curtis and Eleanor Roosevelt; of The Golem, Kafka and Einstein; the Torah, the Kaballa and Auchwitz! Oh it was all so new and wonderful. Her spirit soared! Edgar bought back her coat and her faith in mankind was restored. She was determined to meet..

PR
A successful tobacco planter..

PL
The new head of the modeling and acting agency, whose name was..

PR
John Rolfe. But alas, the Indians and colonists fought.

(Sound of warfare)

PR (cont'd)
Homes burned, Indians killed, trinkets mangled.

PL
Determined, Suzy Dawn walked with her head up into the Promised Land Modeling and Acting Agency.

PR
Two gay cowboys came down from the hills to broker a peace agreement.

PL
The office was very queer to Suzy. The only thing close to it was her dad's office at the bank, which only had his high school diploma on the wall and a photo of his beloved family on his desk. No this was different-this was something big. You could smell it. Lining the walls were photos of all kinds of beautiful woman-all white and blonde, just like herself. What a melting pot New York is! They had names like Alice and Beatrice, all smart girls with a bus ticket and dream in their pocket, who had come to the big city, and had found success! Well, John Rolfe..

PR
Was not a religious man. In fact he had been eager to take over the Agency..

PC
Colony..

PR
Er, colony.. So he lost little time getting the colony back on its feet, and back into the lucrative and personally rewarding business..

PL
Of turning young women into famous models and actors.

PR
He finally decided to have his way with..

PL
Suzy Dawn sat demurely in the Agency waiting area. A busy secretary typed letters. John Rolfe cracked open his office door and spied the ripe and shapely aspiring model and actress that had just arrived. He decided then and there to spread her out..

PR
Upon the marriage altar..

PL
And melt his throbbing hot flesh into hers until..

PR
A general peace and spirit of goodwill between English and the Indians resulted.

PL
He waxed his mustache and buzzed his secretary. Mrs. Flint, please send in our next aspiring model and actress.

PC
Yes Mr. Rolfe. He'll see you now sweety. And a bit of advice-girl to girl-lose the three top buttons of that blouse.

PL
Suzy was grateful for the sound advice and..

PR
It was now 1616 and the colonists traveled back to..

PL
Enter the inner sanctum of John Rolfe's office.
It reminded her of..

PR
England to seek further financial support and to insure spectacular publicity they brought along a dozen Indians, including..

PL
Pocahontas.

PC
Suzy Dawn!

PL
Er, Suzy Dawn, I have twenty years in this biz, and it is clear to me that you have many talents valuable in this line of work. You are, what we call, a natural. Before you know it I will have you meeting with..

PR
King James I, the royal family and all of London High Society.

PL
Suzy Dawn's knees literally shook.

PR
Sit down, Pocahontas, you're shaking. Take off that..

PL
Blouse.

PR
Why? she asked

PL
In this business, it is my job to check your credentials.
To determine if..

PR
John Smith was alive..

PL
And by God they are alive..

PR
And so the two old friends were reunited.
They embraced, and before she knew what was happening..

PL
He had his hands around her solid white mound of throbbing flesh. So this is how it must be, she thought. She unbuttoned her brassiere and revealed both mounds of throbbing hot flesh. John Rolfe wasted no time in..

PR
Obtaining financial support from the very satisfied King James. Then Rolfe packed up his ship and..

PL
Pulled Suzy down onto his leather office couch. As he tore off her panties all she could think about was her mom and pop..

PR
Back on the reservation. Oh what would they think if they could see their daughter now. Surrounded by..

PL
All these successful girls. As John Rolfe entered..

PR
The ship, she soon fell ill. TB or hepatitis had taken her. She lie down..

PL
On her cot in the synagogue. Edgar offered to get medical help but she told him..

PR
It is nothing. Just a migraine from all the excitement.

PL
I've taken the first important step in my career Edgar. I'm going to be a model and an actress. But oh, is it Friday night? I don't think I feel up to joining Rabbi Shmulovitz for the evening prayers. Why don't you be a good fella and see if there is a young girl sleeping in the doorway tonight?

PR
Pocahontas lie in her cot for three days, vomiting her insides out. Rolfe brought over the best doctors in England, courtesy of King James, but..

PL
She was too poor to call a doctor, too ashamed to call her parents, and too Jewish to eat the hot dogs Edgar brought her from the corner stand. In her cot, with Edgar applying cold formaldehyde to her temple, and while the small congregation prayed only 12 feet above her head..

(sound of Jewish prayer service)

PR
As she lay dying, Pocahontas said to this kindly old man who now held her firmly in his hands..

PL
Edgar..

PR
John..

PL
Oh Edgar..

PR
Oh John..

PL
John..

PC
Edgar!

PR
Edgar..

PC
John!

PR
John?

PL
Mrs. Flint..

PR
Edgar!

PC
John!

PL
John?

PR
Jack..

PL
Ennis..

PC
Edgar! John!

Pause.

PR
I now realize..

PL
I should have stayed back home on the

PR
Reservation.

PL
Helped my parents raise the..

PR
Children and fight the white man.

PL
Gotten married and gone to the local college to learn..

PR
How to skin a deer and build an igloo..

PC
Teepee!

PR
Raised three children and gone to..

PL
Church every Sunday.

PR
But I went ahead and sold out.

PL
Just for money, excitement and..

PR
To be somebody famous.

PC
No my child..

PR
John Rolfe said..

PL
Edgar said..

PR
As he held the girl and watched her breath..

PL
Her last breath..

PC
No my child. For the truth of art lies for her, as for any genuinely ambitious artist, somewhat beyond what she knows she can do.

The Pocahontas' take their feathers out of their hair. Sound of rabbis and Indians praying.

PL
And as the rabbi's preyed..

PR
And chanted ancient tribal songs..

PL
Suzy Dawn looked up at the..

PR
Sad man on the cross..

PL
With the beard and yarmulke..

PC
And smiled, for she felt peaceful. She knew she was finally going to the one place where her soul was not for sale.

Blackout

End of play