Hopper

This fall, my theater company will be producing a show based on the works of Edward Hopper (Most famous for Nighthawks, 1942). We put the idea on the back burner for a bit but have now reinstated our efforts.

Below is a piece I wrote in the initial spate of writing meetings, based on the painting Chair Car, 1965.





CHAIR CAR

LOIS, Early 30’s
VERBENA, Early 30’s

(The common area of a passenger train, early afternoon. There are four people in the car: A Man sitting at the fore, looking out the opposite window from the chair in which he sits, a woman in a hat who cannot seem to take her eyes off the Man’s right ear, VERBENA, sitting further back still, and LOIS. LOIS is sitting with her back turned to the window, reading a dog-eared paperback book. At times the book itself appears to frustrate her. She huffs out one or two agitated sighs, closing the book and turning it over to look at the back cover. When she has finished eyeballing it with displeasure, she turns back to where she left off with a rough flip.

When she flips back she consistently returns to a page where the spine has cracked a bit from wear as if that page has been read over and over. It is not the page she’s reading and having to hit it every time she goes back to looking at the book, increases her agitation.

VERBENA is watching this. Her chair is turned halfway towards LOIS. She is trying, with little success, to observe LOIS with a covert nonchalance. LOIS is at first unaware of this, but during one of her scolding glances at the back of the book, she catches a glimpse of VERBENA turned almost directly her way. Their eyes meet for half a second and VERBENA swivels back around to face front. LOIS remains fixed on VERBENA for a beat, and then returns to her book.

VERBENA tries a few more times to look directly at LOIS and LOIS is ever more aware of VERBENA’s intrusion.

The sound of the train thumping and clacking over the tracks is heard throughout.

Finally, catching VERBENA in another stare, LOIS has had enough.)

LOIS
Excuse me.

(VERBENA swerves back around forward in her chair.)

LOIS
Excuse me…you there.

(A beat. VERBENA turns back to view LOIS at a turtle’s pace. LOIS waits.)

VERBENA
Hi.

LOIS
Uh-huh…Hello…can I help you with something?

VERBENA
I, uh…I don’t kno-

LOIS
No, no, no…you’ve been turning your chair and looking over at me. I’ve seen it.

(A long beat. VERBENA just looks at LOIS.)

LOIS
I’ve seen you doing it. You can’t pretend here, because I’ve seen you.

(VERBENA furrows her brow.)

VERBENA
You don’t have to be so upset.

LOIS
I’m not upset.

VERBENA
You sound like you are.

LOIS
I’m not.

(Pause.)

LOIS
I just want to know what’s going on here.

VERBENA
Nothing.

LOIS
Then why are you looking at me?

(Pause. VERBENA mulls it over and then:)

VERBENA
I was looking at your book.

LOIS
That’s it?

VERBENA
Yes…I was wondering what you were reading. I can’t help it. I’m always looking at what other people are reading, on the train, on the subway.

LOIS
You could have just said that, without going through all the- (She makes a circling motion with her finger.) You can say “Excuse me, what are you reading?”

VERBENA
Excuse me, what are you reading?

LOIS
Exactly, just like that.

VERBENA (Shy laugh)
No…I’m really asking.

(LOIS lets out a humorless snort.)

LOIS
Oh.

(LOIS closes the book and looks at its cover.)

LOIS
“Pictures of the Gone World” by Lawrence Finger-letty.

VERBENA
Oh.

LOIS
Pretty depressing name, if you ask me.

VERBENA
How come?

LOIS
Well, it just sounds so damn melancholy, doesn’t it? Poets these days have to make everything sound like it’s the end of the world.

VERBENA
You don’t go in for poetry too much.

LOIS
Sure I do. I can’t get enough of the stuff.

(VERBENA is incredulous)

VERBENA
Really? You don’t seem-

LOIS
I like it as much as the next gal, with a bunch of roses and a box of chocolates, but honestly…it’s when these fellas get all (makes a circling motion with her finger by her head) you know, it gets to be a bit much for me.

(A long beat. LOIS, assuming the conversation is at a comfortable parting lull, opens the book.)

VERBENA
It’s Ferlinghetti.

LOIS
What’s that?

VERBENA
It’s Ferlinghetti. That’s how you say his last name.

LOIS
So?

VERBENA
You said “Finger-letty.”

LOIS
No I didn’t.

VERBENA
I heard you.

LOIS
I said “Finger-letty.”

VERBENA
Yes…and that’s not right.

LOIS (Shrugging)
Who cares?

(VERBENA is silent. LOIS tries to open the book again)

VERBENA
Where did you get it?

(LOIS is visibly annoyed)

LOIS
Get what? This?

VERBENA
The book.

LOIS
What difference does it make?

VERBENA
I just want to know where you got it.

LOIS
Right and I want to know what difference it makes.

VERBENA
I know it’s strange…

LOIS
You’re tellin’ me?

VERBENA
I used to have that book. Used to own it.

LOIS
Uh-huh.

VERBENA
So, I just wanted to know where you got it.

(LOIS pulls the book towards her.)

LOIS
This is my book.

VERBENA
I know.

LOIS
It was a present to me.

VERBENA
Mine was too…a present.

LOIS
But this one was a present to me…from a friend.

(Pause.)

VERBENA
They must not know you very well.

LOIS
What the hell kinda thing is that to say? And to a total stranger?

VERBENA
I didn’t mean to-

LOIS
Oh yes, you did! (The Woman with the hat turns her head and looks at them. LOIS Sees this and evens her tone.) Yes, you did…what other possible reason could you have to say such a thing? You most assuredly did mean to-(Makes a circling motion with her finger, completing her thought.)

(There is a long silence as LOIS and VERBENA look at one another. LOIS slowly sits back in her seat and swivels it away from VERBENA.)

VERBENA
May I see it?

LOIS
No.

VERBENA
Why not?

LOIS
You can’t be serious.

VERBENA
I only want to see something and then I’ll give it right back.

LOIS
No.

VERBENA
You have my word.

LOIS
Of all the childish- (She swivels back around) Tell me what it is and I’ll look at it for you.

VERBENA
That’s not the same thing.

LOIS
You’re right…it’s not.

VERBENA
Please…I just want to see-

LOIS
See what?

VERBENA
That’s my business.

LOIS
And this book is my business.

(Pause. VERBENA is growing more desperate.)

VERBENA
It looks like it was my book. It looks just like it.

LOIS
Well, it’s not your book. It’s my book.

VERBENA
But it looks like-

LOIS
There are about a thousand of these books around, how could you possibly, out of all the copies of this goddamn book there are in the world, think that this one is yours?

VERBENA
It’s got the same-

LOIS
The same-

VERBENA
The same, I don’t know the same marks on it. It folds back the same way…and there (she points) I can see where I colored in the “O” in “gone” with a pen. I had it on my desk and I was just, you know, on the telephone and I colored it in. It was a stupid thing to do…I felt like I ruined it a little. I used to carry it around with me. Everywhere. It was a present from- (she stops short of saying his name) we were going to get married, he told me. Or run away, he said. He gave it to me and in the front he wrote- something silly, really. A sweet nothing. And afterwards, after he was gone…the book went missing. I probably left it somewhere, that’s what I thought. But it was a present…to me. And I just want to see if maybe…what he wrote….

(A beat. The train has slowed down and the conductor announces the stop that’s coming up)

LOIS
This isn’t your book.

VERBENA
But…can I look?

LOIS
This is mine. It was a gift to me.

VERBENA
I just want to see.

LOIS
It’s mine.

VERBENA
Just for a second…

(The train has stopped. LOIS stands up.)

VERBENA
Please, before you go. Can I see?

(A long beat. The Man and the Woman in the train car get up and exit. LOIS stands for a beat. In one quick motion she whips the book to the front page and hold it up for VERBENA to see. VERBENA looks at it for a beat and takes in a sharp breath. Then, just as swiftly as she opened it, LOIS slams the book shut and stuffs it into her handbag. She marches out of the train, leaving VERBENA alone.)

END