The Neophyte
A play in three acts
Lea Ann Douglas
Jei’Ala Press
www.cruinnaiu.com
Jei’Ala Press
First Published in the United States of America by
The University of Virginia Press, 2002
Published in Jei’Ala Press 2018
Copyright © Lea Ann Douglas, 2002
All rights reserved
Cover design by P.E. Bluebird
Cover Gustav Doré, The Neophyte, oil on canvas
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Douglas, Lea Ann
The Neophyte
Originally published: Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2002
Legal—Drama I. Title
ISBN 978-1-9805-7022-6
Published in the United States of America
Caution: Professional and amateurs are warned that The Neophyte is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and rights of translation into foreign languages are strictly reserved. Permission for performance or readings should be secured in writing by contacting the author ldouglas@cruinnaiu.com.
Historical Note
This play is based on the real-life case of Brandon Wilson. In 1999, 20-year-old Wilson was accused of killing a nine-year-old boy in a public restroom forty miles outside San Diego, California. Wilson never denied he committed the crime, nor would he allow his attorneys to mount an insanity defense for him. He would only insist that he had been instructed by God to kill the boy, and in a statement read by his attorney, asserted that he had been “chosen by God to be one of God’s very special emissaries on earth.” He was convicted of capital murder and sat on death row until 2011 when he hung himself in his cell.
This play is not an attempt to excuse Wilson or to retry his case or to turn him into a sympathetic figure. Rather, it is an exploration of the role of faith in institutions that proport to be based on rationality, the politics inherent in religion, and the sense of wonder that is often missing from organized religion and secular institutions alike.
The Neophyte was first performed in the Helms Theatre at the University of Virginia on April 18, 2002 with the following cast:
GRAINE GOODWIN—Victoria Joyce
YOUNG GRAINE—Katherine Joyce
OSCAR TELFORD—Ed Festa
ADAM CRAWFORD—Steve Tharp
ALDINE CAGE—Rebecca Hudnall
JEFF MAULIN—Toby Emert
THRIHN NGUYEN—Lily Chih-Yuan Yang
FATHER MICHAEL STONE—Jack Conlon
LAYMAN MONTGOMERY LEE—Ron Heller
DR. SCOTT HUDSON—Ken Lambert
Featuring the Voices of
Ben Bolling
Fang Du
Sean Joyce
Carla Lewendowski
Heather Pozen
James Watson
Rick Dorst
Kara Holland
Jason Kehler
Burt Neal
Kat Thompson
Directed by Doug Grissom
Lighting Design by Elizabeth Bernard
Sound Design by Rick Dorst
Scene Design by Sarah Jennings
Costume Design by Kristen Ricaurte
Publicity Design by Shambhavi Singh
Setting: Various locations in a small college town and the nearby fictional town of Bethany
Time: the present
Characters:
GRAINE GOODWIN—a woman in her forties; she was once a “big city lawyer” but has stopped practicing and now teaches at the university law school
YOUNG GRAINE—Graine as young girl, ten or eleven
OSCAR TELFORD—a young man, early twenties
ADAM CRAWFORD—a former law school friend of Graine’s, now a practicing criminal defense lawyer in Bethany
ALDINE CAGE—the county’s District Attorney
JEFF MAULIN—the county’s Assistant District Attorney
THRIHN NGUYEN—a law student at the university
FATHER MICHAEL STONE—Bethany’s only Catholic priest
LAYMAN MONTGOMERY LEE—a fundamentalist preacher
DR. SCOTT HUDSON—a prominent local psychiatrist
Voices of reporters and town citizens
Act One
Scene 1: Rev. Goodwin’s funeral
Scene 2: Outside the Bethany courthouse
Scene 3: St. Mary’s/Bethany Grace Church
Scene 4: Multiple locations in and around Bethany
Scene 5: the University, just outside Bethany
Scene 6: Bethany jail
Scene 7: Bethany District Attorney’s office
Scene 8: Grainne Goodwin’s office at the University
Scene 9: Bethany jail
Act Two
Scene 1: Adam Crawford’s office
Scene 2: Outside the Bethany jail
Scene 3: Bethany District Attorney’s office
Scene 4: Adam Crawford’s office
Act Three
Scene 1: Bethany courthouse
Scene 2: Bethany courthouse
Scene 3: St. Mary’s Catholic Church
Scene 4: Bethany courthouse
Scene 5: Bethany courthouse
Scene 6: Bethany courthouse
Scene 7: Bethany courthouse
Scene 8: Bethany courthouse
Scene 9: Bethany courthouse
Scene 10: Bethany courthouse
Scene 11: outside the courtroom
The Neophyte
Act One
Scene One
The space contains only a wooden church pew. Light shines through a stained-glass window offstage and illuminates the back wall of the space. Organ music, a funeral dirge, can be heard playing softly. A dim light comes up on GRAINE GOODWIN sitting in the pew, holding a worn-out bible in her hands. She is dressed in black. A figure, OSCAR TELFORD, stands in the shadows behind the pew. We can only just make him out and cannot see his face. He remains eerily still throughout the scene.
As the light comes up on GRAINE, the sound of FATHER MICHAEL STONE’s voice can be heard:
STONE
...a light of hope and faith for his congregation. A loving father. A dear friend. And though we know he walks now with God, we feel sorrow that we are without him here on earth. Reverend Goodwin will be missed by all who knew him. How strange to avail myself now of one of his favorite psalms on this sad occasion…
STONE continues to speak, but his speech becomes increasingly slow and hypnotic until he is almost chanting. A small girl, YOUNG GRAINE, runs in. She wears a Sunday school dress and holds a battered stuffed rabbit in her hand. She speaks to a figure only she can see. She speaks the bible passage haltingly, struggling to get it correct.
STONEYOUNG GRAINE
The Lord is my shepherd; I Daddy! Daddy!
Shall not want.Listen! Listen!
Haunt gaunt the eyesListen to what I can
already gonesay: And he showed
He maketh me to lie downme a pure river of life,
In green pastures; clear as crystal…and
Greeeeen great seeingon either side of the
Eyes so far awayriver, was the tree of
He leadeth me besidelife…and there shall
The still waters.Be no more curse…
Seeing far watery eyesthe time is at hand…
Coming back to sayand they shall…
He restoreth my soulsee his face…
My soul my soul my souland…
Yea, though I walkand…
Alone, walking slow,um…
Through the valley
Of the shadow of death,
Silent shadowand…
Shivering cold
I will fear no evil:
Evil art; no, illusionand…
Illusion delusions sweet sound
Graceful voice to save
Straining sweet sweat
But not a sound
So far away
Hear his voice!
For thou art with me
YOUNG GRAINE grins widely—the proud child showing off. She saunters offstage, singing:
AMAZING GRACE/HOW SWEET THE SOUND/THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE MEEEEEE
As YOUNG GRAINE sings the last refrain, GRAINE stands slowly, drops the bible on her seat with a thump, and walks out. We hear YOUNG GRAINE’s voice fade away offstage.
YOUNG GRAINE
I ONCE WAS LOST/BUT NOW I’M FOUND/WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEEEEE
Scene Two
White lights flash on and off in the empty space like camera flashes. ALDINE CAGE, ADAM CRAWFORD, and JEFF MAULIN, all dressed in suits, surround a smaller figure. We cannot see the figure’s face because he has a coat pulled over his head. The three lawyers carry briefcases and quickly lead the small figure from one side of the stage to the other as the following voice-overs fire out rapidly, over-lapping one another.
REPORTER #1
Hey! Hey! Oscar! Over here! Why’d ya do it?
REPORTER #2
Oscar, are you the leader of a cult?
REPORTER #3
Mr. Crawford, does your client plan to plead guilty?
REPORTER #4
Ms. Cage, will the DA’s office seek the death penalty?
REPORTER #5
Hey Oscar! Over here! Give us a smile!
REPORTER #1
Oscar, how’s it feel to be famous? You’re a celebrity!
REPORTER #2
Why’d ya do it, Oscar?
REPORTER #3
Ms. Cage! Will the trial be televised?
REPORTER #4
Mr. Crawford! Are you also defending your client in the civil suit filed by the victim’s family?
REPORTER #5
Hey Oscar, will you sell your story to Hollywood?
REPORTER #1
Were you trying to molest the kid, Oscar? Are you gay?
REPORTER #2
Ms. Cage, is the DA’s office going for broke? The chair?
REPORTER #3
Why’d ya do it, Oscar?
REPORTER #4
Did your parents beat you?
REPORTER #5
Molest you?
REPORTER #1
Abandon you?
REPORTER #2
Hey, Mr. Crawford? Can we get a statement from you?
REPORTER #3
Did the kid have a weapon?
REPORTER #4
Why’d ya do it, Oscar?
REPORTER #5
Was it self-defense?
REPORTER #1
Did he come on to you?
REPORTER #2
Turn his head while you were standing at the urinal? Was it gay paranoia?
REPORTER #3
Were you on drugs?
REPORTER #4
Cocaine? Smack?
REPORTER #5
Why’d ya do it, Oscar?
REPORTER #1
Crack? Meth?
REPORTER #2
Were you selling drugs?
REPORTER #3
Did he cheat you?
REPORTER #4
Flash you?
REPORTER #5
Take the last paper towel?
REPORTER #1
Why’d ya do it, Oscar?
REPORTER #2
Piss on the seat?
REPORTER #3
Forget to wash his hands?
REPORTER #4
Was it bathroom rage, Oscar?
REPORTER #5
Gonna go for a Twinkie defense, huh, Crawford?
REPORTER #1
Murder ONE, huh, Cage?
REPORTER #2
Why’d ya do it, Oscar?
REPORTER #3
Sex?
REPORTER #4
Drugs?
REPORTER #5
Rock n’ Roll?
REPORTER #1
Love?
REPORTER #2
Hate?
REPORTER #3
Why’d ya do it, Oscar?
REPORTER #4
Got tired of whistling in the dark and decided to wail?
REPORTER #5
Hey Oscar! SMILE!
The group makes it to the other side of the stage and exits. The flash-bulbs stop.
Scene Three
Two spotlights come up on two podiums, each facing a different side of the audience. At one podium stands FATHER MICHAEL STONE. At the other stands LAYMAN MONTGOMERY LEE. They each speak to their respective congregations.
During the sermons, a light begins to shine dimly into the center of the space between the two preachers. OSCAR walks out of the audience. He moves very slowly—he is wearing ankle chains—and we cannot see his features, though he produces a large shadow on the back wall that towers over the two men.
LEE
…for beHOLD! The tabernacle of God is with MEN. We hold the very law of God here, my brothers and sisters, here in our own very hands. A little boy—a child of the LORD—has been maliciously, viciously murdered. The Devil has come into our town—his horned head has entered our tabernacle! This cruel killing is only the beginning…
STONE
…beginning of his young life. Angelic little Daniel Leyland was taken from us. Our souls ache and our minds reel over this tragedy. We want to know why God has chosen to take eight-year-old Daniel from us. I want to know why. I lift up my voice to heaven and ask God. And, lo, I heard a great voice out of heaven saying…
LEE
…saying WHY? We are such a small, simple, God-fearing flock. I know you will all join me in comforting Beth and Scott Leyland here today, but our loving words—though they fall on earnest ears—will not be enough—not nearly enough—to quench the raging fires of fear and sorrow that churn within their hearts. But there is something that we can do for Beth and Scott. Does not the Bible say: and they shall be His PEOPLE! HIS PEOPLE! And as HIS PEOPLE do we not have the right, the responsibility, to carry out His VENGENCE? To see that this killer is brought to GOD’s justice? I say, the justice of God that we know in our hearts…
STONE
…our hearts and see Christ there. And I pray that across town, Christ will find His way into the hearts of Beth and Scott Leyland, and that He shall dwell with them there. And even as we pray for their comfort and for the soul of young Daniel, and for our own comfort from fear, we must pray for the soul of Daniel’s killer. Though his sin is very great, Christ will open His arms…
LEE
…his arms reaching out to take Daniel’s life from him! His hands around his neck! The Devil tempts us all and for those who hear his call, he shall be their GOD! And then the Devil’s law shall reign on earth! But we can stand up and say: knowest thou not that the triumph of the wicked is SHORT?! And he shall fly away like a dream and not be found. Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the NIGHT! For our tabernacle is with the TRUE God! And that gives us might over Evil! And we will not turn aside…
STONE
…turn aside from hate, from judgment. Judge not lest ye be judged, Christ tells us. Christ has died that we may be forgiven, but we cannot hear His message of forgiveness if we stop our ears with hatred and fear. For every man who hears the word of God shall have his name added to the Book of Life Everlasting. But if any man should turn aside…should refuse to hear the voice of Christ…then that man shall have his name stricken from the Book of Life and he shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He who hath ears to hear, let him now listen to the voice of Christ, and God Himself shall be with him.
The lights fade out on both podiums to a black out. The light on OSCAR goes out and
we hear the heavy clang of a jail cell door closing.
Scene Four
OSCAR TELFORD sits with his back to the audience. Bars of light shine onto his back, indicating that he is in a jail cell. He is alone. We can hear the voices of protesters outside the jailhouse.
CITIZEN #1
Get him out of town!
CITIZEN #2
Kill the killer!
CITIZEN #3
Justice for Danny!
CITIZEN #4
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!
The protesters voices repeat 2-3 times in the same order, sounding like a chant. There may also be other voices screaming ad libs. These sounds fade into the background and we hear the following voices clearly.
SCOTT LEYLAND’S VOICE
Danny! Come on, time to go.
SHERRIF’S VOICE
Police! Blink and I’ll blow you away!
NEWSCASTER’S VOICE
…was apprehended today by local police…
DANIEL’S VOICE
Daddy, I gotta GO! I’m gonna ex-plode!