EVERYTHING THAT NEVER HAPPENED Sarah B. Mantell
Allison Schwartz Paradigm Talent Agency 140 Broadway, 26th floor, New York, NY 10005 212-897-6400 aschwartz@paradigmagency.com
“It is only by tracing the pinprick back to other pinpricks – when his mother tried to fix his sleeve while his arm was still in it, when his grandfather’s fingers fell asleep from stroking his great-grandfather’s damp forehead, when Abraham tested the knife point to be sure Isaac would feel no pain – that the Jew is able to know why it hurts. When a Jew encounters a pin, he asks: What does it remember like?” -Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated
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A NOTE ON THIS WORLD This play is everything that never happened in The Merchant of Venice. Or it’s Shakespeare’s play that is everything that never happened. In any case, this world exists in the space between what Shakespeare made and the Jewish culture, law, and history that we carry in our bones. Clothing can suggest 16th century Venice but it should be more improvised, more flexible, more like rehearsal room costuming. Nothing in this play should get within a mile of stuffy. The world should feel like a Katch Silva photograph Like “Steal Your Heart Away” by Watkins Family Hour Like a Wolf Kahn painting Like Andrew Bird’s entire Tiny Desk Concert Which is to say Like joy and honesty and loss Each scene should be verbally interrupted by the next one. The characters may spend a moment in the wrong place before joining the new scene. As little of the world as possibly should exist physically. It is created primarily through language. We should be able to see its workings, its construction, its skeleton. It is an excuse for light. And unexpected moments of color. Above all, it breathes. The visual world of the play functions like memory—we only see the things we need, the things that we touch. The water should live entirely in language and sound until the last scene of the play. Let the worlds be willed into being in an inconsistent way. Storytelling is messy. It’s all about what we leave out.
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CHARACTERS JESSICA, female, young LORENZO, male, young SHYLOCK, male, older* GOBBO, male, younger *But only by 1596 standards. Probably 40s. A NOTE ON CASTING At the heart of this play are questions about the privilege and pain of being able to pass as something you’re not. And about Jewish assimilation into whiteness. In practical terms that means that Lorenzo and Gobbo must look white. (I'm thrilled if the ethnic identities of those actors are more complicated.) One or both of the Jewish characters must be played by a person of color who is white passing or has a relationship with passing. Two of the most stunning performances I've seen in these roles have been from Latinx actors who understood deeply what it meant to have passing privilege in a way family or friends did not. The bridge that the play became between our experiences helped to make those productions sing in a profound and undefinable way. You should also have Jewish people in your rehearsal room though in what role or roles is up to your particular production. And please remember that Jewish identities and POC identities have never been mutually exclusive. Please drop Shakespeare’s characters from your mind. Avoid casting or playing them like they are canonical. These characters should thrive on the rhythmic, precise, volleying back and forth of language, of physicality, of humor and heartbreak. Think less William Shakespeare and more Aaron Sorkin meets Pig Iron.
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SCENE 2
Shylock interrupts the scene SHYLOCK Francesco JESSICA No She joins him Gobbo is helping her cook Handing her ingredients SHYLOCK Lapachio, Antonio, Gasparo JESSICA Dad SHYLOCK Galvachio? JESSICA Not that one For sure not that one SHYLOCK Which one should I lend to? JESSICA A mercer, a grocer, a merchant…? SHYLOCK Yes Which one JESSICA Why do you always ask me? SHYLOCK You have a mind for this
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JESSICA You keep saying that But right now I’m trying to cook, so SHYLOCK Fine She cooks He looks at her SHYLOCK You’ve gotten tall JESSICA Stop it I haven’t SHYLOCK You’ve gotten so tall JESSICA Dad SHYLOCK What? JESSICA Stop SHYLOCK Okay okay JESSICA I’m just wearing shoes And standing on carpet SHYLOCK Mmhm JESSICA I’m not tall compared to anyone else I’m only tall compared to you SHYLOCK Oh yes?
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JESSICA Yes SHYLOCK Is there another measurement that matters? She chops Shylock studies her SHYLOCK Noah JESSICA What? SHYLOCK Benjamin JESSICA Noah and Ben want you to lend them money? SHYLOCK No This is another subject About you JESSICA NO SHYLOCK About who— JESSICA No! SHYLOCK Who should marry my very tall— JESSICA Carrot SHYLOCK Daughter Gobbo hands her a carrot
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SHYLOCK Mendel? JESSICA Carrot Gobbo hands her a carrot She chops SHYLOCK Samuel JESSICA Carrot Gobbo hands her a carrot She chops louder SHYLOCK You think I didn’t see you Running up just as the gates closed tonight All out of breath and— Do you think I’m stupid? I know what being in love looks like Gobbo looks up Shylock doesn’t see him JESSICA Stop making fun of me SHYLOCK Did he run ahead? So no one would see? How could I consider him for you if I don’t know who he is? JESSICA You’d consider Someone I— SHYLOCK I’d think about it JESSICA And if it’s someone you wouldn’t like?
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SHYLOCK Would my daughter pick someone I wouldn’t like? JESSICA How many restrictions on who you would even begin to consider if I— SHYLOCK How many restrictions? How many restrictions on where I can eat and sleep and move Here In Venice In 1596 Less than that JESSICA Stop bothering me SHYLOCK How many restrictions in the Pale of Settlement JESSICA That’s not Venice SHYLOCK No? JESSICA That’s Russia SHYLOCK Right JESSICA That’s 1791 By the Dnieper River That’s forever from now SHYLOCK And how many restrictions on what I can do for a living? I can sell rags or lend money. That’s now, yes? JESSICA Yes She goes back to the soup
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A moment SHYLOCK And you’re not going to tell me He searches her face You’ll be gone In another house Six children Twenty grandchildren Descendants numbering in the hundreds In the hundreds and hundreds You’ll get as short as me As bound to forget important words like… He searches for the word JESSICA Astringent SHYLOCK Yes! You’ll be all those things At this rate Before you tell me his name JESSICA Dad SHYLOCK It’s not Mendel? JESSICA No SHYLOCK Isaac? JESSICA Dad
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SHYLOCK Which one My very tall daughter Should I pick? SCENE 3 Back by the river LORENZO Shylock? JESSICA Yes She joins him LORENZO Your father’s name is Shylock JESSICA Yes LORENZO I know him JESSICA You do? LORENZO He… JESSICA What? LORENZO (a half-truth) …my friend who’s looking to borrow, right? Says he’ll borrow from— Says Shylock last of all Not if there’s anyone else who will lend –
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GOBBO Jessica! JESSICA Coming! LORENZO When were you going to tell me who you were? JESSICA NEVER, okay? Never I was going to drift back into the ghetto like some Monday morning ghost and marry a man I’ve known my entire life and have sixteen children pop out fully formed from under my very long skirts and stay And stay Inside those walls on that one little scrap of pavement on top of so much water until my body turned to bones and my bones turned to dust and you never ever saw me ever again A beat Just first I wanted to come here With you And see one more river LORENZO Listen Jessica, that’s not some little— This is a problem that— And I am a person that— This is This is JESSICA Venice This is Venice In 1596 I’ll go She turns to go
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LORENZO Wait She stops Just let me think Just let me think a moment Okay Yes Leave with me She turns to him JESSICA Is that a joke? LORENZO Is it funny? JESSICA No LORENZO Leave with me JESSICA Like it’s that simple LORENZO It is that simple! JESSICA You’re not Jewish LORENZO Neither are you! JESSICA What? LORENZO Not if you take my name
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Not if you take My religion My culture My history Not if you take my— Then neither are you JESSICA Is that a proposal? LORENZO Yes GOBBO Jessica! JESSICA Really? That? LORENZO What? JESSICA I thought it would be less— Nevermind Go on LORENZO You say one vow One vow, one drop of water on your head, and you— You can visit every part of the city Of the world And anywhere else you want
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