Steals Away and Beverly
1943. Winold Reiss. Dorsky Museum.
DRAMATIC WRITING
by Leeza Pantano
This painting is the scene; a Native American woman sits on a plain wooden chair, loosely holding this blonde, disturbingly blue-eyed child. The woman never shows her full face, only her side profile, like a coin. She averts her eyes as though the scene before her is too perverse for full frontal view. She is at once the child’s keeper, and the child’s prey. The child stares at the audience with cold, greedy eyes. It should feel like the child could jump out of the woman’s arms at any moment. Steals Away is constantly attempting to redirect the child’s attention from the audience.
BEVERLY
Hello? Is there something there?
STEALS AWAY
Stop that.
BEVERLY
Let me go out there.
STEALS AWAY
…No.
BEVERLY
But I want to.
Beverly attempts to raise her hand to wave, but Steals Away clamps her hand around her arm and holds it down.
STEALS AWAY
No. Quiet down.
Steals Away adjusts her hold on Beverly, tightening it slightly.
BEVERLY
You’re boring me.
STEALS AWAY
Patience is supposed to be one of your virtues.
BEVERLY
What’s a virtue? Let me out.
STEALS AWAY
Steals Away grips her tighter.
They were your idea. All seven. And then you locked us both in here.
There is tension clearly written on the visible half of her face. She attempts to redirect the child’s attention from the audience, bounces her knee.
STEALS AWAY
Sit Still.
I thought you liked your new room… isn’t it so exciting? Look at all the toys you have collected here.
She points around the space without looking at it. There are small mountains of headless bison plushies on the floor, maybe some red yarn.
BEVERLY
Oh, I like my room. It’s full of my achievements!
To the toys, haughty and disappointed
BEVERLY
They weren’t playing by my rules, so now we don’t play anymore. But maybe someone out there will.
STEALS AWAY
You once preached to me against gluttony.
BEVERLY
I didn’t eat them too much-
STEALS AWAY
Greed, then. Though truly, what’s the difference? They were my silent friends.
She whispers something in Lakota under her breath, perhaps a blessing. It agitates Beverly.
BEVERLY
I’d like for you to be a silent friend now.
STEALS AWAY
Why did you come here, to this room? I think there are many others.
BEVERLY
What do you mean? I needed paint.
STEALS AWAY
I could have helped you paint your own room. Instead, we painted my old room red, but now there are no toys, no friends, and you’re bored.
BEVERLY
We painted My room red. And it doesn’t have to be that way forever for me. I see more things out there, let me go to them.
Beverly squirms in Steals Aways arms, using her nails to scratch. Steals Away simply grits her teeth and takes it, restraining the child from the audience.
STEALS AWAY
You locked us in your red room. You hold the way out. Stop asking to leave! Yet when you first came, you spoke of humility.
BEVERLY
There is always a way out for me.
I don’t remember humility. Was that a new game to play?
STEALS AWAY
Laughs Yes, it seems so. You taught me it. You said, “recognize yourself.”
She takes a moment
STEALS AWAY
Well now I spit it back. When you live in a red room, you cannot act like this, like a child. Recognize yourself.
BEVERLY
With startling seriousness
But I am a child. Hold my hand and feel it impulse.
BEVERLY
Your whole hand.
STEALS AWAY
Is this not it?
BEVERLY
Open it.
STEALS AWAY
No.
BEVERLY
Why can’t I hold your fingers?
STEALS AWAY
Steals Away is pained. After a moment’s hesitation, she gingerly puts her balled hand in the child’s open palm. Beverly frowns. The child’s fingers bite into Steals Aways fist as they attempt to pry it open.
I must keep something for myself.
BEVERLY
Working up to a tantrum
…But I want to hold your hand.
STEALS AWAY
And so you have it. Isn’t that enough? I am already the chair beneath you, keeping you from the sticky ground. Leave me my fingers so they may keep you still, and quiet.
BEVERLY
Don’t you want to hold my hand?
STEALS AWAY
…I’m afraid of the stain.
BEVERLY
Why afraid? The stain would be my signature red!
Think of this place before. I mean, you didn’t know how to keep a room. Or play. I’ve made it so
much better.
She gestures around, turning in Steals Away’s lap.
BEVERLY
What’s wrong with you that you can’t see that?
STEALS AWAY
…No, you’re right.
BEVERLY
This is familiar. Is this humility?
STEALS AWAY
Sagging under the weight
Close. This is humiliation, its opposite.