cooperstown - Sasha Matson

COOPERSTOWN
ACT I
SCENE 2
(“Second Inning”)
“First Base” Sports Bar, Evening.
An upscale sports bar. A big-screen TV silently projects a Major League game.
To stage-left, The ONSTAGE BAND plays quiet jazz music.
Two stylish and attractive women enter.
Sports agent JAN GREEN, who represents Angel and Marvin, is perhaps ten years older than
LILLY YOUNG, a Wall Streeter. They sit at the bar and signal the BARTENDER.
LILLY
Where are the boys?
Are we early?
JAN
Don‟t worry Lilly,
You‟re top of the order tonight.
LILLY
Like moths to a flame,
We dance at the window panes.
Of glowing male egos.
JAN / LILLY
Diamond princes we will wed,
A Major League wedding bed.
Sit with the player‟s wives,
And tell each other stories.
LILLY
Happy ones.
JAN
Sad ones.
1
LILLY
About being bored.
JAN
Being ignored.
JAN / LILLY
Because there‟s a game on.
JAN
Can you imagine? Imagine?
The BARTENDER silently delivers two Martinis.
JAN
(raises her glass to toast with Lilly)
Now playing for the women:
Jan the Super Agent!
LILLY
And her good friend,
Lilly the Uptown Girl!
ANGEL and MARVIN enter from the far side. The band members wave and nod in affectionate
greeting and launch into a Caribbean pop tune.
Angel acknowledges the music—all confidence and youthful cockiness—and dances to it as he
crosses the room.
MARVIN
What kind of music
Are they playing?
Are they drunk?
ANGEL
They know where
I‟m coming from.
MARVIN
There‟s Jan
With my blind date.
It‟s good to be a little late—
Make them wait.
ANGEL
You‟re always playing a game!
Marvin embraces Jan and tries to kiss her on the lips. She turns a cheek to his lips.
2
MARVIN
My beautiful Svengali—
You bring me a gift?
JAN
(slipping from his embrace)
Lilly, this is Marvin Wilder,
Smartest catcher in The Show.
And the star of my roster,
Angel Corazon!
The Bartender sets up four Martini glasses and quickly fills them from a shaker.
MARVIN
(aside to Bartender)
A year ago I topped that list….
Marvin presents Martinis to Lilly and Jan.
LILLY
What‟s this?
MARVIN
A performance-enhancing substance.
JAN
(clinks her glass against Marvin’s)
Cheers, lover!
Angel touches his glass to Lily’s
ANGEL
I am most pleased
To make your acquaintance.
LILLY
(to Marvin, trying to be polite)
Jan‟s told me so
Much about you.
ANGEL
She‟s my agent, remember?
(to Jan)
Are you working on commission tonight?
ANGEL
Do you like baseball?
Marvin cuts in to wrest back Lilly’s attention:
3
MARVIN
You‟re an Upper East Sider
I can tell by looking.
LILLY
Do you think
I‟m predictable?
JAN
(to Lilly)
The Bluebloods‟ scout.
Brought Angel to me,
Signed, sealed, delivered.
MARVIN
Watch out—watch out ladies!
He‟s hot-hot-hot-blooded,
He‟s Caribbean!
LILLY
I thought you were his friend.
MARVIN
Oh, I am—
To the bitter end!
LILLY
(to Angel)
Jan tells me you‟re new,
From the Dominican Republic.
ANGEL
I was raised in San Cristóbal
On the wrong side of the tracks
Except there weren‟t any
By the seaside.
LILLY
I was raised on the Upper East Side.
Boarded in prep schools
Where I learned how to ride
And how to look cool.
LILLY
When I was a young girl
We cruised to Santo Domingo.
My father drank in the bar
While my mother played bingo.
ANGEL
When I was a small boy
We went down to the docks
The ships came, lights all ablaze
Filled with beautiful people
4
Over the rail in the harbor
I pitched the boys pennies.
I was told by the purser,
They didn‟t have many.
We looked up at them in wonder
Called out for pennies
Without any shame,
I‟d do the same again.
LILLY
Did you catch any?
ANGEL
Some days were
Better than others...
LILLY
I‟m sorry I didn‟t
Throw more to you.
ANGEL
I can still hear
The songs they used to sing
In the old cafés.
On the water.
Angel walks to the band, stuffs a bill into their tip jar, and says something to them.
The band members launch into a “pre-war Cuban love song.“
ANGEL
(in Spanish / supertitles)
Al lado de la fuente,
By the fountain so cool,
Abajo la sombra de arboles’
Neath the shade of the trees
Al lado del lago tan azúl,
By the lake so blue,
Se encontraba una linda dancella.
Sat the fairest maid.
Con ojos abajo de su mantilla,
Miró al desfile que pasaba
Y miró el joven tan guapo,
Con corazón que cantaba a ella.
Through her lace-covered hair,
She gazed at the parade
And the young man so bold,
Whose heart called for hers.
“Sientate aquí con migo,”
Le contestó al joven.
“Dame el toco de tu mano
Y dame el perfume de tu cabello.”
“Pray sit with me here,”
To the young man she answered.
“Give me the touch of your hand
And the scent of your hair.”
“Tengo que ingresar en el desfile,
Al cual estoy prometido,”
Y con eso se fue
En el Día de los Muertos.
“I must join the parade,
For which I am promised,”
And away he strode
On the Day of the Dead.
5
Ella lo espera siempre allí,
Abajo de la sombra de los arboles,
Al lado del lago tan azúl
Con su mantilla tan claro.
She waits for him there,
„Neath the shade of the trees,
By the lake so blue
With her lace so pale.
Angel and Lilly gaze at each other for a long moment—a magical moment.
JAN
I wonder which maid
He has on his
Made-up mind?
ANGEL
(to Lilly)
You‟ve broken many hearts,
Would you like to break mine?
LILLY
That must be one
Of your very best lines.
ANGEL
Come see me play!
LILLY
Name the day.
She opens her purse, takes out a card and gives it to Angel.
MARVIN
(to all, grouchily)
Is it time to eat?
JAN
(takes Lilly’s arm)
It‟s getting late.
MARVIN
Change of plans.
Change of plans!
ANGEL
(to Lilly and Jan)
Do you have to leave so soon?
LILLY
(as Jan pulls her away, toward the exit)
Goodbye, Marvin—
6
Nice to meet you.
Good night … Angel.
They pause at the door to look back at Angel and Marvin at the bar.
LILLY
He‟s gorgeous—
Oh Jan, what a find!
JAN
He‟s gorgeous—
Oh innocent friend of mine!
Lilly and Jan exit.
ANGEL / MARVIN
She‟s beautiful!
ANGEL
Elegant, schooled, and kind.
MARVIN
Expensive, spoiled, and blind.
Marvin snaps his fingers to get the Bartender’s attention, and points to their two empty Martini
glasses.
(Blackout)
7
MATSON & MILLER