A
Cold Day in Hell
A one-man Tour de Force by Jan Quackenbush
About the Play:
A Cold Day in Hell enacts one man’s effort at resolving his despair
at his dilemma of having a hospitalized, comatose wife, apparently with
no hope of recovery, and grown children who seem to him to be self-absorbed
and detached from his plight.
A tour-de-force single-character play, its actor, Michael Liscio was awarded
a 1988 Los Angeles Dramalogue Award in a long-running production by the
California Cottage Theatre, 1988-1991. The play was mentioned in an article
on the theatre that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, 1989. A Cold
Day in Hell was performed in the Edinburgh Fringe Theatre Festival, 1988,
in a production by its author.
Cast List: Charley
– middle-aged.
Time: The present
Place: Charley’s
home.
Approximate Running Time:
40-45 minutes
From the Play:
Charley:
I was just . . . going through my mind . . . how I can. . . sit next to
Betty there and talk about the weather or a ballgame or the leak in the
roof- - nothing serious, just another goddamn annoyance when I least need
it- - but I'm sitting there making small talk, and . . . I didn't use
to, you-know. I used to talk about reasons for living, stuff like that.
I'd say, like, "Betty, what you are going through is like a hibernation,
so do not worry about it 'cause your body knows what it is doing, and
what it is doing is fixing itself up from the inside and keeping you asleep
. . . (patting his leg hard): . . . so you do not stir things up!"
(He brings his hands up helplessly, and shrugs; then):
I do not talk to her about her brain. I do not talk to her about that
'cause that is the center of her problem as far as I can understand from
what the doctors tell me. You'd need a dictionary to understand them half
the time. But, anyway, there is this thing about one side of her brain
taking over the workload of the other side- - they told me to think of
it like changing shifts in a factory - - but what I am saying is if I
was talking to her about her brain I don't know what side I'm talking
to, and if she is hearing me I don't wanna go and screw things up in there.
(He stares a brief moment- - apologetic, baffled; then):
Hey, maybe you think that's stupid, but there's alot of things that look
stupid in this world which, believe me, if you knew more about it they
might be smart. And I don't pretend to be a genius like there's alot of
phonies that do!
(Squirms, relaxes a little, then):
So . . . what I do not do is I do not talk to her about her brain. And
for a while there, I was talking to her about what sounded to me like
some pretty good reasons for living. (Pauses; then): Usually, though,
I'd end up with me as being the main reason.
(Pauses., then):
Maybe you think that's a joke, but I was trying to give her something
to hang her hat on.
Single Copy $6.50
Production Copies: $5.80 W/Royalty
Royalties: $30/$20
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About the Playwright:
Jan Quackenbush has had plays produced in the USA and
in Europe. His published plays include CALCIUM AND OTHER PLAYS,
STILL FIRES, OPFER (VICTIMS, published in Austria), IM KREIS DRAUSSSEN
(Inside Out, published in Austria), and INSIDE OUT AND OTHER PLAYS, London.
He has had several productions at the La MAMA ETC theatre in New York
and has had three plays included in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Additionally, he has published poetry and prose, including "Flash,"
"Stone Eggs," and "Simeon in Memoriam." In addition
to writing new plays, Jan is at work on a documentary film chronicling
the military touring shows (soldier-actor shows) that toured Vietnam.
Jan coordinated and prepared those shows as part of his active duty in
Vietnam. He teaches playwriting at Broome Community College in Binghamton,
NY, and in the MA Degree in Creative Writing, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre,
PA.
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