Speak Easy



The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams

By Barbara Kahn

The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams is dedicated to Carmen T. Castro and Wind Vogel for their generosity and support and in honor of their marriage on July 11, 2009.

© 2010 Barbara Kahn

7 East 14th Street Apt. 422

New York, NY 10003

212-691-0722 (home)

917-463-8321 (cell)

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The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams was first produced by Theater for the New City, Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, April 15 – May 2, 2010, with the following cast:

Bobby Moss…………………………..Jon Dalin

Rene Gaudin………………..Marisa Petsakos

Detective Rogan……………...Jimmy Heyworth

Amalia “Mika” Frank………...….Anna Podolak

Alice Hathaway…………………..Micha Lazare

Eve Adams………………..…..Steph Van Vlack

June Miller……………………….Michelle Cohen

Margaret Leonard………………..…Martha Lee

Written and directed by Barbara Kahn

Set Design Mark Marcante

Lighting Design Alexander Bartenieff

Costume Design Deanna R Frieman

Stage Manager Bill Bradford

Graphics Design vg Asman, illuminage studio

The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams

By Barbara Kahn

Inspired by a true story

© 2009 Barbara Kahn

Cast:

Eve Adams.* Polish immigrant. Proprietor of Eve’s Hangout tearoom. Faint or no accent. Steph Van Vlack

Amalia Frank. Called Mika (Meeka). Polish immigrant. Early twenties. Employed by Eve in tearoom. Anna Podolak

Alice Hathaway. Early Twenties. New Jersey native. Micha Lazare

Renee Gaudin. Friend of Eve, possibly former lover. She dresses in masculine attire, but is overly sensitive to slights. Marisa Petsakos

Margaret Leonard.* Irish-American from Lower Manhattan. Has a Lower East Side NY accent with a touch of Irish. Martha Lee

June Miller.* Twenties. Wife of author Henry Miller, she has female lover on the side. Cultivates air of mysterious origin. Michelle Cohen

Bobby Moss.** Poet and columnist/editor of the Greenwich Village Parchment, local magazine. Part time tour guide. Jon Dalin

Detective Rogan. Plainclothes detective. Male. Jimmy Heyworth

* Real life characters.

** Fictionalized composite of real life characters

Place and time: Exterior--facade and front stoop-- and interior –basement tearoom--of

129 Macdougal Street, Greenwich Village, New York City. June 1926.

Prologue

When audience enters, Alice is already seated in the audience. Bobby as the tour guide enters. After opening announcement, lights go down, come up on Bobby. Mika is sitting on the stoop. She has schoolbooks and is making notes in a composition book.

Bobby (Tour guide)

Is everyone together? No strays? Good. I’ve been doing this for two years, and I haven’t lost a tourist yet. Don’t spoil my record. As a son of the Village and editor of the Greenwich Village Parchment, your guide to all the arts and sights of Greenwich Village, I’ve tried to do my best to make this journey exciting, to show you New York City’s Bohemia. We’ve seen some of the places where the Bohemians congregate—La Boheme Gift Shop, Unicorn Books, Macdougal Alley. Their unusual clientele were harmless–artists probably, or even actors or poets like yours truly. Not so in number 129 Macdougal Street, our last stop on the tour. You’ll forgive me in advance if I offend you. Think of it as a warning of the dangers that await the most vulnerable among us. Take a good look. You see a charming Greenwich Village building, like so many others, an innocent looking young woman sitting on the stoop. Don’t be fooled. The cellar of Number 129 is notorious even in Greenwich Village, its clientele sinful by any standards. I will not recite out loud the reasons why. They’re listed in your copy of The Parchment. Husbands and fathers may want to shield your wives and daughters from what’s written on that page, page 32, to protect your daughters from what goes on in that tearoom, called Eve’s Hangout. Eve, the original sinner, now brings new kinds of sin to threaten our way of life. Temperamentals, queers, homosexualists, inverts, all on the lookout for others like themselves or innocent ones, yes, like your daughter or mine if I had one, innocent ones they can seduce.

Rene enters and walks toward the stoop. She is dressed in male attire. She mocks Bobby, climbs the steps, brushing past Mika. She whispers in Mika’s ear and enters building. Mika looks after Rene with an expression of anger and disgust. Bobby shakes his head knowingly, looks to audience and points toward Mika on the stoop.

Bobby

(cont.)

Let’s hope and pray that that young woman has the nerves of steel required to resist the advances of a she-devil in disguise.

Detective Rogan enters. He carries a walking stick that replaces the nightstick he carried as a patrol officer. He has been after Rene for cross-dressing, but missed when she went inside.

Detective Rogan

Mr. Moss.

Bobby

Detective Rogan.

Detective Rogan

I hope you’ve shown these folks some of the sights we’re proud of here in Greenwich Village.

Bobby

I have. (to audience) Detective Rogan watches out for us and we’re the safer for it.

Detective Rogan

We look out for our own, and it’s my job to look out for everyone who visits us as well. We want you to enjoy yourselves here in Greenwich Village, isn’t that right, Mr. Moss?

Bobby

Absolutely, Detective Rogan. What good would it be if people couldn’t enjoy what we have to offer? We appreciate the job you do for all of us.

Detective Rogan

Mr. Moss and I have known each other since I was walking a beat and he was peddling his poetry in the park.

Bobby

Here’s a copy of The Parchment for you with my compliments. I have a few poems and songs in there.

Bobby hands the journal to Detective Rogan who pockets it.

Detective Rogan

I look forward to reading it. I won’t keep you folks any longer. Enjoy yourselves. (exits)

Bobby

Now might be a good time to move along.

. As he exits, Bobby pulls the front curtain open to reveal the tearoom interior as lights go down. Detective Rogan exits after him.

Scene One

The same. Immediately following. Mika is still sitting on the stoop. Alice, trying to be inconspicuous, leaves her seat in the audience to stand at the side near the stoop.

Mika

Do you want something?

Alice

Oh, no.

Mika

Then stop staring.

Alice

(embarrassed) I’m sorry. I don’t know where to look.

Mika

Look at the sky. Or the ground. Or that way. You can see the edge of the park from here.

Alice doesn’t move her position but cranes her neck to see.

Mika

(cont.)

Why don’t you go walk through the park? It has trees and statues you can look at.

Alice

Oh, I did that this morning.

Mika

Then go stand in front of the theater. There are pictures in front.

Alice

I saw the Provincetown Playhouse on the tour. They even took us inside. It looks a lot like our theater back home, You know, the stage and the seats and…That was silly wasn’t it? All theaters have a stage and seats. I once played in Twelfth Night back home. That’s Shakespeare.

Mika

I know.

Alice

I’m sorry. Of course, you do. Everybody knows that.

Mika does not respond.

Alice

(cont.)

I wanted to play Viola, but that’s the main part. It went to the director’s wife, like always. I played one of the ladies in waiting to Olivia. The director keeps promising me that I’ll have a part with lines in the next show, but he only does that so I’ll help with the costumes and paint the scenery. He doesn’t know I would do that anyway. I love the theater. Just being around it.

Mika

You’re staring again.

Alice

(gets idea) I know. If I sit next to you, I won’t be able to stare. How about that?

Alice sits on stoop next to Mika and turns to her.

Mika

Go ahead. The steps don’t belong to me.

Alice

Is it true what they say?

Mika

What who says?

Alice

In the guidebook.

Mika

I don’t know. I don’t have a guidebook.

Alice

You can look at mine. I marked it. Page 32.

Rene opens the door. .

Rene

Hah! The Russian has a girlfriend.

Alice

(wide-eyed) Jeepers! I’m not…

Mika

Idz do diabla[1]

Rene

Whatever you said, same to you. (to Alice) Be careful of her. (to Mika) When is Eve coming to open up?

Mika

When she gets here.

Rene

Tell her I’ll be back later. (exits.)

Alice

(looking after her) She was a woman, wasn’t she?

Mika

So I’ve been told.

Alice

Did she really think that you and I… like it says in the guidebook? Why would she think that?

Mika has a new fascination for the guidebook which is still in her lap. She starts to flip through it.

Alice (cont.)

Page 32.

Mika

(reading)….”Eve’s Hangout…where ladies prefer each other…not very healthy for she-adolescents or comfortable for he-men…”

Alice

(points to spot in guidebook) Was that woman one of the, the queers?

Mika

Queers is not a nice word,

Alice

I’m sorry. I didn’t know that. Is she, whatever, you know, one of them?

Mika

I guess she is.

Alice

Jeepers... (pause) I don’t think she likes you very much.

Mika

She doesn’t like me at all. And the feeling is mutual.

Eve walks toward the stoop on her way to open the tearoom. She carries a package and a note.

Eve

Ladies. (to Alice) I haven’t had the pleasure.

Alice

I’m Alice Hathaway.

Eve

I’m Eve Adams.

Alice

Jeepers! I heard all about you. Pleased to meet you, Miss Adams.

Eve

Call me Eve.

Alice

Thank you, ma’am…Eve.

Eve

You mustn’t believe what you heard, unless it’s good, of course. Are you joining us for poetry night tonight?

Alice

I wish I could, but I can’t tonight. I have to go back home.

Eve

Perhaps you’ll return for poetry and literature night next week?

Mika

Alice loves the theater. She was in Twelfth Night back home.

Alice

In Red Bank. New Jersey.

Eve

Well, you must perform something from Twelfth Night next week.

Alice

Really? You would let me do that?

Eve

Of course.

Mika

She could play Viola.

Alice

Viola? Jeepers!

Eve

It’s settled. Maybe some of the actors from the Playhouse will be here. Mika, look at this. A gift. (hands gift card to Mika)

Mika

(reading) “A gift for you from the actors next door in hopes that it will keep the tourists from bothering you and send them to our box office instead.”

Eve removes “Eve’s Hangout” sign and replaces it with the gift sign that reads, “Eve’s Hangout. Men are admitted, but not welcome.”

Eve

What do you think?

Mika

It’s funny.

Eve

It is. Now, I have to get ready to open.

Mika

I’m coming right in.

Eve

Take your time.

Eve exits inside. Mika starts to follow but notices Alice crying and turns back.

Mika

Why are you crying?

Alice

I have to go home to Red Bank. I want to live here. With you and the queers. I’m sorry, I don’t even know what to call them, what to call myself.

Mika, at a loss for how to handle this, reluctantly tries to comfort Alice.

Lights go down

Interlude

Interior of Eve’s Hangout. The same evening. Eve is at her writing table upstage. She is reviewing and correcting or adding to her latest story.

Eve

“The story of David’s Wife.”

David’s wife remembered that long ago she loved to run. When she was a little girl, she learned to run with her older brothers, until the day her father saw what she was doing. He spoke sternly to his wife who spoke in turn to her daughter when she tucked her into bed. “Darling,” she said, “Your father and I agree that you must not run again. We want you to grow up to be a proper young lady we can be proud of.” She stopped running and eventually she forgot what it felt like to run. She grew up to be a proper young lady, married David Gardener, a proper young man, and gave him a son. When her son was three years old, she sat on a bench in Washington Square and watched him run around a nearby statue.

“It must be fun to feel so free, don’t you think?” David’s wife looked toward the sound of a woman’s voice just in time to see a smile turn to sadness.

“I suppose.” She replied.

“Someday,” the woman continued, ”I’ll run away, really run away. I’ll feel the sun on my face and the wind in my hair, and I may never return.”

That night, as she lay beside her husband, David’s wife remembered the woman in the park – how her hair curled softly around her ears in a fashionable bob, the tilt of her head, the fullness of her lips. She heard again the sweet sound of her voice and saw the sadness in her eyes. She imagined it was the woman lying naked beside her, their bodies fitting easily together. “Take me with you, take me with you, take me with you,” David’s wife silently pleaded, as her husband touched her in places that no longer felt like they belonged to her.

The next day David’s wife went alone to the park. She spotted the sad young woman sitting alone on a bench at the east end of the park, away from the mothers and children. She took a deep breath and sat down very close beside the young woman. She dare not look at her.

“What’s your name?” The voice was as low and soft as she remembered from the day before.

“Mrs. Gardener. Mrs. David Gardener.”

“Not your husband’s name. Yours. I’m Emily Stewart.”

“Oh…my name? My name is Anne. It’s Anne. Anne.” And though she didn’t understand the reason why, she began to cry, repeating her name through her tears.

Emily took her hand, not speaking again until the crying stopped. Then she took a handkerchief from the cuff of her sleeve, wiped the tears from Anne’s face and said, “I’m so happy to meet you, Anne.”

From that day forward, Anne Gardener and Emily Stewart met in Washington Square Park every day. Together, they planned their escape, planned for the day they would run away together, into the wind, with the sun shining on their faces. Run and run and run and never return.

Scene Two

Rene is at one table, June Miller at another. Mika is serving tea. Eve comes center.

Eve

(standing) Welcome to Eve’s Hangout in the heart of Greenwich Village, the soul of New York, where art is our life blood. Mika will serve you tea or other soft drinks. On the table by the door, you’ll find books and poems and local newspapers for sale. Tonight is poetry night at Eve’s. Anyone is invited to share a poem or other writing with us. Is there someone who would like to perform? (sees Rene waving her hand) You have something? Come, come, Rene.

Rene pulls Mika from the kitchen, sits her at a table, hands her sheet music and bells. She whispers instructions. Eve sits with June. Rene goes to center.

Rene

“A blackbird lived in Washington Square” by Rene Gaudin.

The blackbird wore a coat of ebony splendor

Her wings and feathers dark as night.

The blue jays and the cardinals were jealous

So the blackbird left them and took flight.

The blackbird came to live on Garibaldi

She settled on a nest of stone.

But the robins and the sparrows all ignored her

And the children playing left her all alone

From the head of Garibaldi

The blackbird watched the life below

Vendors hawking

Mothers talking

Lovers walking

Tourists gawking

Alone, she watched till sunshine turned to snow.

In Spring returned the robins and the sparrows

Where the fountain gushed and leaves had turned to green.

The cardinals and the blue jays frolicked in the fountain

But the blackbird was nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps she joined the angel on the fountain

Uptown in Central Park

Perhaps she was seduced to go there

By the nighttime singing of the lark.

Rene looks at Mika, who is looking down at the page. She repeats Mika’s cue.

Perhaps she was seduced to go there

By the nighttime singing of the lark!

Now Garibaldi watches o’er the landscape

Below in Washington Square

Mika shakes the bells.

Vendors hawking

Mothers talking

Lovers walking

Tourists gawking

But never again the blackbird living there.

Rene goes to Mika.

Rene

(furious) You came in too late.

Mika

I came in where you marked it.

Rene

You spoiled the whole last verse, stupid Russian.

Mika

I’m Polish and you’re an idiot. A daj ty mi swiety spokuj, sama nie wiesz czego chcesz

Rene

Whatever you said, same to you.

Rene storms back to her table.

June

(to Eve) Which was Rene’s better performance? Her poem or the temper tantrum?

Eve

Those two fight constantly.

June

Rene is jealous of the attention you pay to Mika.

Eve

I give Rene plenty of my time.

June

They need to find lovers. Both of them. You, too, cherie.

Eve

That’s not so easy, even in the Village.

June

Nonsense. One just has to assert herself.

Eve

(teasing) Some people have too many lovers. They don’t leave enough for the rest of us.

June

Touché, Eve. What about Mika? You two can speak romantic sweet nothings to each other in Polish while you make love.

Eve

She’s like my little sister. I could never take her for my lover.

June

Mere details. Look at the Gish sisters. Don’t tell me they are not intimate…

Eve

Really, June. Sometimes I think you live only for sex.

June

That’s not a bad life. You must learn to speak French, so we can have a ménage a trois.

Eve

With you and Jean?

June

Of course not. With me and Henry. You know my husband adores you.

Eve

And I adore his work. Only his work.

June

Very well. I brought you his latest stories to sell. Direct from the mimeograph press. Henry Miller originals. The prices are marked. I’ll put them on the table when I leave. Au revoir, ma belle. Perhaps love will find you. If not love, then a good fuck.

June rises, kisses Eve on both cheeks, goes to table, puts pamphlets. As she exits the tearoom, a stunning woman enters, speaks to June briefly. The woman finds an empty table and sits. The others all turn to stare at her. Mika goes to her to take her order. Seeing the coast is clear, Rene goes to sit with Eve.

Rene

Who is that creature?

Eve

I don’t know. She spoke with June when she came in.

Rene

She sees you looking at her.

Eve

Then I’ll stop.

Rene

She likes it. I can see it in her face. I’m going over to her.

Eve

You’ll do no such thing. She’s entitled to sit here alone as long as she likes without being bothered by you or anyone else.

Rene

Someone should tell her that she should mind her own business.

Eve

Don’t you move from this table. I’ll go to her.

Eve gets up and goes to Margaret’s table.

Margaret

Are you Eve Adams?

Eve

Yes. I’m always happy to see new customers. (to Mika) The cup of the tea is on the house.

Margaret

Do you have something stronger? I’d be happy to pay for it. For two cups, if you’ll join me.

Eve

We serve only soft drinks here. Anything else would be Illegal.

Margaret

Yes, of course. The tea will be fine. I was hoping you would join me.

Eve

Perhaps some other time. Tell June that I appreciate her efforts, but I don’t need or want her assistance.

. Bobby Moss enters.

Eve (cont.)

Excuse me.

Eve goes immediately to Bobby.

Bobby

Eve.

Eve

What brings you across the street? I didn’t think you knew my tearoom existed.

Bobby

You can always pay for an advertisement like everyone else does.

Eve

And you would print it? I don’t think so.

Bobby

If you take down that ridiculous sign, I might consider it.

Eve

You decide what to print in The Parchment, and I decide what signs to hang in my tearoom.

Bobby notices Margaret.

Bobby

Your clientele is more attractive than usual.

Eve

You mean more feminine, don’t you?

Bobby

I don’t mind a little mannish touch. As long as it’s just a touch.

Bobby catches Margaret’s eye. They look away.

Eve

You two know each other?

Bobby

Of course not. Is she one of your set? What a waste.

Eve

My other customers would not agree with you. Now tell me what you want. I have work to do.

Bobby

Don’t get your knickers in a twist. I’m as broadminded as the next fellow, being a son of the Village, but that sign of yours is going too far. It’s drawing the wrong kind of attention to the Village.

Eve

Then don’t look at it.

Bobby

You can hang the sign inside.

Eve

I need to attract customers like everyone else.

Bobby

None of the other tearooms has a sign like yours, and they do perfectly fine. Why do you have to be so stubborn?

Eve

It’s my nature, I guess.

Bobby

I’m trying to be a good neighbor, for Chrissakes!

Eve

Even to a kike socialist like myself?

Bobby

Now, just a minute…

Eve

I read your column in The Parchment.

Bobby

You’ve taken one comment I wrote years ago out of its context and tarred me with it. I’m a son of the Village, quite progressive like everyone else. Many of my friends are socialists and…

Eve

Kikes?

Bobby

I was referring to a particular type of socialist, not all, and not all Jews. You know the type I mean.

Eve

I’m afraid I don’t.

Bobby

You’re determined to bait me, aren’t you? I may change my mind and write about you after all. I’m sure you would prefer that I not write anything else that could be…taken out of context. Think about what I said. Have a good evening.

Bobby exits, tipping his hat to Margaret on the way out. Eve mutters in Polish.

Eve

Idz do diabla[2]

End of scene

Scene Three

Tearoom. A few days later. Mika is working. Eve, Rene and June are at a table. Alice, dressed as teenage boy, taps at entrance to get Mika’s attention. Mika, puzzled, goes to the door.

Mika

Why don’t you just come in?

Mika stares, suddenly recognizes Alice.

Alice

Don’t you remember me? Alice Hathaway. I borrowed, well, stole these clothes from my brother.

Mika

Why?

Alice

Come outside. I’ll tell you all about it.

Mika

You can come in.

Alice

I can’t afford to order anything.

Mika

You can come in without buying anything. Eve won’t say anything.

Alice enters. She and Mika go to a table.

Mika

(cont.)

Have a seat. What happened to you?

Alice

After I met you, I went home to Red Bank, New Jersey, with the rest of the tour group. I thought my life would be the same every day until the day I died. Then something wonderful happened.

Mika

(sits with Alice) What happened?

Alice

My sister-in-law told me about this new club that started called Book of the Month. Have you heard of it?

Mika

No.

Alice

Well, it’s not a club that has meetings, although I wouldn’t have minded if they did. They send you a new book to buy each month. My sister-in-law thought the first book was for children. She didn’t bother to read the advert past the title. She said I could read it to my nephews at bedtime—that’s one of my jobs. I live with my brother and his family, since my parents died. They had the flu one after the other in ’19.

Mika

I’m sorry.

Alice

I help with the housework and the children. Anyway, the book is not a children’s book, not at all.

Alice puts book on the table.

Mika

(reads title) “Lolly-Willowes” By Sylvia Townshend Warner.

Alice

Do you know it?

Mika

No.

Alice

I couldn’t believe it. It’s like the author knew me, the real me, like she wrote the story of my life, only set in England. Well, in the book the heroine leaves her family and goes off alone to another town.

Rene

(calling out to Mika) How about some service? My tea is cold.

June

Leave them alone.

Eve

I’ll get it for you.

Eve waves to Mika to stay where she is. She goes to kitchen for the teakettle.

June

Rene, darling, the course of true love is more important than tea. Don’t let your feelings for Eve make you bitter. Unrequited love is terrible for the complexion.

Rene

Go to hell.

Rene picks up her teacup and moves to another table. Eve brings the teakettle to her and pours hot water. She returns the kettle and sits with June.

Alice

I’m sorry. I’m bothering you.

Mika

You’re not bothering me, but I’m supposed to be working.

Alice

I’d better go.

Mika

Back to Red Bank?

Alice

No. I live on Bedford Street now.

Mika

In the Village?

Alice

At first I was terrified of leaving New Jersey, a woman alone in the big city. Then I lit on the idea of borrowing, well stealing my brother’s clothes. I took money I saved, it’s not very much, but if I’m careful, it will last until I find a job. I left a note and took the train this morning to New York. I walked around the Village for hours until I saw a sign in a window, “Room for Rent,” in a house on Bedford Street, it’s called a brownstone, the landlady said. I started to explain to her about my clothes, but she said, “You’re in Greenwich Village, you don’t need to explain anything.” I paid one month’s rent to start, and I came here straightaway to tell you.

Mika

I don’t know what to say.

Alice

Say that you’re happy to see me. You are, aren’t you?

Mika

Sure. Why not?

Alice

Look, I bought you a copy of Twelfth Night. I marked a scene we can do together on Friday night. You’ll do it with me, won’t you?

Margaret enters, looking around. Eve gets up, waving to Margaret to take her seat. Margaret sits with June. Eve goes to center.

Eve

Mika, get the door.

Mika goes to door, closes it. She returns to sit with Alice.

Eve

(cont.)

Tonight is after hours discussion night at Eve’s. Someone be brave enough to start us off with a question or a topic.

Alice signals to Eve. Mika looks at her in surprise.

Eve

(cont.)

What’s your question or topic?

Alice signals to Eve to come to her table, whispers to her.

Eve

(cont.)

“How can you tell who to love?” I’m not sure anyone else can answer that for you unless they know you very well.

Alice shakes her head and beckons again and whispers.

Eve

(cont.)

“How does one know who is a lesbian?”

Rene

Ask her, for heaven’s sake. Next topic.

Eve

Rene, please. I think I understand. (to Alice) You want to know if there is a way of dress or a signal or even a turn of phrase. Is that what you mean?

Alice, still embarrassed, nods.

Eve

(cont.)

That’s a good question, but let’s ask the question a different way. How do we know who is a heterosexual woman?

Alice

(tentatively) If she is married?

Rene

Huh!

June

(to Margaret) I’m shocked. Rene wants to fuck a married woman.

Rene

There’s one I would never bed, and she’s sitting in this room wearing a blue dress.

June

I believe in taking love where you can find it, with anyone who is willing.

Rene

You mean with everyone who is willing.

Eve

Why don’t we avoid the personal and discuss common perceptions, perhaps misconceptions? It just so happens that I have some notes on this very topic.

June

You knew the topic all along. Cheeky.

Eve

(gets pages from piano) A certain Robert Dickinson claims, after conducting studies, that the typical lesbian genitals are larger than those of what he calls normal women, that they are of extraordinary size.

Rene

How did he measure them?

Eve

According to what I read, a woman doctor did the actual measurements.

Rene

With a ruler?

Eve

It doesn’t say in my notes…

June

(to Margaret) The age-old question—how many fingers fit inside of a lesbian?

Eve

Then there’s Freud who claims that all women envy the male private part they are missing.

June

Maybe Dickinson and Freud measured their own private parts and found them wanting.

Rene

Do they honestly believe that lesbians want women because their vaginas are too big for a penis? That’s ridiculous.

June

It’s the men who are jealous.

Rene

It depends on the woman they’re married to, doesn’t it, June?

Eve

Rene.

Rene

Heterosexual women desire lesbians because they wish they had such large vaginas. What do Russian women think, Mika?

Mika

Mysla ze jestes zalosna namiastka kobiety[3]

Rene glares at Mika.

Rene

What did she say about me? Eve?!

Eve

(ignoring Rene’s question, reads again from her notes) Ellis claims that passive normal women can be seduced by masculine women. He says that women who are too often in the company of other women—in factories or other workplaces, even chorus women in backstage dressing rooms—can be sexually aroused, especially in summer when the temperature rises and they are together in confined places.

June

How fortunate. It’s almost summer.

Mika

Eve?

Eve

Just speak up. You don’t need to ask.

Mika

This doesn’t answer Alice’s question.

Eve

Perhaps you can answer it.

Mika

I don’t think there is one simple answer. I think that if you get to know someone, and learn to trust her, then eventually you’ll find out if she’s a lesbian or not.

June

That’s very thoughtful and much too innocent.

Rene

If you wait that long, someone like June will steal her away.

June

You see, Eve, how I am not responding to such slander. I have to leave anyway. I must get back to work, (kisses Eve on both cheeks) Au revoir, mon amie. (waves to the others) Adieu, adieu. (exits)

Rene

Pompous ass.

Eve

We certainly have much to think about, so let’s continue this discussion next time.

Eve gets Mika’s book bag and goes to her and Alice.

Eve

(cont.)

Mika, I can close up tonight.

Alice

Maybe we can read through Twelfth Night.

Eve

There, you see.

Mika

If you’re sure...?

Eve indicates Margaret. Mika gets the message.

Eve

I’m sure.

Mika and Alice exit. Both Rene and Margaret make room for Eve to sit with them. Eve sits at table with Margaret. Rene, jealous, watches and listens while pretending to write in her poetry book.

Eve

(cont.)

I see we didn’t frighten you away with our discussion.

Margaret

I’m still here.

Eve

We’re not usually so proper. If you come back, I promise we’ll be more explicit.

Margaret

I’ll keep that in mind. Tell me—where do you get your information?

Eve

From scientific sources, learned men and women with university degrees who spend their lives thinking they can analyze human behavior--explain what may not be explainable.

Margaret

Who better to try to do that?

Eve

Artists, poets, writers. You look skeptical.

Margaret

I just prefer to use my own imagination, not someone else’s.

Eve

That’s an interesting thought. If we were all our own artists, didn’t rely on others, it would empty the museums and libraries, wouldn’t it?

Margaret

I don’t know. Questions like that make my head ache. Let’s change the subject--talk about you instead. What makes you do what you do? Have your own business, be self-reliant…

Eve

It’s a matter of necessity when there’s no one else to rely on.

Margaret

You’re very nice.

Eve

You sound surprised.

Margaret

I am.

Eve

What did you expect?

Margaret

People talk. It’s a nasty habit some of them have.

Eve

It’s up to you if you listen or not.

Margaret

It’s hard not to sometimes. But that don’t mean I believe everything I hear. I like to find out for myself.

Eve

I’m just a poor woman trying to make her way alone in the world.

Margaret

That sounds like a line from a melodrama.

Eve

(smiling) It does, doesn’t it? I’m exactly what you see.

Margaret

What I see is very nice. Why do you think people spread lies about you?

Eve

You’ll have to ask the liars. I can only tell you why I do what I do, not why anyone else does something.

Margaret

Fair enough. I was told you’re a writer. What do you write?

Eve

Stories.

Margaret

What kind of stories?

Eve

About New York. The Village. People, women who live here.

Margaret

I’d like to read them. Are they for sale? Is there a book I could buy?

Eve

My stories are only for my friends.

Margaret

Maybe sometime you’ll let me read them.

Eve

Maybe.

Margaret

I’m looking forward to that. It’ll mean we’re friends. (noticing Rene glaring at her from the next table) We’re being watched.

Eve

You should be used to that.

Margaret

Not like that. If looks could kill…

Eve

I’m sorry. I’ll tell her to stop.

Margaret

Never mind. I’ll be going now anyway.

Eve

Not because of Rene, I hope.

Margaret

Of course, not. Have a good night. (exits)

Eve

(furious, to Rene) Nothing gives you the right to behave like a jealous adolescent.

Rene

There’s something wrong with her…

Eve

I won’t have it. Do you hear me?

Rene

You can’t see past her looks. She’s a phony. Like all of June’s friends.

Eve

I don’t need you to judge everyone I look at. I won’t stand for it.

Rene

I’m the only one you can trust. You need me to look out for you.

Eve

If she comes back, I expect you to leave us alone. Is that understood? Is it?

Rene

I’m only…

Eve

I don’t want to hear anything more from you tonight. Go home.

Eve goes to her table and gathers her papers.

Rene

I’m sorry…I said I’m sorry…Eve? How about if I buy you that lamp we saw in Wanamaker’s? You said it was unusual. I’ll buy it for you. It doesn’t matter what it costs. I’ll go to the bank tomorrow. If I don’t have enough in my account, I’ll have them get it from my father. We don’t have to wait until the first of the month. Eve? You’re my only friend. I’d die without you.

Eve

Nobody’s going to die, and you don’t have to buy me the lamp.

Rene

I want to. Let me do it.

Eve

(relenting) You’re a good friend, Rene, but you must not demand all my attention.

Rene

I’ll be better from now on. I promise.

Eve

We’ll see, won’t we?

End of scene

Scene Four

Tearoom. Two hours later. After closing. Eve and Rene are at a table, playing chess. After much hesitation, Rene makes a move and Eve follows.

Eve

Checkmate.

Rene

You can’t make that move.

Eve

Of course, I can.

Rene

You took my queen.

Eve

She was there for the taking.

Rene

I didn’t see that when I moved there.

Eve

And I took advantage.

Rene

That’s not fair.

Eve

Of course, it is.

Rene

But now I have nowhere else to move.

Eve

The game is over. Rene, you don’t know how to play chess. You never remember the rules, but you insist on playing just the same.

Rene

Tell me my mistake. I’ll remember it from now on.

Rene takes flask from her pocket, drinks from it into and puts flask on table.

Eve

Put the flask away.

Rene

No one else is here. It’s after hours.

Eve

Just the same, put it away. One time we will be open, and you’ll forget, and that will be the end of Eve’s.

Rene

(puts flask away) All right. How much do I owe you for both games tonight?

Eve

Two dollars each game, but keep your money.

Rene

You’re too soft. Let’s play again.

Eve

No. It’s late. Go home.

Rene

Come with me.

Eve

Not tonight.

Rene

Will we ever be alone?

Eve

Rene, I just spent hours alone with you.

Rene

Playing chess. There are other games.

There is a knock at the door. Eve looks through peephole.

Eve

(cont.)

It’s June.

Eve opens the door for June, who enters. Eve brings a chair from other table.

June

Eve, mon amie. And Rene, always Rene.

Rene

What does that mean?

June

Nothing, darling. (sits with them). So, Eve, Henry has decided he wants to go to Paris.

Eve

Will you go with him?

June

We don’t have money for two tickets. I’ll have to play chess with Rene to be able to go with my husband.

Rene

That’s not funny.

June

Tell me, darling, have you ever won a game?

Rene

I’m sure I have.

June

But you can’t remember when it was. Am I right?

Eve

June, leave her alone.

June

Rene knows I am very fond of her. Don’t you, darling? But, alas, you pine for Eve, and I am left alone with my unrequited love.

Eve

You’re hardly alone.

June

When Henry leaves for Paris…

Eve

You’ll be left with Jean.

June

Henry will have to entrust me to her care until I can join him. At the moment, he detests her. Rene, you must stop sulking. Life is too short.

Rene

I’m not sulking.

June

What if I play a game of chess with you and let you win? Will that make up for whatever I said that hurt your feelings, mon amie, cherie, ma belle…?

Rene

(angry) You know a few words of French, and you think that impresses everyone. Well, I am not impressed by you. I have never been impressed. You’re a god-damned fake. A fake European, a fake wife, a fake lesbian…

Eve

Rene, June only teases you because you take it so to heart. Tell her, June.

Rene

(to Eve) She teases me because you let her do it.

June

Oo-la-la, what can I say?

Rene

I hope you both have a good laugh on my account.

Rene picks up the chess set and storms out.

Eve

You’ve gone too far this time.

June

Nonsense. She’ll return. She always does. She’s in love with you.

Eve

You must leave her alone. She deserves to have a safe place to be herself.

June

We all do, cherie. Why is Rene special?

Eve

She’s good to me. She is always there when I need her.

June

She hopes that someday you will return her love.

Eve

She puts no conditions on our friendship. She was right. I should not have let you mistreat her. From now on…

June

(interrupting) From now on, I will refrain from bothering Rene, no matter how easy she makes it for me. I will not tease her, I will not speak French to her, I will not speak to her at all. Will that do?

Eve

Why did you come here tonight? Just to tell me about Henry and Paris?

June

I’m meeting Henry at Romany Marie’s. I came to see if you will join us.

Eve

I already told you…

June

Just to talk. If I go without you, Henry will want to tell me all about the work of writers I don’t know, and then he’ll see how bored I am. You love to talk writing with Henry.

Eve

Won’t you be twice as bored with two of us talking?

June

No, my dear. Jean will casually walk in, and I will get up to greet her and join her at another table.

Eve

While I divert Henry’s attention from the two of you.

June

Exactly. Please say yes. If you don’t, Henry and I will have another row at home tonight. He thinks that Jean and I are lovers. I have tried to tell him that she is an artist.

Eve

Artists can be lovers.

June

Of course they can, cherie. Henry does not appreciate Jean’s art, so in his eyes she must not be an artist. We constantly disagree. I can’t bear it when he gets angry. You must come with me. If you don’t, you will be responsible for whatever happens. Do it for me. Please.

Eve

I’ll lock up.

June

I am forever in your debt, cherie.

End of scene

Interlude

Eve is alone at her writing table, working on a new story

Eve

The Story of Julia and the Mole

Every day except Sunday, Julia would leave her room in Mrs. Battaglia’s boarding house on Grand Street and make the long walk to the hat shop on 8th Street. There she spent 12 hours a day, with a half hour for lunch, in the back room sewing ribbons and silk flowers onto ladies’ bonnets. Her path to work took her through Washington Square, past the fountain and through the arch. One day, during the ninth year of daily journeys, she noticed a young woman sitting alone on a bench at the south end of the park. Julia gave her a sidelong glance and hurried on her way. Every day after that, the young woman was sitting on the bench when Julia passed.

Days turned into weeks and months, Spring into Summer. August that year was the hottest New York City had known since the turn of the century.

Julia was embarrassed by the rings of sweat staining her blouse under the arms. She walked slower than usual, trying to prevent the stain from spreading. She wondered how the young woman was coping. There she was, looking as cool as if it were September. The top two buttons of her blouse were undone, discreetly revealing the flesh above her breasts and the deep dark color of a mole resting against the white of her skin. Afraid she would be caught staring, and despite the heat, Julia continued quickly across the park, not slowing until she passed under the arch and onto the sidewalk at the north end.

All day at work Julia thought only of the mole. She could not erase it from her mind’s eye. Three times she had to unravel the thread and re-sew the ribbons on Mrs. Haverstam’s new hat. Julia decided she must avoid the park in August.

For the rest of the month, Julia left for work earlier than usual to allow the extra time to walk around of the park. But still she thought of the mole. She even dreamt of at night. In her dream, she had this overwhelming urge to keep unbuttoning the woman’s blouse to look for more, while moving her other hand inside, like an explorer searching the larger elevations that rise majestically, with peaks that harden to the touch, while she explored farther, entering the forest in the valley between her thighs...Julia awoke in a state of ecstasy and despair, wishing she could fall asleep again to finish the dream.

Finally, September arrived, bringing the first cool day to warn of autumn’s nearness. Julia put a sweater over her blouse and decided it was safe to walk through Washington Square once again.

She entered the park and saw the young woman sitting on a bench near the arch. Though she was covered to her neck, Julia imagined the mole resting on the woman’s bosom where she herself had dreamt of resting. The woman looked up at Julia. This time, Julia looked into those deep dark eyes. The woman smiled and nodded. Julia smiled in return, and her life changed forever.

End of scene

Scene Five

The tearoom. The following day. Mika is working. Rene is at a table with Eve. Alice enters. She is dressed in a new set of men’s clothing.

Alice

Mika!

Eve

Look at you.

Alice

I have a job, Eve. A real job.

Eve

That’s wonderful.

Alice

Mrs. Kalogerakis said I should talk to the boarder in Room 33.

Mika

Who?

Alice

Mr. Lambert. In Room 33.

Mika

No, the other one.

Alice

Mrs. Kalogerakis? That’s my landlady’s name. I went to see Mr. Lambert right away, and I have a job. I get paid to read. Can you imagine that? I love to read, I read all the time, but now I get paid to do it.

Rene

Who pays someone to read?

Alice

Mr. Lambert will give me books, and I’ll read them and write a report like in school, only they have guidelines on what I should report. They have forms to fill out for each book. I came here right away to tell you, but it was early and no one was here. So I went back to Bedford Street.

Eve

Mika is sorry she missed you. (to Mika ) Aren’t you?

Mika

(reluctantly) Yes.

Alice

I decided to explore before I came back here. My skirt and blouse were terribly wrinkled, so I kept on my brother’s clothes, and I walked all the way down Broadway. Do you know what happened?

Eve

Tell us…

Alice

Nothing happened. I was free. I could go anywhere alone, no one to bother me. If I wanted to turn right, I could turn right. If I wanted to turn left, I could turn left. If I wanted to keep going straight, I could do that, too. I was so happy, I had to fight to keep from grinning like a fool. Down where they’re constructing a courthouse, it looked like a courthouse, one of the workmen looked up when I passed and called out, “Hey, buddy.” I said, “Hey to you, too.” Just like that. On my way back to the Village, I turned onto a street of shops with clothes on racks outside of each one. Racks and racks of clothes. (to Mika) Do you know it?

Mika

Orchard Street.

Alice

That’s it. That’s the street. It was like traveling to another country without leaving New York. People were speaking a language I didn’t know. I saw a store with men’s pants and jackets out front. I was just going to look at them, that’s all. Then a clerk came outside and asked, “So, nu? What can I do for you, young man?” I heard myself say, “A new pair of pants and maybe a jacket, I don’t have much money.” He said, “Did I ask if you were a rich man? Come inside.” To make a long story short, I got a new pair of pants and this jacket and they threw in the suspenders for free.

Alice models her new outfit, strutting around.

Eve

Very handsome. Mika?

Mika nods

.

Rene

He’s a real Valentino. (exits)

Eve

(to Alice) You had quite an adventure.

Alice

There’s more.

Mika

What else did you do?

Alice

I passed a tavern on Bond Street. It has a sign. “Men Only.” I walked in and right up to the bar. “A seltzer, please.” The bartender poured the seltzer, “Two cents plain. Kitchen opens at four.” I couldn’t wait to come here and tell you. I’m never wearing my old clothes again. I’m free and I’m staying free. I have my freedom, and I’m never giving it back. Not to anyone.

Mika

It’s against the law to dress against your sex.

Alice

I don’t care. You could take my arm, Mika, and we could go anywhere. Nobody would bother us.

Eve

Mika enjoys long walks. She tells me that all the time. Now, you must excuse me.

Eve goes back to table where she writes in her manuscript.

Alice

Will you come walking with me?

Mika

I’m working. I can’t just leave.

Alice

I don’t mean right this very minute. I mean sometimes we could take walks, even at night. People would look at us and think, “What a lucky young man to have such a beautiful woman on his arm.”

Mika

I have my job here and school in the daytime. You have your new job. We don’t have time to walk all over town.

Alice

Don’t you want to be with me?

Mika

I didn’t say I didn’t.

Alice

You don’t seem to want to.

Mika

I’m the first person you met in New York. There will be others. Nicer than me. Give yourself time.

Alice

What about Twelfth Night?

Mika

Twelfth Night?

Alice

You’ll still do it with me, won’t you? Please say yes. Please, Mika.

Mika

We’re getting ready to close. I have to get back to work. (goes to kitchen)

Alice

(calling out to Mika) Is it all right if I come back here tomorrow?

Mika

(calling from kitchen) Of course, it is. We’re open every day.

Alice, upset at the rejection, exits. Mika begins to clear tables.

Eve

Mika, that can wait.

Mika

I want to finish quickly. I have to study for my class tomorrow.

Eve

I’ll finish for you. Come talk to me.

Mika

Co sie stalo? o czym chcesz rozmawiac?[4]

Eve

In English.

Mika

Why don’t you ever want to speak Polish with me?

Eve

Would you speak French in China? Or Chinese in Spain?

Mika

That’s not the same thing. The language is all I have left of my homeland. I left so young that my memories have all gone.

Eve

Be grateful for that. I want to know why you were so rude to Alice. You can see she likes you.

Mika

I wasn’t rude.

Eve

Don’t you like her? It’s all right if you don’t, but you should tell her.

Mika

I like her. There, are you satisfied?

Eve

Now you’re being rude to me.

Mika

Why don’t you mind your own business?

Eve

Where is this coming from?

Mika

I’m a terrible person.

Eve

You’re a wonderful person. Look what you’re doing with your life, all by yourself--an immigrant, an orphan, a Jew.

Mika

Please stop.

Eve

Tell me what’s wrong….Mika….

Mika

I’m a terrible person.

Eve

You said that before, but you didn’t say why. I know life isn’t easy for you, for either of us, but we help each other. You make me so proud that you’re my friend. Now, why are you crying?

Mika

I don’t want you to hate me.

Eve

Why would I hate you?

Mika

Oh, Eve, I lied to you.

Eve

(teasing) You lied to me? Don’t tell me you’re not Polish? Are you Greek or Indian or maybe even Armenian….Is that it? Are you Armenian? That’s fine with me. I happen to like Armenians…

Mika

I am Polish, that part is true.

Eve

Then I don’t understand.

Mika

I’m not Jewish.

Eve

(stunned) Why did you pretend such a thing?

Mika

I was afraid that you would turn me away.

Eve

Because you’re not Jewish? You know me better than that.

Mika

I’m sorry.

Eve

Why are you telling me this now?

Mika

Alice asks me all kinds of questions. I can’t lie to her. It’s too hard. And you, Eve, all these months. You trusted me. I don’t deserve your trust or Alice’s. You think I’m a good person, but I’m a liar.

Eve

One silly lie. We won’t speak of it again.

Mika

I’m not an orphan.

Eve

You’re full of surprises tonight.

Mika

My mother lives on East 85th Street. I think she still does.

Eve

You don’t know?

Mika

She threw me out of the house. I was too ashamed to tell you.

Eve

It’s your mother who should be ashamed, not you. Why did she do this terrible thing to you?

Mika

When I was fourteen, I went to my mother for help. I had feelings I didn’t understand. I wanted her to tell me that she loved me however I am. But she took the strap from the wall and beat me over and over. When she was too tired to continue, she told me to pray for release from my demon. She warned me not to speak of it to anyone, not even in confession. Every day after that, when I came home from school, she took the strap and beat me. I cried out, “I can’t help how I feel. I tried.” At the end of the week, I came home and found my clothes in a paper sack in front of the door, with a note that said to visit my sins somewhere else. I no longer had a mother.

Eve

I’m so sorry. What did you do?

Mika

Mrs. Bernstein lived next door and heard all the beatings. She called me into her apartment and gave me a piece of paper. She said, “Go to this place and tell them you’re Jewish, use my maiden name, Frank. Tell them your mother died from the flu, and you have no one else in the world.” I did what she told me.

Eve

Where did you go?

Mika

I went to the Hebrew Orphan Asylum on Amsterdam Avenue. Whenever they asked me for papers or my old address, I would cry, and eventually they stopped asking. I lived there until I turned eighteen. Then I came to the Village, and last year I met you. Everything after that is true.

Eve

Mika. My little sister. Some of us have to make our own families. They can be better because we choose them. I think we are both very lucky to have each other.

Mika

I love you, Eve.

Eve

I love you, too. And now, you have Alice in your life.

Mika

I don’t know.

Eve

You like her, don’t you?

Mika

I think I could love her.

Eve

Have you told her?

Mika

I’m afraid.

Eve

Don’t be afraid to love. Tell her. Trust yourself. Trust her.

Mika

I want to.

Eve

Tell her soon. Now, go home. Spij dobrze.[5]

Mika

Good night, Eve. Thank you.

Eve

There’s no need to thank me. Just go home. Dobranoc.[6]

End of scene

Scene Six

The tearoom. A short time later (after closing). Eve is alone. Margaret enters.

Eve

I’m sorry. We’re closed. I should have locked the door.

Margaret

I couldn’t get here sooner. I ran all the way. Could I sit for a minute?

Eve

Of course.

Eve goes to a table, pulls a chair out for Margaret to sit and joins her at the table.

Margaret

Can I ask you a question?

Eve

Go ahead.

Margaret

It’s a little personal. I hope you don’t mind.

Eve

I won’t know until you ask.

Margaret

All right, here it is. Why do you run a business that you know will lose money?

Eve

I don’t know that. Why do you ask? Why do you care?

Margaret

My Pop had a tavern downtown. One week of prohibition and he closed up shop. Selling soft drinks and pretzels don’t pay the rent. Two weeks later he left us. He went as far away as he could get—all the way to Alaska.

Eve

I’m sorry.

Margaret

Me, too. You remind me of my Pop a little.

Eve

How is that?

Margaret

Even before the country went dry, he gave away too many drinks, let people run up tabs he knew they would never pay. It didn’t matter that his wife and kids went without.

Eve

I have no wife and kids.

Margaret

(smiles) Neither do I. I wouldn’t mind, though, coming home to a hot meal and a warm bed. What I said about you and my Pop, I didn’t mean that you’re not a caring person. I left out the part that his smile could make everything right with the world.

Eve

I don’t have that power.

Margaret

You underestimate yourself. (pause) I told you my story. I want to know about you.

Eve

I’m nothing special.

Margaret

I’ll decide that for myself. How did you get from where you were born to America, to the Village?

Eve

The usual way. By boat.

Margaret

Seriously, where did you come from?

Eve

From Europe.

Margaret

You’re gonna keep giving me a hard time, aren’t you? I deserve it, asking so many questions. I want to know you better, is all. I heard you speaking a language that I didn’t know. I can recognize Italian or German from the neighborhood.

Eve

I was speaking Polish.

Margaret

You’re from Poland.

Eve

It depends on what year you ask me. This year it’s Poland. Next year, who knows? You stand still, and the country changes.

Margaret

I was never much for geography. I know where New York is, but north of 14th Street and I’m lost. Oh, I can find Ireland on a map, of course. What’s it like where you’re from?

Eve

That depends on who’s in power--Poles, Ukrainians, Germans. But if you’re Jewish, nothing changes.

Margaret

You’re a Jew. I never talked this long to a Jew, a Jewish person. In the neighborhood, we have Jews, Jewish people, but everybody sticks to their own kind. Me, I’m Irish, in case you couldn’t tell from the face and hair. Jeez, you know something? I just realized that I was born here, and you talk English better than me, you being a writer and all. If I talked like you in the neighborhood, they’d have beat me up.

Eve

Why would they do that?

Margaret

They would say I was putting on airs. Now I wished I learned better anyway, so I wouldn’t feel embarrassed talking to you.

Eve

There’s no need for that.

Margaret

Just the same…

Eve

You say what you think, and I understand what you say.

Margaret

That’s a compliment, coming from you.

Eve

Not everyone speaks their mind. I admire your honesty.

Margaret

There’s nothing to admire.

Eve

Everyone has good and bad points.

Margaret

So far, I don’t see any of your bad points.

Eve

And you don’t seem to see your own good ones.

Margaret

I guess I don’t. I’ve been that way all my life, running myself down about one thing or another.

Eve

You should look in the mirror more often.

Margaret

Now you’ve got me blushing. I’m probably red as a beet, aren’t I?

Eve

Maybe a little. I do see some, what are they called? Spots. Right across the top of your nose.

Margaret

Freckles. That’s the Irish in me. No amount of makeup can cover them all.

Eve

Why would you want to cover them?

Margaret

I was always teased about them when I was a kid. Joey Falconelli used to say, ‘Let’s connect the dots on Margaret’s face.’

Eve

That’s terrible. Very cruel.

Margaret

They didn’t dare to actually do it, I got four older brothers, but it hurt just the same when the kids laughed. Jeez, I haven’t thought about that in years. Here I wanted to know all about you, and instead I’m talking about myself again. You’re a good listener.

Eve

You have to be, in the business I’m in.

Margaret

So, you’re only doing your job. Here I thought maybe it was my fascinating personality.

Eve

It is. It definitely is.

Margaret

I’ll pretend you mean that. Tell me about Poland.

Eve

I’m not in Poland anymore.

Margaret

I guess Jews are nothing like the Irish. We talk about the potato famine in the old country all the time, like it was yesterday, not almost a hundred years ago. It must have been hard for you in Poland if you came here.

Eve

That’s a good guess.

Margaret

Don’t tell me you don’t think about it sometimes. Jew or Irish, your roots are always back home... I really want to know. …I’m sorry. You hardly know me, and I’m asking personal questions. Maybe it’s because I felt from the beginning like there was something between us, like I knew you my whole life. I never felt like that with any woman. I got only brothers. Maybe you didn’t feel the same. I shouldn’t assume that you did. I’m sorry.

Margaret turns away.. When Eve starts to talk, she sits down again.

Eve

In Poland in 1880, a boy of five lived in a small village. He was hidden in the stove by his father, who told him to stay there. His mother said not to make a sound or the babayka will get you.

Margaret

What is that?

Eve

It’s like the bogeyman. They closed the door, leaving him alone. When the fear got too much, he didn’t cry, he remembered the promise he made his mother. When he was hungry, he felt in the darkness for crumbs left from the morning’s baking. It was the loneliness that finally made him open the door and step to the floor. In the kitchen were the bodies of his mother and father. In the next room were the bodies of his two sisters, naked from the waist down.

Margaret

Jeez.

Eve

He found the lace tablecloth that his mother saved for special occasions below the ransacked drawers of the cupboard. He used it to cover his sisters’ privacy. Then he left the house and wandered into the street. A kind neighbor took him in his wagon all the way to the boy’s aunt and uncle in Lodz. It was only when the neighbor lifted him into the arms of his uncle, that the boy noticed that the man was wearing his father’s jacket—the one with the wooden buttons that looked like tiny barrels.

Margaret

I hope he told his uncle.

Eve

Why?

Margaret

To do something.

Eve

Do what? Call the police?

Margaret

I don’t know. Maybe.

Eve

Police were for goyim, not for Jews.

Margaret

So what happened to him?

Eve

Living with his aunt and uncle and cousin, there was not much food to go around. Still, with every bite, the boy willed himself to grow, to be a big man, bigger than his father had been, bigger than all the men in Lodz. And it happened. People in Lodz called him the gentle giant. The three little daughters of his cousin could sit on his lap at one time and be gathered in his loving arms. When the terror came in 1905, he sent everyone else to the hiding place. He stood in the doorway, his large frame blotting out the sun. After the attack, they found him bleeding from gunshots and stab wounds, but alive. When his wounds healed, he gathered the little girls in his arms and together with his aunt and uncle and cousin, they left Poland and came to America.

Margaret

Was that you? One of the little girls?

Eve

It’s a story. I write stories.

Margaret

Is it a true story? Tell me it isn’t true. Jeez, I hope it isn’t true.

Eve

Of course, it’s true. If you don’t like it, write your own story. (pause) I’m sorry.

Margaret

Thank you for telling me. It means a lot to me that you told me. I didn’t know it was like that for Jews. I just figured that you all came here because it was so poor over there. Now I’m sorry.

Eve

For what?

Margaret

For how we treated all of you. I don’t mean you personally. When we were kids, it was easy to go after the Jewish kids. They weren’t much good at fighting back. We Irish, fighting’s s port for us, like hopscotch or stickball. I know you’re closed, but I’d like to buy you a drink.

Eve

The kettle is put away, and there’s no hot water.

Margaret

I’m just trying to keep you here longer. I should mind my own business, but that’s never been one of my good qualities. I keep pushing you, and you’re too polite to tell me to go.

Eve

It’s not you. I haven’t talked about Poland in a long time. It gives me bad dreams.

Margaret

I’m sorry. I won’t ask again.

Eve

It’s late.

Margaret

Yeah, it is.

Eve

We can talk more some other day.

Margaret

I’d like that. Where do you live?

Eve

Washington Square.

Margaret

Would you let me walk you home?

Eve

If you walk me home, who will walk you home? It’s safe enough in the Village, but a few blocks south it can be dangerous at night.

Margaret

Like I said, I got four older brothers. Growing up with them, I can take on any man that tries any funny business. So, can I walk you home? I won’t say another word. I’ll just walk with you, that’s all. What do you say?

Eve

I have to lock up. We need to go out through the kitchen.

Margaret

Can I help?

Eve

Wait by the kitchen. I’ll just get the door.

Eve locks the door. Lights begin to fade. Light shines from the kitchen doorway where Margaret waits. Eve goes to her. They are silhouetted against the light from the doorway. Margaret turns around and kisses Eve in the darkness. Eve responds as lights begin to go down.

Margaret

I’m real good at chasing away bad dreams. You’ll see.

They kiss again as lights go out.

End of scene

End of Act One

The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams.

Representative research sources

Correspondence:

• Correspondence between Eve Adams and Ben Reitman. 1912-1941. University of Illinois at Chicago library. Special collections. (following lead from Martha Reis)

Books:

• An American Obsession: science, medicine, and homosexuality in modern society. Jennifer Terry.

• Lights and Shadows of New York Life. James D. McCabe, Jr.

• To Believe in Women: what lesbians have done for America—a history. Lillian Faderman.

• Stepping Out: nine tours through New York City’s gay and lesbian past. Daniel Hurewitz.

• Gay New York. George Chauncey.

• The Gay Metropolis: the landmark history of gay life in America. Charles Kaiser.

• American Moderns: bohemian New York and the creation of a new century. Christine Stansell.

• An Autobiographical Novel. Kenneth Rexroth.

• The Damndest Radical: the life and world of Ben Reitman. Roger A, Bruns.

• No Regrets: Dr. Ben Reitman and the women who loved him: a biographical memoir. Mecca Reitman Carpenter.

• Sister of the Road: the autobiography of Box-Car Bertha as told to Dr. Ben L. Reitman.

• Emma Goldman: a documentary history of the American years. Candace Falk, editor.

• Hobohemia: Emma Goldman, Lucy Parsons. Ben Reitman & Other Agitators & Outsiders in 1920s/30s Chicago. Frank Orman Beck.

• The Paris Years. Henry Miller.

• A Paris Year. Edgar Branch.

• Henry Miller: A life. Robert Ferguson.

• My Friend Henry Miller. Alfred Perles.

• Nearer the Moon. Anais Nin.

Periodicals.

• Greenwich Village Weekly News. October 1931. New York Public Library.

• Greenwich Village Quill. Vols 1-20. 1919-1931. New York Public Library.

• The New York Times. July 3, 1926.

• Variety. June 23, July 7 and July 28, 1926; December 7, 1927. Free Library of Philadelphia. (details of the arrest and court hearing)

Websites.

Numerous websites, including:

• Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

• New York Public Library picture collection.

• NYsonglines

• ForgottenNewYork.

• MemorialoftheShoah.

• EllisIsland

• YadVashem

• HenryMillerinParis. (KregWallace)

The generous assistance of historian Martha Reis in Minneapolis; Will Straw, PhD., McGill University; Kreg Wallace; and genealogist/researcher Steven Siegel in New York City.

Eve Adams in Paris, after deportation…

Alfred Perles

Eve Adams was very fond of Henry [Miller] who treated her with great gentleness… She was an aging lesbian, a Russian I believe, who was deported for being an anarchist, based on the fact that she was a friend of Emma Goldman. Eve was always good for a touch and Henry liked her for that. Alfred Perles. Paris 1932.

Henry Miller

At present everything is dull in the book trade—frightfully dull. Kahane asked me to have confidence in him…Alors, wait a bit, he said. No use bringing out another book until this gets properly launched. It would spoil the sales of Tropic of Cancer. Eve Adams is still selling a few now and then. Henry Miller. Paris 1934.

Anais Nin

Eve Adams saw me bicycling by. I showed her the book Winter of Artifice. We talked about Miller. We arranged to meet at the café. I was dressed in my Spanish cotton dress, with a flower in my hair. [Eve’s] friend came to sit with us, a sad little singer. At the table in front of us sat three people. One of the women looked intently at me. She asked Eve Adams: “Is this Anais Nin?” As she asked, I recognized her: Mary, the girl of my orgy with Donald Friede…That was the end of peace. I could never sit in a café again. Anais Nin. Paris 1939.

-----------------------

[1] Go to hell [Polish]

[2] Go to hell [Polish]

[3] They think you’re a poor excuse for a woman [Polish]

[4] What do you want to talk about? [Polish]

[5] Sleep well[Polish]

[6] Goodnight [Polish]

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