Model by: Richard Finkelstein
A colorless world of steps and platforms and frames that looks and feels like shattered glass surrounds a delicate caped figure made of spun wire
The Heath
by Caridad Svich
A figure in tatters stands in the middle of the world.
Ripe morning soon. Must wait till time passes.
Others stopped waiting long ago.
Somewhere inside an ache.
The waiting begs my knees.
Raps at my knuckles.
Calls me a loser. With a long O.
I say “To hell with ya, Mister Waiting,
I don’t care for your insistence.”
I pretend I have all the time in the world.
Just as I had once in the Pyrenees.
To think of such times. Renders ease.
“Blow winds, crack your cheeks.”
So a poet once said.
In better days I’d say these words
And fill them with mighty passion.
Imagine being an actor.
You’d have to be some kind of dreamer.
Was told once that was not for me.
I was not entitled.
I was to be cast out. Here. On the heath.
I told them, just like I tell Mister Waiting,
I’m not going anywhere.
You’ll have to put up with me.
Audio Recording
Monologue Performed and Directed by: Steve Snyder
Caridad Svich
Caridad Svich received a 2012 OBIE for Lifetime Achievement. Her work as a playwright, translator, lyricist, and essayist has been seen in print, live theatre and digital stages at diverse venues across the US and abroad. Key works in her repertoire include 12 Ophelias, Iphigenia Crash Land Falls…, Red Bike and The House of the Spirits (based on Isabel Allende’s novel). Recent premieres include The Book of Magdalene and Theatre: a love story. As a screenwriter, her first feature film ( as co-screenwriter, based on her play) Fugitive Dreams has been seen at the Fantasia, Austin, Tallinn Black Nights, Manchester (UK) and Maryland Film Festivals. Among her recognitions are an American Theatre Critics Association Primus Prize, the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, and National Latino Playwriting Award (which she has received twice). She is founder of NoPassport theatre alliance and press and an editor at Contemporary Theatre Review. They have edited several books on theatre. Her most recent book is on Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Routledge). She was awarded the 2018 Ellen Stewart Award for Career Achievement in Professional Theatre from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.
Richard Finkelstein
Richard Finkelstein is Associate Professor of Theatre, Set and Light Design, at James Madison University. He has designed premieres of plays by John Pielmeier, Hugh Wheeler, and Adrienne Kennedy. His production of Peter Pan, designed for the New York State Theatre Institute toured to Russia in 1989. For NYSTI he also designed the New York and Off-Broadway premiere of Jeffery Sweet's American Enterprise. and the new musical, Orphan Train, directed by Pat Birch. Mr. Finkelstein also has designed for companies such as The Colorado Shakespeare Festival, The Barter Theatre, and The National Theatre of the Deaf.
Mr. Finkelstein has taught at The University of Cincinnati (College Conservatory of Music), The University of North Dakota, the State University of New York at Stonybrook, and at the Boulder and Denver campuses of The University of Colorado.
In addition to his work as a stage designer, Mr. Finkelstein has been active as an arts advocate, running seven local, national, and international online arts networks. He is currently on the advisory board of The New Orleans International Ballet Conference and has served on the boards of directors of The Colorado Arts Consortium, The Rocky Mountain Section of The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, The Alliance for Colorado Theatre, the Colorado Dance Alliance, and the Boulder Ballet. He has also served on three advisory councils for The Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
As a stage photographer, Mr. Finkelstein's work has been exhibited in major galleries such as the SoHo Gallery in NY City and printed in prestigious publications such as Dance Magazine, Dancer, and Stage Directions.
Plays
Pityriasis Rosea
Don’t Look Down
Promise
Labyrinth
Psalm 104
On Apocalypses
The Heath