Excerpt of La Posada (formatted for web viewing.)
Scene One: Prologue
(At rise, TINA stands gazing, holding an old suitcase. She looks exactly like in her Mionland painting “Over the Edge.” She is looking toward a neon sign for the Canyon Top Motel.)
(ALLAN enters wearing a tattered ex-pat backpack and begins pinning up a banner for The Great Peace March. Tina’s suitcase falls, spilling crayons and other art supplies. ALLAN drops the banner and slowly helps TINA put things back inside. They have a “moment”.)
(In their characteristic early 1900s clothing MARY and FRED enter.)
FRED
Do you know those people Mary Jane?
MARY
I’m indebted to them.
FRED
For?
MARY
For bringing my masterpiece back to life.
FRED
I thought Hopi House was your masterpiece. Or the Watchtower?
MARY
(Reminiscing.)
I loved designing those for you Mr. Fred Harvey, but no.
FRED
Those buildings were very inventive, my dear.
MARY
Indeed, but La Posada was my tour de force.
FRED
(Referring to TINA and ALLAN.)
So those two?
MARY
They made it happen.
From Scene Two: 1993, La Posada
(WORKERS bring in a dilapidated window frame implying the outside of La Posada as it stood before restoration. Sounds of cars and trains. There may be flashing lights and a siren, as from a police car.)
(TINA, ALLAN, and DAN stand staring at an imagined building. All wear knapsacks.)
TINA
It does look like a hacienda.
DAN
A very rundown hacienda, but still…a hacienda.
ALLAN
Smack dab in the middle of one of Arizona’s many abandoned towns.
DAN
Right on Route 66 and right off Interstate 40. That’s what killed it.
(continued . . . )
From Scene Ten: 1999, Night Clerk
(Dream light. Late night, winter inside the hotel. Occasional sounds of trains. At some point, Tina’s paintings of four presidents’ wives are digitally displayed: Edith Wilson, Betty Ford, Florence Harding, and Elizabeth Monroe.
(Sound of the hotel’s nighttime doorbell.)
(TINA, wearing a robe over pajamas, enters with a cardboard dog that looks like her dog Gorby. Using a flashlight, TINA enters. First Lady Edith Wilson as in Tina’s painting stands at the edge of the stage with luggage. Inside, are four paintbrushes.
EDITH
I’m so sorry. I’m not used to driving this far, and I just had to stop at some of the points of interest
on Route 66.
TINA
No, no. It’s an honor to meet a First Lady in the flesh. Please come in.
(EDITH takes off her hat.)
TINA
You said you'd be late.
EDITH
Not this late. It must be nearly midnight. Oh goodness, my manners!
(Extending a hand.)
Happy to meet you. Edith Wilson.
TINA
Tina Mion. Your room is ready. I hope you don’t mind that it’s the Mamie Eisenhower room. We name all our rooms after people who’ve stayed here. Jeez! Is it snowing out there?
EDITH
Just started.
TINA
May I take your coat?
EDITH
Thank you, but I’ll keep it on for a while.
TINA
We haven’t figured out how to heat the whole hotel yet, but the heater’s on in your room. Would you like a cup of tea?
EDITH
I’d rather have a beer if you have one. British style preferably. It’s cold out there!
TINA
Let me look.
(TINA exits. EDITH examines the paintings. TINA returns with a bottle of red wine.)
TINA
All I could find is wine, but I’m so sorry. I can’t find a cork pull.
EDITH
No problem.
(EDITH takes a Swiss army knife from her luggage and opens the bottle.)
TINA
Okay! Nicely done!
(TINA exits, returning with two wine glasses. EDITH pours. They drink fairly liberally throughout the scene, pouring more as needed.)
EDITH
I didn’t expect you to answer the door yourself.
TINA
There’s just four of us.
EDITH
Running the whole hotel?
TINA
The six rooms we have open. We hope to have help in a few weeks, but right now, it’s just four of us. We take turns as the night clerk.
(continued . . . )
From Scene 15: 2010, El Garces
(This is where the last of the real props come on. The lobby is nearly complete. Previous set pieces remain in place. WORKERS bring in a ladder, comfortable chairs, a coffee and/or side table, a large plant in a Mexican pot, a painted chest, a birdcage with a Madonna or plaster macaw inside.)
(ALLAN sits at one of the large tables, examining plans he’d made for El Garces Hotel.)
(DAN enters, walks to the table, gazes at the plans.)
ALLAN
So you’ve heard?
DAN
Yeah, El Garces fell through. Eduardo told me.
ALLAN
I don’t know why I liked that hotel so much. Maybe because Fred Harvey thought it one of the crown jewels of his chain. Maybe I just wanted to restore something in California.
DAN
Needles is not California.
ALLAN
Technically it is.
DAN
Five years of my life. Gone. I just wish you’d told me it fell through before…I don’t know…everyone else?
ALLAN
I didn’t tell everyone else.
DAN
I’m so done with this!
ALLAN
Done with what?
DAN
This! Everything.
ALLAN
Meaning?
DAN
I can’t believe you told Eduardo first. Not me.
ALLAN
I got the call while I was standing at the front desk and I was so angry that I just blurted! Eduardo happened to be there when I got the call.
(TINA enters.)
DAN
So the whole front desk heard.
ALLAN
I guess.
TINA
(To Dan.)
It’s really sad, isn’t it.
DAN
(A double take, then to Allan.)
And Tina? Tina knows?
TINA
Yes. I mean—
DAN
(To Tina.)
You know?!
TINA
Well, sure. Al told me at breakfast.
DAN
So you had time to eat breakfast before telling me? Don’t you think I’d want to know that five years of my life had just gone up in flames?
TINA
You were across the street.
DAN
(To Allan.)
You couldn’t walk across the street and tell me El Garces had fallen through?
(Beat.)
The whole desk? The whole front desk?
ALLAN
They were there. If I’d had a little more emotional restraint, I—
(TINA exits.)
DAN
You just bypass the guy who’s supposed to be in charge?
ALLAN
It’s not like I’m not affected. I just spent 3 million shoring up El Garces’ foundation, and now it’s—
DAN
Allan! That’s not the only thing that bothers me. I’ve built this … this whole place with my own hands! Dug into the plumbing. Sweated in 100-degree heat replacing electrical wires. My glasses so sweaty I can’t see.
(Beat.)
I’ve been a good sport. You go off and be mayor … and I’m left here—
ALLAN
We’re restoring this town, one building at a time—well not literally, but giving others a reason to be here, giving you neighbors.
DAN
I wanted a studio, not neighbors. I never said I wanted neighbors.
ALLAN
Well, you’ve got them. It’s a decent place to live now. One day it’ll be vibrant … maybe a vibrant town.
DAN
(Barely half listening.)
You build a detox center, open a movie theatre . . . god knows what you’re gonna do next … run for Congress like you almost did in 2008?
ALLAN
It was just a thought.
DAN
Was it? And if you had?!
(TINA enters. Starts to engage. ALLAN stops her.)
DAN (cont.)
I feel like I’m chained here! Knocking down walls with a sledge hammer, tearing out vinyl with my bare hands, ripping up floors with a jackhammer, and I’m completely taken for granted.
ALLAN
I saw a piece of unfinished history, and I had to breathe life into something!
DAN
I’m done! I’m out of here! You two want to do this…continue this…renovate another hotel in New Mexico…do it.
TINA
I don’t want to do another hotel in New Mexico!
ALLAN
(Looking at both Tina and Dan.)
Look, I have leaned on both of you. You especially, Dan.
DAN
Are you hearing me? I’m spent. I can’t do this anymore.
ALLAN
Don’t walk away, Dan. Look what we’re doing here—what you’ve done here. We’re bringing this town back to life!
DAN
I know that. I’m not stupid.
(continued . . . )