A Play A Day #71

The Ball Metaphor

Cast: Nobody

Setting: Nowhere


(Lights up on blank stage, preferably painted blinding white, really, really long pause, at least two or three minutes, suddenly a tiny ball bearing rolls across the stage, into audience, long pause, eventually a slightly larger ball bearing rolls in the same general direction of the first, long pause, a slightly larger ball bearing rolls in the same general direction of the first two, pause, then about five hundred ball bearings roll out onto stage, long pause while the ball bearings find their resting spots, a marble travels across stage right to left, pause, then back, slight pause, then back, and back and back and back for several times getting faster and faster, at some point it is replaced by a larger marble, continues going back and forth, slowly at first, then faster, eventually replaced by a yet larger marble, back and forth, back and forth, etc..., replace by an even larger marble, continue this process until marble is quite large. Stop, long pause, then about two hundred or so ping pong balls should rain onto the stage from any direction, followed by an equal number of tennis balls, long pause, a softball rolls down aisle and slams into the front of the stage, canned laughter, pause, another softball, canned laughter, pause, a third softball, canned laughter, pause, a fourth softball, lobs down the aisle and makes it onto the stage, canned applause, long pause, very small, round balloons float down to the stage, a couple hundred or so. Pause, one very heavy shotput falls from ceiling to the stage. Pause, another, less pause, another, slight pause, about ten more fall at roughly the same time. Several plastic children's kickballs, bounce along the edges of the stage, then joined by several red rubber kickballs, then several basketballs are heard backstage, bouncing, then they bound onto stage, canned cheering. A small therapy ball rolls softly onto stage, followed by a slightly larger, different-colored model, then a larger one, and a larger one, and a larger one still, all different colors. A large, ominous bounce is heard backstage, it is the bounce of an Earthball which rolls onto stage and dominates the space, it is towing an actual globe, a larger, more ominous bounce is heard backstage and a ridiculously large ball, preferably twice the size of the Earthball, a Jupiterball, perhaps, rolls slowly onto stage, long pause, then a horrendously loud and horrifically deep sound is heard backstage, causing all the other onstage balls to vibrate and hop about, it is a Sunball, an enormous yellow thing than can only be seen in small parts, it cannot even make it onto the stage, we see a large yellow convex shape pushing against the curtains, sunrise music rises in the house, the other balls, hop about in the glory of the massive orb. Sunball retreats, music fades out, balls come to a rest, lights start fading as a very tiny ball bearing rolls toward the audience again. Lights out.)

(end)