Playscript

Gidion’s Knot
BY J o h n na Adams

Seth Freeman

Robin Walsh as Corryn, left, and Joey Parsons as Heather in Johnna Adams’s Gidion’s Knot
at Contemporary American Theater Festival.

December12 AMERICANTHEATRE 63
 Playscript Johnna Adams Gidion’s Knot

Gidion’s time, staring at it.

She goes back to grading.
HEATHER: No one was there? If you ask
Carole—

Knot
There is a knock at the door. She is surprised. CORRYN: This is the room.
No one knocks. People just walk in. She stands, HEATHER: No. No, I don’t—
a little uncertain. CORRYN: 418.
By J o hnna Adams HEATHER: Yes? HEATHER: No, I don’t have anything.
Another knock. The knocker can’t hear her CORRYN: Two-thirty. I’m a little late.
Characters through the door. HEATHER: I don’t have anything scheduled.
Heather Clark: 30s-50s She goes to the door and looks out through a CORRYN: Yes. I wrote it down.
Corryn Fell: 30s-50s small window. Corryn pulls a rumpled piece of paper out of
She opens the door. her purse.
Setting HEATHER: Yes? CORRYN: Two-thirty. April fifth. Room 418.
A fifth grade classroom in a public school in Corryn Fell enters hesitantly. Ms. Clark.
the Lake Forest suburb of Chicago. HEATHER: Are you looking / for…? HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: I have a parent-teacher conference. CORRYN: You’re Ms. Clark.
Time Is / this—…? HEATHER: Yes.
Early April. The present year. Tuesday. 2:45 HEATHER: Do you know the room? CORRYN: I set it up. Here—
p.m. to 4:15 p.m. CORRYN: I thought…— Corryn gives Heather the paper.
HEATHER: If you go to the office and speak HEATHER: That’s strange, I—I’m sorry.
Playwright’s Notes to the office manager she can tell you which CORRYN: That’s all right. You forgot, I guess.
When a character name is followed by an room you’re looking for. Just give her the HEATHER: ....
ellipsis, as such: teacher’s name. CORRYN: I can come back. You’re unprepared,
CORRYN: The office manager? I can see that.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: Carole. She’s at the desk. HEATHER: No, it’s fine. Come in.
This indicates a nonverbal response to the CORRYN: Thank you. CORRYN: Thank you very much. And thank
previous line. HEATHER: All right. you for making time.
The ellipsis line may be played in Corryn goes out. HEATHER: I don’t think you were at open house.
many ways: as a pause, a beat, a look, a Heather returns to her desk. She stares at her phone. CORRYN: No.
movement, a silence, a smile, a sudden Another knock, then Corryn pokes her head back HEATHER: ....
thought, or it can just be used to give the in cautiously. CORRYN: I set it up with Carole, I guess. I
scene some air, some room, some tension, CORRYN: I’m sorry. The office? called her. Friday afternoon.
etc. HEATHER: It’s down the hall and to your HEATHER: About?
A slash (/) in the middle of a character’s left—at the end of the hall there. CORRYN: About my son.
line indicates an interruption. The next CORRYN: Oh. Okay. Thank you. HEATHER: Who is your son?
speaking character should begin her line Corryn leaves. CORRYN: Gidion.
where the slash appears. Heather stands for a long moment in the middle HEATHER: ....
This play is performed without an of the room. CORRYN: ....
intermission. She goes back to grading papers. HEATHER: ....
Something breaks inside her. CORRYN: ....
A fifth grade classroom. She stops and puts her head in her hands, taking HEATHER: …oh god…
Twenty desks are arranged facing a blackboard. deep breaths, almost hyperventilating, trying CORRYN: We set up a parent-teacher confer-
Each desk has a cubbyhole filled with books, pencils not to sob. ence. The principal was supposed to come, too.
and other detritus of childhood. She shakes her head, and under her breath: HEATHER: ....
To the side there is a teacher’s desk where Heather HEATHER: God…oh god…god… CORRYN: I guess she forgot.
Clark sits grading papers. She gets up and walks around the room. HEATHER: No. Of course not. It’s just—…
The walls are filled with bright and cheerful She picks up her cell phone and puts it down. CORRYN: ....
posters of Greek and Hindu gods (Zeus, Aph- She almost has herself under control. HEATHER: ....
rodite, Hera, Vishnu, Ganesh, Shiva, Buddha, A knock at the door. CORRYN: I missed open house. So we never
Kwan Yin, etc.). HEATHER: Oh god. got to meet.
Children’s writing assignments (poems, stories, She crosses to the door as Corryn comes back in. HEATHER: You’re Gidion’s mother. Mrs.
reports, etc.) fill every part of the walls not covered CORRYN: I’m / sorry— Gibson.
with gods or lesson notes. There are probably 50 HEATHER: Down the hall and to your left— CORRYN: No. That was his father’s name.
posted assignments. CORRYN: I found it. I found Carole. Ms. Fell.
Five or six decorated foam core boards are on one HEATHER: You need directions to the room? HEATHER: Mrs. Fell.
wall, featuring reports on Greek mythology and CORRYN: You’re very helpful, aren’t you? I CORRYN: You can call me Corryn.
Alexander the Great. mean you’re irritated and not very good at HEATHER: ....
It is 2:45 p.m. Classes end at 3:00 p.m. hiding it, but still… CORRYN: You sent a note home with my son.
Heather grades her papers and from time to time HEATHER: .... Asking to meet with me.
sips from a cup of tea on the desk in front of her. CORRYN: I’m sorry. That came out—… HEATHER: Mrs. Fell.
Her cell phone is on the desk beside her. HEATHER: Yes. It did. CORRYN: Telling me he was suspended.
She looks at the phone. She picks it up and checks CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
to see if she has a message. Nothing. She puts the HEATHER: Do you need help finding the room? CORRYN: There was a voice mail message,
phone down and leaves her hand on it for a long CORRYN: No, I found the room. too…Saying to call.
66 AMERICANTHEATRE December1 2
Seth Freeman

Joey Parsons, left, and Robin Walsh at Contemporary American Theater Festival.

HEATHER: .... HEATHER: .... HEATHER: God. / I just—

CORRYN: And I called and set something up. CORRYN: .... CORRYN: Would you like me to get you
I guess with Carole maybe. Someone in the HEATHER: .... some water?
office. She didn’t tell you? CORRYN: What did you want to talk about? HEATHER: I didn’t think—…
HEATHER: No, she did. HEATHER: .... CORRYN: You look bloodless.
CORRYN: You forgot. CORRYN: About my son? HEATHER: I didn’t think you’d keep the
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: .... appointment. It never occurred to me that
CORRYN: Well. We set this up. CORRYN: Was it his grades? you would keep the appointment.
HEATHER: Yes. HEATHER: .... CORRYN: He’s my son.
CORRYN: So here I am. CORRYN: Attendance? Excessive tardiness? HEATHER: I took it out of my calendar.
HEATHER: .... Running in the halls? CORRYN: I see.
CORRYN: .... HEATHER: I don’t… HEATHER: I didn’t think you’d—
HEATHER: Mrs. Fell— CORRYN: The reason you suspended him? CORRYN: Well, I did.
CORRYN: No, it’s Ms. HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I didn’t think you’d still want to
HEATHER: Ms. Fell. CORRYN: I’d really like to know. I’ve been talk about—
CORRYN: You can call me Corryn. If you’d like. wondering. Your note was vague. The voice CORRYN: About my son?
HEATHER: I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so mail was cryptic. I’ve been up for about 72 HEATHER: That it might be painful to…
very, very sorry. hours. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep because I’ve CORRYN: Yes?
CORRYN: Thank you. been playing this conversation out over and HEATHER: To talk about him so soon after
HEATHER: I didn’t forget. I just…I didn’t over again in my mind, wondering how it his death.
think you’d— will go. You were more vocal in these little CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: You sent a note home with my son. fantasies. You contributed. You explained…I HEATHER: ....
And left a message. Asking to meet with me. don’t know why you…did this to him. I don’t CORRYN: ....
How could I not come? know what happened. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: .... CORRYN: Well.
CORRYN: He’s my son. CORRYN: He looked devastated. When he HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... handed me the note. He was shaking. He— CORRYN: We had an appointment.
CORRYN: You look pale. Have I given you HEATHER: God!…oh god… HEATHER: ....
a shock? CORRYN: .... CORRYN: ....
HEATHER: Oh god. HEATHER: …God HEATHER: Yes. Okay.
CORRYN: I didn’t mean to. CORRYN: I’m sorry. CORRYN: Good.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I don’t know / what— HEATHER: I’m really very sorry—
CORRYN: We did have an appointment. CORRYN: I didn’t mean— CORRYN: You’ve said so.

December12 AMERICANTHEATRE 67
 Playscript Johnna Adams Gidion’s Knot

HEATHER: .... HEATHER: .... CORRYN: And in return, I don’t expect every-
CORRYN: Thank you…I’m sorry I missed CORRYN: That was very honest. one I meet to like me. I hated some of my
open house. Gidion’s father is dead. I’m a HEATHER: .... teachers. My fifth grade teacher, in fact.
single mother. Getting a babysitter on a school CORRYN: He made you angry. HEATHER: It’s too soon for this.
night is like squeezing milk from stones. Do HEATHER: .... CORRYN: I feel certain she hated me too.
you have children? CORRYN: Okay. HEATHER: Let’s reschedule for a time when
HEATHER: No. HEATHER: .... the principal and the school counselor can
CORRYN: Oh…I never thought I would either. CORRYN: This is nice. Your room. Colorful. join us.
Pets? HEATHER: Thank you. CORRYN: I don’t expect you to like each and
HEATHER: What? CORRYN: It’s warm. every one of your students, that would be
CORRYN: Do you have pets? HEATHER: Thank you. inhuman.
HEATHER: I’m not sure how I can help you, CORRYN: I envisioned a barren tomb. Painted HEATHER: I’ll walk you to your car.
Ms. Fell. prison green. Desks in depressing rows. Hard CORRYN: He hated you. It just happens some-
CORRYN: Corryn, please. This doesn’t have tile flooring that your heels made ominous times.
to be adversarial. Does it? clicking noises against as you paced up and HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... down the rows, stroking the black chin hairs CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: How long have you been teaching? and warts covering your thick, bovine neck. HEATHER: You should take some time to
HEATHER: Two years. A lovingly framed portrait of Stalin at the grieve before…this. We all should take some
CORRYN: Really? You don’t look young enough front of the room for the children to genuflect time—
to be right out of school. You must have had before as they file in. CORRYN: What did you mean when you said
a career before this, am I right? HEATHER: I sent it out to be cleaned. we should reschedule for a time when the
HEATHER: Yes. CORRYN: That’s funny. You surprise me, too. principal can join us? Is the principal not
CORRYN: What was it? HEATHER: .... able to join us?
HEATHER: I was in advertising. CORRYN: What did you imagine I was like? HEATHER: I’m sure she thought that you
CORRYN: And you got sick of making all that HEATHER: .... wouldn’t feel up to this discussion at this time.
money and wanted to make a difference. CORRYN: You must have little mental images CORRYN: Or that it no longer mattered.
HEATHER: .... of all the parents. What they’re like. HEATHER: That it might be in poor taste.
CORRYN: Good for you. HEATHER: .... CORRYN: That this conversation no longer
HEATHER: Maybe we should reschedule. Find CORRYN: Do I surprise you? mattered.
a time when the principal can join us. HEATHER: I knew you were a single mother. HEATHER: That it wasn’t the priority at the
CORRYN: Maybe she’s just running late. CORRYN: How? moment. Your grief is the priority.
HEATHER: You should be with family now. HEATHER: A writing project I gave. I asked CORRYN: We had an appointment.
CORRYN: I’m exactly where I should be. them to describe their father. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: He had nothing to write about. CORRYN: And no one canceled it. You didn’t
CORRYN: .... HEATHER: He wrote about his grandfather cancel it.
HEATHER: Okay. instead. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: You sent a note home with my son. CORRYN: He never met either grandfather. CORRYN: I would appreciate it if the principal
HEATHER: Yes. He made it up. would join us.
CORRYN: You suspended him. Five days. HEATHER: No. He wrote about what he HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: Yes. imagined his grandfather’s corpse was like. CORRYN: Please.
CORRYN: He was fighting with another boy. In the earth. HEATHER: She’s taking a personal day.
HEATHER: No. CORRYN: Well, that’s original. I bet you never CORRYN: Excuse me?
CORRYN: He came home bruised. With dried had a paper like it in all your two years of HEATHER: She’s taking a personal day today.
blood on his mouth. teaching. CORRYN: That’s what I thought you said.
HEATHER: I don’t know anything about that. HEATHER: No. HEATHER: She took the news about your son
That must have happened after he left school. CORRYN: Is that when you began to hate him? very hard.
CORRYN: Was he beat up a lot? Picked on? HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
HEATHER: I never saw that happen. CORRYN: Come on. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: But the day he was suspended he HEATHER: I didn’t hate him. CORRYN: Okay.
was beaten up. You didn’t know? CORRYN: Come on. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: I’m not surprised. HEATHER: I didn’t hate him. CORRYN: Get her in here. Call her at home.
CORRYN: You’re not? CORRYN: Honestly? HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I did not hate him. CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: I was. CORRYN: Liar. HEATHER: I’ll talk to Carole.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: Ms. Fell. I think you should leave. Heather goes out.
CORRYN: ....? CORRYN: It’s all right. I’m not angry about Corryn walks around the room. She reads some of
HEATHER: He made some of the children it. For Christ’s sake. I don’t like everyone I the children’s reports posted on the walls.
angry. meet or everyone I know. I freely hate some She looks for Gidion’s name on one and does
CORRYN: And you. He made you angry. of them. It isn’t their fault. It just happens that not find it.
HEATHER: Yes. way. I’m sure Gidion was the same. I’m sure She looks inside a desk.
CORRYN: .... you’re the same. She looks at one of the foam core board presenta-
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I don’t think this is accomplishing tions on Alexander the Great. It is titled “The
CORRYN: This isn’t what I expected. anything. Gordian Knot.” There is a large, complicated
68 AMERICANTHEATRE December1 2
knot fastened to the center of the foam core board tor; three folders with comic book superheroes HEATHER: He’s a boy in the sixth grade.
with a tinfoil-covered cardboard sword hovering on the covers; a spiral notebook; two stapled class CORRYN: Is he one of the children that Gidion
above it. assignments with “A+” written on them in red made angry? On Friday? The day he died?
She touches the knot and reads some of the text ink; and a folded note. HEATHER: ....
on the report board. Corryn takes the note as Heather looks at the two CORRYN: There’s a Jake on Facebook who
The school bell rings. writing assignments. left comments on Gidion’s Facebook page
Children pour out into the hallways, calling to one Heather puts one of the papers in front of Corryn. over the weekend saying “You’re a faggot”
another and banging lockers open and shut. HEATHER: It’s this one. and “You’re a lying faggot.” After Gidion was
Corryn is startled. Corryn opens and reads the note. dead, in fact, so—… untimely.
Slowly, she works up her courage to approach the CORRYN: Who is Seneca? HEATHER: He couldn’t have known Gidion
door and stare through the window into the hall. HEATHER: She’s a girl in my class. She sits was dead. The kids didn’t know until this
She watches the children closely as the sounds behind Gidion. morning.
die away. CORRYN: She passes him notes. CORRYN: Oh, well, then.
She stands not moving. HEATHER: Sometimes. She uses her phone HEATHER: It’s not an excuse.
She sits at a desk and waits. and texts people the rest of the time. CORRYN: No, it’s not.
Heather reenters. CORRYN: Gidion doesn’t have a phone, so I HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: Carole spoke with her. She says guess she had to do it old school. She did this. CORRYN: ....
she’s on her way here. Corryn goes to the Gordian Knot presentation and HEATHER: Jake’s been troubled lately. It’s out
CORRYN: Where does she live? points to it. Seneca’s name is written on it. of character if he did that.
HEATHER: Not far. Fifteen minutes. HEATHER: .... CORRYN: You like Jake. He’s one that you
CORRYN: Good. I’ll wait. CORRYN: This is nice. I like this. like.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I did too. HEATHER: He’s a good boy who has had a
CORRYN: .... CORRYN: Good topic. difficult year.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: Yes. CORRYN: What did he think Gidion was
CORRYN: Do you have that paper? CORRYN: .... lying about?
HEATHER: ....? HEATHER: .... HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: The one Gidion wrote about his CORRYN: Who names their daughter Seneca? CORRYN: ....?
grandfather? I saw some of them posted on That’s as bad as Gidion. No wonder she liked HEATHER: We should wait for the principal.
the wall but not his. him. She did like him? CORRYN: …All right.
HEATHER: I gave them back their papers. HEATHER: Yes. HEATHER: ....
Except for the ones I posted. CORRYN: Did she have a crush on him? CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: Oh. HEATHER: I think she did. Corryn picks up the paper about Gidion’s grand-
HEATHER: He didn’t bring it home? CORRYN: A girl named Seneca sat behind father and skims it.
CORRYN: I don’t know if he did. Gidion and had a crush on him! She passed HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: You could check his book bag. him notes because she couldn’t text him! CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: I’ll do that. How wonderful. (Reading from the note) This She reads.
HEATHER: Or his locker. says, “Jake’s a peehole. He’s LYING like a CORRYN: “My grandfather’s hands are brown
CORRYN: Where is it? peehole.” Lying, all caps. “Don’t get mad. apple cores. Buried in dirt like seeds. He used
HEATHER: We’ll call the facilities manager That’s what he wants. I believe you that he did to take me hunting for ravens on a lake and
and he can take you to Gidion’s locker and it. I always believe YOU not that dicksnot.” put handfuls of candy corn in my pockets
cut off the lock. You, all caps. when I wasn’t looking. His teeth twisted in
CORRYN: Thank you. HEATHER: .... his mouth when he smiled and now they have
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: She expresses herself well. Very fallen out and his jawbone smiles empty. We
CORRYN: .... clearly. miss the smell of his cigars around the house
HEATHER: Or it might be here. In his desk. HEATHER: .... sometimes.”
If he didn’t take it home. CORRYN: I like her. She reminds me of me. ....
CORRYN: Which is his desk? They say boys always look for their mother He never met his grandfather.
HEATHER: You’re sitting at it. in a mate. What does she look like? HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Oh—…This? This is…? HEATHER: She dyes her hair platinum blond CORRYN: …A+?
HEATHER: I assign them the seat they sit in and wears false eyelashes and a stuffed bra. HEATHER: Yes.
on the first day of class. And you see it a lot She has a nose ring. CORRYN: Good grade. But you didn’t post
during open house. The parents come in and CORRYN: She’s 11? it? On the wall?
choose the same seat. HEATHER: Yes. HEATHER: No.
CORRYN: Oh. CORRYN: Wow…Wow. CORRYN: Too depressing?
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I can’t post everything that’s
CORRYN: How strange. CORRYN: Did her parents have a parent- good.
Corryn stands up and stares at the desk. teacher conference with you at some point, CORRYN: Oh.
When it is clear that Corryn can’t do it, Heather too? HEATHER: ....
comes over and begins to take things out of the HEATHER: No. CORRYN: It has a hole in the corner.
desk and lay them on the desktop. CORRYN: Really? HEATHER: ....
Corryn watches the items as they are revealed: HEATHER: .... CORRYN: From a thumbtack. A hole here in
two textbooks (math and social studies); a box of CORRYN: Okay. Lucky me then. Who’s the corner. Like the papers that are posted.
pencils and map pencils; a compass; a protrac- Jake? HEATHER: ....

December12 AMERICANTHEATRE 69
 Playscript Johnna Adams Gidion’s Knot

CORRYN: It was posted once. You took it down. CORRYN: Why should you care? CORRYN: They all are. Fighting and fucking.
HEATHER: I rotate the papers posted on HEATHER: I just don’t want to be intrusive. That’s all anybody really writes about.
the walls. Take some down on Fridays. Put CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
more up. HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: When did you take it down? CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: I don’t remember. HEATHER: What do you do for a living? CORRYN: That was part of an Ossian poem.
CORRYN: Okay. CORRYN: You’ll laugh. “The War of Caros.” Probably not authentic.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I doubt it. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was fashion-
CORRYN: .... CORRYN: No, you will. You won’t see this able for a while to write poetry in the style
HEATHER: Can I get you something to drink? coming. Any guesses? of ancient Scots Gaelic and pass it off as a
The faculty lounge is just / down the hall. HEATHER: No. genuine work of antiquity. Makes the job for
CORRYN: No thank you. I’m fine. CORRYN: Oh, guess. Guess. One guess. modern scholars a real bitch. A lot of what we
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: Accounting? do is to search for something authentic in a
CORRYN: .... CORRYN: Accounting? God, no. Accounting?? field of bullshit.
HEATHER: Just let me / know. Why on earth…? HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Yes. I will. HEATHER: I don’t know. It came to mind. CORRYN: Lonely search.
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: I don’t know why. HEATHER: Sounds like a very specialized
CORRYN: .... HEATHER: I’m sorry. discipline.
Oral hygienist? CORRYN: Gidion wasn’t good at math. What CORRYN: Yes.
HEATHER: I’m sorry? gave you the idea? HEATHER: And very fascinating.
CORRYN: Truck stop waitress? HEATHER: I’m not good at guessing games. CORRYN: Really?
HEATHER: ....? CORRYN: Accounting. HEATHER: You’re an archaeologist as much
CORRYN: I’m trying to guess what you imag- HEATHER: What do you do, then? as literary critic.
ined I was like. CORRYN: You won’t see this coming. CORRYN: Perhaps.
HEATHER: I didn’t really. HEATHER: All right. HEATHER: That must be a whole world unto
CORRYN: After I didn’t come to open CORRYN: Wait for it—…Wait for it—… itself.
house. HEATHER: ....? CORRYN: Oh, yes.
HEATHER: There are lots of parents who CORRYN: I’m a teacher. HEATHER: A place you could get lost in.
can’t make it. HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: Tattoo artist?…Horse wrangler? CORRYN: .... HEATHER: Disappear into.
HEATHER: No. HEATHER: Oh. CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: What did you think? CORRYN: I told you. You didn’t see that HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: I had no idea. coming. CORRYN: What was your major in college?
CORRYN: You must have formed an idea. HEATHER: That’s terrific. HEATHER: Marketing.
From Gidion. An impression of what his CORRYN: What’s terrific about it? CORRYN: Did you get a master’s degree?
mother was like. HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I have an MBA and I went back
HEATHER: You can’t ever predict. CORRYN: ....? and got my master’s in education.
CORRYN: Stripper? HEATHER: What do you teach? CORRYN: Two years ago? Wow. Something
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: Literature. must really have gone wrong at that advertis-
CORRYN: Oh, come on. You thought about it. HEATHER: Where? ing job to prompt that.
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: At Northwestern. In the graduate HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: If you didn’t think about it before, program. CORRYN: All that time and money spent on
you did after you heard what happened. HEATHER: You’re a professor. the marketing degree and the MBA! Just to
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: That’s different from a teacher? throw it all away for this.
CORRYN: .... HEATHER: That’s a different kind of teacher. HEATHER: Okay.
HEATHER: I thought you might have a job CORRYN: All right. CORRYN: Did you turn 40 and have a mid-
that required overtime, I guess. HEATHER: What sort of literature? life crisis?
CORRYN: Okay. CORRYN: Poetry. Medieval and earlier forms. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: Or that made a lot of demands (Reciting:) CORRYN: Men get hair implants, sports cars
on your time. Go, thou first of my bards! and new 20-year-old girlfriends. We just make
CORRYN: Oh. Doctor. Lawyer. Something Take the spear of Fingal. bad choices.
important. Fix a flame on its point. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: I suppose. Shake it to the winds of heaven. CORRYN: …Fifteen minutes?
CORRYN: Rocket scientist. Maybe a labor Bid him in songs, to advance, HEATHER: About that.
organizer trying to unionize Walmart. And leave the rolling of his wave. CORRYN: Well, if she hits all green lights, she
HEATHER: I didn’t have anything to form an Tell to Caros that I long for battle; should be here to rescue you soon.
impression around. That my bow is weary of the chase of HEATHER: I wouldn’t put it that way.
CORRYN: Do you want to know what I do? Cona. CORRYN: No. You seem very careful.
HEATHER: Of course. Tell him the mighty are not here; HEATHER (Sighs): ....
CORRYN: Yes, I can see you’re eaten alive And that my arm is young. CORRYN: I would really hate to start without
with curiosity. HEATHER: .... her. I know you would really hate to start
HEATHER: I don’t think your personal life or CORRYN: .... without her, too. I guess you feel you need
your son’s is any of my business. HEATHER: That’s very…martial. backup.
70 AMERICANTHEATRE December1 2
HEATHER: No. I think she wants very much CORRYN: I don’t think I could have the eyes HEATHER: All right.
to be here with us. of the gods on me all day. CORRYN: Good.
CORRYN: We’re interrupting her personal HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I can bring them to the memorial—
day. CORRYN: .... CORRYN: I don’t want you at the memorial.
HEATHER: I’d like to give her that oppor- HEATHER: .... HEATHER: ....
tunity. CORRYN: .... CORRYN: But go ahead and collect the cards.
CORRYN: She might be out golfing or some- HEATHER: Have you planned the memorial? Do that. Collect them and then take them
thing. Does she golf? CORRYN: No. home and burn them. In a trash can. Outside
HEATHER: If the situation were reversed, HEATHER: .... if you think that would drive your smoke
and I wasn’t here, I hope she would give me CORRYN: .... detector crazy.
a chance to get here before she discussed HEATHER: We want to make it a half day at HEATHER: ....
this with you. school. That day. Give the children and their CORRYN: I don’t want them.
CORRYN: You want to get your stories parents the opportunity to attend. HEATHER: ....
straight? CORRYN: All right. CORRYN: I don’t want to even see them.
HEATHER: No. To give you a complete pic- HEATHER: We had an assembly this morn- HEATHER: ....
ture. ing. A crisis management counselor spoke CORRYN: Jesus Christ.
CORRYN: At this point a fragment of a picture to the children. HEATHER: ....
would be fine, Ms. Clark. CORRYN: .... CORRYN: ....
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: And we’ve told them to speak HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Do you have a first name? to someone if they think they need private CORRYN: You don’t have to tell the children
HEATHER: Heather. counseling. that you burned them. Tell the children I loved
CORRYN: That’s pretty. CORRYN: Was Seneca upset? them. I wallpapered Gidion’s empty room
HEATHER: Thank you. HEATHER: Yes. with them. They’ve really eased my burden
CORRYN: Is she coming? CORRYN: Did she ask for private counseling? and brought me closer to the god Shiva. Or
HEATHER: Carole called her. HEATHER: No. something. Ask the crisis management coun-
CORRYN: .... CORRYN: Well. Dyed hair, nose ring, stuffed selor what to say.
HEATHER: I’m sure she’s coming. bra. She wouldn’t. She’s tough. Probably has HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: .... an image to maintain. CORRYN: ....
HEATHER: You could wait in her office if HEATHER: I spoke to her. HEATHER: ....
you’d prefer. CORRYN: Individually? That was nice of CORRYN: Except Seneca’s card. You can mail
CORRYN: Nice try. you. me that one.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: We are going to send a note to HEATHER: Okay.
CORRYN: .... all the parents on warning signs to watch CORRYN: I don’t want to see the others.
HEATHER: .... (Sighs) out for. HEATHER: Okay.
CORRYN: Could something be delaying her? CORRYN: Maybe her parents will get her CORRYN: Thanks.
HEATHER: I’m sure she’s on her way. counseling. Corryn reads Seneca’s note again.
CORRYN: All right. HEATHER: .... CORRYN: Seneca seems all right. She seems
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: What did she say when you spoke perceptive. Is she?
CORRYN: …We’re being watched by the gods. to her? HEATHER: She’s sensitive.
HEATHER: ....? HEATHER: That she missed him. CORRYN: Not perceptive?
CORRYN: Aren’t we? CORRYN: Was Jake upset? HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: ....? HEATHER: All of the children are upset. CORRYN: What side did she come down on?
Corryn points to the deities in the posters on CORRYN: .... In her Gordian Knot report?
the walls. HEATHER: They’re making you cards. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Zeus. Shiva. Vishnu. Ganesh. CORRYN: ....? Corryn points to the Gordian Knot presentation.
Hermes. I thought our forefathers died for HEATHER: The children. Sympathy cards. CORRYN: Cut it? Or figure it out?
separation of church and state in this country. CORRYN: All of them? HEATHER: ....
You’ve let the gods into your classroom. HEATHER: We wanted to help them express CORRYN: Figure it out? Right?
HEATHER: We’re learning about mythol- their feelings. HEATHER: ....
ogy. CORRYN: What is that? 180 cards? Is that CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: Do your Hindu students think of how many—? HEATHER: ....
this as mythology? HEATHER: 220. CORRYN: ....
HEATHER: We don’t have any. We do have a CORRYN: 220 sympathy cards? HEATHER: It wasn’t part of the assignment
Greek boy. But he’s Greek Orthodox. HEATHER: Yes. to take a side.
CORRYN: Oh, that’s funny. CORRYN: My, my, where will I put them all? CORRYN: Oh.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: .... HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Do you personally believe in any CORRYN: Thanks. CORRYN: Okay.
of them? HEATHER: The principal will be collecting Corryn reads Seneca’s note again.
HEATHER: .... them and— CORRYN: “Jake’s a peehole. He’s LYING like
CORRYN: ....? CORRYN: No, you collect them, Heather. You a peehole.”
HEATHER: No. collect them for me. HEATHER: Jake’s become an easy target
CORRYN: I believe in Shiva. HEATHER: .... lately.
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: .... CORRYN: What was he lying about?

December12 AMERICANTHEATRE 71
 Playscript Johnna Adams Gidion’s Knot

HEATHER: I’m not sure. unlocks a drawer. CORRYN: No, you will not.
CORRYN: .... She takes out a folder covered in comic book HEATHER: I think I should.
HEATHER: I can’t make that note fit with superheroes and sets it on her desk. CORRYN: No.
anything I know of. HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I think you’ll want to process things
CORRYN: Why not? CORRYN: .... without me here.
HEATHER: It’s the reverse of what I would HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
have expected. CORRYN: What is it? HEATHER: It’s disturbing.
CORRYN: You think Gidion was lying like a HEATHER: What got Gidion suspended. CORRYN: I have a feeling there are miles
peehole? She offers the folder to Corryn. between what you and I find disturbing.
HEATHER: I would have expected Gidion to be Corryn doesn’t take it. HEATHER: Read it and we’ll see.
accused of lying. Or spreading rumors. CORRYN: It’s—? CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: And that’s what this is about? Some- HEATHER: Something Gidion wrote. Heather starts to leave again.
thing he said about this Jake? CORRYN: About Jake? CORRYN: Don’t.
HEATHER: It’s not that simple. HEATHER: It doesn’t matter who it’s about. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: But there’s some sort of fight Corryn stares at the folder. CORRYN: I want you to explain things to me.
between them. That’s what this is about? Heather walks over and puts it in front of Corryn, I don’t want to sit alone here. I didn’t come
HEATHER: When the principal gets here, Ms. then sits near her. here for that. I don’t want to figure things out.
Fell, I promise / you, I will answer— Corryn stares at the folder. I want them explained!
CORRYN: Gidion started it? She picks it up. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: But until she gets here, / I don’t She sets it back down and goes back to Seneca’s note. Corryn holds the folder out to her.
feel that I have the— CORRYN: Okay. Wait. (Reading from Seneca’s CORRYN: I want you to read it to me.
CORRYN: What did Gidion say about Jake, note) “Don’t get mad. That’s what he wants. HEATHER: I’m not going to do that.
the peehole, that got him suspended? I believe you that he did it. I always believe CORRYN: Yes.
HEATHER: .... (Sighs) YOU not that dicksnot.” “I believe you that HEATHER: I don’t intend to read it again.
CORRYN: ....? he did it.” Wait. CORRYN: You will. With me.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: .... HEATHER: It’s not the way you want your son
CORRYN: We’re waiting for the principal. CORRYN: Gidion said that Jake wrote this and remembered.
HEATHER: I’d prefer / that— Seneca believes him. CORRYN: You don’t know what I want.
CORRYN: Okay. HEATHER: No. HEATHER: Trust me.
HEATHER: I’m trying to balance Jake’s right CORRYN: Seneca thinks Jake wrote this. CORRYN: Read it.
to privacy / with— HEATHER: No. She doesn’t. HEATHER: You can read it yourself.
CORRYN: I think I’ve almost been here half CORRYN: How do you know— CORRYN: ....
an hour. Have I? My perception of time is HEATHER: It’s in his handwriting. HEATHER: I’m sorry. I honestly can’t read that
shot to hell. I lose several hours in what feels CORRYN: .... again. And certainly not out loud.
like minutes and I get lost in minutes for HEATHER: .... CORRYN: As bad as all that?
what feels like hours. Have I been here for CORRYN: His handwriting. HEATHER: Yes.
half an hour? HEATHER: He admitted that he wrote it. CORRYN: As bad as facing what you did?
I came in here with a simple question. What CORRYN: His handwriting. HEATHER: That’s not fair.
the hell happened? HEATHER: He wrote this. CORRYN: ....
I thought this would be largely a transactional CORRYN: He typed his schoolwork. He had HEATHER: That is not fair.
exchange. I ask, you give. Even—well, cor- a computer. CORRYN: Read it to me.
rect me if I’m wrong—you have two years HEATHER: He wrote this. HEATHER: I can’t do that.
of professional experience, but, even if the CORRYN: .... CORRYN: Please read it to me.
circumstances around my son’s suspension HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I know you’re angry with me. I
weren’t…charged, let’s say, by the fact of CORRYN: .... can’t imagine how angry you must be with
his death, I would expect the reasons for his HEATHER: I don’t know what Seneca is talking me. And you want to punish me.
suspension to have at least come up in the first about in her note. Not this. Corryn gets up and puts the folder in front of
half hour of conversation. CORRYN: What is it? Heather.
I don’t know what happened. HEATHER: A story. CORRYN: ....
I’ve been sitting here playing guessing games CORRYN: ....? HEATHER: I’m not going to.
with you. HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
Has it been half an hour? You’d know. You’ve CORRYN: A story?? HEATHER: I’m very sorry. I don’t think I could
been looking at your cell phone when you HEATHER: Yes. form the words. It / offends me.
think I’m not looking at you. CORRYN: You have got to be kidding me. CORRYN: I want you / to.
Am I interrupting something? You’re waiting HEATHER: .... HEATHER: My whole heart goes out to you.
for a call? If it’s something important, by all CORRYN: A story?? But you don’t have the right. To make me do
means— HEATHER: .... something / like that—
HEATHER: I’m sorry. CORRYN: You suspended my son over a story? CORRYN: Do something unpleasant? I need
CORRYN: I don’t want to wait for the principal. Heather hands her the folder. you to.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I’m going to leave this with you. HEATHER: You don’t have the high ground here!
CORRYN: I don’t believe she’s coming. I’m going to step outside and let you read it CORRYN: I need you to.
HEATHER: .... in private. HEATHER: I don’t know what went on in
Heather pulls out a key ring. She finds a key and Heather starts to leave. your house.
72 AMERICANTHEATRE December1 2
CORRYN: Okay. and Ms. Harris. The boys were raping them, Not to eat, but to make things with.
HEATHER: Once he left this classroom my the girls were slowly slicing away their nipples So we put her and the others in the gym and
responsibility ended. with vegetable peelers they’d won in the great they started making looms out of the janitor’s
CORRYN: .... cafeteria war against the lunch ladies. These supplies. And we started killing for them. We
HEATHER: This—this is not a product of my kids didn’t want anything more than this. had to give the weavers what they needed.
classroom. They didn’t care about the weavers or poets. Some of us sort of hung back to see what
CORRYN: I can’t read it. So they left the teachers raped and scarred the weavers were making from the teachers’
HEATHER: He learned this in your house. and blind, but didn’t take their entrails. So I entrails before we started killing and gutting.
CORRYN: I can’t read it. killed Ms. Tologos and Ms. Harris and rolled But when the first cloak was made and the
HEATHER: Oh? As bad as that? As facing their entrails onto the broomstick with Mr. first poet climbed the hill, I knew I had to kill
what you did? Shawn’s. however many teachers I needed to so that I
CORRYN: .... It was harder with Ms. Clark. They’d left her could have one.
HEATHER: .... one eye and she was watching me. She was I gave a weaver my last pile of entrails and she
CORRYN: I need you to do this… naked and they’d taken her nipples, her tongue tied them onto the ends of the other entrails
HEATHER: .... and she was so ripped apart down there, it I had brought her and started weaving. The
CORRYN: Because it’s in his handwriting… looked like dogs had been at her and not just cloth the weavers make from the teachers’
HEATHER: .... kids. But, I really needed her entrails. More entrails is like nothing you’ve ever seen. It’s
CORRYN: And I can’t read his handwriting than she did at this point. So I put my knife in like a river and a taste of salt. It’s like an ocean
without seeing his suicide note in my hands. her remaining eye and twisted it into her brain. with fish moving through black water.
HEATHER: .... And I rolled her entrails up with the rest. When the weaver finished my gut-cloak she
CORRYN: .... Around the corner in the hall outside the put it around my shoulders and I felt the pull.
HEATHER: .... nurse’s office, the nurse, Carole from the office And I walked out of the building to the soc-
CORRYN: Please? and the fat principal were hanging from the cer field where the tribes who kept the first
Corryn holds the folder out to Heather. walls by nails punched through their wrists through third grade kids as slaves had made
HEATHER: .... and ankles and knees and shoulders. Their them build a mountain. And I climbed the
CORRYN: .... bodies were just gaping, empty bags. No mountain and joined the poets there.
Heather takes it and opens it. entrails to salvage. We watch the war and we write about the great
HEATHER: .... And then I saw Jake Powell. Jake’s tribe and deeds done or the horrors done. And that is
CORRYN: .... their first grade slaves. That was the truly sick how god remembers you—the way we write
Heather reads. thing. Jake was raping the same first grade you. And no other way.”
HEATHER: “It began during a war, as things kid he had been raping even before the war CORRYN: ....
do. We all formed tribes and began killing the began. You all already knew about that. This HEATHER: ....
teachers. I cut Mr. Shawn apart myself with a dumb little kid with glasses. Jake used to have CORRYN: ....
hunting knife my grandfather gave me the last to sneak around about it, but with the teachers HEATHER: ....
time he took me hunting ravens. We needed dead or dying, he could do what he pleased. Heather shuts the folder and puts it in front of
his entrails for our weavers and our poets. I watched him torture his first grade slaves Corryn on a desk.
I think Mr. Shawn was grateful. for a while—he maimed and raped and bled CORRYN: ....
A group of sixth graders had caught him in and squeezed and screamed and sucked and HEATHER: ....
the cafeteria earlier, by the vending machines, chewed and twisted. Even before the war CORRYN: ....
and cut out his eyes, flayed him and raped him Jake was wrong. HEATHER: He was passing it around. To the
with the clubs they had fashioned by cutting When the weavers give me my cloak, maybe other students.
the dicks off of their fathers and stretching I can do something about him. CORRYN: ....
the skin over thick poles. He was spitting The broomstick was heavy and I had enough HEATHER: ....
blood up because of something they’d broken guts, so I made my way to the gym, where the CORRYN: ....
in him and I think he loved me for cutting weavers worked. HEATHER: It’s my responsibility to—…
him open. Since the weavers started working, the gym CORRYN: ....
I took a broomstick out of the janitor’s closet stopped smelling like a gym and started smell- HEATHER: I’m sure you understand.
and nailed one end of his intestines to it ing like a butcher’s shop and a toilet. All CORRYN: ....
and then rolled the rest of his intestines out those entrails being braided and woven. You HEATHER: I’m sure you understand now.
of his stomach, twisting them around the wondered how the weavers could stand it, CORRYN: ....?
broomstick—they stretched more than 25 but when they changed into weavers, maybe HEATHER: ....
feet when I was done. Mr. Shawn had told me they lost their sense of smell. We had been in CORRYN: ....
that intestines were that long in science class home period, in Ms. Clark’s room when the HEATHER: I don’t know what it must be like
a month ago, but I didn’t believe him until we first weaver was chosen. to listen to this. I can’t imagine what it—…I
started collecting them for the weavers and We don’t know by who, some think there are don’t think, at heart, that he—…Well…
the poets. He was lucky. Most kids wouldn’t aliens on earth like the body snatchers and CORRYN: This—
have killed him first. some think god did it. But whoever did it, in HEATHER: Hard to stomach. I know. Believe me.
I put the thick roll of Mr. Shawn’s intestines the middle of class this girl suddenly screamed CORRYN: No. This is— / it’s—
over my shoulder and started walking to the and her eyes turned into balls of blue glass HEATHER: I know this isn’t all there was to him.
gym, which is the room where we kept the and her arms stretched out like poles and her CORRYN: No. This is—
weavers. hands grew new fingers and grew big. This HEATHER: I know he / was—
Outside of Ms. Harris’s room, a tribe of fifth was happening in other classes, but we didn’t CORRYN: This is magnificent!
graders were raping Ms. Clark, Ms. Tologos know that. And she started asking for entrails. HEATHER: ....

December12 AMERICANTHEATRE 73
 Playscript Johnna Adams Gidion’s Knot

CORRYN: …This is wonderful writing. / the conventional. HEATHER: ....

HEATHER: .... HEATHER: An inability to accept responsibility CORRYN: He wanted to be a writer. He was
CORRYN: Strong. Fearless. Fierce. Brave. CORRYN: .... going to be one.
Cruel. HEATHER: is what I expected. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: .... CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: Remarkable. HEATHER: .... HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: Have you ever heard of the Marquis CORRYN: Jake raped a first grader.
CORRYN: This is a wonderful story. About de Sade? HEATHER: No.
art and its purpose. About man and divine HEATHER: I don’t see the relevance. CORRYN: Gidion thought Jake raped a first
judgment. Oh god. CORRYN: Have you heard of him? grader.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: We don’t teach him here. HEATHER: He did not.
CORRYN: God, it’s beautiful. CORRYN: Yes, but surely you’ve heard— CORRYN: That’s what he / wrote—
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I’ve heard of him. HEATHER: No. He did not. That’s / abso-
CORRYN: Oh, god…it’s the most beautiful CORRYN: Was he a genius? lutely—
thing I’ve ever heard. How can you—? HEATHER: I don’t think your son was a tor- CORRYN: Was Jake accused / of—
HEATHER: .... tured genius, Ms. Fell. HEATHER: That’s not the point.
CORRYN: How could you? CORRYN: He’s been studied for hundreds CORRYN: Not the point?
HEATHER: .... of years. HEATHER: This—
CORRYN: It’s beautiful. HEATHER: I think something was wrong. She gestures toward the folder.
HEATHER: .... In his life. HEATHER: No matter what this was about, it
CORRYN: .... CORRYN: He’s in libraries, except where they are was—in itself—enough to / justify a suspen-
HEATHER: I disagree. censored by people with limited imaginations. sion—
CORRYN: Why? HEATHER: Maybe he had been hurt. CORRYN: But, is it true?
HEATHER: I have a responsibility to my stu- CORRYN: Who the hell are you to tell my son HEATHER: No.
dents. To protect them. what not to write about? CORRYN: Jake was never accused / of anything
CORRYN: From what? HEATHER: His teacher. like—
HEATHER: From things like this. Damaging CORRYN: What were you teaching him? How HEATHER: Jake is the victim here. What your
things. to disappear into some mold you wanted to son / did to Jake—
CORRYN: Poetry? pour him into? CORRYN: Raping a first grader?
HEATHER: Hate-filled, poisonous attacks. HEATHER: This decision wasn’t about him. It HEATHER: Don’t. Just don’t. I can’t / discuss
CORRYN: Oh, god! was about the other children. Their well-being. it—
HEATHER: He passed this around to a room CORRYN: Have you read the Marquis de Sade? CORRYN: It’s a simple / question.
full of children. HEATHER: Why? HEATHER: With you.
CORRYN: What do you think children are? CORRYN: That’s probably a yes. CORRYN: ....
HEATHER: I know what they are. I work with HEATHER: God. HEATHER: ....
them. For them. Every day. CORRYN: Did you enjoy it? CORRYN: Jake’s just an easy target lately.
CORRYN: All right, what are they? Heather: This is a fifth grade classroom. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: Fragile. CORRYN: This is a small box. Full of smaller CORRYN (From Seneca’s note): “Don’t get mad.
CORRYN: Fragile! Bullshit! Children are not boxes. One of which you tried to keep my son That’s what he wants. I believe you that he did
fragile. They’re stronger than any of us. in. And when he couldn’t fit inside it, he shot it. I always believe YOU not that dicksnot.”
HEATHER: That’s not true. himself in the head. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Yes, it is true. You want children to HEATHER: .... CORRYN: “Don’t get mad. That’s what he
be something they aren’t. CORRYN: Over not fitting in a box cut to your wants.”
HEATHER: Protected. dimensions. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Innocent. That is some ridiculous HEATHER: .... CORRYN: Jake wanted to make Gidion mad.
Victorian-era idea that we’ve inherited about CORRYN: .... Faggot. Revenge. He read this. He beat
childhood. That it’s sacred, that children are HEATHER: .... Gidion up.
innocent and pure. And that they want to be CORRYN: The Marquis de Sade is going to HEATHER: This isn’t his fault.
that way. / To stay that way. be in libraries and studied and marveled over CORRYN: I know that.
HEATHER: I don’t think it’s / ridiculous. for centuries after you are a dead, forgotten HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Childhood is not a suspended state fifth grade teacher who failed to make a go CORRYN: But was Gidion right?
of innocence—it is the condition of rapidly at advertising. HEATHER: If he left those messages on Gid-
losing / innocence. HEATHER: .... ion’s Facebook page—it had to be the first
HEATHER: You asked what I expected you’d CORRYN: .... time he has ever done anything / like that—
be like— HEATHER: .... CORRYN: I don’t care if he and Gidion fought.
CORRYN: You can’t stop that from happening. CORRYN: .... I don’t care if he raped the entire first grade
HEATHER: This. HEATHER: .... class. I just want to know if my son was right.
CORRYN: You shouldn’t want to. CORRYN: He was a beautiful writer. If this— (The folder) —is what I think it is.
HEATHER: This. HEATHER: I don’t share your appreciation for HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Am I wrong? the Marquis de Sade. CORRYN: I don’t care about Jake. You think
HEATHER: Yes. CORRYN: No…My son. that I think like you. That I have a cause. That
CORRYN: Oh, god. I put him here. Into a pit. HEATHER: .... this is an opportunity for me to demonstrate
Full of the unenlightened. Into the hands of CORRYN: Gidion was a beautiful writer. my essential human goodness. By putting
74 AMERICANTHEATRE December1 2
 CORRYN: ....
HEATHER: We kept it quiet.
CORRYN: But the kids found out. Gidion
found out.
HEATHER: The boy’s parents apologized when
he admitted to them that he was lying.
CORRYN: Was he lying?
HEATHER: Yes.
CORRYN: Gidion believed Jake did it.
HEATHER: No. He liked Jake.
CORRYN: They were friends?
HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Gidion was standing up for this kid.
This little kid.
HEATHER: I don’t think so.
CORRYN: He was. He believed that Jake did
it. This was an accusation!
HEATHER: Jake spent a lot of time with this
Seth Freeman

younger boy.
CORRYN: Right or wrong—he thought it was
the truth. That he had to tell the truth.
Parsons, left, and Walsh. HEATHER: No.
CORRYN: He wanted to tell the truth! Yes!
together a PR campaign at my kitchen table good mother. There are a million things he HEATHER: ....
to raise awareness about cyber-bullying. Going could have done and not wanted to tell me. A CORRYN: Yes.
on talk shows and bragging about how I’m million things I would have been unequipped This.
turning lemons to lemonade by lobbying for to hear. I lived in fear of those things. I’m not It’s based on a story I used to tell him when he
legislation to prevent 11-year-olds from typing a good mother. There are so many things that was little. About the great poets’ war.
the word “faggot” on Facebook. could go wrong—so many ways I could ruin Once upon a time in the green hills of ancient
You know all about PR campaigns, Heather, things—but this? This? Gaul, two warring clans met on the battlefield
being an advertiser—you could help me with This was my good mother moment. of Ballycrief. Each clan had a master poet and
my cause. Get someone to write a movie of What happened? a poet’s apprentice. And they sent their poets
the week about our selfless campaign. How we He could have told me this. I would have told to the top of the hill. So they could see.
quit our teaching jobs to devote ourselves full- him: “This is magnificent. You are a poet. Because men aren’t afraid of dying, but they
time to lobbying congress to pass “Gidion’s You’re perfect. They’re wrong.” are afraid of not being remembered.
Law,” which is the name we will give our new My good mother moment. The one time—the HEATHER: ....
legislation to make it sound touching and one time I would have been the mother he CORRYN: ....
socially necessary. Instead of fascist and inhu- needed and not just the one he got. HEATHER: No.
manly invasive. And they will create keyboards HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
intelligent enough to detect when a child is CORRYN: .... HEATHER: No. That’s not what I meant.
typing the word “faggot” on the Facebook HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
wall of another child, and then the keyboard CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
will deliver a paralyzing electric shock to the HEATHER: .... CORRYN: He liked Jake?
child’s fingers while simultaneously erasing CORRYN: I don’t know what I did to make him HEATHER: Yes.
every word the child has ever written. think he couldn’t tell me. And I’m honest with CORRYN: Jake beat him up. Called him a
God, we’ll be famous, Heather. Warmly myself. If I knew, I wouldn’t be afraid to tell faggot.
praised, too. you I’m a failure—I just don’t know at what. HEATHER: Before that.
If you want to violate human rights in this HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
country. All you really have to do is slap a dead CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
child on the issue. You want every person who HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
has ever looked cross-eyed at a child put on a CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
registry and denied basic civic rights? Point HEATHER: .... CORRYN: He liked him?
out a dead child. You want a camera on every CORRYN: .... HEATHER: Yes.
street corner? Find one corner where a child HEATHER: We had a boy at the school this CORRYN: ....
died. You want tougher seat belt laws, massive fall. A first grader. He was troubled. HEATHER: ....
product recalls—dead, dead, dead child. CORRYN: ....? CORRYN: ....
He didn’t die because of what Jake did. Or HEATHER: There were things going on at HEATHER: ....
what Jake wrote on his Facebook page. He home. Things with his older brother’s soccer CORRYN: Liked him?
didn’t die because of what he wrote, or because coach. Things happened to him. And Jake was HEATHER: ....
you suspended him. He died because he his math tutor. CORRYN: ....?
couldn’t face telling me about it—…god- CORRYN: .... HEATHER: Yes.
damn it… HEATHER: And he accused Jake of touching Corryn picks up the folder.
He could have told me this. God. I’m not a him. CORRYN: You think…

December12 AMERICANTHEATRE 75
 Playscript Johnna Adams Gidion’s Knot

HEATHER: .... She sobs. Painfully. HEATHER: ....

CORRYN: Angry? CORRYN: Oh, god!…Oh, god!…hey…hey—… CORRYN: And put your cat to sleep?
HEATHER: .... It’s all right. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Jealous? Of the first grader that he Corryn goes to Heather and holds her awkwardly. CORRYN: Well, this is bad timing. Huh?
thought Jake had raped? She finds tissues and puts them in Heather’s hands. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: It’s—…It’s all right…oh, god. Please CORRYN: You’ve been through this before?
CORRYN: Jealous. don’t. You’ll make me, and I can’t, I’ll—… With other pets?
HEATHER: .... It’ll be all right. It’s all right. Just don’t—… Heather shakes her head.
CORRYN: Oh. (Sighs) CORRYN: Well. It’s never easy. It won’t be.
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: ! ! ! ! HEATHER: I don’t think I—…
CORRYN: Oh…Ha! Poor Seneca. CORRYN: .... CORRYN: ....
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: ! ! ! … HEATHER: I don’t think I—it’s hard—
CORRYN: .... CORRYN: It’s okay. CORRYN: I’ve done it three times. Two dogs
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: ! !… and a cat. Now—no more pets.
CORRYN: Okay. CORRYN: It’s okay. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: Sometimes there are situations HEATHER: !… CORRYN: How long did you have him?
in life where you want to do something very Heather has most of her control back. HEATHER: Fifteen years.
much, but you just can’t. CORRYN: There. Okay. There. CORRYN: He had a long life for a cat.
CORRYN: No. There are situations where you HEATHER: .... HEATHER: ....
don’t do what you want. That’s all. CORRYN: .... CORRYN: What happened?
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: .... HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: .... CORRYN: Okay. CORRYN: Was he just prone to diabetes?
HEATHER: .... HEATHER: I’m all right. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Fifteen minutes. Corryn moves away. CORRYN: Or did you overfeed him?
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: Okay. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: She said she was coming. She’s a liar. HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
HEATHER: Yes. CORRYN: Okay. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: Why isn’t she coming? HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....? Corryn takes a paper out of her bag and puts it
CORRYN: ....? HEATHER: .... on Heather’s desk.
HEATHER: She talked to the school superin- CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....?
tendent. He told her not to talk to you. Heather touches her cell phone. CORRYN: Sign this.
CORRYN: ....? HEATHER: The vet. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: Without the school board’s attor- CORRYN: ....? CORRYN: You’re supposed to sign it when
neys present. Heather holds up the cell phone. we’ve had our parent-teacher conference.
CORRYN: .... HEATHER: The vet. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: They’re worried about you suing CORRYN: Oh, god. Your cat’s sick? You’re CORRYN: Part of the bureaucratic machinery
the school district. waiting for a call from the vet? of school suspension.
CORRYN: Do I have a case? Heather nods. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: Is she going to be okay? CORRYN: A form you need for his file, I
CORRYN: Are you supposed to be talking Heather shakes her head. guess.
to me? CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... Corryn laughs. CORRYN: The principal needs to sign it, too.
CORRYN: ....? CORRYN: I’m sorry! Oh, god. I’m sorry… To confirm that we chatted.
HEATHER: .... Corryn laughs again. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: I see. She’s a coward. CORRYN: But, Jesus, really? How much more CORRYN: I don’t know what we’ll do about
HEATHER: Yes. depressing is this conversation going to get? her signature. Write the word “coward” in
CORRYN: You’re not. Whatever else you are, Oh, god. the blank?
you’re not a coward. Or a liar, which is surpris- HEATHER: .... HEATHER: ....
ing given your background in advertising. CORRYN: …Sorry. Your cat is dying? CORRYN: You sent this home with him.
HEATHER: .... Heather nods. I’m supposed to meet with you and get it
CORRYN: Are you married? CORRYN: I’m sorry. What’s wrong with her? signed.
HEATHER: No. HEATHER: Diabetes. HEATHER: ....
CORRYN: No kids. You live alone? CORRYN: Oh. She won’t get better? CORRYN: Unless it is no longer important.
HEATHER: Yes. HEATHER: .... Heather takes the form and finds a pen.
CORRYN: You have a cat. There’s a photo on CORRYN: Well… CORRYN: I was grading papers when he gave
your desk. HEATHER: They’re going to call me. it to me. I knew it was something big. He
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: But she isn’t going to get better. couldn’t look at me.
CORRYN: .... HEATHER: He. He was shaking.
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: He. He gave it to me. I looked at it. I saw what it
CORRYN: .... HEATHER: They’re going to call. was and told him everything would be all right.
Heather’s control slips, like at the start of the play. CORRYN: So, the vet’s going to call you and— Asked him if he wanted to talk about it.
Her control dissolves. what? You’re going to go down there? He had blood on his nose. Someone had hit
76 AMERICANTHEATRE December1 2
him in the nose. Jake, probably. Jake, who he I can just give them permission to do it. CORRYN: ....
liked at one time. I guess. CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
He shook his head no. He pulled away when HEATHER: And they’ll just— CORRYN: I’m sorry.
I tried to wipe the blood away. He went up CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
to his room. HEATHER: And I don’t have to— Corryn leaves.
I called after him telling him everything was all CORRYN: Yes you do. Heather gets up and straightens the desks and
right and I would take care of this. I called the HEATHER: .... chairs that were moved around during her
office. Carole. I made this appointment. CORRYN: You have to. He was your cat. struggle with Corryn.
I didn’t hear him go into the garage. HEATHER: .... She goes to the door, which Corryn has left partly
I called him to come down for dinner. He CORRYN: Come on. You’re tough. Right? open, and pulls it shut.
didn’t answer so I started up the stairs to go HEATHER: .... She sits at her desk and picks up her mug. She
get him and I heard the gun shot. I thought he CORRYN: .... stares at it as if it were unfamiliar.
was upstairs still and I couldn’t imagine— Heather shakes her head no. Her cell phone rings.
I called out again and told him to stay in his CORRYN: You have to! He’s your cat! You It rings again.
room and then I went into the garage. do it!!! It rings.
He had taken garbage bags—the ones for Corryn grabs her and shakes her. Heather cries It rings.
gathering dead leaves, and taped them in a out, surprised, and tries to push her off.
large rectangle on the floor. Like a tarp. But, While Corryn is talking, they end up on the floor. End of play
he didn’t understand. Because he put the gun CORRYN: Do it! DO IT! He’s your cat! You
under his chin. So, nothing…nothing landed talk to him while they kill him. Talk to him
on the tarp. So. and tell him you love him. Sing him his
He didn’t leave behind the tidy mess he favorite songs. Put his favorite stuffed toy in
thought he would. his paws and then watch them do it to him!
HEATHER: .... It’s your job, damnit! Watch! You watch his
CORRYN: He left a note. eyes—that’s how you’ll know it’s time—you
HEATHER: .... won’t be able to breathe for watching his eyes
CORRYN: “I’ve gone to stand with the poets.” and waiting for them to turn glassy—and
HEATHER: .... even if he doesn’t know you’re there with
CORRYN: .... him—you’ll know—you overfed him, damnit!
HEATHER: .... It’s your fault. Your fault! You be there! You
CORRYN: .... put out the damned cat food. And now your
HEATHER: That’s beautiful. cat’s become an ocean and the vet can’t catch
CORRYN: .... it in the cup he’s holding out. You have to be
HEATHER: .... there to catch the rest of it. The whole ocean
CORRYN: Thank you. and the fish and cold and black and the way
HEATHER: .... he’s going to die and wave after wave of that
CORRYN: .... ocean until he’s gone! It all matters until he’s
HEATHER: .... gone—every second of it!
CORRYN: That was honest. Corryn lets her go. They are on the floor, staring
HEATHER: .... at one another.
CORRYN: You don’t say that to someone. HEATHER: ....
When someone tells you what her child’s CORRYN: ....
suicide note says, you aren’t supposed to say, HEATHER: ....
“That’s beautiful.” It really isn’t appropriate. CORRYN: Or you’ll always regret it.
But you said it. Because you felt it. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: Thank you. HEATHER: Okay.
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: Okay. Good.
Heather signs the paper. Corryn gets up and goes to Gidion’s desk. She
CORRYN: Do you have someone to go with gathers everything that was his together, putting
you? some things in her purse and carrying others.
HEATHER: ....? CORRYN: ....
CORRYN: The cat. HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: .... CORRYN: Tell the principal I was sorry I missed
CORRYN: I’m not offering. Just asking. her. Give her that form. If you have someone
HEATHER: No. to cut the lock off of Gidion’s locker, have
CORRYN: Oh. someone bring his things to my house and
HEATHER: .... leave them on the porch.
CORRYN: .... HEATHER: ....
HEATHER: They said that I don’t have to be CORRYN: I blame you for this.
there. If it turns out that nothing can be done, HEATHER: ....

December12 AMERICANTHEATRE 77
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