writer/comedian
Feather and Organza
concept by Rebekah Rickards
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FEATHER and ORGANZA sit on stools with guitars and percussion
instruments at hand. As they talk they continually strum on guitar, tune
instruments or grab a different percussion instrument to punctuate the
conversation.
FEATHER (to audience, into mike)
Hi.
ORGANZA (leaning into mike)
We’re really honored to be here tonight and share our very first
catalog of songs with you.
FEATHER
I’m Feather.
ORGANZA
I’m Organza.
FEATHER and ORGANZA
And together we are ...
They make sound effect and motion: Pip Pip - Wssssshhh.
FEATHER
It’s taken many years to get to this point and we would be nothing
without you guys.
ORGANZA
When you skip a stone in a cold creek, it’s the water that makes a
splashing sound.
FEATHER
Because of the fourteen dollar donation from the Words and Wine
Book Club of [Santa Fe], we were able to make a stop here on our
tour.
ORGANZA
Thank you.
[beat]
FEATHER
It was really hard to decide which song to start with for this
momentous occasion but I think we decided on Flight of the
Melancholy, right?
ORGANZA
Yes. [beat] We wrote this song when we were living in Tijuana selling
clams out of a pedicab.
FEATHER
A woman came by -
ORGANZA
She had a cockatoo on a leash.
FEATHER
We have a real connection to birds. My spirit animal is a nightingale.
ORGANZA
I always thought you were a macaw.
FEATHER
The woman was wearing a yellow muumuu that billowed behind her. It
looked like she was flying.
ORGANZA
The woman was flying, and the cockatoo was stationary, and behind
her the sky was that color it has before it rains.
FEATHER (correcting)
After it rains. I remember I was wearing my Niagara Falls poncho.
ORGANZA
I think it was sunny that morning, I remember we rode our tandem
bike to the clammery.
[beat while they silently, passively disagree]
FEATHER
The woman’s name was Juniper, and she owned a small record label,
and when she heard us she said Stalingrad likes your singing.
ORGANZA
That was the cockatoo, Stalingrad -
FEATHER
It was Juniper and Stalingrad that really got us started on this road
and we want to dedicate this song to them.
ORGANZA
We hope you like it.
They strum and tune.
FEATHER
You know I’m thinking now that it might be more appropriate to start
with The Cicada’s Midwife.
ORGANZA
Oh, The Cicada’s Midwife. Yes.
FEATHER
This song came about completely by accident really.
ORGANZA
We were fracking in Pennsylvania.
FEATHER
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about fracking, so I’ll tell you
what fracking is, it’s hugging rocks until their negative feelings come
out in the form of oil.
ORGANZA
A lot of people are very opposed to fracking, they don’t think rocks
deserve the same love as our other pets.
FEATHER
We would frack all day and play our music at night and the cicadas
would just swarm around us and so we wrote this song.
ORGANZA
We hope you like it.
[strum and tune]
FEATHER
Actually, Organza, do you know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking now
maybe we should actually start with The Crest of Pippa.
ORGANZA
Oh yes, the Crest of Pippa. Will I tell it?
FEATHER
You tell it.
ORGANZA
I’ll tell it. [beat] We were slaughtering cattle outside of El Paso and the
blood really gets all over you -
FEATHER
It really gets everywhere, in your hair, between your teeth-
ORGANZA
After a couple days of the outdoor showers we thought why are we
washing this off?
FEATHER
The outdoor showers were very cold.
ORGANZA
I’m not going to lie about killing animals. I’m going to show it. I’m going
to leave it on as a statement.
FEATHER
When one isn’t honest, one’s pH levels become unbalanced and one
can become very dizzy.
(tuning)
FEATHER
So we were out at the taqueria covered in blood -
ORGANZA
And a pack of wild dogs suddenly descended upon us. They roared
around the corner literally out of nowhere.
FEATHER
And we were surrounded by dogs licking the blood from our skin.
ORGANZA
And then the little gray one -
FEATHER
I called her Pippa.
ORGANZA
She had really honest eyes, you know? And it was as if she were
delivering the song to us right then and there -
FEATHER
I grabbed a hot piece of coal from the fire pit and started writing lyrics
on my arm with the ash. It was beautiful.
ORGANZA
We hope you like it. Ready?
[Beat]
ORGANZA [to invisible house manager in audience]
What’s that?
FEATHER [to invisible house manager]
What?
FEATHER
We’re out of time.
FEATHER
Good night.
ORGANZA
Good night.
BLACKOUT
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