District Merchant Draft - Posner

DISTRICT MERCHANTS
An Uneasy Comedy
By Aaron Posner
Inspired by The Merchant of Venice
A Commission of Folger Theatre @ Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Performance Draft • June '16
Contact:
Beth Blickers
bblickers@apa-agency.com
Agency for the Performing Arts
135 West 50th St., 17th Floor
New York, NY 10020
212-621-3098
• DM Folger Performance Draft •

1
CAST
ANTOINE A prosperous, powerful, maybe melancholy African American

merchant. A shrewd business man. A leader in his community.
Single. A man of intelligence and conviction… 50's or 60's.
SHYLOCK A prosperous Jewish merchant and moneylender. A widower. An

observant Jew. A pillar of his community. A man of intelligence
and conviction. Also angry, wounded and difficult. 50's or 60's.
JESSICA Shylock's daughter. Whip-smart, sheltered, bold, big-hearted,

lovely. Fueled by a burning need and hope. 20's.
BENJAMIN BASSANIO An ambitious, charming, practical, ruthless, insightful, very light

skinned African American man. Very determined. 20's or 30's
LORENZO (REN) A bold, charming, unscrupulous, enthusiastic, curious and highly

susceptible rascal. From The Carolinas, perhaps. 20's or 30's.
PORTIA A wickedly smart, witty, shrewd, passionate, jaded, law-obsessed

very, very wealthy and privileged white woman. 20's or 30's.
NESSA Portia's servant and… friend. Quick-witted, sharp-tongued,

insightful and radically honest. African American. 20's or 30's.
LANCELOT Shylock's servant. Confused, erudite, conflicted, funny, hopeful

and heartfelt in word and deed. African American. 20's or 30's.
SET
Perhaps a re-construction site. Or a vaguely Shakespearean stage with (somehow) a distinctly

American flavor. There are probably tables and chairs, places to sit, and various levels, perhaps,
on which you can watch and speak to those assembled. It is a highly fictionalized, non-realistic
version of the 1870's in Washington DC, and Belmont, Massachusetts.

2
SCENES
Prologue Shylock & Antoine The Gentlemen
1.0 The Meeting Shy, Jess, Ant, Ben, Ren An uncomfortable encounter…
1.1 Mr. Sad & Mr. Love Ant & Ben "I need your help…"
1.2 Passing Strange Ben & Ren Unholy thieves confer
1.3 Why Mistrust? Shy, Jess, Lance Father and daughter…
1.4 Attorney-At-Heart Portia, Nessa Law and love…
1.5 To Run or Not to Run… Lance Lancelot's dilemma
1.6 I'm Not Like You Shy, Ant, Ben Borrowing money
1.7 Spark of Goodness Jess, Ren Getting the girl
1.8 The Weight Ant Explaining gaining
1.9 I Need You Jess, Lance, Shy Jessica want help, Shylock leaves
1.10 Holy Crap Ben & Ren Old friends and the plans ahead…
1.11 Future Gone Shy He speaks to God & Leah of his loss
intermission
Second Prologue Antoine & Shylock More to come…
2.0 Ruinous Shylock & Antoine An appeal…

2.1 Room Inside Ben, Portia, Nessa Love… is complicated
2.2 Three Stars Jessica & Ren A late night chat…
2.3 Not Good Sense Ben, Portia, Nessa What to do???
2.4 Well… Portia & Nessa A plan…!
2.5 Right & Wrong Lance & Nessa Nessa delivers a letter…
2.6 On Trial All but Ren & Jessica The Trial
2.7 On Such A Night As This All but Shylock & Antoine On such a night as this…
2.8 Ummm… Jessica & Ren Together, finally…
2.9 Yes? Lance & Nessa Together…!
2.10 The Conversation Benjamin & Portia Ambiguity…
2.11 Still Intact Antoine Near the end
2.12 You Owe Us That Shylock His good-bye…

3
ACT 1
PROLOGUE THE GENTLEMEN
[ANTOINE and SHYLOCK enter. There is both a familiarity and uneasiness

between them. They look out at us, the audience. They speak directly to us,
actually engaging with us as much as is possible…]
SHY Good evening.
ANT Good evening.
SHY We hope you are all very well this evening. Or as well as you can be, given
your particular circumstances… whatever they may be…
ANT This is a play. Of sorts…
SHY Though I suspect you already know that.
ANT A fiction, a re-construction, a fable almost...
SHY Der ams in a lign. The truth in a lie.
ANT [Hearing this wisdom…] Yes. That's very good.
SHY [To him] Thank you. [To us] To begin:
ANT The time is
SHY (more or less…)
ANT The 1870's.
SHY The place,
ANT (more or less…)
SHY Washington, in the District of Columbia.
ANT Formerly, a swamp. Now the Capitol City.
SHY A burgeoning metropolis in this puerile, barely post-adolescent country.

4
ANT [Regarding this last comment] Really?
SHY Too soon? Too harsh? Too… accurate?
[Beat…]
ANT [He takes that description in. Then:] The population: About 130,000.
SHY Two-thirds white, one third recently freed slaves and other… Negro peoples.
ANT Mostly free blacks, even before the war.
SHY Mostly…? Yes, well…
ANT About 1500 Jews.
SHY If you count the reform…
ANT I count a Yid as a Yid.
SHY And I count a shvartze as a shvartze.
[They look at each other… Tense. Tight. Cordial... Beat. And going on…]
ANT We won the war.
SHY Which also means we lost the war.
ANT [Firm. Absolute.] No, we won.
SHY And lost. That's the horror of Civil Wars. If you win, you lose. And it never
ends. Read history. Read Herodotus. Read the Bible… [Beat. Going on…]
ANT The war is over.
SHY The enigmatic, alcoholic war hero, General Ulysses S. Grant, is now the
President of these newly Re-United States...
ANT Not a friend of the General?
SHY He is not a "friend" of the Jews…

5
ANT The 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution have been passed in
the last five years. The slaves are free. Black men can vote. After the
destruction of the Civil War, reconstruction has begun.
SHY Yes… very nice… now it's all latkes and kugel mit raisins from here forward...
[Beat]
SHY To sum up: It's The 1870's.
ANT (Fictional 1870's. Theatrical 1870's…)
SHY It's Washington DC.
ANT Power and politics. Credit and coercion.
SHY Money and mishigas.
ANT [ANTOINE looks at him. He doesn't know the word…] Mishisgas?
SHY Emm... It's Yiddish for… craziness. Insane nonsense. The word is a… a long-
suffering shrug of a word. A Jew might just say "euchh, such mishigas"
instead of…oh, "euchh, such rampant cruelty by destructive, small-minded
imbeciles who fear what they do not understand and for whom we are an
easy target for hatred and ridicule."
[Beat]
ANT Yeah, we got a word for that, too.
SHY I shouldn't wonder.
[Quick beat…]
ANT Enough.
SHY Time to begin...
ANT Ah, yes, beginnings....
In the beginning… God created the heavens and the hearth.
SHY Bereshith bara Elohim eth hashshamayim veeth haarets.

6
ANT [To SHYLOCK] Yes. Precisely. [To us] And then, my friends and neighbors…
and then everything got a lot more complicated.
SHY Amen.
[Shift. SHYLOCK, ANTOINE, JESSICA, BENJAMIN BASSANIO and

LORENZO LaRUE are all present and meet somehow on the street…]
1.0 THE MEETING
SHY Antoine.
ANT Shylock. Miss Jessica.
JESS Good day.
ANT And this is Benjamin Bassanio.

A young man of great promise. His mother
Was… was in my charge.
SHY Ah yes. I recall…
BEN And this is my friend, Lorenzo LaRue.

He sells vegetables at Eastern Market.
REN Sir. Miss.
SHY [To BEN] You keep distinguished company,

Young man. A shrewd and merciless merchant.
ANT Is that a compliment? Or an insult?
SHY You may take it exactly as you please.
BEN And how, may I ask, are you acquainted?
SHY You may. May he not?
ANT We worked together.

During the war. Business.
BEN I see.

7
SHY Do you?
[To ANT] Your health is good?
ANT I can't complain.
SHY Nor I.
Although I see that you have gained some girth
Since last we spoke.
ANT Perhaps I have. Why not?

The food is somewhat better, since the war.
SHY For those that can afford it.
ANT I suppose.
REN I find it very much improved. And you,

Miss Jessica? [She is taken a back. She is unused
To public attention. Of any kind…]
JESS Yes, sir?
REN How about you?

Have you marked a difference at the market?
JESS Emm…I have.
REN In what particulars?
JESS Why I—
The fruits and vegetables are much improved.
REN Why I remarked the same thing just last night.

The same durn thing! Which, may I ask, do you
Find most improved?
JESS Cucumbers. Broccoli. Beans.

.
SHY Very good... While I should like nothing more
Then to engage more deeply in this… this
Horticultural evaluation,
I have an appointment. A young Negro
Locksmith whom, I believe, you have referred.

8
ANT You've been— or so I hear—less than helpful
To those whom I have sent your way of late.
SHY I do not understand you. I offer

Fair terms. They find them unacceptable.
ANT The terms are fair?
SHY Of course the terms are fair.

You want I should charge less…? Well then, my friend,
Lower your commission rate and I will.
BEN A commission?
ANT [To BENJAMIN, sharply] That I then reinvest.

[To SHYLOCK] You do not know what these men have suffered.
SHY Their suffering is not collateral.

I am not their bubbe. I lend money.
Do you know what percentage will default?
I should assume all the risk for no gain?
I would be out of business in a year!
ANT Reconstruction is a new beginning.

It is the brand new start this country has
So badly needed for a hundred years.
A chance for all of us to start again.
SHY A shame, then, isn't it, that it will fail.
ANT It will if such as we will let it fail.
SHY Your people are not ready. Ir kenen

Nisht brengen a khir tsu a tey partey.
ANT What does that mean?
SHY You cannot bring a pig

To a tea party.
BEN [To SHYLOCK] Why—How dare you, sir?!

9
ANT Then help them to begin! "You shall open
Your hand to them and lend them sufficient
To their need." Deuteronomy. Lend where
It is needed most. And charge fair interest!
SHY I will not throw away what I have earned!
ANT Because you think my people unworthy!
SHY Because I have eyes and ears and judgment!
ANT If reconstruction fails, the country fails.

We have this one moment to get this right!
SHY Then get it right! If you are the shepherd,

Look to your sheep. Do not just blame The Jew!
Remember-- I know you of old, my friend.
And we both know wolves come in all sizes,
Shapes, and colors. I am not the only
Wealthy man standing on this street corner.
[ANTOINE spits at SHYLOCK. They stand a moment, looking at each other…

Music. The scene shifts. ANTOINE and BEN are alone, perhaps drinking...]
1.1 MR. SAD & MR. LOVE
BEN You sure you're fine?
ANT Of course.
BEN You know him how?
ANT We had some… dealings, before the war.

And during, too.
BEN How could you deal with him?
ANT He has money. More to the point, he knows

How money works. And business is business.
BEN But there must have been others who could help.

10
ANT This is Washington, son. Money matters.
If what you need is non-negotiable
Then you do whatever you need to do.
But enough of him. Tell me about you.

Your note was vague but urgent. And full of
Flowery metaphors. Are you in love?
BEN Why that's—that's—
ANT You burn, you pine, you perish…!?
BEN Exactly so! That's very good. Is that--?
ANT Not me. Shakespeare.
BEN I see. That's very good…
ANT And what is it that you require of me?
BEN Your advice. Your perspective. Your wisdom.
ANT Ah...... Talk to her. Reveal yourself. Be kind.
BEN Ah ha, that's very good. [Making notes…] Talk. Reveal. Kind…
ANT My dear boy, I loved your mother well, and

Love you like a son. Or nephew, at least...
But I'm a busy man— never moreso.
Can we just skip this part? My weak advice,
Your feigning gratitude, my insistence…
Talk. How can I help you? What do you need?
BEN Money. Clothes. A diamond fit for a queen.
ANT I see... So, you've discovered… royalty?
BEN That's right. Exactly so!
ANT Her name?
BEN Portia.

11
ANT A unique and most noble name. So, what's
She like, this shiny new Portia of yours?
BEN Wonderful. Witty. Winsome. A bit wild...
ANT Also amply able to inspire

Endless ardor and alliteration?
BEN Wonderfully wise and wealthy as well.
ANT She sounds too good to be true.

Do I know the Lady or her family?
BEN No.
ANT No?
BEN She's an orphan and only heir.

They are a very… private family.
ANT I see. And where is this… madam recluse?
BEN Not here.
ANT Oh, no? Then where?
BEN Outside Boston.

Oh, Antoine, this is real! I know you've heard
Me play this tune before. I've tried and failed,
And failed and failed and failed—
ANT That's rather strong.
BEN And sadly rather true. You know it is.
ANT You want more than you have. That's a good thing.
She is… a worthy match?
BEN Oh, yes indeed.
ANT And you must have her, then?
BEN She's what I need.

12
ANT Dear boy, you shall then have her hand and cheek
And… whatever other regions that you seek.
Your will is mine. I'll need a day or two
To raise the necessary goods for you.
BEN You are the best of friends. The best. The best!
ANT Ah, yes, well…
BEN You won't regret this kindness.
ANT Well, time will tell.
[He heads out…]
BEN Oh, thank you, thank you so!
ANT Yeah, yeah, all good, it's fine, now off you go.
[BENJAMIN turns instantly, almost violently, to us. With energy, frustration

and torn complexity… As he speaks, ANTOINE leaves and the scene shifts]
1.2 PASSING STRANGE
BEN [Right to us…] I just lied and lied and lied and lied… but I never told a single
lie. Every word was true. Except there were also the words I didn't say, words
like… "She's white." And “As far as she knows, so am I... “
I feel bad lying to him, but he'd never understand. He'd see her color, and
my… betrayal, and that's it. But I… I won't just stay where I am, just a part of
the damn problem: Another uppity Negro with nowhere to climb up to.
This country.
This country is built to drive us all insane. Or people like me, anyway...
But, no, seriously, here's how it goes: America says, Hey you, here is
everything you could ever want, right here for the taking... So you say, Well,
great, can I have some of it? And she says, Absolutely, come and get it. So
you say, Ummm, just how do I do that? And she says… “YOU CAN'T!”

13
So you say… But you just said I could. And she says, And you can…! And so
you say, But how? And she says, Just Come and Get It! So you say, Really???
And she says, “NO, NOT REALLY!!!”
So, after a while you try something. And America knocks you on your trusting
black ass and says, Nope, not that way. So you try something else. Same
thing happens. And again. And again. And again and again and again…
And you know why?
Wait, hold up, you do know why, don't you…?
Because people like me—we don't know the code. Any of the codes… And
we don't have the key. Any of the keys… We don't know the secret
handshake, we don't have the special decoder ring, we don't have a hall
pass to the hallways of power and privilege. We don't even know the rules,
and we don't even know which rules we don't even know! We're not in on
the game, so we lose it. Every time. If you are playing Hearts but you only
know how to play Spades—no pun intended—you will lose. Every time…
But here's the thing. My father knew the codes. He knew the rules and he
had the keys. He also owned my mother and me. Which is just……….
I defy you to finish that sentence.
Just think about it. My father literally owned my mother and me. Can you
imagine? And now suppose that this raping, swaggering, devoutly Christian
father is actually often kind. Helpful. Nurturing, even. He taught me to read.
And some of the codes… and some of the rules… and then he died.
And at thirteen I was suddenly "free". In America. The land of possibility.
[As this ends, REN walks on and they move seamlessly into scene… almost
as though he has been talking to him the whole time..]
And I know some things. And I want some things. And I've been knocked on
my ass time after time by… excuse my language… ignorant shit-heads…
and to be honest, I'm tired of it. So, yeah, I lied to him. And worse—
REN Wait, worse?
BEN If it all goes down the way I hope I'll probably never see him again.

14
REN Shut the front door! You didn't tell him your were passin' up there?
BEN Hell no!
REN And she doesn't know?
BEN Are you kidding me?
REN Doesn't even suspect?
BEN She just thinks… you know… rugged… swarthy…
REN And if you marry her you'll totally cut off all your old ties? Never / see him…?
BEN It's one or the other. I can't have it both ways.
REN Why not? What about Jasper? He lived in both worlds.
BEN Lorenzo… what happened to Jasper?
REN Oh yeah. They tarred and feathered him.
BEN And then?
REN Shot him.
BEN Exactly.
REN Good point.
BEN No, it's one life or the other.
REN Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?
BEN Absolutely. She's worth it.
REN But are you doing this 'cuz she's worth it? Or 'cuz of what she's worth?
BEN I… it's… Look—
REN Ah, damn...
BEN It's not that simple!

15
REN It's not?
BEN It's inseparable. The girl, the money, the life, the chance / to live
REN Yeah, but—
BEN You don't understand. You'll never understand.
REN Hey, screw you, pal! I know what it is to want more! I know what it is to be
poor, hated and looked down on just 'cause you're—you know— you. When
we were hid out in that cave those two days I told you all about my
grandfather and my family and how we were thought of / in Beaufort—
BEN But imagine it's like that everywhere! Always.
REN But—
BEN Always! And everywhere. Look, imagine I took this poker and branded LIAR
and THIEF and SCOUNDREL on your face. Branded it there forever.
REN Well, I don’t think all those would fit on my face…
BEN Oh, I'd make 'em fit. Because trust me, those are what white folks see when
they see a black man. All those and more…
REN Not everyone / sees that.
BEN No, I know, not every one, right, but, no, yeah, pretty much everyone. I
mean, sure, they might think, well, he's not being a scoundrel right now... Or
he's not lying right now... Or maybe even "wow, this one seems better than
most, he's not stealing from me right now…" But when something goes
missing guess who they are gonna come looking for? When something goes
wrong, guess who's gonna get shot? Look. You choose. Do I brand your face
with LIAR and THIEF and SCUMBAG—
REN You said scoundrel.
BEN Yeah, no, I'm gonna go with scumbag
REN Okay.
BEN — or not. Which do you choose?

16
REN Yeah, okay, I get it…
[Beat…]
BEN Look… How are thing going with your… cagey little Jewess?
REN Good, I think. Slow. But good…
BEN Excellent.
REN She's… well, I've never met anyone like her before.
BEN No, I guess not.
REN She's slow to trust...
BEN Sure...
REN But I think she's intrigued.
BEN What makes you think so?
REN Well… she keeps coming to my stall.
BEN That's a good sign...
REN No one could need that many cucumbers.
BEN Right.
REN And… when I smile at her, her blushes are getting… I don't know… redder,
or deeper, or… hotter… or something.
BEN Sounds promising...
REN And she told me a story last time I saw her.
BEN A story?
REN Yeah. Or a kind of… fantasy, I guess.
BEN A fantasy?

17
REN About buying a monkey.
BEN A monkey?
REN Yes. A little one. She wants a monkey. She wants to call him Mannasses.
BEN After the battlefield?!
REN No, it's Jewish. She says it means "To Forget".
BEN Good! Forget the past, look to the future, that's a good sign...
REN I didn't think of that…
BEN An actual monkey?
REN Yeah. Named Manasses.
BEN A Jewish monkey?
REN I couldn't say.
BEN Right... Well good luck with that, then.
[Music. Scene shifts to SHYLOCK's house…]
1.3 WHY MISTRUST
[SHYLOCK enters…looks at us hard… he is suspicious of us… When he

speaks, it is from a deep well of sadness, loss, determination, and anger…
also of irony and a kind of acceptance of The World. He speaks with some
trace of an accent from the Eastern Europe of his youth…]
SHY My name is called Shylock. I am a Jew.

We came to this country when I was twelve.
Not yet a man. But no longer a boy...
"A better life". For this my father brought us…
(And to escape the pogroms in Poland...)
Huh... How strange. "Pogroms". You say it here and

It's just a word. An awkward, foreign word.
There…? Destruction. Chaos. Devastation.

18
The violent obliteration of a world—
Of a whole Jewish world—forever.
The United States of America.

Even the named seemed… Distinctive. Hopeful.
And so we came. Like so many others.
My father, Yakov. My mother, Rivkah.
Me, my brothers… My sister, Rachela...
My brothers died on the way. Cholera.
My sister at sixteen. Influenza.
You've heard this joke…? About America?

"America" it says, "is the worst place
In all the world for the Jews… Except
For all the other places." Funny, no?
An odd thing. A small, unexpected thing…

I like the air here. In America.
I like the way it smells, even in town.
The air is… soft. Warm. Fragrant. The people?
Well, I never expected to be happy…
And, nu, I have not been disappointed.
[JESSICA enters in a hurry with LANCELOT, with baskets from market…]
SHY Where have you been?
JESS At market.
SHY You're late.
LANCE The lines were crazy long, Mr. Shylock. And there was a run on cabbages—
SHY [To LANCE] Quiet, you. [To JESS] You talked to no one there?
JESS To whom? Who do I know to talk to there?
SHY I heard that you were talking to some one.
JESS Shopkeepers only! I go to the market and I shop. I look for the best prices—
as you have taught me—and then I come straight home.
LANCE That's just exactly right, sir, that's just exactly what we did.

19
SHY [To LANCE] Enough! Go do something useful.
LANCE Yes, sir. Right away, sir. Do you want I should—
SHY Go! [LANCE starts out. Then…]
LANCE But the cabbages—
SHY Now!
[LANCE goes. SHYLOCK turns sharply to JESSICA]
Listen to me: You do not know the world.
JESS You're right, I don't. How could I, locked inside?
SHY What’s this?
JESS I’m not a child any more.

What have I done that you mistrust me so?
SHY That's enough.
JESS Am I your prisoner? Or

Your daughter?
SHY Where is all this coming from?
JESS Do I disobey you? Do I deceive?

Or am I a good, obedient girl?
SHY You are. I can't deny it.
JESS But then why

Do you distrust me so? Please tell me. Please.
SHY I--
JESS I'm not a little girl any more. Please…
[Beat…]

20
SHY You never knew your mother… my Leah,
(May her good name and memory be blessed)
And that great loss… was God's will. But she was—
Spirit, she had. A beautiful spirit,
A beautiful neshomah… but also,
A shayna punim. Such a face, she had,
To make men dream. And such an appearance
You also have. And so… so I worry.
This vile town is full of fearful men.
And so I trust to none.
JESS But, Papa, how—
SHY The time will come. You will grow and you will,
The Good Lord willing, someday marry.
Then you will be someone else's problem.
'Til then—you're my responsibility,
And you will be safe… and obedient.
JESS But, Papa—
SHY Enough. I have work to do

It will be Shabbos soon. You should prepare.
Now go! Enough talk. I know what is best!
[He goes… she stands there… quietly fuming… And then goes… NESSA
enters and immediately comes down and speaks right to us…]
NESSA So, we’re not in Washington anymore. This is now Belmont, Massachusetts,
near Boston, on an estate named Applegarth. Portia's great-grandfather
built it. Her grandfather planted the orchards. Her father ad2ded the West
and East Wings… and the sculpture garden… and both gazebos…
1.4 ATTORNEY-AT-HEART
[NESSA is a young African-American servant and former slave. PORTIA, her

mistress, comes in through a door or maybe window, dressed as a young
man. During the following she changes from men's to women's clothes,
passing through relative undress… Somewhere on stage is some kind of odd
and probably tasteless tree-like gift from MR. TREE… ]
NESSA You're late.

21
PORTIA I had questions after class!
NESSA You missed your "caller".
PORTIA Oh, crap. Who was this one?
NESSA A Mr. Tree.
PORTIA Seriously?
NESSA I couldn't make that up.
PORTIA Was he… arboreal?
NESSA Excuse me?
PORTIA What was he like?
NESSA Umm… tall?
PORTIA [With entendre…] Erect?
NESSA I couldn't say, I'm sure… You were supposed to be back two hours ago.
PORTIA I know, I know, I just couldn't leave, tort law is so fascinating.
NESSA What's a tort?
PORTIA Oh… a harmful, wrongful act, usually civil, not criminal. But still punishable
by law… Most often when someone sues for damages.
NESSA Oh. Like slavery?
PORTIA Excuse me?
NESSA Is slavery a Tort? Lots a' folks were hurt. It was certainly a wrongful act.
PORTIA Well…
NESSA Who can we sue?
PORTIA Whom.

22
NESSA [About the grammar] Seriously? Okay, whom then. Whom then can we sue?
PORTIA That, I have to say, is a very good question…
NESSA Have you got a very good answer?
PORTIA No, I don't think I do… [Seeing a weird tree/gift…] What is that?
NESSA A tiny token of Mr. Tree's esteem.
PORTIA Did he say that?
NESSA I couldn't make that up.
PORTIA Oh, Nessa, this insipid array of

Would-be grooms leaves me far from satisfied!
NESSA Oh, yes, I guess it must be hard for you…
PORTIA [Playfully admonishing…] Nessa…
NESSA I certainly don't know how I would deal

With heaps of handsome suitors at my door.
PORTIA Now hold on there a second, sassy-pants…
NESSA No, quite the soul-wearying ordeal,

I'm sure, to be beautiful and single,
Rich and white and sought after by every
Eligible young lad in all the land.
[Tense beat. Has she overstepped…?]
PORTIA It is, if truth be told. Quite exhausting.
NESSA Why not pick one 'a these fools and be done?
PORTIA But how? They all run together into

A tepid soup of suppliant wooing.
NESSA There must be one among the endless throng

Who left you with some…. titillating tang?

23
PORTIA Well there was this one…
NESSA Oh yes?
PORTIA Can you guess?
NESSA Well… was it The Business Man?
PORTIA The Suit, Mr. Walker, is't he you mean?
NESSA Is't.
PORTIA As… fair a man as e're I've seen.
NESSA Fair?
PORTIA Indeed. As in… in Fair Condition.

Not poor, nor good, nor surely not pristine.
He's fair. And fine. And not the man for me.
NESSA So how about the lanky school boy?
PORTIA Young Rittenhouse? Oh, he's a proper lad.
NESSA Oh? You like him then?
PORTIA You misapprehend.

He is proper. Stuffy. Stuffed with virtues,
Perhaps, but who can tell. If a man has
A fine rod… I don't want it up his ass!
NESSA [Taken aback…] Well okay then! Then how about the Moor?
Like Othello himself, here in the flesh.
And actual African royalty,
Or so they say. He cuts quite a figure.
PORTIA And he thinks so too. What he may think of

Me I have no idea. I don't think he
Sees me, so enamored is he of himself.
Plus… I don't know, Nessa. He's just so… black.
NESSA Ouch.

24
PORTIA Oh, c’mon, it's nothing personal.
You know how I feel about your people.
NESSA Do I?
PORTIA Of course. I'm on your side. Freedom…

"All men are created equal". The Vote…
But still… it's just not… quite what I'd imagined.
For myself, I mean. You understand, right?
[Awkward. Abrupt shift, NESSA turns and speaks to us. PORTIA holds…]
NESSA Do you think it's possible to love and hate someone so much at the exact
same time? Do you? Seriously, do you??? [She gets some kind of response.]
But here's the thing, though. I don't know if it's kind of like being frustrated
by a blind person for not being able to see… which seems unreasonable…
and unkind… or more like hating a really lazy person for not making the
damned effort to get off they lazy asses and DO SOMETHING…!
She was born with blinders on, I get that. And everyone tells her every day
she has perfect vision, so maybe it's not her fault… But she's smart as a tack
about so many things, it's hard to not to take it personal. Cuz here's the
thing: What do you think she actually see when she looks at me? Can you
imagine? Does she just think… oh, that Nessa… it must be hard, being her,
but… you know… I'm really quite good to her, and I give her my old clothes
and things, and she's doing better than so many of her people, so… that's
okay, right? I have… all this… and she has… none of that… and I did
nothing to deserve all the things I have, and she did nothing to not deserve
all the things she doesn't have, but that's just… that's just…………
What? That's what I want to know. That's just what? How does she finish that
sentence in her mind? Or does that sentence never form in her mind?
Is that even possible???
[NESSA turns back to PORTIA. The scene instantly shifts… Now it is NESSA
who is frozen or on hold and PORTIA speaks to us…]
PORTIA I love Nessa, I swear I do, and I don't blame her for kind of hating me… I
guess I might hate me, too, if I were her… but sometimes I just wish she'd
cut me just the tiniest bit of slack.

25
I mean… I see her looking. I feel her disapproval, her disappointment. I feel
her doing the math… adding up all her grievances. (Maybe I never should've
taught her math…) But here's my question: What does she want me to do?
Seriously… What exactly do you think she wants from me?
Look: My guess is some of you here have more money than others of you.
So how about if we were to just… you know, come up here, one by one, you
could each tell me your net worth, and then we'll just… you know, divide
by… oh, 200 or so… and reapportion the wealth when you leave tonight.
That would be fairer, right? More "equitable". That's what you want me to
do, right? And what she wants? That's what you're judging me for, right? But
then how about her sweet old mama, Kadah? Do I take care of her, too? And
Nessa's sisters, Annabelle, Lily and Fay? Do I take care of them?
Where does it stop?
Where does it stop for you…?
[The lights shift again. We are now back in the "real" scene…]
NESSA I think I do.
PORTIA Nessa, you know—
NESSA I do.
I know. I believe I understand you,
Perfectly, ma'am.
PORTIA And I you, too, Nessa.
Arrgh! It's insane, this societal obsession with the pursuit of matrimonial
bliss! I long for the law, not the boudoir. It's a crime women can't be lawyers.
NESSA What about that Mansfield lady out west? Didn't you say she a lawyer now?
PORTIA In Iowa! That does me no good. What's the point of being a lawyer if you
have to live in the wilds of Iowa! I long to be a lawyer in Boston or New York
or Washington! Where they need more lawyers!
I can imagine nothing greater than being a lawyer in our nation's capitol,
where lawyers are forces for good and justice-- where the law truly matters!

26
NESSA Your father did a number of you, that's for sure.
PORTIA He did indeed. He made me an attorney-at-heart! Growing up, every dinner

was a disputation, every family infraction a trial, every evening stroll an
opportunity to hold forth on the virtues of a good amicus or affidavit. And
now I'm supposed to… what? Choose a man who will coddle me instead of
challenge me, stroke my hair instead of stoke my fire? If I must have a man, I
need one who can go toe to toe with me, someone like—
NESSA Like who? So there is fella out there

Who makes your little heart go pitter-pat!
Who makes your… "situation"… buzz a bit…
PORTIA Ummm…
NESSA Yes…?
PORTIA Do you…?
NESSA Go on…
PORTIA Remember one…

Benjamin Bassanio?
NESSA Oh ho ho!
I do indeed. And so, it seems, do you…!
PORTIA I do, I do, I really do. He's quite…

As fair and proper a piece of man flesh
As one would want to see on a summer's day.
And there was something in his eyes, besides…
NESSA But you know that he's…
PORTIA What?
NESSA You know that he's…
PORTIA I know he seems a bit… uncouth. A bit

Intense. Unlike so many of my would-be
Suitors. Is that what you were going to say?
NESSA Ummm…

27
PORTIA There's something different about him,
And… I liked it. A hungry mind? A need?
His manner might be slightly rough and raw
But what of that?
NESSA Well, goodness gracious, girl...
PORTIA Wait, what exactly were you going to say?

I know he…?
NESSA Nothing.
PORTIA Nessa!
NESSA No no no.
No, I agree with you. There is, indeed,
Something special about him. Yes, there is
Much more to him than meets the winking eye.
PORTIA Oh, I agree.
NESSA Well, good. Then there you are.

Invite him back!
PORTIA I will. I'll send today!
1.5 TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE
[Enter LANCELOT, SHYLOCK's servant. A smart, charming, positive, and

remarkably erudite and psychologically acute young black man…]
LANCE To leave, or not to leave. That is the question...
And, Macaroni & Muskets, I hate to say it, but the dilemma goes deep.
So... The question on which I am ruminating and cogitating at present is as

follows: Does good service done for a bad master still count as good
service? Or if I do good work for a bad master might I actually be doing bad
in the world? Or, conversely-wise, if I do bad work for a bad master does
that somehow make it good? And—trickier still— how do I really know if he's
really "bad" or "good"? Deep down...

28
My Auntie Fussy always told me, Lancelot, she'd say, you can't taste a
flapjack by lookin' at it! And my new boss is way more complicated than a
flapjack, I know that much for sure…
So as to my present predicament—or, rather, job… A lot 'a folks are hiring

servants these days, what with the war just recently over and not that many
relatively healthy, relatively sane, relatively not-a-relative, relatively young
men around so I could probably get—you know—some other work. But I
have chosen—for reasons I cannot even begin to fathom—to work for a
mean, miserly, malicious old Jew named Shylock.
And he, to be frank, is more than a bit of an shvantse.
(That's Jewish for prick… I have learned some things here…)
He once hit me for eatin' three spoons of puddin'. Now, sure, to be fair, it
was his puddin', and certainly he'd told me on, well, on several occasions
NOT to eat his food, nor steal his socks, nor look at the voluptuous breasts
of his daughter with my tongue hanging out and quite a number of similar
admonishments over the several, well, days I'd worked for him at this point…
But still… a puddin'! I mean… a puddin' is just a puddin'. Not a thing to get
beaten over, not even a particularly great puddin', and this one was just…
barely passable. Just a plain, passable puddin'.
Not even any raisins…
But in truth, forsooth, for me, the real question is… why I have I chosen to
work for him of all people. I wonder... Is it some bizarre form of self-loathing?
Did my old master not beat me enough and this is some perverse form of
wish fulfillment? Am I trying to fill up some quota of misery I feel I deserve?
Or am I, mayhaps, trying to heal the world, bridge differences, form a loving
alliance with mine enemy…
Or was it simply that he was the first person, Jew or no, who was willing to
hire me with no experience, no skills, no capacity to, you know, read, with
smelly feet, bad breath, a penchant for soliloquizing, no sense of direction or
punctuality, and a deep and complex set of loyalty and honesty issues?
Hrrrrrnnnnn… tricky to know…
[Shift… SHYLOCK and ANTOINE enter. LANCE speaks to us as he leaves…]

29
1.6 I'M NOT LIKE YOU
ANT Shylock.
SHY Antoine.
ANT You came.
SHY I did.
ANT Thank you.
SHY So what do you need?
ANT Ah. So business-like?

Very well. I'll be brief. I need money.
To help the friend you met. Bassanio.
SHY You want money? From me? To help your friend?

That's odd. It seems to me last time we met
You spat at me. In front of my daughter.
Now you would borrow such and such a sum.
Do I misunderstand, or is that right?
It seems to me, as I recall, that once
We met in basement rooms, spoke in hushed tones
And thus set certain actions in motion.
Because of us two… things were accomplished.
Things that were… important to you. From which
We both profited, each in our ways…
But now, you turn your back to me in town.
You raise your voice, you disdain… or you spit.
But in your need you come back hat in hand.
Is this the situation as it stands?
[ANTOINE looks at him. There is knowledge and history in the look. Beat…]
How much do you need?
ANT Three thousand dollars.
SHY A sum that bears some breadth. And for how long?
ANT Three months.

30
SHY So brief a space?
ANT I have the means

But not at hand. Before the term is up
I'll have sufficient funds to pay my debt.
SHY I see. What guarantee do you propose?
ANT Name what you will.
SHY Oh, ho. A bold request.

And what I choose to name you will accept?
ANT If what you name is… reasonable.
SHY How about forty acres and a mule?

By way of guarantee. Is that not fair?
[Beat. Beat… Lights abruptly shift, ANTOINE talks directly to us…]
ANT I swear if I took a stick and beat him, he'd enjoy it. It would… satisfy him.
He… needles me. Like he's begging for my hatred. And it drives me crazy
because… I like him. I do. I respect him and what he has accomplished. I
mean… you have to respect someone that contrary… that… deliberately
impossible, right? [Lights restore. Just to SHYLOCK, now…]
SHY Why is it—when someone clearly despises you—you want that much more to
please them? To impress them? Why that… perversity in our nature???
[The world now restores to “normal”…]
ANT If you'll not lend the funds just tell me so.
SHY I know you don't approve of interest,

"Predatory Lending". You called it that.
Do you take me for a wolf? A vulture?
Or just a typical Jew? Is that right?
ANT Now listen—
SHY Your first born is too cliché…

And unlikely, given your… advanced age.

31
ANT Listen, Shylock—
SHY Livestock? Or property…?
ANT This young man is… dear to me. Not my own

Flesh, but precious none the less.
SHY You've hit it.

Yes, that's good, very good.
ANT I don't—
SHY Your flesh.

Your flesh is quite good. But no need for greed.
So shall we just say… oh… A Pound of Flesh?
ANT Now what the hell—
SHY A worthless pound of flesh.

To help you with your diet. You've gained weight.
I'll help you lose it fast.
ANT What the hell are—
SHY It's just a joke. A jest. A gesture of

Friendship.
ANT But why? Why would you ask for that?
SHY My whim. I must charge… something. Or what would

Other people say? They'd think I'd gone soft.
ANT Agreed. You have my word.
SHY I'll have your bond.

Come. We'll draw up papers, fair and proper.
Will you walk?
ANT I will.
SHY Very good.
ANT We'll see.

32
[Shift… As ANTOINE leaves he says to us, with some satisfaction…]
1.7 SPARK OF GOODNESS
[As they head off REN and JESSICA enter deep in mid conversation. They
are secretive, urgent, excited… enjoying the drama.]
REN Then what's it for?
JESS For?
REN Yes. What is life for

If not for living every day as if
It were a gift… an opportunity?
If not for that, then what?
JESS To do good works.
REN I'm sorry?
JESS That's what Jews are supposed to do.

Good works. Mitzvot. Daily acts of kindness
That release the tiny sparks of goodness
That now lie trapped in all of God's creation.
REN Well now! Who knew?
JESS I did.
REN Hey! You're my spark!
JESS I'm sorry?
REN You're it! My spark of goodness.

And my misvote—
JESS Mitzvoht.
REN Exactly… will be

To set you free.

33
JESS But I can't be the spark.
REN Oh, but you are. You are! I swear you are!
JESS Ummm…
REN I saw you, Jessica. I saw your spark

The second I first saw you in the street.
I followed you. I did. It's true. I didn't
Just run into you at Eastern Market
I followed you there. You drew me to you
Like a spark… like a tiny spark of
Goodness in a dark and gloomy world.
JESS Gosh, Lorenzo, that is just so… nice.
REN Well…
JESS No, I mean that… that is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.
REN It's just the truth. I saw you for 10 seconds while you waited to cross a street
and in those 10 second I just knew you were… The One.. I just knew. Like
when I ate a raspberry for the first time and thought "hey, that's good! That's
now my favorite fruit." I didn't decide. I didn't choose that to be true. It's just
the way it is. Raspberries just appeal to me. It's the same with you.
JESS I'm like a raspberry?
REN That's right! You're my little raspberry.
JESS Oy gevalt…
REN What does that mean?
JESS [Lying…] Oh… like… "holy smokes"!
REN Bingo! "Holy Smokes" is right! I mean, how often does something like this
happen?
JESS Not very…?
REN "Not very" is right! "Not very" is absolutely right. It's like we were meant to
be, like we were destined for each other, don't you think?

34
JESS Oh, I don't know…
REN Oh.
JESS I mean… maybe. I really like you and you're incredibly nice and handsome
and… energetic and all, but—
REN But what?
JESS It's just so fast. And you're so not Jewish. I mean you're not just not Jewish,
you're SO not Jewish. You're like… the opposite of Jewish…
REN What does that mean?
JESS I have no idea. I think you need to go. My father could be home soon.
REN But I thought you said—
JESS He's gone to the synagogue, but if there wasn't a minion, or if he forgot his
talis / or anything—
REN I have no idea what those words even mean! You are SO…fascinating! So
damn different! This is gonna be a hell of an adventure.
JESS What is?
REN But we'll have the rest of our lives to figure each other out, right?
JESS Wait, what?
REN You're going to run away with me, right? We're gonna get the hell out of this
hellish swamp, hit the road, and start a new life, together, right?
JESS Oy gevalt… I mean, "Holy Smokes!"
[Lights shift… she is not frozen, perhaps, but maybe just lost in the huge and
overwhelming thought of the moment. He speaks directly to us…]
REN Holy crap! I think I actually mean most of what I'm saying! That is crazy! [To
us…] So, my good buddy Benjamin Bassanio pointed her out to me a few
weeks ago, the sheltered, hotty-hot daughter of the mean old money-lender,
Shylock, and… boom!!! I mean I saw her and it was like… like… like the first

35
time I had a pickle, you know? I mean, you taste it, and you're like… what
the hell?!? That's food?!? But then… you know a minute or two later you're
like… hey give me some more of that damn pickle! That is good! And the
next thing you know you want pickles with every meal, you know?
So I "bumped into her" at the market, and— you know, young girls today
are so wonderfully ill-informed and protected that if you can get a little
access it's kind of like shooting fish in a barrel, but with Jessica, it's like I just
keeping accidentally meaning all the crazy, romantic things I'm saying… And
I think I really do want to run away, start a new life with her. And the fact that
her mean and miserly father has a ton of cash and jewels easily at hand is
now just… you know... a huge bonus…!
But, all of that said, I gotta be honest with you, I'm not thrilled with the
whole… Jew Thing. I've got nothing major against the Jews, they're a sharp
people, and I personally admire sneaky, but… it just feels kind of… awkward
or… uncomfortable… they're just different from regular people. With all the
weird food, and I know that language they speak, Jewish, is a real language,
but it just sounds like they're choking… "achhcha barrachh achhhahah…"
You know? Come on, you know what I mean. When people speak a different
language from me it always just seems… weird and wrong and I don't
quite… trust them, I guess. I mean… do all those words really mean things?
I mean, I know they're people too, but…
Anyway, we'll see… I'm open-minded. And if worse comes to worse… I'll
push her down an abandoned well and take the money and head west…
[Seeing our response…] I'm kidding! Jeez, what do you think I am? Besides,
you know how hard it is to find a good abandoned well these days? [Seeing
our response…] Kidding! Take it easy, there, kids…
[Lights shift…]
JESS Oy guvalt! This is insane! I think maybe he's entirely amazing… and maybe
he has a head full of gefilte fish and a heart full of darkness.
But, honestly, I don't know that I can care so much about the details right
now. He's… a way out. Out of this house, out of this life, and… who knows…
maybe he really will be my destiny… Probably not, but who knows, right?
And I've got to take my chances. [Hard, the reality of it hitting her, some…]
Even if it means leaving everything I have ever known… behind.

36
The truth is, I don't think I can last another year, another month, under the…
crushing weight of my father's house. Not to be all poetic, but I don't know
how else to say it. It weighs on me. So I'll go. I'll take the leap. And if I die or
end up at the bottom of some well somewhere (!!!) at least I'll have lived a
little… and I won't just shrivel up here like an an an… uneaten olive. I just
really, really don't want to be an uneaten olive.
Anything would be better than that. So…
[Lights shift. They are standing, looking at each other…]
REN So waddaya say? Wanna run away together? Start a new life out of this
humid hellhole… head out into the world where there are trees and sunshine
and life is bursting with possibility?
JESS Where?
REN Allentown. My Aunt has a house there. Just to get us started. And then…
who knows. Philadelphia? Richmond? Charleston? The world's our oyster.
JESS I can't eat oysters. They're trafe.
REN And that's bad?
JESS It is.
REN Okay then, the world's our…
JESS Challah?
REN Sure. That's a fish?
JESS Bread.
REN Bingo! I love bread.
JESS Me, too.
REN Great. Then what do you say? Choose me? Marry me? Start a New Life???
[Beat…]
JESS Let's go tonight!

37
REN Bingo!
[Music plays. ANTOINE enters. BASSANIO enters from elsewhere. They

meet. ANTOINE gives him a wallet of cash. BASSANIO heads out and
ANTOINE comes down to speak to us…]
1.8 A FREE MAN
ANT I was born a free man. A free child…
My father was… pressed into the Navy during the war of 1812. He won his
freedom through "exemplary service to the nation". Exemplary Service. And
then was shot dead on New Year's Day, 1823, because a white man thought
he'd looked at his daughter wrong. I was five. My sister Bess was three. My
sister Grace was born about three weeks after the funeral.
I remember his smell. Soap… and salt... And a rummbly voice.
And that's about all…
My mother was… careful. Not kind. Not cruel. Careful. She always told me
"Look behind" That was her… daily admonition. Her only philosophy. I'd say
"His mama so mean" and she'd say "Look behind. That boy sassy, she got
to keep him safe." Or I'd say… those white folks is so this or so that, and
she's say "Look behind all that. See their fear. See the danger…"
I was raised up always "looking behind"… trying to see what was really
going on… A valuable skill, as it turns out, for a black man is America.
America… The streets here are not paved with gold, as it's rumored abroad.
Hell, most of the streets aren't even paved, but they are still, littered with
opportunity... Because, you see, the simple truth is this country was built on
the backs of slaves. Their blood and bones are at the foundation. America is
rising in the world now because of the wealth they've made. And now those
former slaves are free. And moving—slowly and uneasily— into the economy.
You see it, right? The opportunity. When you have a whole new group of
folks who've never had money, never known money, don't fully comprehend
just how money works—well, that is an extraordinary opportunity to help
those folks, and, at the same time, help yourself…

38
Because let's be clear, these folks need help, and someone is going to do it,
and that someone is going to profit by it. And that someone might be a
white man or a Jew or… it might just as well be me.
'Cuz like it or not, folks like to follow success. The richer and more successful
I am—the more of their money I scoop right out of their damn pockets—the
more they seem to trust me. It makes no sense that I can see, but I didn't
make human nature… I just benefit it. If I'm gonna "look behind", I'm sure as
hell gonna use what I see there to take care of me and mine.
Hell, judge me if you want, but truth is they'd rather have… 35 acres and no
mule and a rising class of men like me to point the way towards something
better… than to labor away in the dark, no hope ahead, no vision of a way
towards a better tomorrow for them or any of their kind. That's just true.
So, hell yeah, I'm doing well for myself and my people. You can just think of
me as an opportunistic philanthropist. Or a philanthropic opportunist...
Or you can just think of me as an American.
[He leaves. JESSICA and LANCELOT enter, separately…]
1.9 I NEED YOU
JESS I'm off!
LANCE Tonight? Holy Commolly…
JESS I'm afraid my father will find out, and then I'll never have another chance.
LANCE Right, well. That totally sucks. For me, I mean.
JESS Come with me.
LANCE What?
JESS Come with me.
LANCE Where?
JESS Where I'm going.
LANCE What would I do there?

39
JESS Work for me and my husband. Husband! Holy smokes I said it out loud.
LANCE You did! Good for you, that's a big step…
JESS Will you come?
LANCE Your father would kill me.
JESS He'll never find you.
LANCE Leave? Just… leave. Just… up and leave.
JESS Yes. Why not?
LANCE Well…
JESS He doesn’t treat you well.
LANCE No.
JESS Or pay you well.
LANCE Not so much.
JESS Or feed you well.
LANCE I like kinishes.
JESS I make the kinishes!
LANCE Good point!
JESS You can't stand him can you?
LANCE No, not really…
JESS And I could really use your help.
LANCE Really?
JESS [Instantly seeing that this lands…] Yes... I really need your help

40
LANCE You… you need me?
JESS I do. I really, really do.
LANCE Wow. I like being needed. I was never really needed at home. I'm the
youngest of seven and the last thing they needed was me. And… well, to tell
you the truth, that has really created quite a number of fairly deep-seeded
belonging and abandonment issues for me.
JESS Lance…
LANCE I can't tell you what a simple little phrase like "I need you" does for me.
JESS I'm so glad. But Lance—
LANCE I don't think I've ever really felt needed, not really, not deep down where it
counts, oh, you know, I need you to empty that bucket or build that fire or
weed that garden don't quite seem to count, not like / real emotional
JESS Look, Lance—
LANCE needs like, I need to you help me leave my father.
JESS …and help me steal all his money.
LANCE Right, and steal all his, wait, what?
JESS You heard me.
LANCE Steal all his money?
JESS And jewels. And anything valuable we can lay our hands on.
LANCE Oh, pigs and parsnips…
JESS Will you do it? Will you help me in my hour of need?
LANCE That's totally illegal, you know. Your dad might, you know, spank you, or lock
you in your room for a decade or two, but / me…
JESS Lance…

41
LANCE He'll flay and spay me and roast me on a spit and hang me up by my toes
and pickle my testicles and run me out of town on a rail and then bury me in
the backyard and dance the Hora on my grave.
JESS That doesn't even make / any sense.
LANCE Don't quibble, you know what I mean!
JESS I need you! I need your help! Will You Help Me!?!
LANCE Hold up here. [He drops in, a completely different, darker tone…] They
would kill me for what you are asking me to do. You get that, right?
JESS [Beat] Ummm… I guess I hadn't really thought…
LANCE I want to say yes, I do, but I need to know you aren't coming back in three
days or a week, tail between your legs, back under daddy's roof...
JESS I'm not. I'm leaving. Forever. Or a very, very long time, anyway. I am—
[The sound of a door opening]
LANCE Oh, toenails and testicles… [SHYLOCK enters…]
SHY Lock up the house tonight.
JESS Like every night.
SHY What's that?
JESS Tonight is not different from

Other nights. Lock the house. Secure the doors.
Keep fools out, keep daughter in.
SHY That's right.

You do not know the world, my girl. I do.
JESS How can I know what I can never see?
LANCE [Awkwardly chiming in, in an effort to help…] That's true, it's terribly, terribly
hard to know what you can't see. So hard! I can't tell you how many walls
and fences and things I've run into because it was dark, or my eyes were
closed, so I never saw 'em coming. Just… boom! Never saw 'em!

42
[Going on, as though that never happened…]
SHY Quiet, you. Bupkes for brain, this one has. Go, see to the horses, secure the
doors, you know your tasks. Go!
[He goes… He has gone… Beat… Beat…]
I dreamt a dream last night, Jessica. I was a shepherd, I think, or a goatherd,

and had lost my sheep. Or goats. Or maybe it was cows… But I kept asking
everyone I met if they had seen my sheep… or goats…and no one had. And
soon I was asking squirrels and trees and… a troupe of mice, I think, once.
You remember that mangy gray cat you had when you were little? That used
to chase the mice and run into walls and never seemed to catch one?
JESS [She hasn't thought of him in years…] Yes. I do...
SHY [And going on…] In the dream I sat down in a haystack—I've never sat in a
haystack in my life, mind you—nor can I remember having given haystacks a
moment's thought, ever—and I looked up at the sky… and suddenly it was
the blackest night, full of stars… and I felt very alone, lying there in that
haystack without my sheep. Or goats…
JESS Abba…
SHY Good night, my child. Put out the lights…
[He simply walks away. She is left just standing there…]
1.10 HOLY CRAP
[BEN & REN, caught mid-conversation, in the same place as before…]
BEN You're kidding me.
REN Nope.
BEN You're kidding me.
REN Nope.
BEN Are you kidding me?

43
REN How many times do I / have to…?
BEN When?
REN Tonight. This is good-bye.
BEN And she just said… yes? Just…let's do it!?
REN Pretty much. I mean, not quite like that, but / that was
BEN And what about the do-re-me?
REN As much as she can lay her hands on.
BEN [A hoot of impressed appreciation...] Woo-hoo!
REN Though who knows… It's not like he's gonna leave a ton of cash an' gold an'
jewelry just lyin' around…
BEN So how you gonna get rid of her if she comes up empty handed?
REN I… uhh…
BEN Well?
REN I'm not. We're heading out tonight. Hell or high water…
BEN Seriously?
REN Seriously.
BEN Ummm… with a broke, runaway Jewish virgin?
REN There's something about her! There's actually a word for it in Jewish. She's
got what they call… "hootspaw". And I… I just gotta see this thing through.
BEN Well, all right then…
REN Though if she comes up empty, we ain't gonna get far on the six bits I got
left in my pocket…
BEN [He starts to take out a bulging billfold…] Here.

44
REN Oh, now, hold on, I won't be able / to
BEN [Shows him a shit-ton of cash…] Don't worry about it.
REN Dang! Antoine came through!
BEN He did. [Handing him some bills] Here, take this. Just in case…
REN I couldn't.
BEN Lorenzo?
REN Yes.
BEN Take the fucking money.
REN Thanks. [He takes it…]
BEN You'd do the same for me.
REN [Joking-ish] Maybe.
BEN [Joking-ish] Yeah, maybe.
[Quick beat…]
REN So when do you leave?
BEN In the morning.
REN And you think you have a real shot with Portia?
BEN I do.
REN Will you… tell her?
BEN No! I mean… I don't know. I mean…
REN Well, best of luck with that, then.
BEN Thanks. So… where are you takin' your Jewess?

45
REN [He doesn’t love the "Jewess", but decides to let it go…] Allentown. Though
I'm not thrilled about it. You ever hear of scrapple?
BEN Is it a disease?
REN It's a kind of food. Almost… They love it in Allentown…
BEN Sounds grim.
REN It is.
BEN Well good luck, pal.
REN You, too. I hope Portia succumbs to your… swarthy charms.
BEN And I hope things go good with your hot little Heeb.
REN Hey! Careful.
BEN Whoa, I wasn't saying anything, I was just / saying—
REN I know what you were saying. And just— watch it, okay?
BEN Wow... Okay. [Quick beat…]
REN Hey Benjamin.
BEN Yeah?
REN Thanks.
BEN For?
REN Everything.
BEN You, too.
REN No, seriously. You saved my damn life, practically, and I want you to know—
BEN I swear to God, if you start crying I'm gonna hit you in the head with a rock
and leave your body in a ditch by the side of the road.
REN You see, it's that kind of support and understanding / that I

46
BEN Take care of yourself, Lorenzo. I hope you get everything you want.
REN Yeah… me, too, you.
1.11 FUTURE GONE
[SHYLOCK enters in abject shock and grief…]
SHY She’s gone.
My daughter is gone!
My money—so much money— gone!!
My future… GONE!!! GONE GONE GONE GONE GONE!!!
Ribbono Shel Oylam, WHY?!? Bastard!!!
It wasn’t enough? My whole family… my wife, my Leah… And now my

daughter!?! You had to put this resentment in her heart? This venom towards
me? What kind of Master does such a thing?
MERCILESS SERPANT! DEMON! CHILD!!!
[Beat]
My Leah. My Leah my Leah my Leah… my love… I did all I could.
I held her hand to cross the street... I scooped her up, cradled her, carried
her to her bed... She would bury her face in my beard as we sang your
father’s zamerios… [He sings an old Yiddish tune. As he does, PORTIA &
BEN and JESSICA & REN appear. PORTIA & BEN begin to dance to the
song. Perhaps they join in the singing…] But…I failed. [He starts to wander
off…] I failed and failed and failed and failed and failed and failed and…
[As he is nearly off-stage, perhaps he turns back to us…]
I failed us all.
[Blackout]
END OF ACT I

47
ACT 2
SECOND PROLOGUE
[ANTOINE & SHYLOCK enter, much as they did at the top. But the tone is
darker, harder, more aware of where they will need to go in this act…]
ANT Hello again.
SHY Welcome back.
ANT There's a lot more still to come…
SHY I hope you had a cookie. Or a nice glass of wine. It gets harder from here…
ANT [To SHYLOCK, a tad incredulous…] Harder for you?
SHY Harder, I think, for them.
ANT Ah. Yes, well, maybe…
SHY Though… shver iz shver.
ANT What does that mean?
SHY Hard is hard.
ANT Enough with the folksy Yiddish sayings. You're not going to win them over to
your side with your “old world” aphorisms.
SHY My side???
ANT You know what I mean.
[Very quick beat]
SHY I do.
Onwards, then. In plain English.
[They slowly separate during this, and evolve gradually into the action and
emotion of the scene and their current situations…]

48
2.0 RUINOUS
ANT Three months have passed.
SHY My daughter is still missing.
ANT The stock market just crashed. Horribly, unexpectedly…
SHY My efforts to follow her trail have yielded information… but no daughter.
ANT My financial losses are… ruinous.

.
SHY I kept my money in the wall, gold and jewels under the floorboards.
ANT I trusted the banks…
SHY I thought she did not know.
ANT …where all the rich white folks keep their money.
SHY I was wrong…
ANT I figured… it's their game, they must know how to play.
SHY Disastrously wrong…
ANT I was foolish.

SHY I was foolish.
SHY Betrayed by my own flesh.
ANT I will owe him my flesh.
SHY Leah, my love…
ANT My God, after all my work…
SHY …she took your ring.
ANT All my painful efforts…
SHY The turquoise I had of you, your first gift.

49
ANT All my… soul-wearying compromises…
SHY How had she the heart to do it?
ANT All the endless, humiliating horseshit I've had to tolerate…!
SHY She took it and bought a monkey.
ANT Without my money… I'm just another nigger to them…
SHY Ribbono Shel Oylam, why a monkey!?!
ANT A fucking monkey!

SHY A fucking monkey!
ANT I won't stand for it.
SHY I won't stand for it.
This feeling.
ANT This feeling…
SHY This feeling right here… [Gestures to his heart]…this is how the world ends.
ANT This feeling right here… [Gestures to his heart]…this is how the world ends.
[Shift. They are now finally fully in the same space…]
SHY Antoine.
ANT Shylock.
SHY Ah, yes, this is the day.

You have my money?
ANT I do not. Not yet.
SHY I'm sorry?
ANT I've encountered difficulties.

All my investments… the crash hit me hard.
SHY You don't have the funds? You can't repay me?

50
ANT I will. I will. I just need some more time.
SHY More time? Another chance? A do-over?
ANT I will get you your money with more time.
SHY THERE IS NO MORE TIME!!! For any of us!
ANT For God's sake, Shylock, be reasonable!
SHY We have an agreement. I did my part.

Three thousand dollars! Or a pound of flesh.
ANT You want my life?
SHY I want what we've agreed,
ANT You greedy, merciless motherfucker!

You want to slice me open, see me bleed?
You won't give me more time to pay the debt?!?
SHY No. No, Antoine, I don't believe I will, no, not this time, it is enough. Too
much has been taken from me—ripped from me—and I've had enough!
ANT You'll take my flesh? Why, in God's name? What purpose can it serve?
SHY To bait fish withal! You think I don't known how you feel about me? You
laugh at me, mock me, scorn my nation; and what's your reason?
I am a Jew.
Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses,
affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and
cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is—as a shvartze is? If
you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If --
.
ANT Your people sold my people! You financed slavery, profited from slavery!
You people do nothing but take and take and take and take and take! So
what the fuck do I care if you laugh when I tickle you?

51
SHY It's true that some of my people sold slaves!
As did some of yours! Yes, I profited
From slavery. I did! And so did you!
So did the great-great-great-great grandparents
Of half the people in this room tonight!
It was the heart of the economy.
Of the American Economy!!!
If you would rail against those who sold slaves,
Then, my friend, you will rail against the world!
We all do what we need to do to live!
To LIVE! I'm sorry if we succeeded
Where you and your people failed. That's not
My fault! We will not be blamed! I am done!
I will have my bond! I will have my bond!!
[Music. Shift. SHYLOCK storms off. ANTOINE just stands there…NESSA

enters and talks to us on the sly…]
NESSA Meanwhile, back up here in Belmont, there have been all sorts 'a going's on.
Portia is… blooming. Skipping classes, even. You see, one Mr. Benjamin
Bassanio has been a very welcome guest and her nearly constant companion
for the last three months… To be honest, I never thought—
2.1 ROOM INSIDE
[BENJAMIN enters quickly and is pleased to find NESSA alone…]
BEN Right, so, while we have a second, I just wanted to say thank you.
NESSA For what?
BEN For everything. This time with Portia has been… astonishing. And anything
that you might have said or done to—
NESSA It's got nothing to do with me.
BEN Oh, no? You seem so close. I just assumed that you might have—
NESSA Don't say another word, Mr. Bassanio. I wouldn't want to know a thing I
might feel obligated to pass on to my employer.
BEN Ah.

52
NESSA You take my meaning?
BEN I do. But how / can I—
NESSA Uh uh uh. Not a word. Not to me. And not to her…
BEN No?
NESSA Are you crazy? You want to ruin everything?
BEN So then… you think I have a chance?
NESSA Are you stupid?
BEN I'm sorry, what?
NESSA Are you blind? Are you deaf?
BEN Now look / here—
NESSA I hope you're serious about taking this all the way, young man, because my
young lady is not someone to mess about with, and once she / makes up
[PORTIA enters…]
PORTIA Hi.
BEN Hi.
PORTIA So, here's the thing...
And I probably shouldn't say any of this, but I'm just going to say it anyway
because I've been thinking it and if I don't say what I'm thinking I find that I
end up just thinking what I'm thinking over and over and over again and
finally realizing the time to say it was back when I first thought it and by the
time I finally do say it either it has grown so big or gotten so blown out of
proportion in my mind that I totally regret not saying it back when I thought
it, or the moment passed altogether and then the time is no longer right and
the world has moved on and the thing I really wanted to say just becomes
this regret, this passed moment, this missed opportunity which I so, so, so
wish I had taken back when I could have taken it but I didn't so now it's gone
and I really, really hate that so I'm just trying these days to just go right on
and say what I really want to say when I really want to say it, and / if I don't

53
BEN Me, too.
PORTIA Wait, what? You, too?
BEN Yep. I know just what you mean.
PORTIA Oh. Okay, then. Good.
BEN Yeah.
PORTIA Good, then.
BEN Yeah. [Prompting her to continue…] So…?
PORTIA So…?
BEN Ummm… what did you want to say?
PORTIA Oh. Right. Well… I like you. I really like you.
BEN Well, I—
PORTIA No, wait, I mean, I REALLY like you, and that, to be honest, is scaring the
living crap out of me (excuse my language), sometimes literally, though, my
stomach is all twisty and churn-y and sometimes I can't quite eat or swallow,
even, because I'm thinking about you and your energy and your smell and, I
know, I know, I shouldn't be saying any of this, it isn't right or proper or
smart or good or something to just go ahead and say out loud all the things
you are thinking or feeling or wanting (or wanting to be feeling), no, just
kidding, ha ha ha, anyway, the thing is I think you might be him, you know
what I mean, Him, the one, the guy, the guy I've been waiting for and
dreaming about and picturing in some odd way since I was, oh, eight or nine
or maybe younger, my prince, my knight, my GUY, but you are just… well, I
don't know how to put it into words, but just the kind of man I've always
dreamed about, somehow, without knowing how, or who, and it's not quite
how you look or what you say but somehow something about just Who You
Are that somehow seems just entirely, ridiculously, absurdly RIGHT for me,
that feels like The Man Who I Am Supposed to Marry, and, great, now I just
want ahead and said that right out loud, and I know you like me, but now—
BEN I have to tell you something.

54
[Quick beat…]
PORTIA Oh?
BEN Yes. I have to tell you something.
PORTIA All right.
BEN I…
PORTIA It's all right, whatever it is. Whatever you have to say to me, you'll still be you
and I'll still be me, / so…
BEN Well, that’s at least half right…
PORTIA Benjamin?
BEN Look, the thing / is--
NESSA Can I say something?
PORTIA Umm… right now?
NESSA If you wouldn't mind?
PORTIA Ummm…
NESSA [To BENJAMIN] Would you mind?
BEN Ummm, no. No, go ahead…
NESSA [Finding her way to say what she needs to say to him in code without her
very smart, very savvy Lady figuring it out…] I would just like to say…
nothing. Yes, that's right, I would like to say nothing, because, actually,
sometimes… [Meaningfully, to BEN…] sometimes just saying nothing, I am
just now realizing, is really the right thing to say. Or not say, rather.
So I'm just going to say… nothing.
PORTIA All right, that was bizarre. [Beat] Are you done now… not saying anything?
NESSA I am.

55
PORTIA And what do you have to say for yourself. After all I've just said.
BEN Nothing. I think… nothing.
Except this: I think you are remarkable in every way and I am glad I've had
he chance to meet you and spend some tiny part of my life in your presence.
PORTIA But this is / not
BEN You, Portia… perfect, perfect Portia…you are evidence, to me, that God, in
addition to being a Master Builder and a Law-Giver and a Vengeful and
Wrathful and Just and Merciful God… is also a great Artist… because he
crafted not only your beauty but also your radiant soul…
PORTIA/NESSA Gosh…
BEN Oh. And just one more thing…
PORTIA Yes?
BEN I'm black.
NESSA [Immediately, impulsively…] Oh, Lordy… [Beat…]
PORTIA I'm sorry?
BEN I'm black. Half black. Half not white. Not…
I'm just saying. You have to know. I planned to tell you later. I somehow
thought I'd just… tell you later… because I've had an amazing time here
with you, getting to know you, and there is literally nothing about you that I
don't like, love, actually, and I just didn't want to ruin that or have anything
go wrong or have you, you know, run away from me or look at me like you're
kind of maybe looking at me right now, so I've just kept not telling you, and
each day I would look for a good time to tell you, but then fail / to find
PORTIA [Quietly] Those quiet times?
BEN Sorry?
PORTIA [Quiet, taught…] Those quiet, odd little moments, when I would say
something like "what are you thinking" and you'd say "nothing" or "nothing
important", those times?

56
BEN Ummm… yeah. Those times.
PORTIA Got it. Go on…
BEN So now I'm telling you. I'm… not what I seem. I mean, I am what I seem, I am
who I am, but I'm also just not. What I seem...
PORTIA So it seems.
BEN So…
PORTIA You're black. Half black. Half not white. You're… what do they call it.
Passing? Pretending to be white to… what? Fool me? Fool the world?
BEN Ummm… yeah.
PORTIA Wow.
BEN Yeah.
PORTIA Wow.
BEN Yeah.
PORTIA Wow. [Tense beat…] Is it even legal?
BEN Is what…?
PORTIA For us to marry.
BEN It is. Since '43. In Massachusetts, anyway… And Pennsylvania. [Quick beat…]
Also Iowa, Kansas, and the New Mexico and Washington territories.
PORTIA Ah… [Tense beat…]
BEN So…
PORTIA [Quick, tense, quiet] One minute. [Longer Beat]
BEN Ummm…?
PORTIA [Quick, tense, quiet] One minute.

57
[Long pause. A minute, maybe... PORTIA stands still or paces or breathes.
But there is no release. The emotion and tension builds from all directions…
She is actively engaging in a fierce internal struggle to try to say yes, to try to
move forward with him, to try and not let this make a difference. Finally…]
I'm stuck.
I'm caught.
I can't…
BEN Ummm…
PORTIA Don't speak. Don't say anything right now. Okay. Please…?
BEN [This is not a joke. This is okay, doesn’t really count as speaking] Okay.
PORTIA [Processing, focusing, trying to state her case as clearly and succinctly as
humanly possible in this raw emotional state…] There are things you know.
Things that are true. Things that make you who you are, you know? [He
breathes…] Don't answer that. Don't speak. I can't take it. Not yet…
BEN [Same as above. Not a joke, not really speaking per se…] Okay.
PORTIA And there are things I’ve always thought about… The Man I Will Marry.
About him. And us. And the way our family will be. Real things. Important
things. Not silly, shallow things, but real, substantial things about a kind of
life. We all want a certain kind of life, right? Don't answer that! Not yet…
BEN [Again…] Okay.
PORTIA I would love to just say yes. I would… I wish that I could do that. I wish that I
was different… or the world was different… or that I could find the path
inside that would let me move in your direction, but I just can't.
I won't let me.
I'm not big enough inside, maybe...
BEN Right, then I'm going back to The District. I wish you every happiness.
PORTIA Wait, what?

58
BEN Yeah, I'm gonna go. I'll just kind of… disappear so you won't, you know…
be forced to grow inside. To make room inside yourself for the possibility of
love between you and someone who is, in some ways, different from you.
PORTIA Wait, I—
BEN I know it's a dilemma, I do. I'm part black and entirely a liar… and while the
liar part doesn't actually seem to be throwing you—which I thought it maybe
would—the black part does, which I certainly get.
PORTIA You're not being fair!
BEN The world is not fair! But so it goes.

This is the world we live in. The real world.
You needn't hurl yourself into my arms.
(As much as I might wish with all my soul
That you would do exactly that...)
PORTIA Now, look—
BEN The thing is this: I have foundations, too.

True things I have to hold to for dear life.
And this is one: I am far more, far far far
Far more than just the color of my skin.
That is the truth. That's why I live a lie.
PORTIA That makes no sense!
BEN I know, but still it's true.
I have lied. I’ve chosen to hide who I am because I am just not content with
what is possible for me if I don't. [To NESSA] I'm so, so sorry, but that is just
the truth. [NESSA walks away] When I’m with other black folks, we're feared
and hated and ignored and belittled… but because I happen to look the way
I do, I found that when I was alone… the whole world changed. A weight
you cannot even begin to imagine was suddenly lifted, and once I felt that…
I had no choice. Or, rather, I had a choice… and I took it. I fucking grabbed
it and I tried harder than I ever had because suddenly… it made a difference.
And then I met you, and… and… and…
[Beat…]

59
Good-bye.
PORTIA Don't go.
BEN All right.
PORTIA I'm… trying.
BEN Oh.
Okay. I'll wait…
[They stand there, looking at each other… Beat. Beat…]
2.2 THREE STARS
[JESSICA is outside, looking up… REN joins her… they are in the backyard
of Aunt Rosie's place in Allentown, one would assume…]
REN Ummm… what are we looking for?
JESS Three stars.
REN Why again?
JESS The Sabbath is over when the night has come. And the night has / come…
REN [Remembering, overlapping] …when we can see three stars in the sky.
JESS Exactly. Do you ever listen when I explain these things?
REN Of course!
JESS [He watches her lips move as she says…] Do you really?
REN No, not really. I mean, I do, I just also…
JESS Yes?
REN Oh… umm… just…
JESS What?!?

60
REN [Blurting it out…] Watch your lips move. Just… watch your lips… you know…
moving… right there in your face. And I watch your eyes get all… deep…
and…dew-y… and Jew-y… and it's just…
JESS What?
REN I dunno. Weird, I guess…
JESS Oh…
REN In a kind of wonderful way.
JESS Oh!
REN Okay?
JESS Yes. Okay.
REN Besides, if I started talking all about … oh… the Chatahootchie and goin' all
Catawampus and my Tallywacker, would you remember all a' that?
JESS But those don't even sound like real words!
REN Believe me, darlin', when you're from Beaufort, South Carolina, "Kosher"
and "Chuppah" and "Kreplach" don't sound like real words either!
JESS No, I guess not.
REN But… I'm tryin'. I really am.
JESS I see that you are…
REN Good.
JESS Thank you.
REN Hey! Look!
JESS What?
REN Three stars. [He maybe touches her or takes her shoulders or something kind
of intimate to show her…] Look there. One. Two Three.

61
[Beat]
So now what?
JESS Light the candle.
REN [He has no matches…] Oh, ah… I don’t have…
JESS Never mind…
JESS Baruch Ata Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, Boray m'oh-ray ha-esh.
Hamav'dil bein kodesh lekhol -khol -khol

Chat'oteinu hu yim'khol -khol -khol
Zar'einu vechaspeinu yarbeh yarbeh kachol
Kakochavim balailah.
Zar'einu vechaspeinu yarbeh yarbeh kachol
Kakochavim balailah.
REN Amen. [Pronounced Ah-men]
JESS And now the Sabbath is over for……?
REN Another week?
JESS Bingo!
REN Shall we go back in? Maybe play some checkers… or somethin'…?
JESS First some checkers… then… a little somethin'…
REN Bingo!
[He chases her in… or somethin'…NESSA appears…]
NESSA Belmont again. Not half an hour after we left them… and about five minutes
after a letter arrived—by an indirect route—for Mr. Benjamin Bassnio.
2.3 NOT GOOD SENSE
[Lights shift. We are suddenly with PORTIA, BEN and NESSA. PORTIA holds
a letter she has been given by BEN with the bad news… PORTIA and
BENJAMIN are far from settled and there is a tension under all of this…]

62
PORTIA [Reading the letter thoroughly…] Good Lord almighty....
BEN Yeah.
PORTIA Why in the world would he have agreed to a pound of flesh? That's just not
good sense. In any negotiation you have to control the terms…
BEN I know, I know, I told him that…
PORTIA This Shylock must be quite an operator.
BEN Those damn Jews…
NESSA Excuse me?
BEN I'm sorry… are you Jewish?
NESSA No, but—never mind.
BEN Look, I don't hate the Jews.
NESSA Oh, really? Because it seems to / me, I just
BEN I don't hate them, it's just--- you know, the really Jew-y Jews, the
moneylenders and merchants that try to rob you and take advantage of you.
They think they can control everything just because they have money.
NESSA Wow, that must be really terrible for you...
BEN It is!
PORTIA [Still reading and thinking…] Quiet please…
BEN Look, I'm a bit upset because this one particular Jew is getting ready to
literally cut the heart out of a man I am deeply indebted to, so forgive me if
I'm not particularly thrilled with the Israelites just now!
NESSA I'm sorry about your friend. Sir…
BEN Thank you. [To PORTIA] Well?
PORTIA It doesn't look good, legally. You should settle.

63
BEN I don't have that kind of money.
PORTIA I do. Take all you need.
BEN I can't do that.
PORTIA Why not?
BEN Why…?!? Well, half an hour ago you told me you "really liked me" and I was
the man for you. Twenty minutes ago I told you I'd been implicitly lying to
you and that I'm actually black… And ten minutes ago I get a letter from my
benefactor telling me he is most likely going to be legally executed because
of a debt he took on to help finance my trip to win your heart!
PORTIA So what's the problem?
BEN I'm sorry, but that's a lot to digest, and I'm not sure I can add borrowing a
small fortune on top of that from the woman I love to pay off the debt—
PORTIA Stop. This is a time for action, not emotion. Take the money. It's the right
choice. This is a man's life, and like it or not, you are responsible.
BEN Right, I…
PORTIA Good. Nessa will make the arrangements. We’ll make Shylock an offer he’d
have to be crazy to refuse.
BEN I… thank you.
PORTIA Now you should go. You have a long trip head of you.
BEN Yes.
PORTIA Write to me every day.
BEN Really?
PORTIA Yes, really.
BEN I will.
PORTIA Good.

64
BEN That mean's you--
PORTIA You should go.
BEN Right.
PORTIA Travel safe.
BEN Good-bye. And thank you. Good-bye. Right… So, are we…?
PORTIA Go!
BEN Right.
[And he is gone…]
2.4 WELL…
NESSA Well.
PORTIA Well, indeed. You knew?
NESSA About?
PORTIA Him. His… lineage.
NESSA I did.
PORTIA And you didn't consider sharing he information?
NESSA I considered it.
PORTIA And?
NESSA I chose not to.
PORTIA Why, may I ask?
NESSA You may ask. But I'm not sure I could tell you even if I wanted to. But you
didn't ask, so I didn’t tell.
PORTIA Is't so indeed?

65
NESSA Is't.
PORTIA I see. Well… You need to pack.
NESSA Pack…? [Beat] Are you… Are you firing me?
PORTIA What? No. Never! Don't be crazy.
No, we have to be on the road within the hour. Benjamin Bassanio might be
a Negro liar and scoundrel, but he's my Negro liar and scoundrel. I'm not
going to sit idle while his friend is sliced up for parts. My father knew
everyone in the DC judiciary. I can just imagine the kind of representation
his… negro benefactor… will get. If Shylock won’t settle, it might be time
for a new Harvard hotshot—a young Mr. Wooliston—to make his DC debut.
NESSA Have you lost your mind??!
PORTIA I don't think so.
NESSA You're really going to go to DC… pretend to be a man… pretend to be a

lawyer… and try to save the life of some man you've never met… all for your
lying black boyfriend who you aren’t going to marry anyhow?
PORTIA Yes… yes… yes… yes, and that is still totally an open question. Now go,
pack! We leave in an hour. I'll be in the library. Go!
[They both go in different directions… SHYLOCK enters, talks to us…]
2.5 RIGHT & WRONG
[LANCELOT enters and talks to us…]
LANCE Yeah, so, I didn't go.
With Miss Jessica. In case you were wondering why I was still here. I just
couldn't. She made a damn good case, she's a good person, and she makes
a hell of a knish… But still… I just couldn't go. I couldn't leave my master,
Shylock. Why, you wonder? Well, I'll tell you.
I have no idea.

66
It just didn't… feel right. Like… like when they give you the wrong change at
the store—an extra nickel or dime, maybe—and it's their mistake, and you
could walk away and no one the wiser, but… it just doesn't feel right.
You know what I mean? Do you?
And speaking of wrong... things here have gone from bad to worse, and
worse to worser. Shylock was never exactly Mr. Popularity, but now with this
trial folks think he's Simon Legree, Long John Silver, and Richard the Third
all rolled into one. 'Course they ain't thrilled with a savvy black businessman
neither, so plenty of folks wouldn't mind seeing Mr. DuPre a pound or so
lighter, neither… So folks are coming from all over to see the proceedings.
I'd just as leave not go at all, but it seems like I got a ringside seat…
[NESSA appears…]
NESSA 'Scuse me?
LANCE Yes, ma'am? How can I help?
NESSA Your name Lancelot?
LANCE Why, yes, ma'am, it is.
NESSA You work for Mr. Shylock?
LANCE I do.
NESSA Well, I got a letter for him.
LANCE That so?
NESSA I'm not going to lie to you, child. What would be the point a' that?
LANCE Nah, I was just… Ummm, whose it from, if I may ask?
NESSA You may not.
LANCE Oh. Why not?
NESSA Why not what?
LANCE Why may not I ask?

67
NESSA Oh, Lord, go ahead and ask.
LANCE Whose it from?
NESSA None of your business.
LANCE Oh. Ummm… Can we go back a bit?
NESSA I have a letter for you master, Shylock. It's urgent that he get it before the
trial. It is from someone who is trying to help. If you would get it to him with
all possible haste, we would all be deeply grateful for your efforts.
LANCE That was incredibly clear. Thank you.
NESSA You're welcome.
LANCE You should be a professional direction-giver or something, because if all the

direction I received was like that, I would be about 151 times better at… well
at everything than I am currently. I mean usually—
NESSA Lancelot?
LANCE Yes?
NESSA Take the letter to Shylock. Now!
LANCE Yes ma'am. And what, may I ask, is your name, ma'am?
NESSA What you need my name for?
LANCE Don't need it. Just want it.
NESSA Why?
LANCE Because I might need to get an answer to… your letter sender. Plus, I think
you are about the most… something woman I've ever run across, and I
would like to know your name for future reference.
NESSA Nessa. Nessa Rose.
LANCE Oh. That's really pretty. I love roses. My grandma—

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NESSA Lancelot.
LANCE Yes.
NESSA Go. Now. Deliver!
LANCE Yes, ma'am!
[Music. Big transition, perhaps…]
2.6 THE TRIAL
NESSA And now, friends, The Trial. The Main Event!
LANCE So… just what is it, do you suppose, about a trial that makes it so damn
fascinating? I mean, I get it, kind of… direct conflict, this against that,
unstoppable force vs. immoveable object, binary oppositions, but—
NESSA Lancelot?!
LANCE Right. Excellent.
NESSA Then off we go!
[Music plays and the set and lights shift. During this they adjust their outfits
and put on wigs and such in order to assume their new characters…]
LANCE The Trial scene is now imminent!
NESSA And we find ourselves unfurnished with White Men enough to sit on high in
Judgment, and argue with supercilious superiority-- as they are so apt to do.
LANCE [Looking out at us…] Now, now, don't look at us like that… we didn't make
that true… we’re just sayin' what's true—
NESSA Therefore, I will be portraying The Judge: The portly, profound, and right
honorable William Douglas Whitaker the third.
LANCE And I will undertake the role of Shylock's attorney… an eager young Jewish
fellow by the name of Mr. Avram Levin Fitterman.
NESSA And last, but not least, a fancy, fresh-faced Harvard lawyer by the name,
apparently, of Mr. Reginald Wooliston, is set to represent Antoine DuPre.

69
LANCE Not quite sure how exactly he came into it, but there it is.
NESSA The legal system of the United States of America works in mysterious ways…
LANCE …and always has.
NESSA Ain't that the truth.
LANCE And now… on with the trial!
[Music plays. PORTIA enters in lawyer's attire… as ANTOINE enters,

accompanied by BENJAMIN BASSANIO, and SHYLOCK enters alone. When
all is in place music ends abruptly and we smack in the middle of the trial]
WHIT Antoine du Pre. You chose to sign this bond?
ANT I did.
WHIT You did so of your own free will?
ANT I did.
WHIT Why, then, do you refuse to pay?
WOOL Your honor, the contract is illegal.

It is brutal, unkind and inhuman.
It contravenes the moral foundation
Of our very nation. It was extortion.
It should never have been proposed or signed.
FITT Due respect, your honor, this is nonsense.

It was not extortion. There was no threat.
It was made and accepted in good faith.
The terms were clear. No force or coercion
Was used. The contract must now be honored.
WHIT I must say, I find it hard to see how it was coercion. What say you, Mister…
ummm… Shylock? For this… Negro here to pay your bond will likely cost
him his life. Why are you so determined push this suit forward? It seems a
bit… absurd, the whole thing. You people are so litigious…

70
FITT Your honor, my client is under no compulsion to explain his "motivation". As
though he were an actor! The bond is unambiguous. He is owed what he is
owed. With due respect, my client need offer no further justification.
WOOL Just one question, your honor, if I may.
WHIT Proceed.
WOOL I understand you have offered

To repay the full sum, albeit late.
And not only to repay, but triple.
And that that has been refused. Is that right?
ANT It is.
WOOL [To SHYLOCK] I see. It is… insufficient?
FITT Has my client not declared his position?

He will have what is stated in the bond.
WOOL You would prefer to cut a pound of flesh

From the living body of this Negro?
[No answer…]
You will have your vengeance, is that not so?
FITT Objection, your honor. Inflammatory.
WOOL What is it you desire, if not vengeance?
[No answer…]
ANT Shylock! Why do you seek my death? Tell me!
[No answer…]
What will it accomplish? Who will benefit?

Who will be served by stealing my future?!?
FITT You don't have—

71
SHY Tell me who was served when your
Protégé helped his friend steal my future?!?
ANT Now what the hell is that supposed to mean?
BEN Your daughter ran away from you. That has

Nothing to do with Antoine or with me!
SHY [To BEN] It's just a coincidence, is that right?

I meet him with you, and two days later…
They disappear! You thought I did not see?
You helped that thieving… vegetable-seller!
You think I have no eyes or ears or sense?
I have found you out. Jews are everywhere…
Yes, even in Belmont, Massachusetts!
BEN I stole nothing from you, old man, I swear!
SHY I'm supposed to trust a liar and thief?

What are you doing here? I understand
You rarely leave the side of one Portia—
A wealthy WHITE woman you are wooing!
ANT That's a lie! Shylock, you've lost your damn mind!
SHY Did Antoine not know what his loan was for?
Tell him! Tell him how you spent my money.
[There is disorder and confusion and yelling…!]
WHIT Order in the court! Order in the court! Silence.

This… nonsense is not the issue at hand.
I will brook no further interruptions.
Now… All this other hullabaloo aside…

The contract seems to be in good order.
I fail to see to any reason why I—
WOOL Your honor, one moment. If I may...?

Good Jew, I see you what you are. I see
What you are doing. But listen to me.
Trust me in this: You must be merciful.

72
SHY Where is the need? Why must I show mercy?
WOOL The quality of mercy is not strained.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest—
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
[As she says this, she is also seeing BENJAMIN and thinking not only about
ANTOINE and SHYLOCK but about herself and him as well…]
You know that this is true, that this is right.

We all should act as we would have others
Act towards us. This simple truth is at the
Foundation of our civilization.
Mercy. Kindness. Compassion. Connection.

These things alone allow us to bridge our
Differences. To live in peace. Abandon
Them… and chaos and heartbreak will follow.
History teaches this again and again.
Let word be spread across the capitol.

Let it be known far and wide that Shylock,
The Jew, is not merely shrewd and wealthy,
But merciful. Let this be the story
Of Shylock that lives on after today.
[SHYLOCK tries to say nothing… and then fails]
SHY You… you dare to lecture me on Mercy?

You infant! He Jews invented mercy.
I ask The Ribbono Shel Oylam for
Mercy each morning when I say my prayers!
Where was your mercy when you massacred
The people who owned this land before you?
Where was your precious mercy when your slaves
Sweated, bled, and died to build this country?
When they built the Capitol and White House
And this very courtroom in which we stand?
Where is your mercy when you ridicule,
Humiliate and debase the poor and powerless?
The High and Mighty preach Mercy to
Those they've wronged; Patience to those whose patience

73
They've exhausted; and non-violence to those
Who they have finally provoked to violence!
I have no use for your self-serving mercy!
Your honor! Shall I have my bond or not?
WOOL Just one more question?
FITT You don't need—
SHY Why not?

Let the boychick ask his one more question.
WOOL Why a pound of flesh? Why precisely that?

From whence did that… inspired choice, arise?
SHY I cannot say.
WOOL It sounds more like something

You might purchase at a butcher shop.
A chicken. A nice chop. A pound of flesh.
Why would you ask such a thing from a man?
SHY I cannot say.
WOOL Ah, well that is a shame.

It may have been better for you if you
Had considered your choice more carefully…
Shylock, it may have escaped your notice

But there has been a proclamation made
That people are no longer property.
Did this proclamation pass you by?
The Emancipation Proclamation?
FITT Umm… objection, your honor.
WHIT Overruled.
WOOL It is to our countries enduring shame

That for a dozen generations we
Have bought and sold men, women and children.
We've treated them as property. No more.

74
The 13th Amendment is now The Law
Of the land. Slavery is finally done.
Women and men can not be bought nor sold,
Gutted, weighed or measured on bloody scales.
The great American Experiment
Began when we declared for all to hear
That All Men Were Created Equal. All.
You claim Antoine DuPre has signed this bond,

And is to blame. I say you are to blame!
Your honor, this case is eas'ly resolved.

The contract is unconstitutional.
The 13th amendment is explicit:
Slavery shall not be tolerated.
To claim to own a piece of this Negro—
To have ownership over his body—
Is unambiguously slavery.
You cannot own his body nor his soul
Nor even one mere pound of his good flesh.
Therefore the bond must be found null and void.
WHIT Good young sir, I thank you for your insight.

In light of this perspective, I think we—
ANT No.
WHIT Ummm… I'm sorry?
ANT I said No. No. I refuse that… interpretation.
WHIT Good sir, do you misunderstand / what—
ANT I understand perfectly and I refuse to be delivered in that manner.
[SHYLOCK stands and stares at ANTOINE is shock and disbelief…]
That great law—that… invaluable and overdue amendment to our imperfect

Constitution—was meant for far bigger things than saving my ass from this
vengeful Jew. I was not a slave. I was born a free man of color. My father
earned that freedom through his sweat and bravery and I have proudly lived
my life every day since I understood what it meant in relation to it. I will not
live the rest of my natural life beholden to a law that was never meant for me.

75
I am not a slave in heart, mind or body. I never was and I never will be. I was
blessed to be born free, I have lived free, and if I must I will die free.
Shylock, you want my life, come and take it.

Pick up your knife and take your pound of flesh!
[Beat. SHYLOCK stares at him, hesitates…]
Come on, damn you, what are you waiting for?

You've hauled me here before this court for this.
I am ready. Take my heart if you dare!
Cut your pound of flesh and be done with it.
[SHYLOCK stands abruptly. The lights shift. Music plays under. SHYLOCK
walks downstage and looks directly at us, the audience. He can see us and
we can see him. He looks at us for a long moment…]
SHY I see you. All of you. Looking at me. Judging…
"Why so vengeful?"
"What kind of monster would do such a thing?"
You have no idea what we have endured… NO IDEA. I have been scorned
and spurned and spit at all my life. From every quarter. Overtly. And covertly
As far back as memory can claw... "Jew", "the Jew", "oh, yes, yes, the
Jew…" "Jew him down", "fucking Jews…", "careful, or he'll play the Jew
with you…". And just simply, barely overheard… Jew. Jew. Jew. Jew. Jew…
Do you have any idea of what this does to a man?
This… indirect barrage…
This… free-floating hatred…
This… endless background abhorrence…
Well, it does something.
[Beat. He gets an idea in the moment. Considers it. Chooses to act… He

looks or goes out into the audience very deliberately…]

76
What is your name, sir? [The person says his name. Tom, say…] Tom. This is
Tom. Tom. A fine name. A fully acceptable name. A good a name as any
other. Let's tarnish it, shall we? [All of this is with as much hard-edged hatred,
scorn and contempt as possible…] Tom. Tom. Tom. "What a Tom". "Did
you see that? Such a Tom!" "He cheated me! What a typical Tom!" Tom.
Tom. Worthless Tom. Stupid Tom. The Tom’s killed Jesus. Tom’s are vermin.
Want a better world? Round up all the Toms! Awful, evil, wretched Tom.
[Quiet, intense] Tom. Tom. Tom…
And that was about 20 seconds of it… How did it feel? Tell me, honestly,
how did it feel? [He gets the audience member to answer, hopefully… If she
or he does, SHYLOCK repeats her or his answer… Then:] Very good.
Now magnify that… by a lifetime. A LIFETIME!!!
Now, go ahead…. Judge me! JUDGE ME!
[A final, broken, lost honest cry to the universe…]
SOMEONE SHOULD PAY FOR MY PAIN!!!
[There is the sound of a gavel. Court is adjourned. We don't know what has
happened to SHYLOCK or ANTOINE or anyone. Music plays…]
2.7 NIGHT…
[Music continues. Something beautiful. The cast comes out—except

ANTOINE & SHYLOCK—to look at the stars. They're in their own worlds…]
PORTIA On such a night as this…
LANCE On such a night as this…
REN On such a night as this…
BEN On such a night as this…
JESS On such a night as this…
NESSA On such a night as this…
[Music continues… Folks remain on stage from this point forward, watching
the others… The rules of the world shift here… Each of these scenes is The

77
Conversation, the most full, most charged, more important conversations
any of them have probably ever had or ever will have… or damn close…]
2.8 IMAGINE
LANCE You know what always kills me?
NESSA What?
LANCE When someone says, "If I were them, I wouldn't have done that." Or "I
would never do that." Or "I can't imagine doing something like that."
NESSA Why? I say things like that all the time.
LANCE You do?
NESSA Sure I do. People do ridiculous things all the time, and I / always think
LANCE But are you saying… you really can't imagine doing the same stupid shit that
they do?
NESSA Ummm… I think so.
LANCE But—
NESSA I can imagine doing my own stupid shit. I do do my own stupid shit all the
time, but often I can't imagine doing the particular stupid shit they doing.
LANCE I can. I actually think I spend as much time doing that as anything.
NESSA Doing what, exactly?
LANCE Imagining doing other people's stupid shit. Their smart shit, too. The odder
things get, the more I really want to understand why everybody's doing
everything they're doing.
NESSA Yeah, I don't think about that so much.
LANCE No?
NESSA Not so much. I just try n' figure out what I need to do to deal with all they
stupid shit.

78
LANCE Oh, yeah, that makes good sense.
NESSA Thanks.
LANCE I think it all started with Mr. Magillicuddy.
NESSA Who is Mr. Magillicuddy?
LANCE This scrappy little beagle that used to hang 'round when I was little. He was
interested in everything. I mean everything. Food, of course, but puddles,
ponds, rocks, sticks, leaves, shiny things, just… everything. And I guess I
thought that was a good way to be. Curious. But I was only interested in
people. Why was my cousin, Bigger Jordan, so mean, when his little brother
Avery was so nice? Why did Old Hank like to watch things burn? Why did
this one girl—we called her The Flea—make me dream of rescuing her from
Pirates, while this other girl, Kaddy, who was way prettier and really seemed
to like me, I just couldn't bother about at all? What was that all about?
NESSA So you study people, huh?
LANCE Yeah, I guess so.
NESSA You studyin' me?
LANCE I guess I am.
NESSA So? What have you found out?
LANCE Well, you're real pretty…
NESSA Hell, any fool knows that…!
LANCE You smell good all the time, so maybe you really don't want to smell bad.
NESSA [This is clearly totally true] Hey!
LANCE And you're about eleven times smarter than I am, I can tell that.
NESSA How can you tell that?
LANCE From how you listen.
NESSA How do I listen?

79
LANCE Wonderfully. Insightfully. I can see you dropping what you hear like little
beans, in little… slots in your brain where they belong. Like you're getting
everything that is being said and know just what to do with it. Usually when I
listen it's like folks is just throwing handfuls of beans at me and I catch a few
and miss most of them and put the extra in my pocket cause I'm not sure
what to do with them.
NESSA I don't know about all that. You seem pretty… something.
LANCE Oh, I'm something, Miss Nessa, but I'm not quite sure what.
NESSA Me neither.
LANCE But my point is…
NESSA Oh, right, you had a point…
LANCE I don't get it when others don't get it about others. Don't you think we ought
to? Don't you think that's kind of the whole point?
NESSA Point of what?
LANCE Life. Our time here in this one little life. To get others. To somehow wriggle
out of our own particular skins and take a look at the world through the eyes
of all the other folks. Cause if I've learned one thing from trying to
understand people, it's that not understanding people leads to nothing but
trouble, and trouble leads to yelling and hitting, and yelling and hitting
tends to lead to all manner of worser and worser and worser things… so…
NESSA Will you marry me?
LANCE Uhh…
NESSA Seriously.
You're a gem. A genuinely good man.
And I want you with me. Now and always.
LANCE Ummm… Are you sure? That quite a leap, right there.
NESSA I know, but I got a feeling 'bout you.

80
LANCE But… and please Miss Nessa Rose I mean no
Disrespect, but… you don't know me at all.
I'm not sure what you see when you see me
But I'm not sure that I'm the guy you think.
The guy you think I am. Or want me to be.
NESSA Are you saying no?
LANCE No.
NESSA Are you saying yes?

Will you say yes to me… and to yourself?
Will you be the man that I see in you?
[They stand there looking at each other…]
2.9 UMMM…
JESS It's time.
REN Ummm…
JESS It's time to tell The Truth.
REN Ummm…
JESS I've risked my life and shared my wealth and left

My father, most probably forever.
Now here we are together, you and I,
And I need to know if I am starting
A brand new life with someone I can trust…
Or with a lying cheating scoundrel.
REN Ummmm…
JESS Tell me. Tell me what I need to know.
REN Trust me when I tell you the truth is not—

And never has been— easy for me to
Hold on to.
JESS That's not good enough.

81
REN I know.
Well, here goes then: You see, darlin', I've been lyin' just about as long as
I've been talkin', and truth be told, somewhere along the line it gets hard to
tell the damn difference. I grew up poorer 'n dirt with no mother to talk of
and a father as mean as a fuckin' snake (pardon my language) and all I've
ever known was that I wanted somethin' better, and lyin' and cheatin' and
stealin' and lyin' some more never seemed too high a price to pay. And
then… and this is the God's honest truth, though it even sounds to me like
the biggest lie of all… I met you.
JESS But that first day we met, was that just chance…?
REN Hell, no! I followed you that day because

I knew exactly who you were and I
Wanted to seduce you and rob you blind.
JESS I thought that that was it.
REN You did?
JESS I did.
REN Then why did you—
JESS I wanted something, too.

I wanted anything but what I had.
If you were using me, than I was, too.
Using you, that is.
REN Well brand my butt, who knew?
JESS I did.
REN Well, you are just the darndest thing!

You’re really—something. Something wonderful.
And that’s the truth. As far as I can tell.
[She grabs him and kisses him hard on the lips.]
JESS That was good. That sounded… real. Truthful-ish.

Do you love me?

82
REN Well, it sure seems that way.
JESS And you'd be good to me?
REN As good as gold!
JESS And you'll become a Jew?
REN I'm sorry, what?
JESS You'll convert. Convert to Judaism.
REN You can do that?
JESS Of course.
REN Become a Jew?

Just… switch over? Just… turn into a Jew?
JESS Yes. I have changed everything else. Not that.

I'm Jewish. You're a lying, thieving cheat.
I'm not going to go your way. You come mine.
[Beat]
REN Well, Lord a' mercy, I did not see that comin'. That's about the craziest thing
I ever— And then again... maybe its not. Would it hurt?
JESS Would what hurt?
REN Becoming a Jew? Are there… things you gotta do?
JESS Ummm… well, there’s a few small… alterations.
REN Well, how bad can it be, right?
JESS Exactly.
REN So, look: What if I do… just switch over.

Become Lorenzo LaRue: Brand New Jew.
You think we might have a chance?
JESS Hard to say. It sure doesn't seem likely.

83
REN Yeah. 'Bout as far from likely as it gets.
JESS And yet…
REN And yet…
JESS Who knows, right?
[Quick beat…]
REN Right. Who knows…?
[Music plays. Lights shift. Another scene begins…]
2.10 THE CONVERSATION…
[This is their first chance to speak along since the trial. It is tense and taught.
They know that this is… The Conversation.]
PORTIA Hi.
BEN Hi.
I don't know what to say.
PORTIA Thank you.
BEN What for?
PORTIA No, thank you. That's what you should say.
BEN Ah. Right. Thank you. For?
PORTIA For coming here. For coming her to help your friend?
BEN You mean coming here dressed as a man, impersonating a lawyer, to help?
PORTIA Yes.
BEN Coming here passing as a man?
[Quick beat…]

84
PORTIA I wasn't passing, I was—
BEN Yes?
PORTIA I was… in disguise…
BEN Ah.
PORTIA It's different. You know it is.
BEN It is. But it's also the exactly the same. You know it is.
PORTIA …
BEN Thank you for coming. Thank you for trying to help my friend.
PORTIA Yeah, that didn't play out exactly as I'd imagined.
BEN Yeah, I don't think anyone could have seen that coming. Then again, I don't
think anyone could have seen you coming. You were very… impressive. I
know your father was a lawyer, but how did you know all that… legal stuff?
PORTIA I've been attending classes.
BEN Where?
PORTIA Ummm… Cambridge?
BEN Harvard?
PORTIA Yeah.
BEN Harvard Law School?
PORTIA Yeah.
BEN Wow…
PORTIA It's a good school!
BEN Yeah, that's not the issue.

85
PROTIA No, I know…
BEN You go dressed like that?
PORTIA More or less.
BEN Why?
PORTIA Why? Why am I pretending to be something I'm not? Are you seriously
asking me that question?
[Beat]
BEN No, I guess not.
PORTIA No. I guess not.
[Beat…]
BEN You, Portia… you are… I think you're astonishing.
PORTIA I like your face.
BEN I'm sorry?
PORTIA Don't be.
BEN No, I meant—
PORTIA I know what you meant.
BEN You like my face?
PORTIA I do. I can't help it. I like the way you look. I like the way you are.
BEN I know.
PORTIA Oh?
BEN The question isn't whether you like me. Or even love me.
PORTIA Oh no?

86
BEN You know it isn't. We love each other. We know that's true. The question is:
What are we going to do about this… inconvenient reality.
PORTIA Yes. That is the question…
BEN Portia. My love. I'm just me. I'm just this man right here, this guy. Black. And
white. Flawed beyond all measure, and ridiculously in love with you.
So…? What do you say?
PORTIA Wait, what? You want an answer now? This instant?
BEN I do.
PORTIA Oh.
BEN I mean, we can wait, we can "take some time", but we don't change our
minds, do we? Not really. And if it's hard or going to cause pain we pretend
we "need some time", but we know. We always know. We know who we
are… and we know what we are going to do. Right?
PORTIA Benjamin…
BEN Right? [Pause] Pause.
PORTIA Right.
BEN And so. My love. What do want from me?

Do you want my love and my heart and hand
Now and forever? Will you choose this Life
With Me—the struggle, the looks, the violence,
The radical injustice… the painful
Realities of day-to-day life with
A black man in America? [Beat] Or not?
[They stand facing each other. Maybe his hand is outstretched to her. Maybe
he just stands there looking right at her with her looking right back… Maybe
they stay here, like this more or less, through the end of the play…]
2.11 STILL INTACT
[ANTOINE enters and talks to us…]

87
ANT So… I didn't die. Not today…
Shylock raged… and wept… and walked away. Just walked away…
[Beat…]
As for Benjamin Bassanio… I don't know what to say about that. I wish him
success. I also wish him a lifetime of regret. I expect he will have both…
[Beat…]
As for me… I’m still here. Broke. But not broken. [Landing it] Not. Broken.
It’s fascinating to lose nearly everything… including your damn life. Take
away… all the “Things”… and you see just who you are in the eyes of the
world. When A Black Man fails big in America, well… No One Feels Nothing.
I see it in their eyes. The disappointment. The pleasure. The pain.
The relief…
As the kids say: I didn’t choose that to be true. I’m just sayin’ what’s true.
[Beat…]
Tomorrow I'll wake at dawn, scrub myself clean, and dress for the day. I’ll
look forward to the smell of the coffee and the breakfast cooking in the early
morning hush. I’ll glance out through the curtains to see what the day might
hold…. and eagerly anticipate the difficult work ahead.
I’m not done, my friends.
I’m not nearly done…
2.12 YOU OWE US THAT
[SHYLOCK comes forward…]
SHY I had hope. Once…
I wanted to be happy. I worked hard, I studied, I prayed…
I trusted…

88
I looked for love and thought about the future.
I knew the world was not kind. Or fair. Or just. The Torah tells us this. The
Talmud tells us this. All the great books, perhaps, tell us this most of all…
But I suppose… I suppose… [He has never said this out loud before, never
even really known he thought it until now…] I hoped it would be kind to me.
I hoped that it would be just for me… and for those… those I loved.
It was not.
Not for me. Or them. Or, perhaps, for many of you…
If it has been fair and kind and just to you… congratulations.
I hope you enjoy every minute of every passing day. You should…
You owe the rest of us that.
Good luck with the rest of your life.
I hope you don't need it…
[The whole cast look at us a long moment… Then…. Blackout.]
END OF PLAY

89

District Merchant Draft - Posner

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DISTRICT MERCHANTS

A Commission of Folger Theatre @ Folger Shakespeare Library

Folger Performance Draft • June '16

• DM Folger Performance Draft •

ANTOINE A prosperous, powerful, maybe melancholy African American

SHYLOCK A prosperous Jewish merchant and moneylender. A widower. An

JESSICA Shylock's daughter. Whip-smart, sheltered, bold, big-hearted,

BENJAMIN BASSANIO An ambitious, charming, practical, ruthless, insightful, very light

LORENZO (REN) A bold, charming, unscrupulous, enthusiastic, curious and highly

PORTIA A wickedly smart, witty, shrewd, passionate, jaded, law-obsessed

NESSA Portia's servant and… friend. Quick-witted, sharp-tongued,

LANCELOT Shylock's servant. Confused, erudite, conflicted, funny, hopeful

Perhaps a re-construction site. Or a vaguely Shakespearean stage with (somehow) a distinctly

• DM Folger Performance Draft •

Prologue Shylock & Antoine The Gentlemen

Second Prologue Antoine & Shylock More to come…

2.0 Ruinous Shylock & Antoine An appeal…

• DM Folger Performance Draft •

PROLOGUE THE GENTLEMEN

[ANTOINE and SHYLOCK enter. There is both a familiarity and uneasiness

SHY Good evening.

ANT Good evening.

ANT This is a play. Of sorts…

SHY Though I suspect you already know that.

ANT A fiction, a re-construction, a fable almost...

SHY Der ams in a lign. The truth in a lie.

ANT [Hearing this wisdom…] Yes. That's very good.

SHY [To him] Thank you. [To us] To begin:

ANT The time is

SHY (more or less…)

ANT The 1870's.

SHY The place,

ANT (more or less…)

SHY Washington, in the District of Columbia.

ANT Formerly, a swamp. Now the Capitol City.

SHY A burgeoning metropolis in this puerile, barely post-adolescent country.

• DM Folger Performance Draft •

SHY Too soon? Too harsh? Too… accurate?

ANT Mostly free blacks, even before the war.

SHY Mostly…? Yes, well…

ANT About 1500 Jews.

SHY If you count the reform…

ANT I count a Yid as a Yid.

SHY And I count a shvartze as a shvartze.

ANT We won the war.

SHY Which also means we lost the war.

ANT [Firm. Absolute.] No, we won.

ANT The war is over.

ANT Not a friend of the General?

SHY He is not a "friend" of the Jews…

• DM Folger Performance Draft •

SHY To sum up: It's The 1870's.

ANT (Fictional 1870's. Theatrical 1870's…)

SHY It's Washington DC.

ANT Power and politics. Credit and coercion.

SHY Money and mishigas.

ANT [ANTOINE looks at him. He doesn't know the word…] Mishisgas?

ANT Yeah, we got a word for that, too.

SHY I shouldn't wonder.

SHY Time to begin...

ANT Ah, yes, beginnings....

In the beginning… God created the heavens and the hearth.

SHY Bereshith bara Elohim eth hashshamayim veeth haarets.

• DM Folger Performance Draft •