NIX draft.16.4.5

8/18/2019 NIX draft.16.4.5

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NIX

copyright Katherine Brann Fredricks 2015 & 2016. All rights reserved.

Adapted from Hamlet. With quotes from Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Kissinger & J. Paul Getty.

Time: the present. Nix is set on la Frontera, the border between New Mexico/Arizona & Mexico. All characters

are a mix of Latin, Native American & Anglo. Musical style rap, latin & rock.

Petra late 20s to early 30s. Mezzo with a strong belt. (G below middle C up to E at the top of the staff) A Latina

Erin Brockovich. Petra is a war widow, supporting herself & her 8-year-old daughter by hauling waste water away

from fracking wells. Strong leading actress who can carry a show. Charismatic and driven. Latin & tango dance

experience required, more formal dance training a plus.

Viola age @ 8-10. (Viola middle C up 1 octave to D) Daughter of Petra. Strong singer. Solo songs. Smart,

inquisitive and haunted by her dead father. Dance experience a plus. Loves her scruffy puppy.

Fermin 35-45. Baritone. (A at bottom of bass clef to D above the staff) Smiles & smiles but underneath is a true

villain. Athletic but not pretty leading man con duende. Smart, hardworking & even idealistic man who’s willing to

overlook anything he can’t pump thru a pipe. Nestor’s chief campaign contributor

Tiny age 25-50. Bass. (Db below bass clef to C above the staff) Toolpusher. Not Tiny at all. A mountain of a man

with a real short fuse. Playing former infantry grunt turned oil field worker. Voice doubles as the ghost of Petra’s

husband. Need performer with an intimidating presence. Some hand to hand theatre combat experience

preferred.

Rafael Age 35. Tenor. (F at bottom of tenor clef up to B above the staff) Water quality technician. Killed for

objecting to contaminating the city water supply. Brother of Nestor. Rugged, Former infantry corporal. Some

hand to hand theatre combat experience preferred. Hand puppet experience preferred.

Nestor Mayor. Tenor. (E# at bottom of tenor clef up to A above the staff) 30-something. Tenor. Romantic male

lead. Mayor & former infantry Lieutenant. In love with Petra, his best friend’s widow. Nestor’s brother is missing,

& Petra suspects Nestor’s chief campaign contributor. Latin & tango dance experience required, more formaldance training a plus

Jade mid- 30s. Mezzo with a strong belt. (F below middle C up 1 1/2 octaves to C) Anesthesiologist. Older sister

to Petra. Wife of Fermin. Smart, stylish, successful clinician, with no time for superstition. Torn between

passionate love for her husband & loyalty to her sister.

SONGS

* indicates demo songs available on my website . https://katherine-b-fredricks.squarespace.com/

1* On the Road Petra & Viola

2 Treasure Chest Fermin, Rafael, Tiny

3* Play Dumb Petra

4 Nix Viola5 Twilight Jade, Petra & Viola

6* Nothing Matters Blues Petra

7 Mine Nestor & Petra

8 You Ought to Know Tiny, Fermin, Jade, Petra, Rafael, Viola

9 Leave it in the Ground Rafael & chorus

10 The River’s Here Petra & Viola

11 Defend Us Petra, Viola, Julio & Rafael

12 That Brother of Mine Nestor, Tiny

13 Finale Full Cast

https://katherine-b-fredricks.squarespace.com/




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SCENE 1 Trailer park, 8 a.m. on a sunny, June morning. Demo song available on my website:


Petra walks towards her water tanker. Viola, age ten, with a

scruffy puppy on a leash, runs to Petra.

VIOLA Mami, is truck driving a good career?

PETRA I make good pay.

VIOLA So can Nix & I ride along today?

PETRA Why does Nix need a new career? He’s top dog, here.

VIOLA No, me!

PETRA No, you? We’ll see!

VIOLA Mami, please!

PETRA You’re safer here. That crew’s pretty rough.

VIOLA We’ll protect you! We’re rough and tough and hard to bluff!

PETRA Well, I can’t neglect your future career.

You can ride, if –

you can climb all the way up in here.

VIOLA Riding the road, blowing the horn?

PETRA You rode with me, before you were born.

We hardly fit behind the wheel.

Insurance people pitched a fit,

but driving kept me real.

VIOLA Papi sings me to sleep. That’s real.

PETRA No nena. Not any more.

VIOLA Angels sing!

PETRA If angels sing, it takes a child to hear.

But I know one thing,

Love doesn’t disappear.




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Viola succeeds in climbing into the truck, has to climb out again, to

pick up Nix. When Viola scrambles in with the puppy, Petra starts the engine.

SONG 1 ON THE ROAD

PETRA By night, I dream my true love’s arms.

By day, he’s lost to me.

If heaven has roads

we’ll meet on the road,

the red road that rolls behind me.

So I put the hammer down

and roll down this road,

where lonesome blue devils can’t find me.

Ride that lifeline of highway, coast to coast.

Adventure around ev’ry bend.

And I don’t stop. I won’t stop. I won’t slow down,

Rolling free as the wild, free wind.

VIOLA Last night, Nix lay in my little bed.

Today, we’re driving free.

Here’s Nix on the road,

and I’m on the road,

and home’s on the road close behind me.

Mami, put the hammer down

and roll down this road,

where lonesome blue devils can’t find me.

PETRA Bounce this dusty dirt two-track, rut to rut.


DUET And we don’t stop. We won’t stop. We won’t slow down!

Rolling free as the wild, free wind.

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VIOLA We’re on a roll through America!

PETRA We’re rolling outward bound!

VIOLA Mile after mile, AmericaPETRA waiting to be found!

VIOLA And the rivers roll

PETRA and the hills roll

and my soul rolls out to the rim of the sky!

DUET Mile after mile, America

keep on rolling by!

PETRA And now, the hills are one big embrace!

And now, my love’s with me!

DUET And we’re on the road!

We roll down the road

and home’s at the end of our journey.

VIOLA Mami, put the hammer down

DUET and roll down this road,

where lonesome blue devils can’t find me!

SCENE 2 The Christmas tree of Well 18, that same morning.

Fermin argues with Rafael. Tiny tosses insults.

RAFAEL What’s in it?FERMIN I don’t have to say.

RAFAEL What’s in it!

TINY Make my day.

RAFAEL Then don’t run your water through my plant.

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TINY I can crunch you

like an ant.

FERMIN I got a deal with the Mayor.

RAFAEL Stop gaming me!Stop disclaiming responsibility.

Stop blaming me for asking -

What’s in it?

FERMIN My formula is my competitive edge.

RAFAEL You allege.

FERMIN The law says,

disclosure is voluntary.

I do not volunteer!

TINY So get the fuck outta here!

SONG 2 TREASURE CHEST

FERMIN

I got a treasure chest to unlock!

I dump it in

Pump it in

Pump down deep.

Lock in the leases,

Shock the rock to pieces

Make a never-fail cocktail to unlock

the treasure chestOf unconventional rock!

RAFAEL We’re in the desert, if you ain’t been told.

That witches brew

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you pump through

will suck the oil right outta your bones.

FERMIN Good. Tiny could use some low-fat bones.

RAFAEL Suck the oil outta your bones,and you may rule the Dow Jones,

but you won’t get ahead,

cause you’re dead.

Now, I got standards.

You don’t pass.

FERMIN Kick a drill bit up his ass.

RAFAEL I’m taking this to the press.

FERMIN Don’t bet your ass against cheap gas.

RAFAEL If a man poisons a man,

it’s a crime.

If your company

poisons a watershed,

it’s a crime.

FERMIN That’s an unfounded accusation.

RAFAEL It’s unfounded

‘cause you confiscated my information!

FERMIN Corporate secrets don’t go into

public circulation.

RAFAEL Your formula poisons wildlife.

What does drinking it do to a child’s life? FERMIN Under the laws of our nation

You’re not entitled to that information.

RAFAEL I fought for freedom in Iraq.

I can handle you and your jacked up rat PAC.

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FERMIN Tiny, we got an emergency.

You’re the big fucking hammer.

Adios insurgency.

Tiny Grabs Rafael from behind and breaks his neck.

FERMIN (to Tiny) Get rid of that.

The Tiny drags the Rafael off. The Rafael’s hat falls off.

FERMIN Come back for the hat.

FERMIN RAFAEL’S GHOST

What’s in it?

Guar gum makes it thicker.

Polyacrylamide makes it slicker.

What have I got in there to bust rock?

Think extreme jock!

Benzene, Xylene, Toluene, (A wordless wail)

Screw your downside –

Rock the upside!

Sulfuric acid,

Magnesium Peroxide, Glutaraldehyde.

I got a treasure chest to unlock!

So dump it in

Pump it in

Pump down deep.

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Lock in the leases,


Make a never-fail cocktail to unlock

the treasure chestOf unconventional rock!

Petra’s truck, rolls up the fracking rig.

SONG 1 CONTINUED

PETRA Bounce this dusty dirt two-track,

DUET rut to rut,


And we don’t stop. We won’t stop -

VIOLA Where’s Rafael?

That’s his hat blowing in the wind.

Tiny re-enters and starts to open Viola’s truck door with the intention of

eliminating witnesses.

PETRA (To Viola) Sit tight.

(to Tiny) Don’t touch her door, that pup might bite.

(to Fermin) I’m doing career -education today.

Hope that’s OK?

Tiny backs away and picks up Rafael’s hat.

TINY Lip lock and pucker!

Here’s our she-male trucker!

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Lemme suck her –

PETRA Don’t treat me like some round-heeled yokel,

I’ll take it to the Teamster’s local.

FERMIN Don’t start a beef with the Teamsters. (to Petra) If he throws a rodeo,

knock him on the head -

TINY Think you can handle a toolpusher’s head?

PETRA I don’t tease the brain-dead.

RAFAEL’S GHOST (a sigh, echoing, questioning, protesting) Dead, dead, dead.

FERMIN (to Tiny) Go! Be obscene and not heard.

Tiny exits with the hat, towards the body. Viola hears Rafael.

She looks around for him. As the scene progresses, Viola slowly

realizes she’s hearing Rafael’s ghost.

VIOLA (to Petra) Why’d that man take Rafael hat?

FERMIN Must have blown off,

They’re over there by my settling trough

chewing the fat.

PETRA (to Fermin) Rafael said he planned to complain.

Tried to explain

how your frack water wrecked his biota.

FERMIN Biota? Hey, five-dollar-words, that’s my quota.

He’s over there, running some test.

VIOLA Can I go see him?

FERMIN Be my guest.

PETRA Sit still.

(To Fermin) I keep hauling water?

FERMIN Sure you do. Unless and until

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Rafael gets up in my grill.

RAFAEL’S GHOST Benzene, Xylene, Toluene

Petra climbs out of the truck to load produced water into her tank.

RAFAEL’S GHOST Benzene, Xylene, Toluene

VIOLA Mami, what’s -

VIOLA & RAFAEL’S GHOST Benzene, Xylene, Toluene?

RAFAEL’S GHOST Murder.

FERMIN (covering up by intentionally mispronouncing the chemical name) Jolene?

Who’s Jolene? Some friend you’ve seen?

RAFAEL’S GHOST Mur-

FERMIN (to VIOLA) Your hair stood up like a terrier’s fur.

RAFAEL’S GHOST der. Murder.

FERMIN Who’s Jolene? Come on, I bite.

Climb on down, take a tour of my site.

Your mom and Rafael can confer.

Fermin opens Viola’s door. Nix barks.

RAFAEL’S GHOST Benzene, Xylene. Murder.

Call your mami. Call her!

VIOLA Mami!

Petra disconnects the hose & climbs into the driver’s seat.

PETRA You want me to drive? Please shut the door.

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Fermin shuts Viola’s door.

FERMIN Don’t bring your mutt here anymore.

Petra drives off. Tiny returns.

TINY Why’d you let them get away?

FERMIN One body’s enough for today.

FERMIN TINY RAFAEL’S GHOST

We got a treasure chest to unlock! Benzene, Xylene, Toluene

So dump it in

Pump it in

Pump down deep. (Pump it) hard and deep! Hard and deep!

Lock in the leases,


Make a never-fail cocktail to unlock (Make a) never-fail cocktail to unclock!

(Pump a) never-fail cocktail to unlock

(Pump it) Hard & deep! Hard & deep!

the treasure chest

of unconventional rock!

Black out.

SCENE 3 Petra Viola & Nix in the truck.

PETRA You OK?

VIOLA Thanks to Nix!

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PETRA Scaring people’s how Tiny gets his kicks.

VIOLA Is Rafael dead?

PETRA Cause his hat came off?

VIOLA Cause he sounds like Papi.PETRA How does Papi sound?

VIOLA Like a trickle of smoke, blowing around

inside my head. Rafael said,

“Benzene, Xylene, Toluene,”

then he said “murder!”

PETRA Nena, I want to believe you, I do.

But job one’s taking care of you

Folks would laugh at you, seeing a ghost.

VIOLA I didn’t see him. I just heard.

PETRA Nena, don’t quibble over a word.

If Rafael’s fine, this is all hot air.

If not, we had to get out of there.

VIOLA You don’t care!

SONG 3 PLAY DUMB Demo song available on my website . https://katherine-b-

fredricks.squarespace.com/

PETRA

When the giant’s down the beanstalk

When you hear, “Fee, Fie, Fo Fum!”

When your opponent’s meaner, faster, stronger,

Don’t linger longer!

It’s no shame to run away

And live to fight another day.







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There are times to advance,

There are times to retreat,

There are times when you’re beat

Before you start.When you recognize you’re beaten,

If you’re smart,

Play dumb.

Cause the race goes to the fastest

And the prize goes to the strong.

And little girls must calculate their chances

To make advances.

It’s no shame to run away,

And live to fight another day.

There are times to advance,

There are times to retreat,

There are times when you’re beat

Before you start.

When you recognize you’re beaten,

If you’re smart,

Play dumb.

Don’t land in the giant’s tummy. Don’t get chewed down to a crumb.

Just run your fastest! If you plan to win it,

you can’t begin it

when the bad guy’s guaranteed to win the day.

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Don’t mess around, my dearie-dear-o!

Pick your ground, don’t be a hero.

You play ‘em as they lay.

Live to fight another day.‘Cause you can’t win renown

‘til you chop that bean-stalk down

all the way.

VIOLA Swear it, mami? All the way?

PETRA If Rafael’s dead, I swear. All the way.

SCENE 4 That evening. Pedro O’Brian’s brew pub.

Fermin and Tiny join Nestor at the bar.

FERMIN To us, Your Honor!

We rule!

NESTOR To us!

Pull up a bar stool.

FERMIN Hey, Rafael said he felt sick today.

Hope he’s OK?

NESTOR Friday’s for dancing.

He’ll roll in, any sec.

FERMIN Say, how big a checkwould the city need for a rec-

reation center?

NESTOR You’d donate, for real?

FERMIN For you. Done deal.

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NESTOR The children will love that!

I’ll buy you a beer.

FERMIN I just love working with you here.

And I know you love your home town.I need your advice.

Jade’s sister, Petra, looks so low down.

NESTOR Petra was my best friend’s wife.

FERMIN Maybe Petra needs a new man in her life?

Maybe Petra needs you in her life?

She’s moody, depressed, withdrawn, upset.

Find out why. I’ll be in your debt.

SCENE 5. 7 pm that night. Outside Petra’s trailer.

Petra and her sister Jade are finishing dinner on the porch.

Viola enters with Nix on a leash.

SONG 4 NIX!

PETRA Walk him ‘til –

VIOLA I know, mami!

PETRA Then praise him to the skies!

VIOLA I know mami! (Viola realizes Nix is chewing something.)

No! No! Nix! (Viola scolds Nix, then cuddles him.)The world is full of crunchable things!

The world is full of munchable things!

The world is full of gotta-have things!

But they don’t belong to Nix!

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The world is full of shoes and shoe-laces!

The world is full of DVD cases!

The world is full of gotta-have things!But they don’t belong to Nix!

It’s sad for a dog who loves everything crunchy,

Mami hides ev’ry bar, chip and munchy!


But they don’t belong to Nix!

Wanna go for a walk?

Wanna play tug of war?

The world is full of books you can rip!

The world is full of cats you can nip!


Let’s go chase some down for Nix!

Viola exits with Nix. Petra and Jade resume their conversation.

PETRA Rafael shoulda me called back.

I got this hinky feeling. Something’s out of whack.

JADE Those brothers go dancing ev’ry Friday night.What are you waiting for, an engraved invite?

Find Rafael, have a beer, get mellow.

If he’s not there, give Nestor the down low.

Find Nestor. Go with the flow.

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Find Nestor. Go dancing. Go!

PETRA I’d feel unfaithful to Julio.

JADE I know you loved him.

PETRA I always will.JADE But the rest of your life can’t be all downhill.

Your heart got broken. Time to put it in a cast.

Honor the past. Don’t live in the past.

Let go of your tears.

PETRA Viola hears-

JADE Viola hears?

PETRA She says she hears -

Julio sing her to sleep, ev’ry night.

I love them both, but it gives my heart frost-bite.

JADE Hold on, back up,

I’m not down with what you said.

Julio’s fourteen months dead.

PETRA Los viejos say, our loved ones become Santos.

I imagine Julio

with a cocky, rodeo tilt to his halo.

JADE Los viejitos got a lot of superstition.

Your husband was a soldier, not a pinche magician.

PETRA Maybe you’re trading tradition for ambition?

JADE I came for dinner, not culture competition!

I value our tradition! Not superstition!

Superstition keeps us

in subordinate, blanket-ass

dumb ass, lame ass, last position.

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I value our proud, conquistador tradition.

Not your smoke-blowing, wo, wo,

La Llorona, back to the pueblo tradition!

Encourage your daughter to hear a ghost,I’ll fight you to my utmost.

PETRA I don’t encourage her!

But she hears something,

and I know it worries her.

JADE You lost your husband. Viola lost her father.

Of course you’ve been sad,

but you been tied up in a knot

way too long!

You been distraught

way too long.

PETRA It beats me like a drum,

every other thought -

What if Julio’s still defending,

the land where his ancestors fought?

If his spirit’s still here,

how can I love another man?

But why can’t I hear him,

if my little girl can?

JADE Hush. Hush.

I’ll sit with Viola.I’ll listen for this ghost.

The doctor’s in the house.

We’ll get this diagnosed!

PETRA Sorry I was mean.

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Ai! Sister-Doctor,

are these names you’ve seen?

“Benzene, Xylene, Toluene?”

JADE Those are toxic chemicals.Have you been exposed?

PETRA Viola said –

JADE Viola said?

PETRA Rafael’s ghost told her those names.

How could Viola know chemical names?

That’s not her imagination playing games.

Chemicals aren’t something

she dreamed while she dozed.

Something’s rotten here.

Case closed.

JADE So Viola heard a word

Maybe on TV?

Where was Rafael?

PETRA Nowhere I could see.

His hat was on the ground.

JADE One word.

PETRA Three words.

JADE Gimme a break.

I love you,

but you’re hard to take. That’s my husband’s well site,

Was my husband there?

PETRA Yes.

JADE So you’re doubting my husband?

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Spouting paranoid fantasy?

Lay off my husband!

Doubting him is doubting me!

Find Rafael. He’s probly having a beer.And don’t walk out in your grubby work gear.

We’re raiding your closet for spandex and gold.

PETRA No-

JADE Wake up!

How long since you used make up?

There’s family honor to uphold!

Find Rafael, have a beer, get mellow.




Stop thinking with no facts!

It gets you all perplexed.

Ignoring your own needs

has mad, bad effects!

It’s fourteen months, sister,

you’re overdue for sex!

Viola enters with Nix.

JADE Nena, how does your mami dress?VIOLA Dress? I guess

like she’s going to change a flat tire.

JADE What in her closet that you admire?

VIOLA Um.

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JADE Pick a dress for a high flyer!

Nothing with pockets. Nothing demin.

Lace or spandex. Red or gold.

There’s family honor to uphold! VIOLA Mami! There’s family honor to uphold!

Viola and Jade rummage Petra’s closet, dancing and

making Petra model. Excitement builds. They playing dress up

with anything that strikes their fancy.

PETRA (to Viola) Do you mind if I go dancing?

VIOLA Mami, I’ll dance with you!

SONG 5 TWILIGHT

JADE

Twilight parting.

Twilight meeting.

Doves sigh by twilight.

Wings beating. Blood beating. Hearts beating!

Doves fly by twilight.

If you will,

dream by twilight.

Dance the last gleam of twilight away.Stray by twilight.

Stray. Stray.

Paso double the night away.

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PETRA (to Viola) Do you mind if I go dancing?

VIOLA Who’ll dance with you?

JADE (to Viola) She has to go, to know.

But I’ll dance with you.(to Petra) Find Rafael, have a beer, get mellow.




VIOLA (to Petra) Are you asking Nestor to find Rafael?

PETRA Yes.

VIOLA Go, mami. I want you to go.

JADE

Twilight parting.

Twilight meeting.

Doves sigh by twilight.

Wings beating. Blood beating. Hearts beating!

Doves fly by twilight.

If you will,

dream by twilight.

Dance the last gleam of twilight away.

Stray into twilight.

Stray. Stray.

Paso double the night away.

Jade dances with Viola, but Viola’s mood has turned serious.

Petra walks out the front door.

Uncertainty hits her with the night air.

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SCENE 6 Ext. Petra’s trailer

SONG 6 NOTHING MATTERS BLUES Demo song available on my website .https://katherine-b-fredricks.squarespace.com/

PETRA

Nothing to say.

Nothing to do.

Nothing smaller

to fade into.

Nothing matters.

Nothing worth a damn.

Screw self pity!

Nothing, scram!

So my heart’s a bloody bruise?

There’s a pub to cruise.

Time to dance, dance, dance away

the nothing matters blues!

Love’s so much like dancing,

it’s tempting to fall.

Love’s so much like dancing,

I could break down a wall.

I could rip my clothes off.

I could throw down

with any hard-hat rough-neck

In this boom town.




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But the love I remember

was more than a dance.

The love I remember

wasn’t brew pub romance. That mem’ry’s an ember,

a slow burning coal.

So feet, stamp out the blues!

Head, hang onto control.

War stole my love,

but there’s starlight in the hole.

SCENE 7 Pedro O’Reilley’s brew pub

The song continues, switching locations as Petra walks in the door of the

Pub. Nestor rises to his feet. Petra walks towards him

PETRA Gossip to share.

Shooters to do.

Tiny tries to get Petra to dance. She waves him off & orders a beer.

Quesadillas

to rip into.

Life may suck but

damn it, I’m alive!

I’m entitled

to survive!

So my life’s a healing bruise.

There’s a pub to cruise.

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Time to dance, dance, dance away

the nothing matters blues!

Nestor offers her his hand.

PETRA Love’s so much like dancing,

it’s tempting to fall.

Love’s so much like dancing

I could break down a wall.

I could rip my clothes off.

I could throw down.

With any hard-hat rough-neck

in this boom town.

But the man I could fall for,

mi compa, Nestor.

The man I could fall for -

Too early for falling!

It’s time to console.

Hormones, don’t go insane!

Heart, hang onto control!

War stole my love,

but there’s starlight in the hole.

Nothing to say.

Nothing’s so fine.

Nothing hurts with

his hand in mine.

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Something matters!

Something matters more!

Nestor kisses her cheek. Petra stops, surprised, attracted, guilty, excited.She sings aside to her dead husband.

Love, can you forgive me?

Nothing’s not the core of my world.

Your loss is not the core of my world.

Our lost love is not the core of my world anymore.

A tango begins. Petra and Nestor sway to the music. She turns to him,

giving herself permission to feel the building excitement as they dance.

The dance turns hot.

SONG 7 MINE

PETRA Your hand in

NESTOR Mine!

PETRA This tango’s

NESTOR Mine!

Since high school, I’ve been wishing you were mine!

Wanting you wrapped around me like the wild grape vine

Stands embracing the mountain pine!

I imagine tasting red chilies in your kiss

I imagine holding you, enfolding you, like this!

A feast of red chilies in our first kiss!

Holding you, enfolding you, as stars align!

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Holding you, enfolding you, seeing your eyes shine!

Holding you, enfolding you, making you mine!

The moon will roll across the dance floor,

the night you’re mine!

Petra and Nestor kiss.

NESTOR The moon just rolled across the dance floor!

Tonight you’re mine!

Petra and Nestor kiss again.

TINY You let the witness and the law form a coalition?

Swap suspicion, firm up the opposition?

FERMIN Relax, Tiny.

Enjoy the floor show.

It’s divide and conquer,

or two with one blow.

Petra ends the kiss.

PETRA Where’s Rafael?

NESTOR Flaming rivers of Hell!

You curl my toes, then ask for my brother?

Tiny casually sneaks closer, to eavesdrop.

PETRA I saw Rafael’s hat,

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with your grandpa’s eagle feather,

lying on the ground,

at rig 18.

Fermin said Rafael dropped it,running some test.

But even running hell for leather,

Rafael would never

leave the hat with the feather

abuelito blessed.

NESTOR Fermin told me Rafael was sick.

PETRA Do any of these names click?

Benzene, xylene, toluene?

(Noticing how close Tiny has come)

Get out of my face!

NESTOR Give the lady her space.

Tiny backs off.

NESTOR I’m on the case.

I’ll run by his place.

Petra, are you free

to dine with me,

tomorrow night?

PETRA I’d like that, butI’m kinda house-bound.

Viola got the ugliest puppy in the pound.

That dog can chew through adobe bricks.

NESTOR Does Jaws-on-Four-Paws

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have a name?

PETRA Nix. As in, “Don’t do that! Nix!

“Don’t chew that! Nix!”

NESTOR So, how about a picnic?Just us vecinos,

wading in the Rio

where the banks are low,

and the current’s slow.

Days are lazy and long

and the bosque’s full of bird song.

PETRA As long as

Viola and Nix can come play.

NESTOR I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Nestor kisses Petra, then walks her out.

SONG 8 YOU OUGHT TO KNOW

TINY

How did I get stuck with her?

Girl should stay home,

microwave and stir.

I haven’t taken orders from a girl

since I grew chest hair!

Work is work!What’s she doing there?

How do I get her out of my face?

How do I put her in her place?

How do I take her down a peg?

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Girl belongs in the kitchen,

with a broken leg!

Trained to sit, stay, lay,

roll over and beg!How do I make her eat crow?

(TINY to Fermin) Bitch stirred up a rodeo.

Talking benzene, xylene, toluene.

Just thought you ought to know.

FERMIN TINY

How do I get her out of my face. You ought to know

How do I put her in her place. You ought to know

How do I make her eat crow? Let’s whack Jane Wayne

down to Jane Doe.

You just give me the go.

How do I get her out of my face?

How do I put her in her place?

How do I maker her eat crow? You ought to –

Whoa! She almost took out a backhoe

Dodging around that old

Three-legged hound.

SCENE 8 continuous action. Split stage between bar & Petra’s trailer.

FERMIN (Into the phone, to Jade)

Mi morena,

I’m raising a few. Thinking of you.

Petra just left.

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Packing quite a load.

Your sister was weaving all over the road.

Just thought you ought to know.

TINY One beer?She’d pass a breathalyzer.

FERMIN: (Aside to Tiny) One call’s

enough to compromise her.

(to Jade) ‘Cause family’s bred in the bone.

Family’s our corner stone.

A smart lady like you,

in your family,

I know you’re the go-to.

If tough love is what Petra needs,

I know you’re the voice she heeds.

I hope I’m not out of line,

but I worry for your neice,

like she was mine.

Maybe I should let this go,

just thought you ought to know!

Split stage. As Fermin sings, Petra arrives home. She’s not at all drunk,

but Jade sees what she’s been told to look for.

PETRA How’s Viola?

JADE She sang herself to sleep.

I womaned my outpost

No sign of a ghost.

You look high, sister.

PETRA High as the sky

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on Nestor’s kiss.

I forgot how much I missed

being kissed.

JADE If you want to go back,I can wait a spell.

PETRA Nestor’s out looking for Rafael.

JADE & PETRA Where the hell’s Rafael?

RAFAEL’S GHOST Murder.

Petra almost hears him.

PETRA Did you hear - ?

JADE Viola’s stirring. I’m a’ disappear.

Jade hugs Petra, then exits, as she & Petra sing together.

JADE & PETRA Family’s bred in the bone.


Jade walks into the bar and joins Fermin &Tiny. Petra looks in on Viola.

FERMIN Now Petra isn’t your match.

It’s just natch’ral

that she’s gonna scratch. If Petra drains a glass,

knowing you’re the best in class,

well I know you must have heard,

Petra looks sober ‘til you hear

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her voice get slurred.

Guapa, I can’t let this go,

just thought you ought to know!

Now I’m gonna jump in with both feet. Petra says things I hate to repeat.

Like saying, you’re “kindly as a root-canal.” TINY: That’s so unfair of her!

Well, jealousy’s a tough bronc to corral. JADE: You must have mis-heard.

When Petra says, you look at business

“like a vulture looks at dead sheep.” JADE: Maybe she slurred a word!

Well, envy always sounds cheap. TINY: Beware of her!

It’s just sibling rivalry, right?

With a dash of spite. JADE & TINY: Take care of her!

But a driver who drinks?

The law looks on that in a harsh light.

FERMIN, JADE & PETRA And family’s bred in the bone.


FERMIN A strong lady like you

might be real hard

for a weak sister to go to.

Bottom line: Petra doesn’t drink at work.

Not yet.

But when I think of her daughter, home alone,

I get fed upSee, my dad had a drinking problem,

so I totally get,

drinking’s hard to quit.

Dr inking’s hard to admit.

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Petra seems like a loving mother.

I’d hate to see her declared unfit!

That happened to my dad.

This ain’t my first rodeo! If your sister’s going psycho,

You ought to know!

We’ve got to know!

RAFAEL Murder!

VIOLA Murder!

PETRA Hush, nena, mami’s here.

Hush, nena, no fear.

FINALE FUGUE: (lines repeated and overlapping)

FERMIN: That’s so unfair of her!

TINY Beware of her!

JADE You must have mis-heard?

RAFAEL Murder! Take care! Murder! Beware!

PETRA Hush nena, mami’s here! No fear!

SCENE 9 By the river

Nestor enters with Fermin and Jade.

FERMIN Think of Rafael.

Think of the time you’d wasteif you chased false leads.

NESTOR I feel like a snake.

FERMIN Play sleuth. Get the truth.

JADE Tough love’s what Petra needs.

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Your love’s the cure.

Your motives are pure.

FERMIN We love Petra.

We love our town.I love you like a brother.

If grief’s the thief

stealing Petra’s mind,

we can not keep flying blind.

JADE I’d love to see

Petra your bride.

Sound of a jeep on a dirt road.

FERMIN She’s coming.

Time to hide.

Fermin and Jade hide.

NESTOR All this love talk going down.

Love for my woman,

love for my town.

Love, but his smile never reaches his eyes.

He’s pouring sugar on the devil,

so I’ll swallow his lies.

Petra, Viola & Nix enter.

NESTOR Two new wildflowers

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came on view!

VIOLA I’m a violet!

Violets bloom first in the spring.

NESTOR (picking her up and kissing her cheek) Mmmm. Mmmm. Violets are sweet.VIOLA Can we eat?

Mami says I can’t swim ‘til two hours

after I eat.

Does Nix have to wait, too?

NESTOR Just people do.

But while we wait,

we can wade.

I laid out a blanket,

here in the shade.

Speaking of eating, MMM!

What’s that smell.

PETRA Enchiladas.

Did you find Rafael?

NESTOR Not yet, no.

I hope he chased some chula

down to old Mexico.

VIOLA (eating and feeding scraps to Nix) Why do dogs drool?

PETRA Don’t feed him.

VIOLA It’s a blanket, not a table.

It’s a ‘ception to the rule. PETRA It’s not an exception. It’s a quibble.

My spinach enchiladas are not dog kibble!

(to Nestor) Did Rafael tell you how angry he was?

NESTOR Tell me what he said.

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PETRA He said, “Having Fermin for a friend

blinds you to the fact,

Fermin’s pissing in one end

of the pool, and we drink from the other end. NESTOR I’m not blind.

I just can’t find fault

‘til the fault gets factually defined.

PETRA Last week, Rafael ran some test.

NESTOR He told me. He expected

some big, nasty manifest:

toxins, carcinogens.

PETRA So nasty, Fermin had the

findings suppressed.

Will you let Fermin

keep his backflow in the dark

‘til we all start to

glow in the dark?

NESTOR What’s backflow?

PETRA How can you not know?

NESTOR Stop whacking me with a crow bar.

I can’t act

‘til I know what the facts are.

PETRA Fermin says fracking’s safe,

because chemicals get pumped below the water table. NESTOR Right.

PETRA Wrong.

It’s an industry fable.

Big oil’s on a mission

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creating brand new superstition.

Fact is,

Fermin has to pump the frack water out

before oil can flow.That’s backflow.

I drive a truck, hauling backflow.

Where does it go?

The city treatment plant.

Here’s another industry superstition.

Fermin says the water’s treated.

It went through the city plant,

so it’s treated.

No. Rafael can’t treat water

for chemicals he doesn’t know.

NESTOR Maybe so,

but I can’t make policy based on suspicion.

I have to know what the facts are.

PETRA So you let Fermin play you

like flamenco guitar?

His main mission,

is manufacturing doubt

about what the facts are!

VIOLA What does it mean,

“Benzene, xylene, toluene?” NESTOR Who said that?

VIOLA Rafael.

NESTOR When did you see him?

VIOLA Mami told me not to tell.

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PETRA There’s nothing to tell.

VIOLA There is! Mami!

You have to believe me!

NESTOR Petra, don’t ask her to deceive me. VIOLA I heard him.

I heard him. I didn’t see!

NESTOR Why do you both look guilty?

Tell me. Tell me!

Petra, tell me!

VIOLA Mami, let me tell!

PETRA Maybe just maybe –

VIOLA Mami!

PETRA Rafael died at Rig 18,

confronting Fermin.

Fermin moves behind the brush. Petra catches a glimpse of him.

VIOLA You promised, Mami, all the way!

NESTOR Petra, what went down that day?

PETRA Where’s Fermin?

NESTOR I don’t exactly know.

PETRA Are you honest?

Where’s Fermin?

NESTOR I don’t care!Trust me, Petra.

I love you. I’m Mayor.


You don’t say?

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You won’t say?

People say we betray

our traditions.

But our worst traditionshaunt us

like gaunt,

pale ghosts of doomsday.

We chase power,

til power leads us astray.

Betray love,

delay justice,

down to “just us.”

Decay justice

down to “my way or the highway.”

I’m a trucker.

I haul loads,

I haul ass.

I watch the roads.

See dead rabbits,

dead coyotes,

dead birds lying

in the grass

as I pass.

I tell Rafael.He starts asking why?

Why all of a sudden,

wild things die?

Do you know?

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Do you want to know?

Rafael knew,

where the hell did he go!

Now I’m afraid!I wonder, is the Rio a safe place to wade?

I think,

if not, what’s my daughter gonna drink?

Are you honest?

Are you Fermin’s whore?

(to Viola) Get Nix.

I don’t feel like a picnic anymore.

VIOLA But I didn’t get to swim!

Mami, I want to swim!

I want to!

I want to!

Mami, I want to!

Mami!

Petra exits carrying Viola and Nix. Fermin and Jade reveal themselves.

NESTOR Where’s my brother?

FERMIN You’re asking me?

NESTOR You’d sell your mother!

FERMIN You used to thinkan economic boom was when a twenty

blew over the border from Texas.

You’re getting plenty.

You’re driving a Lexus.

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Cash the checks.

Don’t think about side effects!

NESTOR Where’s my brother!

FERMIN Are you accusing me of evil intent?You lost the scent!

If your brother’s dead,

dismiss it as an accident,

or man up!

Find out what Petra meant!

NESTOR Don’t run your water

through my city any more.

FERMIN You signed an agreement.

NESTOR I got people to care for.

I’m shutting the door.

FERMIN Unfair, Mister Mayor!

Unfair and rude.

But you want to exclude me?

I won’t intrude.

You forget you’re in my debt.

You’re out of line

but I get why you’re upset.

We’re all worried for Rafael.

NESTOR No. You were worried BY Rafael.

My brother ’s missing, and you’re reaming me out

for inadequate ass kissing.

Well, screw you, for misdirecting me.

You got the woman I love,

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rightly suspecting me.

Nestor exits.

FERMIN (to Jade) Guapa, run by Petra’s place.

Get on her case.

Get up in her face.

My water’s not contaminated.

I have to be exonerated

before the prosperity I created

gets obliterated

by your fool sister

and her pussy-whipped tool.

JADE But –

FERMIN Mi Morena, I do this for you.

For love of you.

You trust me, don’t you?

Jade has to think about that, which infuriates Fermin.

FERMIN I follow every environmental law to the letter.

Fools like your sister think we’d do better

under a communist state-run regime.

Spinning some, spouting someanti-industry, tree-hugging scheme!

Your sister’s just jealous,

cause you’re better.

Smarter, more beautiful.

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Guapa, you’re a trend-setter, a pace-setter, a jet setter.

More successful than she’ll ever be.

So now, she tries to turn Nestor

more radical than he’ll ever be.

Fermin embraces Jade.

FERMIN I love you.

I’m not perfect.

I make mistakes.

But home grown oil is what it takes

to fight terrorist regimes.

To fuel America’s dreams.

Real men find oil.

I’m the elite.

I’m fertilizer,

growing your wheat.

Electricity,

lighting your street.

I heat our home.

I cook our meat.

Renewables can never compete.

And sure, we’re all conflicted about oil,

but we’re addicted to oil!So what should I do,

leave it in the ground?

I love our country.

I love of you.

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Jade hesitates to kiss Fermin, so he kisses her.

FERMIN Your tough love can bring your sister around.

SONG 9 Leave it in the Ground

Rafael’s ghost and all the spirits of earth and air riff on

Leave it in the Ground.

Jade exits. Fermin falls to his knees as the

song continues under, like a day-mare.

FERMIN The meek shall inherit the earth,

but not the mineral rights.

God, this bites.

God, remember, I promised you,

when I was fourteen,

when Dad fell down the bottle,

I promised you, I’d drive full out, full throttle,

full time.

God, forgive me!

Just let me keep the fruits of my –

OK, it’s a crime.But that field is mine!

I drilled for it.

That field is mine!

When that officious fool forced me -

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He forced me!

I killed for it.

You made me, God!

You made me strong, smart, unafraid!You sent me on this crusade

for my holy grail!

Strong, accessible, oil bearing shale!

Tight rock but it’s rich to the bone!

So all our profits

and all our energy

can be home grown!

You made me, God.

You made me good.

What I make is good!

I’m good!

Don’t let me be dismayed.

Don’t turn me renegade!

I’ll light a cathedral full of candles to you.

Imagine every gas burner in America,

lighting my prayer for forgiveness to you!

Don’t blame me for doing what you made me do!

Don’t shame me for doing what you made me do!

If you weigh my soul

and my sins outweigh me,forgive me, God!

I’m the way you made me!

SCENE 10 Interior Petra’s trailer, later that afternoon.

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Viola is exhausted from screaming. Petra holds onto her patience with her

fingernails and tries to soothe her daughter.

PETRA I got you a dream catcher.

It catches bad dreams.

No more screams

in the night from you.

Sweet dreams and angel song

float right through.

VIOLA I never got to swim.I never ever even got to wade.

PETRA Can I give you a backrub?

VIOLA Uh-uh.

We should have stayed.

PETRA Did I ever tell you,

I met your Papi by the Rio?

VIOLA Uh-uh. I’ll let you rub my back

if you tell.

SONG 10 THE RIVER ’S HERE

PETRA

I followed this heron from tree to tree,

‘til I found love,

on scabby knees,

scooping tadpoles out of the river.

We played there all day,

a-glow and a-shiver.

That year we turned eight.

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He taught me to swim.

The simplest pleasures were sweetest with him.

(chorus) Who know where the Rio goes?Raindrops, flowing down stream.

Who knows where the Rio goes?

Snowdrops, melting downstream.

Night and day,

that river keeps rolling away.

Drifting, dreaming, splashing, dancing, swirling mud,

or running clear.

Ripples play as they disappear,

and still, the river’s here.

VIOLA Did remembering make you too sad to stay?

PETRA I feel sad to remember,

but in a good way.

PETRA

(verse) We’d swim ‘til we shivered and race for shore.

Sun ourselves warm,

and swim some more.

Find some drift wood perfect for carving,

then run away home all sandy and starving!The night was our friend and the stars newly hung.

I’ll always remember him sweet, wild and young.

(chorus) Who knows where the Rio goes?

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Raindrops, flowing down stream.

Who knows where the Rio goes?

Snowdrops, melting downstream.

Night and day,that river keeps rolling away.

Drifting, dreaming, splashing, dancing, swirling mud,

or running clear.

Ripples play as they disappear,

and still, the river ’s here.

VIOLA

(bridge) Remember that last care package?

When we baked cookies,

when I put in the chocolate chips,

I always prayed,

“Keep Papi safe!”

But that last time,

you called me to come,

and I pretended not to hear.

I wanted to play.

I ran away.

I didn’t pray.

It’s my fault he died.

PETRA No, nena!

It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.

VIOLA I was disobeying you.

PETRA That’s true, but I saw you playing.

I could have called again, but you were so happy.

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I didn’t call, ‘cause I knew

your Papi always, always

wanted happiness for you.

VIOLA I was happy and he was dying.PETRA Life’s not gentle.

We lose faith and cry

and scream at God, “Why!

Why did he have to die!”

VIOLA You scream at God?

Are you allowed to do that?

PETRA All parents get screamed at,

once in a while.

But we still love you.

I bet that’s why Papi sings for you.

Spreads his strong angel wing for you

So you know, he always, always loves you.

PETRA

(chorus) Who know where the Rio goes?

VIOLA Angels, flying down-stream.

DUET Who knows where the Rio goes?

Angels, flying down-stream.

Night and day,

that river keeps rolling away.Drifting, dreaming, splashing, dancing, swirling mud,

PETRA or running

VIOLA Flying!

DUET Flying clear.

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Angels sing as they disappear,

and still, the river ’s here.

VIOLA Mami, why couldn’t we stay? Nestor was Papi’s compadre.

Nestor misses him, too.

Nestor likes me, too.

Nestor didn’t get mad, when Nix started to chew.

PETRA Nestor likes puppies.

I know that’s true.

VIOLA Why couldn’t we stay?

PETRA Nena, our blood is Pueblo, Latino

Apache and Anglo.

Our ancestors loved each other

and fought each other

Claimed they were saving each other

while they slaughtered each other.

VIOLA But why we couldn’t stay?

PETRA I’m trying to say.

Progress is a shell-game.

It’s both good and bad.

Bulldozing wild to tame.

But if you’re brave and kind,

if your heart stays true,I promise you,

the land will always welcome you.

The mountains and the Rio

will know your name.

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We’ve been defending America

since 1492.

VIOLA Like Papi died, defending us?

PETRA Just like that. Defending America since 1492.I always knew that was true,

but I don’t,

I didn’t always think it through.

‘Cause I love to drive,

so I gotta love gas, right?

Ignore it, when the smell

from a well

knocks me flat on my ass, right?

It’s sulfur and brimstone.

It’s poison straight from hell.

But I drive to survive,

driving keeps us alive.

I love to drive.

Got this need for speed.

But sometimes the smell

from a well’s so bad,

sometimes I get a nosebleed.

I hate to quit. I got to stay strong.

So I ask Rafael, what’s wrong?

What’s wrong? What’s wrong?If something’s really wrong,

I’ll quit, cause you need me.

I waited too long.

I bit the hand that feeds me.

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You asked, why not stay and eat?

Fermin was hiding up in the mesquite.

VIOLA Did Nestor know?

PETRA I asked if he knew.He said he didn’t care.

Is his heart still true?

Is my heart still true?

Do the mountains and the Rio

Still know my name?

Now I’m dying of fright.

Dying for insight!

The world’s pitch dark.

Who to trust? Who to fight?

I’m screaming through the night

through a waking nightmare.

Naked as the day I was born,

heart torn

on mesquite thorn lies.

Naked, and the night has enemy eyes.

VIOLA Did Rafael die,

of protecting us?

PETRA We could die,

of Fermin suspecting us.

VIOLA Can Tia Jade defend us?PETRA When I doubt Fermin, Jade gets pissed off.

How can I kiss my sister off?

VIOLA Nix likes Nestor.

Can Nestor friend us?

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PETRA Papi and all the Santos, defend us.

SONG 11 DEFEND US

PETRA VIOLA

Holy Mary Defend us (repeated)

Mother of God;

Gentile Lady,

Gracious Lady,

Our Lady,

Virgin rightly renowned;

Virgin crowned with starsVirgin faithful and pure

Virgin humble and poor,

Dearest of Mothers,

Mother most wise

Nestor knocks. Viola opens the door.

VIOLA We’re praying, Virgin defend us.

NESTOR The Virgin will defend us.

I’ll defend you, too.

No more compromise.

No more half lies.

Petra begins singing again.

Mother of sunriseMirror of justice; NESTOR & VIOLA sing “Defend us”

Mystical rose;

Mother of meadows

Where sheep safely graze

Mother, watch over us all of our days!

http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/motherofgod.htm

http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/fatima.htm

http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/fatima.htm

http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/motherofgod.htm

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Queen of all saints,

Julio (bass ghost of Petra’s husband) sings with Viola & Nestor.

Blessed refuge of sinners V, N & J Defend us!

Watch over your children here on earth. VIOLA: Papi! Do you hear him?

(Petra & Nestor nod and keeps singing)

Judge us not by our worth

RAFAEL’s voice joins VIOLA, NESTOR & JULIO

V, N, J & R Defend us!

NESTOR Rafael! Rafael!

RAFAEL Dead. Dead. Dead.

NESTOR Que descanse en paz,

Grant us your infinite mercies

Cure our disease. V, N, J & R Defend us! (Repeat)

Grant us heart’s ease.

Blessed Mother, grant us your infinite peace

JULIO & RAFAEL Peace, peace, peace.

RAFAEL Take care! Beware Fermin!

PETRA What did he do?

RAFAEL Tiny broke my neck. Fermin ordered him to.

Still breathing. Tiny dragged me away.

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Ran my jeep off the road.

By a miracle, it didn’t explode.

Jade enters. She cannot hear the Ghosts.

PETRA How can we find you?

JADE You’re talking to thin air!

(to Nestor) What does this mean?

RAFAEL Below the ridge road.

Near well 18.

PETRA (to Jade) Can you hear?

JADE What’s to hear?

Have a care for your daughter!

She’s shaking with fear!

Nestor’s hair’s on end.

Your skin is ashen.

Calm down, sister!

What’s got you in a passion?

RAFAEL (over the next few lines) Murder! Murder! Fermin! Beware!

PETRA Listen, listen, just listen to him!

Don’t listen to me, don’t listen to your fears

He’d wake the stones, if stones had ears!

Try, Jade, try! Can’t you hear a thing?

JADE Nothing!And I hear

everything a normal ear can hear.

NESTOR No.

JADE You are all stressed.

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PETRA We’ll put that to the test.

JADE You’re obsessed with tests.

How much did you drink?

PETRA I had water to drink.If something in our water

makes us hear a ghost,

you and Fermin

need a shrink the most.

JADE You’re crazy, loca, out of your mind.

PETRA Not if Rafael’s body’s there to find.

NESTOR Join us. Come see.

VIOLA Don’t leave me!

PETRA Get Nix. Run.

I’m getting Julio’s gun.

Petra and Viola exit.

JADE (to Nestor) Why do you encourage her!

NESTOR Why do you encourage

that bad ass entrepreneur

husband of yours?

Petra enters with a pistol. Viola enters with Nix

JADE Where are you going?

PETRA The ridge road. Well 18.

Come with us.

JADE I’m calling Fermin.

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PETRA Don’t. He’s the pin-head, pin-stripe

master of hype.

He doesn’t care about anything

he can’t pump through a pipe. JADE You’re becoming a self -absorbed maniac.

PETRA Is money your fav’rite aphrodisiac?

So Fermin lives life in designer suits.

So the wildlife he kills,

he prob’ly never shoots.

He just poisons us,

down at the grassroots.

Stop calling for him.

Stop falling for him!

Stop checking your conscience at the bedroom door.

JADE You have no right to tell me

who to care for.

You told Fermin, I look at bus’ness

like a vulture looks at dead sheep!

PETRA I said that about Fermin’s insurance.

It’s cheap.

Injured workers land in the garbage heap.

JADE Petra, you’re tearing my heart apart.

PETRA Of all the pain in the universe,

I know, losing love’s the worst! Losing love cuts like a knife.

I know how it hurts.

I was a wife.

But Fermin’s love’s a curse.

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If your heart’s torn in half,

keep the better half.

Throw away the worse!

Jade nods. Petra hugs Jade and exits with Viola, Nestor and Nix.

Jade pulls herself together.

JULIO & RAFAEL Beware Fermin. Beware. (repeat)

Jade almost hears them. Then she shuts them out and speed dials Fermin.

JADE Petra’s got it in her dead

Rafael’s dead.

If she knows he’s dead,

and chose

not to disclose

he’s dead –

She must have had

something to do with it.

Now my crazy sister’s blaming you with it.

Maybe framing you with it.

I love you Fermin!

Call the cops.

The ridge road. Well 18.

Black out. Sound of coyotes howling.

SCENE 11 Nestor’s car is parked on the Ridge Road, above Well 18.

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Viola, Petra and Nix peer over the rim.

Wind howls up the cliff like a lost soul.

PETRA Is he OK?

(No answer from Nestor)

PETRA Are you OK?

Nestor climbs up to them.

NESTOR We need Highway Patrol

Something high tech,

to cut Rafael’s body out of that wreck.

Petra & Viola hug Nestor.

NESTOR The damage. It’s intense.

Rafael’s ghost and our sixth sense

won’t take the place of evidence.

(Nestor dials his cell phone.)

Fermin’s never taking the fall.

He built himself a political firewall.He buys fools like me

with a check and a bar-crawl.

And the damn mesa’s blocking my call.

God, I used to pride myself

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on my legacy.

But the only thing pure about me,

is my virtues.

They’re pure fantasy. I am so sorry.

PETRA I appreciate your apology.

Let’s talk about payback

on the way back.

NESTOR You know this road.

Where can I turn?

PETRA There’s no place to turn

before well 18.

But I feel sick at heart,

taking Viola to a crime scene.

NESTOR There’s got to be a wide spot between

here and there.

They get into the car and drive.

NESTOR Maybe there?

Petra and Nestor get out and look over the rim.

PETRA Between here and the bottom,you could catch a lot of air.

Look. Down there,

By the well.

Tiny’s truck.

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NESTOR Get me in range, I’ll waste that son of a buck!

Petra checks her gun.

PETRA If I cover you, can you put on an act?

NESTOR What do you mean, an act?

PETRA An act to get the facts.

NESTOR You want Tiny’s brain ransacked?

His brain’s a soup sandwich.

Fooling Tiny’s no sweat.

But I’m the man. I’m the vet.

I should get the gun.

PETRA You want your own gun?

You shoulda brought one.

NESTOR I can’t blame you for not trusting me.

VIOLA I trust you.

PETRA I trust you with my life. Not hers.

NESTOR Just keep Tiny from dusting me.

Trust me when I get answers.

Trust me when Tiny and Fermin land in jail.

And despite of the cranial rectosis I’ve been suffering from,

trust me this much:

you’re my number one.

Nestor hugs Viola and Petra.

VIOLA Two of us can’t be number one.

NESTOR Yeah, you can.

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PETRA Let’s get this done.

Your blood is Pueblo, Latino

Comanche and Anglo.

PETRA & VIOLA Our ancestors loved each otherand fought each other

Claimed they were saving each other


‘Cause Progress is a shell-game.

It’s both good and bad.

Bulldozing wild to tame.

But if you’re brave and kind,

if your hearts stay true,

I promise you,


The mountains and the Rio

will know our name.


PETRA, VIOLA & NESTOR since 1492.

Black out. Coyotes howling.

SCENE 12 Fermin’s car, on the ridge road.

Jade prepares a hypodermic.

FERMIN So we seek her out.

Will that sedative freak her out?

JADE It takes effect in a minute or two.

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Are you sure it’s the right thing to do?

FERMIN Petra’s a danger.

You come to her rescue

like the Texas rangers.Once Petra’s confined,

I’ll take care of Viola.

JADE We’ll take care of Viola

‘til Petra’s back in her right mind.

SCENE 13 The Christmas Tree of Well 18.

Tiny combs the ground for any evidence left from Rafael’s murder.

Sound of a sports car. Tiny looks off, then begins checking gauges and

entering numbers on a clipboard. Nestor enters alone, with a six-pack.

TINY Lucky you didn’t high center your ride.

It rates maybe

nine for appearance.

Maybe two for clearance.

NESTOR I drive backroads with skill and perseverance.

How’d Fermin’s stick you,

reading dials Saturday night?

I figured you’d be all smiles Saturday night,

Flirting with all the girls for miles Saturday night.

TINY Soon as my shift’s through, I’ll drift through town.

Find a big-mouth chola who loves to go down.

What about you?

Thought you had someone better to do?

NESTOR I do.

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But my brother was last seen here.

TINY Looking for trouble? I’m alert and at large.

You wanna butt heads?

I’m the head mother-fucker in charge. NESTOR You’re FUBAR

and I suspect anything I haven’t checked.

But there’s nothing to see here.

Of course, with your time free here,

you’d leave nothing to see.

If you were guilty.

TINY You insulting me?

NESTOR Could be. Sure could be.

Then again, you were infantry,

like me.

TINY I joined the week the twin towers fell.

NESTOR Pop a top. We can swap lies

about all that good exercise

we got. I was a trigger puller.

TINY Show me your emergency,

I’m the big fucking hammer.

Adios insurgency.

NESTOR Are you smart enough to guess

what I want with you?

My city’d be a messwithout oil revenue.

The price of oil

did a back flip down the crapper.

I’m not much of a stock handicapper,

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but Fermin has to drill

or lose his leases.

If the price keeps falling,

his business falls to pieces.Every barrel he drills now,

he drills at a loss.

How long will your pay check

keep coming across?

A hard hat like you

could wind up

with a lot of free hours to fill.

You’re a vet. You got skill.

Tell me what Fermin did.

I could hire you

on my city road crew.

TINY Thank you.

but I’m not some transient,

blowin’ through.

As of last week, I’m the contractor,

hiring Fermin’s whole crew.

NESTOR Last week? Congratulations.

Have another brew.

TINY Don’t mind if I do.

NESTOR You’r e like my city.Making money when Fermin sittin’ pretty.

But if it all falls through,

good old Fermin

out-sourced his payroll risk to you.

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TINY Yeah. I mean, what?

NESTOR You didn’t think that through?

TINY So oil prices are low?

No skin off my knuckles.The oil industry never buckles.

NESTOR No, you never retreat.

Just manipulate the law,

lie, and repeat.

SONG: 12 THAT BROTHER OF MINE

NESTOR That brother of mine.

So fucking school book.

Never cut corners.

Had a thang for his rule book.

Fool just could not let it go.

I know how it went.

TINY You know?

NESTOR I know.


Shouting about it.

What the fuck’s benzene?

He’s all outraged about it! TINY Fermin told him, let it go.

NESTOR I know how it went.

TINY You know?

NESTOR I know.

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NESTOR Fermin played you like pinball.

Hope you were paid in advance

for taking his fall.TINY I’m not taking his fall!

I mean, there’s nothing to take a fall for.

NESTOR So Fermin promised,

you’d make a mint.

You got caught,

not reading Fermin’s fine print.

Every contract Fermin ever signed

is carefully designed

so someone else takes the fall.

My brother runs tests -

RAFAEL’S GHOST Emergency! Emergency!

Adios insurgency.

NESTOR Fermins says, “Emergency.

You’re the big fucking hammer.

Adios insurgency.”

TINY Huah! I mean -

NESTOR You sacked my brother like a Pop Warner quarterback

with his first football.

Now you take the flack,

even though whacking my brotherwas Fermin’s call. Right?

TINY Right. I mean, fuck Fermin. He’s on his own.

NESTOR Right.

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Behind Tiny, Petra stands & silently works her way closer, gun drawn.


Un-fucking-daunted.Here’s to you, bro.

Tiny reaches for his gun but has to stop when Nestor tosses him a beer.

Unseen by Tiny, Petra stops, six feet away, hesitating to shoot.

NESTOR (tossing Tiny a beer) This what you wanted?

PETRA Hands up! Stand up!You’re going down town.

NESTOR For the cold-blooded murder

of that brother of mine.

TINY This is jacked up!

You bring a walking mattress for back up?

Tiny pulls his gun. Petra shoots him in the leg. Tiny falls to the

ground. Nestor takes Tiny’s gun.

PETRA (to Tiny) Hands up!

Walking mattress, my ass!

How’s his leg?

I don’t want him to die

before he can testify.

NESTOR (to Tiny) Make like petrified wood

or mi tiradora will see you

petrified for good.

(examining Tiny)

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Missed the artery

Missed his junk.

PETRA What I missed, I missed on purpose.

NESTOR (to Petra) I’ll get my car.Once we lock him in the trunk,

I’m asking you to be my wife.

TINY Stop the goat roping and groping.

Only a moron marries Jane Wayne.

PETRA I shot you, not him,

and the answer’s -

Jade enters.

JADE Jesus Christ, Petra,

You shot Tiny!


JADE Right behind me. He called the police.

PETRA Did he? Wonders never cease.

NESTOR We found Rafael.

PETRA May he rest in peace.

TINY Jade, you’re a medic. Help! I’m bleeding.

Jade walks to Tiny. As she passes Petra, Jade punches a hypodermic

into her back. Petra stumbles and drops her gun. Jade picks it up.

JADE Don’t get aggravated.

You’re sedated.

(to Nestor) She’s just sedated!

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Fermin, come get this gun!

PETRA Give Nestor the gun!

Viola, where are you? Viola, run!

Jade keeps the gun and walks closer to Tiny. Lines overlap

PETRA Viola! Viola, run! NESTOR Jade, give me the gun!

Tiny killed Rafael. Give me the gun!

JADE It’s the sedative working.

Petra, calm down.

I’ll take care of you! NESTOR Give me the gun.

PETRA Give Nestor the gun! NESTOR I don’t want to hurt you!

VIOLA Mami! Let go! Mami!

Fermin enters, holding Viola. Tiny lunges up, using Jade’s body

as a shield. Tiny takes the gun from Jade and shoots Nestor.

PETRA Nena, run.

Viola tries to run. Fermin catches her. During the distraction,

Petra tries to reach the gun Nestor dropped, but her reactions fail her.

FERMIN It’s OK.

Chill out, OK?We’re a little bloodstained

But the damage is contained.

PETRA Contained? You believe his lies?

Tiny killed Nestor right before your eyes.

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How long ago did he call the cops?

Wonder why they’re late?

FERMIN The sedative’s working. Jade, wait.

TINY Fuck wait.You messed in the nest.

You painted a bull’s eye

on my chest.

FERMIN I never called the cops!

TINY No, you just lie and repeat.

Witnesses are dead meat.

Jade kneels and hugs Petra.

JADE Forgive me, I didn’t know.

Tiny shoots Jade in the back. The bullet passes through her to Petra.

The sisters fall together.

TINY You were right, Fermin.

Two with one blow.

Tiny approaches Fermin, who uses Viola as a shield.

TINY (to Viola) Capping kids ain’t my first pick. Hold still, kid. I’ll make it quick.

VIOLA I’m not afraid to die.

My papi’s an angel.

When I’m dead, I can fly.

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Tiny shoots Fermin.

TINY (to Fermin) That’s your bad conduct discharge. (to Viola) I’m outrunning this rap.

Walk to town before dark,

or you’re coyote crap.

You know what bites the big salami?

Rafael and your tree-hugging mami

managed to screw all this oil revenue.

Now all these wells belong to you.

Tiny exits. Viola runs to where Jade lies on top of Petra.

VIOLA Tia Jade?

Jade’s body falls to the ground when Viola touches it.

VIOLA Mami?

PETRA Nena, forgive Jade.

Our blood loved each other

and fought each other.

Oh, Nena, I love you.

Help me to Nestor.

Petra touches his dead face.

PETRA (to Nestor) I loved two heroes in my life.

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You can’t feel my caress

I can’t feel my own hand.

But God bless.

Nena, you make three heroes I loved.God bless.

I love you so much.

Keep this kiss for me.

A kiss to make it better,

when you’re hurt or lonely.

VIOLA Jade taught me first aid.

Viola takes off her jacket and ties it around Petra’s wound

As the scene progresses.

PETRA Nix, remind her to be happy.

VIOLA I tie on this bandaid,

Then Nix and I run! We’ll get help!

Wait for me, mami.

PETRA I’ll wait for you,

or I’ll fly with you.

Our blood is Pueblo, Latino

Apache and Anglo.

VIOLA & PETRA Our ancestors loved each other

and fought each otherClaimed they were saving each other


But you’re brave and kind.

Your heart stays true,

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I promise you,


Petra stops singing. Viola continues alone.

VIOLA The mountains and the Rio

will know your name.


since 1492.

Viola finishes tying the makeshift bandage and runs off with Nix.

Blackout.

NIX draft.16.4.5

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