Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310,
New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,
Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in Penguin Books 2006
Copyright © The Arthur Miller 2004 Literary and Dramatic Property Trust, 2006
All rights reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Miller, Arthur, 1915-2005
Resurrection blues : a prologue and two acts / Arthur Miller.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-0-143-03548-0
1. PoliticiansâDrama. 2. Power (Social sciences)âDrama. 3. Women motion picture
producers and directorsâDrama. I. Title.
PS3525.I5156R47 2006
812â.52âdc22 2005053506
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authorâs rights is appreciated.
http://us.penguingroup.com
C/R TK
A NOTE ABOUT THE PLAY
Resurrection Blues received its world premiere at the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, in August 2002 with John Bedford Lloyd as General Felix Barriaux, Jeff Weiss as Henri Schultz, and Laila Robins as Emily Shapiro, directed by David Esbjornson.
CHARACTERS
GENERAL FELIX BARRIAUX, chief of state
HENRI SCHULTZ, his cousin
EMILY SHAPIRO, a film director
SKIP L. CHEESEBORO, an account executive
PHIL, a cameraman
SARAH, a soundwoman
POLICE CAPTAIN
JEANINE, Schultzâs daughter
STANLEY, a disciple
Â
SOLDIERS, WAITERS, PASSERSBY, PEASANTS
Â
Â
PLACE
Â
Various locations in a far away country
PROLOGUE
Dark stage. Light finds Jeanine in wheelchair; she is
wrapped in bandages, one leg straight out. She addresses
the audience.
Â
JEANINE: Nothing to be alarmed about. I finally decided, one morning, to jump out my window. In this country even a successful suicide is difficult. I seem to be faintly happy that I failed, although god knows why. But of course you can be happy about the strangest things . . . I did not expect failure in my life. I failed as a revolutionary . . . and come to think of it, even as a dope addictâone day the pleasure simply disappeared, along with my husband. We so badly need a revolution here. But thatâs another story. I refuse to lament. Oddly, in fact, I feel rather cheerful about it all, in a remote way, now that I died, or almost, and have my life again. The pain is something else, but you canât have everything.
Â
Going out the window was a very interesting experience. I can remember passing the third floor on my way down and the glorious sensation of release. Like when I was a student at Barnard and went to Coney Island one Sunday and took that ride on the loop-the-loop and the big drop when you think it wonât ever come up again. This time it didnât and I had joined the air, I felt transparent, and I saw so sharply, like a condor, a tiger. I passed our immense jaquaranda tree and there was a young buzzard sitting on a branch, picking his lice. Passing the second floor I saw a cloud over my head the shape of a grand piano. I could almost taste that cloud. Then I saw the cracks in the sidewalk coming up at me and the stick of an Eskimo ice cream bar that had a faint smear of chocolate. And everything I saw seemed superbly precious and for a split second I think I believed in god. Or at least his eye, or an eye seeing everything so exactly.
Â
Light finds Henri Schultz.
Â
My father has returned to be
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310,
New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,
Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in Penguin Books 2006
Copyright © The Arthur Miller 2004 Literary and Dramatic Property Trust, 2006
All rights reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Miller, Arthur, 1915-2005
Resurrection blues : a prologue and two acts / Arthur Miller.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-0-143-03548-0
1. PoliticiansâDrama. 2. Power (Social sciences)âDrama. 3. Women motion picture
producers and directorsâDrama. I. Title.
PS3525.I5156R47 2006
812â.52âdc22 2005053506
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authorâs rights is appreciated.
http://us.penguingroup.com
C/R TK
A NOTE ABOUT THE PLAY
Resurrection Blues received its world premiere at the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, in August 2002 with John Bedford Lloyd as General Felix Barriaux, Jeff Weiss as Henri Schultz, and Laila Robins as Emily Shapiro, directed by David Esbjornson.
CHARACTERS
GENERAL FELIX BARRIAUX, chief of state
HENRI SCHULTZ, his cousin
EMILY SHAPIRO, a film director
SKIP L. CHEESEBORO, an account executive
PHIL, a cameraman
SARAH, a soundwoman
POLICE CAPTAIN
JEANINE, Schultzâs daughter
STANLEY, a disciple
Â
SOLDIERS, WAITERS, PASSERSBY, PEASANTS
Â
Â
PLACE
Â
Various locations in a far away country
PROLOGUE
Dark stage. Light finds Jeanine in wheelchair; she is
wrapped in bandages, one leg straight out. She addresses
the audience.
Â
JEANINE: Nothing to be alarmed about. I finally decided, one morning, to jump out my window. In this country even a successful suicide is difficult. I seem to be faintly happy that I failed, although god knows why. But of course you can be happy about the strangest things . . . I did not expect failure in my life. I failed as a revolutionary . . . and come to think of it, even as a dope addictâone day the pleasure simply disappeared, along with my husband. We so badly need a revolution here. But thatâs another story. I refuse to lament. Oddly, in fact, I feel rather cheerful about it all, in a remote way, now that I died, or almost, and have my life again. The pain is something else, but you canât have everything.
Â
Going out the window was a very interesting experience. I can remember passing the third floor on my way down and the glorious sensation of release. Like when I was a student at Barnard and went to Coney Island one Sunday and took that ride on the loop-the-loop and the big drop when you think it wonât ever come up again. This time it didnât and I had joined the air, I felt transparent, and I saw so sharply, like a condor, a tiger. I passed our immense jaquaranda tree and there was a young buzzard sitting on a branch, picking his lice. Passing the second floor I saw a cloud over my head the shape of a grand piano. I could almost taste that cloud. Then I saw the cracks in the sidewalk coming up at me and the stick of an Eskimo ice cream bar that had a faint smear of chocolate. And everything I saw seemed superbly precious and for a split second I think I believed in god. Or at least his eye, or an eye seeing everything so exactly.
Â
Light finds Henri Schultz.
Â
My father has returned to be
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