Stage Directive - A Hermit Crab Poem

Act 1 Scene 1

The stage should be lit with a red hue. Hell is the mood. Angry. This is a family drama. But don’t saturate it too much. Keep brightness lowered. Emphasize red, but a red that is not mistaken for love. Anger is the mood. This is hell. A family drama. The curtain will be open on these secrets. The red hue should highlight the sole kitchen table. Three chairs are present. They are empty. One for the mother, one for the son, and one for the father. He is never there.

MaryBeth: (Offstage) I never knew someone so horrible. I never knew them in my life. But under my roof. I never knew it.

Light is still red. But there’s a tonal shift. Gray scaled upwards so that its moving to marry white. The light should be dark still, but not as dark as the beginning.

Peter ENTERS. He’s a small boy. He climbs onto his chair and sits. He picks up a plate and throws it behind his head. It shatters. This should all be captured in the new red light.

MaryBeth ENTERS now.

MaryBeth: And as to prove my point.

MaryBeth grabs hold of Peter’s ear and lifts him from the chair. She slaps him across the face.

Peter: But it is only a plate mama. It is only a plate. Can’t you see, truthfully, that it is only a plate. And now it’s in pieces. But only a plate mama, see? Only a plate in pieces.

MaryBeth: No son. No son it is not. It is never just a plate.

Peter: Only if you say so mama. Only if you say so.

The action freezes on MaryBeth and Peter and the stage goes dark. Adult Peter steps into spotlight.

Adult Peter: I am what she said I was. I am. But I’ll still smash plates. And I’ll still not care. For a plate is a plate, just as a sentence is words arranged to make meaning. Make meaning, yeah, that’s what we’re doing. Making meaning.

Spotlight goes out. Stage is blacked out now.

Act I Scene 2