Joyce Carol Oates
ONTOLOGICAL PROOF OF MY EXISTENCE
CHARACTERS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
SHELLEY
PETER
v.
SHELLEY'S FATHER
MARTIN RAVEN
a girl of about eighteen or twenty
a man of indeterminate age
a man in his forties
a man in his thirties
A room with a high ceiling, un–
finished appearance, perhaps
brick walls
-
painted white and
peeling. A stark, cluttered, in–
human room, on the edge of no–
where, nothing. To the left, a
window. To the right, a door. A
few boxes, crates, anonymous
clutter, a mattress on the floor
to the left, a sink, a counter, a
hot plate, a small cupboard at the
rear.
SHELLEY
is lying on the mattress,
without moving. A khaki-colored
blanket over her. The stage is lit
in a cold, impersonal, dreamlike
way; there is something unreal
about the lighting as well as the
setting,
as
if it takes place at the
lowest level of human vitality, at
the point at which the human
passes into the unhuman.
SHELLEY
wakes. She moves slow–
ly, gradually, coming to life.
It
is
difficult for her to sit up because
she is so drugged, so groggy. She
shakes her he,ad, trying to clear it.
The lighting reflects her confu–
sion. At first it isn't clear whether
she is a boyar a girl- she
is
about twenty, extremely thin, with
very short clipped hair, a face
that is neuter, innocent, blank,
raw, clothes that are anonymous
and colorless, slacks and a wrin–
kled shirt.
SHELLEY
gets to her feet with dif–
ficulty. She approaches the edge
of the stage. As she speaks she
seems to be waking up; after a
certain point, her manner is ex–
cited, even a little manic. There
is an unfocused, restless, jerky
quality to her.
