Newsplay 3 May 1999
STOP - a protest play
by Sam Patterson

ACT I

The stage is set as a triptych. Three classrooms divided by space and minimal set pieces.

scene two

lights up

 

Classroom 2: Students sit on large metal stools. The stools are arranged around an AGM-86 cruise missile. The instructor is a dressed in a black suit cut like a military uniform. The Instructor's desk is stage left. The audience can see a book, and a sword, on the desk. The Instructor paces while lecturing.

 

The Instructor: These air-launched cruise missiles were developed to increase the effectiveness of B-52 bombers. In combination, the AGM86B and 86C dilute an enemy's forces and complicate defense of its territory. The AGM 86C uses an onboard Global Positioning System coupled with its inertial navigation system, allowing the missile to guide itself at sustained subsonic speeds to the target with pinpoint accuracy.

Student 1: Could you explain "complicate defense of enemy territory?"

The Instructor: With this tool's pinpoint accuracy we can surgically degrade key resources and limit the enemy's ability to achieve its objectives.

Student 2 whispering to Student 3: How could anything bigger than a pin have pinpoint accuracy?

The Instructor: Do you have something you want to share with the class? Do you think this is funny? We're here studying the most high tech tools of conflict and you're cracking jokes about pinpoint accuracy. Let me explain pinpoint accuracy.

With an amazing flourish the instructor unsheathes the sword on the desk. The bell rings and the students exit.

 

lights out

 

scene three