.22 Caliber Mouth

ACT 1 – SCENE 3

(MIFFLAN’S BAR: DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN:FRIDAY MID-AFTERNOON COLIN SITS ALONE AT THE BAR DRINKING. DEANNE ENTERS, TAKES A MOMENT TO SIZE UP THE SCENE, CHOOSES A SEAT NEXT TO HIM AND REACHES FOR AN ASHTRAY.)

(As Deanne approaches a stool she asks the bartender for a drink)

DEANNE
Can I get a Maker’s rocks, water back please? (Reaches for ashtray) Sorry.

COLIN
What are you sorry for?

DEANNE
Excuse me?

COLIN
What are you saying, you’re “sorry” for?

DEANNE
It’s just words.

COLIN
That’s the point… “Just words” doesn’t mean shit. If you throw away all your “I’m sorries” to strangers at bars, you’re not gonna have nothin’ left if you ever mean it.

DEANNE
For Christ’s sake.

COLIN
Don’t “for Christ’s sake me” like you’re so fed up. I’m not your boyfriend. I’m not your husband.
DEANNE
(Incredulous) Hey, YOU’RE starting with me! I’m sitting here, and I’m trying to show you some respect, when I had to reach across…

COLIN
My face.

DEANNE
It wasn’t your face!

COLIN
It was my face.

DEANNE
I didn’t reach across your face! I’m sorry!

COLIN
There it is again. What did you do then?

DEANNE
I don’t know. I don’t give a shit. Your chest..your place..forget it…I wish I hadn’t said a word. Give me that ashtray and go away.

COLIN
I’m not going away. I picked this chair because I want to be right here.

DEANNE
Well you picked that chair, and you’re picking a fight, and you can pick your nose for all I care, cause I’m staying the hell here too. So don’t talk to me. Don’t look at me.

COLIN
How can I not look at you?

DEANNE
(Lights a cigarette) Fuck this.

(LONG SILENCE)

COLIN
How can I not look at you?

DEANNE
Just keep that bowling ball you call your head facing that-a-way…toward the pins.

COLIN
(Takes a moment, reacting to her slam) You’re missing the point.

DEANNE
What’s your point? This should be good.

COLIN
You’re good to look at.

DEANNE
(Sarcastic) Oh, do you think?

COLIN
Funny. I’m bein’ nice now.

DEANNE
Don’t be nice.

COLIN
I’m not bullshittin’. I think you’re a great looking person.

DEANNE
I don’t care what you think.

COLIN
You should.

DEANNE
Should what?

COLIN
You should care what I’m saying to you. I started out caring what you said to me.

DEANNE
Yeah? Well shut up more. Care less.

COLIN
You say shut up a lot? (Deanne doesn’t respond) You shouldn’t say shut-up to people.

DEANNE
So according to the laws of… (Indicates she doesn’t know his name)

COLIN
Colin. What do they call you?

DEANNE
Deanne. So according to, Colin something, and his great best-seller, THE TALKIN’ LAWS, you’re never supposed to say, I’m sorry, and you’re never supposed to say, shut-up, and you NEVER NEVER reach for an ashtray across somebody’s…

COLIN
Face.

DEANNE
SPACE! Instead, he says that…no he advises that you…

COLIN
I’m just sayin’ that people should pay attention to what they say. That you should.
DEANNE
You should.
COLIN
I was interested in you. So I paid attention.

DEANNE
Well, that’s a nasty-ass way to pay attention to a “great lookin’” person like me. Lemme tell ya great pundit, you’re style of attention needs work. You know it might do you a lot of good to read Colin something’s new one. The Talkin’ Laws. Have you heard of it?

COLIN
No, but I’m nuts about your first one, Keep Pushin’.

DEANNE
Move if you don’t like me.

COLIN
I do.

DEANNE
(Breaks into sarcastic laugh) I now pronounce us man and wife.

COLIN
I bet you’ve heard those words a lot.

DEANNE
Now, see here Colin- the- colon, I was just gonna warm things up, and you start slamming me again.

COLIN
You’re not married?

DEANNE
You’re saying I’m the promiscuous bride?

COLIN
I’m not callin’ you a slut. I asked you if you were married?

DEANNE
Then why would I be here NOT flirting with you? And I didn’t say “slut”, I said promiscuous.

COLIN
If the rubber fits?

DEANNE
(Stunned a minute) You’re funny. You got a mouth on you.
COLIN
(He reaches to put a finger on her mouth) You got a mouth too.

DEANNE
(Grabs his wrist to remove his hand) Hey, don’t touch me. (Long pause) So what is it…do we like each other or not?
COLIN
(Takes his time) We’re interested. Kinda curious.(She’s obviously put off by his restrained response) What’s up? Need time to reload?

DEANNE
I got all the ammo I need.

COLIN
I can see that.

DEANNE
That’s good.

COLIN
You’re good.

DEANNE
I am good.

COLIN
How’d you get so good.

DEANNE
Good teachers I guess.

COLIN
Like who?

DEANNE
Oh I’m my father’s daughter.

COLIN
Took you under his wing, huh?

DEANNE
Yeah, something like that.

COLIN
Yeah, my old man taught me good, too.
DEANNE
I don’t know what we’re talking about anymore.

COLIN
You don’t know , or you don’t like what we’re talkin’ about.
DEANNE
Both.
COLIN
Hey, I tried.
DEANNE
(Silence) That’s it? You’re done?
COLIN
Why should I keep going? I don’t know when the next unkind thing is gonna come outta…
DEANNE
Did I just hear you right? Did you just use the word unkind?

COLIN
Yeah.
DEANNE
Now you just don’t seem like that kinda guy.

COLIN
Whaddaya mean by that exactly?

DEANNE
Kind? Unkind?
COLIN
What’s your point?

DEANNE
Well, I didn’t take you for such a soft-hearted little lamb.

(Colin makes a sudden shift)

COLIN
Who the fuck told you to “take me” for anything? Huh? We go a few rounds for ten stinkin’ minutes in some lousy bar and you think you know a thing about me? ”I didn’t take you for a”… You better get the safety fixed on that mouth of yours.

DEANNE
(Deanne listens passively to his rant) So, there’s something then?

(Musical Bridge NOW YOU’VE DONE IT) Colin places a phone number in Deanne’s Blouse)
End of scene

The Characters: Deanne Campino

Deanne is a woman in her mid forties who has struggled for years with profound emotional ups and downs. Nervous breakdowns have, at times, caused her to be institutionalized. She has never lost her way so much that she could not return to society.

Keeping apartments, holding down some upscale jobs; her last, at a police pathology lab reading slides.

Though diagnosed as bi-polar and depressed, her basic innate soundness, extraordinary intelligence and a small flame of willingness to love that will not burn out, is what has managed to keep her surviving.

Attractive, funny, and sarcastic, we find her in a fugue state between the darkness of the past and the light that a new flirtation unexpectedly brings.

She lives in a crummy apartment in the lower east side, surviving on food stamps, medications and other assistance programs like SSI…or as they called it in the 70’s nut pay.
She grew up in the out skirts of Boston.

Photo: Deanne as played by Lauren Robert

Where Do We Go From Here?

With tremendous excitement, anticipation and growing support, .22 Caliber Mouth moves swiftly toward full production.

If you wish to take part in this exciting project please contact us and we would be most pleased to speak with you.

A Work in Progress

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

.22 Caliber Mouth

Music: Timothy Warmen, Dan Dolan and Lauren Robert

Lyrics: Timothy Warmen and Lauren Robert

Arrangement: Dan Dolan

This title song which is still in the development stage embodies a harder rock-n-roll drive than other songs in the show to encompass the wavering of Colin’s world as he is exposed and those emotions that send him over the edge.

The Characters: Colin Maitlin

Handsome, charming barfly, Colin Maitland’s true history remains elusive till the play’s end. Deanne never quite understands where he has come from, but he is impossible to resist. His is a unique combination of sophisticated repartee’ and blue-collar animus.

His language is often peppered with large words that he uses with ease, yet when without warning, a tsunami of blinding rage swirls into any moment, any remnant of sophistication is lost. In it’s place, is Colin’s seething blinding anguish and fury.

Colin’s soul-searching is compelling, his rawness is his realness. He can be strong and weak, tender or mean, very hot and very cold. Something, old and cruel, revealed to us as the story unfolds drives him hard frustrating his attempts to clean up his life …and his choices.

Photo: Colin Maitlin as played by Timothy Warmen

ACT 1-SCENE 2

(LIGHTS UP ON ENSEMBLE IN STARK CITY SCENE)

SONG #1 NOW YOU’VE DONE IT (ENSEMBLE)

(CHORUS)
NOW YOU’VE DONE IT
YOU HAVE OPENED ME WIDE
NOW YOU’VE DONE IT
YOU CAN’T PUT ME BACK INSIDE
NOW YOU’VE DONE IT
THE CITY’S OPENED ME WIDE
NOW YOU’VE DONE IT
I CANT STOP THIS WILD RIDE

(VERSE 1)
SOME OF US BORN HERE SOME OF US NOT
THE CITY BECOMES HER, THE ONE MEAN MOTHER YOU’VE GOT
THE DIRT AND THE DANGER, YOU KNOW YOU’RE ALONE
YOU LIVE LIKE A STRANGER, CUBBY CORNER YOUR HOME
TIRED/WORN/SCARED TO THE BONE

(FULL CHORUS)
(DESCANT) IT’S THE CITY THAT SAYS YOU’RE THE WORLD BABY
AN ANSWER, A PRAYER, SOUL -SLAYER

(VERSE 2)
LIKE CROWS ON A WIRE WE LINE UP AT THE BARS
DRUG-STAINED FINGERS COUNTING NEON STARS
WE ARE FALLING CHILDREN-THE BOWERY OUR FERTILE FIELD
FORCED TO ULEARN WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS REAL

(CHORUS)
NOW YOU’VE DONE IT YOU HAVE OPENED ME WIDE
NOW YOU’VE DONE IT YOU CANT PUT ME BACK INSIDE
NOW YOU’VE DONE THE CITY HAS OPENED ME WIDE
NOW YOU’VE DONE IT I CAN’T STOP THIS WILD RIDE

(BRIDGE)
RETRIEVING WHAT WE WANT TO BE THERE
NEED TO BE THERE
ACHE TO BE CARED FOR….
ONCE YOU START IT ENGAGES YOUR HEART
IT FITS LIKE A NOOSE BUT YOU DONT CUT IT LOOSE

(CHORUS)
(IT’S THE CITY THAT SAYS IM THE WORLD, BABY
ITS AN ANSWER, A PRAYER, A PROMISE, SOUL- SLAYER
(CHORUS) (DESCANT) OH IT’S ALL RIGHT HERE IN THE CITY

The Setting of 22 Caliber Mouth

Tony DiOrio’s atmospheric, evocative photographs are offered as inspiration to producers, directors and set designers. The beauty of .22 CALIBER MOUTH is that it is a tale told and sung by five characters only. An unusually low number for a musical production with this degree of dynamism. The entire story takes place within the parameters of a small part of New York. The Lower East Side. The flavors of a bar, a park bench, single apartments and a hospital bed, are not difficult to replicate in any literal way.

These photos depict the world of 70s New York in which the play takes place. The flavors, the darkness. the sexy graffiti –strewn milieu where everything was quite a bit more out of control.

The possibilities in terms of lighting, staging, and sound design are endless.

The Characters: Ronnie Campino

What did Ronnie see? What did she know growing up in the Campino house? Five years older than sister, Deanne, Ronnie goes to great lengths to keep her demons locked deep inside her. She is insular, shy, and socially awkward.

The small singular back room of an accountants office in Dalton’s Furniture Store is the job she lives on, oppressed and abused by her boss, but comforted by the agitation of a familiar scenario. Yet, Deanne’s emotional frailty, gives her a sense of one-up, and driven by a confused fantasy of familial “love”, and perhaps guilt, she has tried and failed many times to connect with her sister.

Ronnie Campino as played by Laura Jordan.

The Characters: Frankie Canton

If you can smoke it, shoot it, snort it, inhale it, swig it, swallow it…not swallow it…Frankie’s your man. A scientific marvel in that he still does at times make sense. His wily heart still beats. And it thumps with much more than just the anxiety of the next fix .He loves his friends. His Deanne especially. Though one must love Frankie back with great indulgence to get to the good stuff.. Since forging a friendship with Deanne in Wrentham State Drug Rehab “ I was the monkey in the next cage”… he has remained as devoted a friend as a homeless, dispirited, speed freak can be. He is her confident, her watch-dog. She suffers his twisted drug-addled style of speaking because he can make her laugh. She’ll struggle to de-code his inverted sentences and nihilist rants.

Because his spirit is a good one… a dear one, becoming as lost as Frankie is not that hard. 

Photo: Frankie Canton as played by Ted Brunetti

The Characters: Carmel

 

‘Luscious Lady” who could drop you with a bat of her over-shadowed eyes, powerful black man who’s single punch could knock you back to your mama’s womb. Carmel is the street. She is sexy, flashy, naughty trashy on the outside. Inside she is noble. She is Royalty. Though trouble has kicked her ass over and over, she believes in love, in triumph over adversity, in her return to fame, in the good times, the good life and the good of others.

SHE KNOWS “Fool, it’s just a phone call away, you heah what I’m tellin’ y’all?

A tall, beautiful trannny who has been working from the same Central Park bench off and on for years, there have been special times of more glamorous work in her life. She met, pal, Frankie Canton, when she was the costume seamstress and caretaker for prizefighter Joe Frazier, and his traveling musical road show, The Joe Frazier Las Vegas Review. Hard to shake the hard times for good, this play finds her on the bench again, thrilled and hopeful about a new “Thursday night Sweetie”, struttin’ her education to Frankie, as only Carmel can all about the real basics of Bein’ Somebody.

Photo: Carmel as played by Paul Oakley Stovall