GERMS and VIRUSES (1.25.16).

GERMS AND VIRUSES
A Dramatic Fiction
Based on (Non)Existing Events
“Democracy is a virus that needs to be stopped, because,
of course, it would be terrible if Those People ever
started determining their own futures.” Sen. John McCain
CONTACT INFORMATION:
removed
GERMS AND VIRUSES
STAGE MANAGER
SEBAN
AMBASSADOR
SECRETARY
SECRETARY’S SECRETARY
RUSSEL
ISHTAR
BASHAD
MOTHER
OFFICER
OFFICER TWO
DAMA
FATHER
REPORTER
HELENA
POLICE
CHARACTERS:
[could be the authentic stage manager]
A college aged “woman” in a black hijab (Sunni)
He looks like John Bolton
She looks like Hilary Clinton
The Secretary’s assistant (aide)
A man with a slight build.
A Sunni woman in her 40’s
A Sunni man in his 40’s
A Sunni woman in her 40’s
An Alawite policeman in his 40’s
Young Alawite (Alawiyyin) police officer
A beautiful woman in a blue hijab small and athletic
A Sunni man in his 40’s
A British television talk-show host like Piers Morgan
An upper-class British woman
From the country where the play is performed.
CASTING NOTE: One option in performing this play is to cast Russel and Seban with one
person, rather than with two people. If Russel/Seban is one person, he should be feminine,
and with simulated or prosthetic breasts, dressed in a full hijab, with only his eyes showing.
Also his hands should be hairless. Lines and action can be adjusted for the casting choice.
If a single actor plays Russel/Seban, cut Russel’s monologue on the telephone (Scene 14)
or have it projected.
DOUBLING: follow this “double casting” structure- 4 Men; 4 Women
MALES
RUSSEL
AMBASSADOR/OFFICER
FATHER/BASHAD
SECRETARY’S SECRETARY/
OFFICER TWO/POLICE
FEMALES
SEBAN/HELENA
ISHTAR/MOTHER
STAGE MANAGER/DAMA
SECRETARY/REPORTER
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
SETTING: Now and the Past (Spring 2011-2012)
• The United States Office of the Secretary of State.
• Russel & Seban’s room, an elevated platform with a desk and a laptop.
• The internet, a virtual space. Upstage, on the back walls, which show Seban’s
blog, video, and “youtube” clips.
• Secretary of State’s errand locations: tennis court and Chinese restaurant.
• Ishtar’s shop.
• Seban’s family front door and front yard.
• A television studio.
The play is divided into numbered and named scenes, indicating a change of time or
locale, or mood. The action, however, is continuous.
Acknowledgment of the following must appear in written form in the program production
credits: “This play was entered in the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play
Playwriting Awards Program at the Kennedy Center and was a KCATCF National
Short Play Finalist (2013) at the National Student Playwriting Awards. The play
received a workshop at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.”
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
The Play
PRE-OPENING
(The stage manager, carrying a letter, walks onto the
stage. S/he is tough1.)
STAGE MANAGER
(To the audience) (Urgent) Yeah, whatever. Keefkum? [How’re you all?] Aiwa? [Yes?]
Well, here’s the thing. Our country is going through birth pains. Maafi mushkila, right?
[No problem.] No problem. We’ve been Mesopotamia, Assyria, Roman Empire, the
Levant, and now, again, we’re going through another birthing process. And during times
like these people get mad over the littlest things. Are we really in danger? I don’t know.
During a birthing people say things they don’t mean like: “You did this to me!” “Make it
stop!” and “Death to you if you don’t make it end!”. We understand. We’ve come to view
ourselves as the government thinks of us: as small abstract drops in an oil field of
possibilities. Basically they don’t want us to –. “Cease and desist,” right? The
government and their what-ever-you call them-backers. (Reading) “If you defy our order
and produce your play, it is like…” (making-up the rest of the quote) stabbing the
prophet’s nephew… in the back… when he’s not looking.” Pretty horrible! And we could
be put in jail, or killed. I’m not sayin’ I don’t like theater; I do, but not enough to die for
it. But we voted, the actors, the producers— we’re going ahead. “Whatever”, I said.
Don’t blame me when the bombs start dropping. The president bombed a puppet show he
didn’t like. Think what he’ll do to us? Yeah, I was out voted. I don’t see why we just
can’t do our musical version of “Lions in the Desert” or my cousin’s comedy: “Shia
Loves Me, Shia Loves Me Not”. But noo. For whatever reason we’re going on, and the
company wants me to tell you: If you need to go… Don’t feel forced to stay. You can
leave, but I can’t. For me it’s martial law all over. (Beat.) If you’re going to stay, keep
your phones on. Just in case, right? And, here’s the thing, we’d like you to blog, post,
email, hash-a-tag, or instant message. Of course don’t be rude about it; we’re real people
here. Real and alive, at least for now. Aiwa? [Yes?] So. Go to Facebook. I know it’s so
2001, but so is our playwright. And search our site: Lesbian of the Levant. There—
(referring to the screens where Facebook and the internet feeds are shown). We’ll load
responses, you know, throughout the play. It worked in rehearsal, fingers-crossed. So—
Aiwa? [Yes?]. Thanks. (To someone off-stage as s/he walks off) If you’re sure about
this…
(Stage Manager exits. Middle Eastern music plays.)
Opening
(We see two screens throughout the theater space:
#1) The Facebook Screen: This screen shows the
Facebook [Fb] pages spoken about in the
announcement. We see the screen change between
the various blog pages. Sometimes it will zoom in, or
1
The “pre-opening” Stage Manager announcement could be a written or recorded announcement.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
highlight events. #2) YouTube Screen: On this screen
we see clips of video speeches from a television
interview of a dictator with an American reporter 2.
RUSSEL with the other actors enter and watch the
interview. After the interview they turn and speak to
the audience. As they speak to the audience videos
show Middle-Eastern dictators intermixed with
Islamic protests from the Arab Spring. The sound
bites mix with the music.
RUSSEL
Call it a conspiracy—
CHORUS3 MASH-UP
There is a conspiracy.
Conspiracy. Conspiracy.
Where?
There.
RUSSEL
It’s has always been thereCHORUS MASH-UP
As long as we acted independently, on our own, As
long as we have made our decisions without them.
There is a scheme. I tell you.
But is it real?
Is what real?
The conspiracy. This conspiracy.
RUSSEL
Call it a conspiracy—
CHORUS MASH-UP
Conspiracy. Conspiracy. Conspiracy. Conspiracy.
It is happening so it must be real.
Really?
But I’ve seen them. Seen her. My friends have actually seen her.
Really? How can you see such a germ?
Imagine if this is true? If she’s right? The conspiracy.
Conspiracy. Conspiracy. Conspiracy. Conspiracy.
Barbara Walters’ interview with Bashar Hafez al-Assad: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL9h9vSOHDk
The CHORUS is the whole cast. It is not a choir in unison. The lines are broken up randomly. Lines may be repeated as
necessary. Whenever the CHORUS is referenced the lines are split-up among the performers.
2
3
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
RUSSEL
I am as real as the conspiracy. I am as real as The Levant.
CHORUS MASH-UP
But the lines of the borders are all—
They’re a mistake. As if they’re fake.
She is right. Now is the time. Now it is important—
Now? Why all of a sudden do you care? As long as
there are adversaries or enemies, conspiracies are
as natural as the sand around us.
They are real, and go with the winds.
That’s why we shouldn’t give this treachery a lot of attention.
Ignore it as the flies we don’t think about twice.
What’s important for us is to focus our attention on strengthening our
internal immunity inside the Levant.
Strengthen our country’s health.
Build up our immunity against these germs.
And this immunity starts
With reforms, with revolution, with raids, we
are carrying out across the Levant.
A conspiracy. Conspiracy. Conspiracy.
Where? There.
It has always been there.
(The projections cease. The CHORUS scatters
around the space.)
1
(RUSSEL sit at a central place on the stage with a
computer, like a master controller of the action.
SECRETARY’S SECRETARY (a.k..a. SEC-SEC) walks
the United States AMBASSADOR to the United
Nations into the U. S. SECRETARY of State’s white
State Office, decorated officially in white. Even the
“stars and stripes” are white, white, and white. They
wear business suits of white. The Secretary of State
pulls out a map of the Levant 4.) (SEC-SEC passes
papers to SECRETARY for signing, etc.)
AMBASSADOR
Madam SecretaryArabic: ‫ ماشال دالب‬Bilād ash-Shām: a geographic region of eastern-Mediterranean between Anatolia and Egypt. The
Levant consists of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, and Cyprus.
4
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
SECRETARY
Ambassador—
AMBASSADOR
Your secretary—
SECRETARY
Which one?
AMBASSADOR
All four of them. Each one’s younger than any of my suits.
SECRETARY
Your memo, Mr. Ambassador? Over-throw “The Levant”? That place is tough.
AMBASSADOR
Their leader makes Attila the Hun look like Forrest Gump.
SECRETARY
I’m not so sure about that.
AMBASSADOR
Well then Madam Secretary, hear me out.
SECRETARY
You’ve got the lunch hour. Walk and talk. Got a list of errands to get in before the next
cabinet meeting—
AMBASSADOR
Which is—
SECRETARY
At two o’clock. Today.
AMBASSADOR
Today? Oh. Well. Thanks for squeezing me in—
SECRETARY
And—“The Levant”? Are you serious about … this?
AMBASSADOR
I’m afraid I am.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
SECRETARY
Sorry, such things scare you, but you’re wasting our time, Ambassador. That’s what I fear.
AMBASSADOR
I have no fear of wasting time.
SECRETARY
What I’m saying is that the president doesn’t want us to—
AMBASSADOR
Madam Secretary, aren’t you the president’s right hand?
SECRETARY
He’s even called me his left hand man.
AMBASSADOR
A rare compliment outside the porn industry.
SECRETARY
Get to the point.
(SEC-SEC opens the elevator, holds the door.
SECRETARY enters the elevator; SEC-SEC enters,
not holding the door for AMBASSADOR. He quickly
squeezes past the closing doors as SEC-SEC closes
the door. All the while the conversation continues.)
[In the elevator.]
AMBASSADOR
What I’m requesting is we take the “Levant” and leave it at that. And if you can’t leave it
at that you can leave it where you found it. And if you can’t leave it there, let’s see if
anyone will take it.
SECRETARY
You press beyond your position.
AMBASSADOR
Oh, Madam Secretary, don’t get me wrong I know my limitations.
SECRETARY
Good-good, so we’re done here—
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
AMBASSADOR
No, not so fast. Give me five more minutes. Hear my plan about the Levant.
SECRETARY
Talk quickly. I don’t have time to waste.
AMBASSADOR
I want an uprising on the inside. In the Levant. On the down-low.
SECRETARY
From the very inside?
AMBASSADOR
An inside job like an infection—
SECRETARY
Like a worm?—
AMBASSADOR
Like a Trojan—
(SEC-SEC opens the elevator doors.)
SECRETARY
A condom?
AMBASSADOR
No. A Trojan horse. Or a seed. We plant a democracy seed, water it, weed it, and harvest
its favors for us.
SECRETARY
A fruitful proposition. So you think we can start a democracy movement without a war?
AMBASSADOR
War is like real estate. Location, location, location.
SECRETARY
And our location is the Levant?
AMBASSADOR
No. Our location is cyberspace.
(SEC-SEC opens the limo door. His boss and
Ambassador enter the limo. SEC-SEC closes the
door and gets in the trunk.) [In the limo.]
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
SECRETARY
I’m confused. Your memo suggested an attack—I thought you meant a takeover.
AMBASSADOR
I am, but in an untraditional unconventional sense.
SECRETARY
And how would this untraditional war begin?
AMBASSADOR
More importantly how would it end?
SECRETARY
As I’ve told the President on the other war front, we need a way out before we can have a
way in.
AMBASSADOR
You’ve done this before—
SECRETARY
Learned from the guy before me. So. How’d we get this coup?
AMBASSADOR
Like you get any coup. It spreads. Like a cough.
SECRETARY
A coup is a cough?
AMBASSADOR
Yes. Think of a coup as a germ. There are three parts to my plan.
SECRETARY
Do we need all three parts?
AMBASSADOR
Maybe not. But it doesn’t hurt to have them going at the same time.
SECRETARY
Ahh. That’s where I come in?
AMBASSADOR
You get me now. See, you have contacts we could use, my good woman.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
SECRETARY
I am not your good woman.
AMBASSADOR
That’s true, you’re not, but you shouldn’t go around telling people that.
SECRETARY
Mister Ambassador, it’s been good talking with you—
AMBASSADOR
What I meant to say is: I need your helpSECRETARY
I can see that.
AMBASSADOR
I have a man who’ll organize the military.
SECRETARY
From within the Levant?
AMBASSADOR
Well… (He nods.) Willing military officers from within. They dislike their president and
where he’s heading. We can spread a few agents among the military—
SECRETARY
Not on my watch.
AMBASSADOR
There are a few who are already scattered among the different ranks. I can intersperse a
few more, and, with your help, we can interpose a few more. Then, on our order, we will
have them stir up unrest at the border. Then they will turn on their own people.
SECRETARY
I don’t understand where I fit.
AMBASSADOR
I’ve often wondered the same thing.
SECRETARY
Excuse me?
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
AMBASSADOR
I’m not asking to use tanks, airpower, boots, or drones. We will use the internet.
SECRETARY
Cyber warfare—
AMBASSADOR
Through flogs—
SECRETARY
Flogs? You mean blogs.—
AMBASSADOR
Flogs- Not blogs. Flogs—
SECRETARY
Flogs?
AMBASSADOR
Flogs!! Fake blogs.
SECRETARY
Bake flogs?
AMBASSADOR
Fake blogs. Real bloggers paid to say what we want. Fakers or floggers.
(SEC-SEC opens the limo door. SECRETARY gets
out of the car. SEC-SEC gives her a tennis racquet.
AMBASSADOR stumbles out of the limo.)
AMBASSADOR
A blog with a believable degree of truth. There is already a pro-democracy movement we
can use in our favor. We will do all of this at the same time, chaos is key, instantaneously,
rapidly, at once, and they won’t know what to pay attention to before it’s too late.
SECRETARY
All at the same time?
AMBASSADOR
My theory of simultaneity!
(SECRETARY, followed by SEC-SEC, exits. The
AMBASSADOR celebrates, then exits.)
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
2
(Without much ado lights fade up on RUSSEL and
SEBAN, fully dressed in a hijab. RUSSEL sis at the
desk with a laptop computer.)
SEBAN
(To the audience.) Allah be praised.
RUSSEL
(Reading) Each day--
RUSSEL
(Reading) Will it spread?
I don’t—
(Reading) “Is the Levant next?”
SEBAN
(To the audience.) (Typing) Each day I blog
about what is happening, and I wonder: Are
we next? Ever since the first protests in the
other countries, people wonder:
SEBAN
(Typing) I don’t know but—
(Knocking at a “door”. SEBAN closes her computer,
gets up from her chair, and continues to talk to us.)
RUSSEL
(Reading) “Is it hard to start a pro-democracy movement?”
SEBAN
Yes. It is more difficult than stopping a tank. But I try. If you know of a short-cut, promise
me, when you discover short-cut, you’ll tell me-- or at least don’t tell the other side. ...
(OFFICER knocks at a “door”.)
MOTHER
(Off-stage)(In Arabic) Seban! El bab! [Seban! The door!]
SEBAN
Yes, Mother!
MOTHER
(Off-stage) (In Arabic) Al raja, rod al bab! [Please! Answer it.]
(SEBAN opens the “door” for two police, OFFICER,
and OFFICER TWO, security service members.)
SEBAN
Hello?
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
OFFICER
Allah! Are you… You are Seban Bahaa al-Din?
SEBAN
Yes.
OFFICER
(Showing a badge ID card) You’re not what I imagined.
SEBAN
Sorry.
OFFICER
Assif? Really?
MOTHER
(Off-stage) (In Arabic)Man- ha-dtha, Seban? [Who is it, Seban?]
SEBAN
Stay in the kitchen Mother!
OFFICER
Your mother?
SEBAN
Yes. Did you want to speak to her— Or my father?
OFFICER TWO
Is he at home?
SEBAN
No, sir, not at the—
OFFICER
No- no, we’ve come to ask about a petition from—
SEBAN
Petition?—
OFFICER
Many in the pro-Democracy group signed it—
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
SEBAN
Pro-Democracy? I… I…-OFFICER TWO
Have you? Did you sign?
SEBAN
No, Officer. I would remember—
OFFICER TWO
A petition for rights and a constitution?
SEBAN
Mother! Call Father on the phone!—
OFFICER TWO
Ek-rass-ic! [Shut-up!]
OFFICER
You sign online, didn’t you? No?
SEBAN
No.
OFFICER
No, of course not. You khanzeera fee al waa-hel. [You’re a female pig in the mud!] You
have no brains. You know Dama Makbood, do you?
SEBAN
Dama?
OFFICER TWO
(Mimicking) Dama. She gave your name.
SEBAN
We are friends. At University.
OFFICER
Is she sharmotta? [Prostitute.]
SEBAN
She is no prostitute. She is my “friend”.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
OFFICER
She is, is she? Ayre feek! [Fuck you!]
SEBAN
Yes. She is—
OFFICER
You. Tell her we warn her and her group. She eat shit if I find she and her group spray
paint graffiti on MY city walls! Yes? I make her eat shit if I find out she do graffiti. You
know, she is not Alawiyyin, so she is not protected.
SEBAN
I don’t know what you mean. If you come back to speak with my father—
OFFICER
Kus Omak! [Kiss/fuck your Dad!]
OFFICER TWO
La neek abouk! [Kiss/fuck your Mother!]
OFFICER
You impertinent girl.
OFFICER TWO
No respect- Fuck you!
SEBAN
But I respect you. I give you—
OFFICER
If you don’t like it here go to Saudi Arabia.
SEBAN
I love my country.
OFFICER
Are you Sahwa? [“sahwa” is a US-funded Iraqi security force]
SEBAN
No, I have nothing to do with Iraq.
OFFICER
Is your friend Dama part of any “group”? (SEBAN shakes her head.)
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
OFFICER TWO
Are you part of the Muslim Brotherhood? (Again she shakes her head.)
OFFICER
No? How about the Jamadt Mutah Terrifah? Jama’at al-Tawhid w’al-Jihad? [Better
known as Islamic State in Iraq and al-Shâm]
SEBAN
What? No.
OFFICER
You know without our blessing no movement will occur.
OFFICER TWO
We let it, or we crush it.
SEBAN
Of course. I am not part of any protest.
OFFICER
Good. Very good. We wouldn’t want you to be harmed in any way.
SEBAN
Of course.
OFFICER
Those arrested mentioned a blog.
OFFICER TWO
A pro-democracy computer blog.
OFFICER
The “Lesbian of the Levant’s blog”. Do you know it?
SEBAN
No, Sir. I’m not part of any such movement.
OFFICER
Keep it that way. You don’t want to be next, do you?
SEBAN
Of course not.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
OFFICER
If I find you lie to me: I’ll fuck your eyes out.
(Shaken SEBAN closes the door. She looks out the
window. Have the men left? Yes. SEBAN returns to
her computer at the desk.)
SEBAN
They watch.
RUSSEL
But they know.
SEBAN
We are ready.
RUSSEL
Ready to spread a pro-democracy movement.
(SEBAN retrieves her cell phone, and dials.
Somewhere, in an uncertain location, DAMA, a
young Syrian college woman, in a head scarf,
answers her cell phone.)
DAMA
Seban, bonjour.
SEBAN
Dama?
DAMA
I read your blog. You have such a way with words.
SEBAN
Merci, but we… Are you okay?
DAMA
Yes, yes, why?
SEBAN
No worry. I… Nothing. I miss seeing you is all.
DAMA
We’ll see each other tomorrow. At the protest in the square?
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
SEBAN
Shhhhh. Not so loud.
DAMA
I am alone.
SEBAN
Okay. Tomorrow. I can’t wait.
DAMA
I… I… I love you, Seban. Bon.
(DAMA quickly hangs up the phone. SEBAN reacts
to the “love” disclosure and lights fade out.)
3
(SEBAN returns to typing at her computer desk. The
blog is projected with the quotations of what
ISHTAR and BASHAD say.)
RUSSEL
(Reading) In the neighborhood-SEBAN
(Narrating) My neighborhood there is this woman—
RUSSEL
(Reading) Her name—
SEBAN
Ishtar. She runs the local shop; sells everything you can imagine.
RUSSEL
(Reading) Belgium chocolatesSEBAN
Yes. And pirated DVD’s.
RUSSEL
In English?
SEBAN
Of course. My favorites are Bollywood.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
RUSSEL
Any American stuff. Special Disney pins?
SEBAN
Aladdin’s very popular.
RUSSEL
Aladdin?
SEBAN
Yeah- But not authentic. When it rains, the colors run. Ishtar even sells very strong
Afghani hashish.
RUSSEL
Organic?
SEBAN
No. Dutch. (Beat.) She’s got everything. Her backroom looks like a pawn shop. But what
does she sell the most? You’ll never guess.
SEBAN/RUSSEL
Information.
SEBAN
Right. Dama and I shop there for discounts. This other guy, Bashad— He always stops in
for coffee, dessert, and gossip.
(Lights: ISHTAR speaking to BASHAD and SEBAN.)
ISHTAR
I always tell truth, Bashad.
BASHAD
Truth? Ishtar? Drink your coffee and eck-rass. [Shut up.]
SEBAN
You’ve got great stories.
BASHAD
Stories? She tells tall tales. She uses more lie-enhancing drugs than an American cyclist.
ISHTAR
You should talk. (Tsk-tsk.) Your tongue is more forked than the president’s.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
BASHAD
Mine!? Yours is so forked, you don’t even need silverware!
ISHTAR
Ahh! All I’m sayin’ is: you should believe me. They were American Secret Service.
BASHAD
(Laughing) Ha!
ISHTAR
Don’t laugh!
BASHAD
I believe you when you tell me Abdul beekemsh Ma-ao [can't get it up], so you sell him
Viagra. But not this.
SEBAN
Why would she lie?
BASHAD
Oh you silly girl—
ISHTAR
I know what I saw! If I lie, you never buy from me a thing. But: if I tell the truth, you must
buy one thing. Deal?
(They shake hands as if it is a bet.)
BASHAD
Yeah, one thing. No more. So you think you saw the secret service here?
ISHTAR
I tell you. And if you don’t believe, I give you Italian wallet for free. This morning, Like
any day. I’d just had my roll with butter, lots of butter.
BASHAD
You like lots of butter.
ISHTAR
Not as much as you by the looks of it. So I opened the shop, turned on the lights, and in
walks three men.
SEBAN
American?
BASHAD
Not from here?
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
ISHTAR
Foreigners. Not much to look at. Not Iraqi. Not Iranian. Not Israeli or Russian either, but
they could’ve looked Iranian, Israeli, or Russian. They “looked” like they should “fit in”
anywhere. They blend-in so well—
BASHAD
For all we know they could be from Blendina.
ISHTAR
You joke, but they were not Muslim-Muslim.
BASHAD
(Sarcastic) How do you know they’re not Muslim-Muslim? Could you tell they only pray
three times, rather than five times? (Beat.) You really amaze me. (Beat.) If only we could
put your astounding logic and deduction to better use. Have you thought of making your
own TV show like Persian-locke Holmes, or Aleppo 5-0?
ISHTAR
Believe me: I sold them uniforms. Military uniforms.
BASHAD
And no weapons?
ISHTAR
Must’ve had their own weapons. They didn’t want mine… not that I have any to sell.
SEBAN
Do you have guns?
ISHTAR
For a price. (Pause) Anyway, they paid for the uniforms with Platinum American Express.
SEBAN
We have American Express.
ISHTAR
Not ones that say “CIA”.
BASHAD
The credit card didn’t say CIA?
ISHTAR
Yes it did. Right on their credit card: CIA Corporate Card.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
BASHAD
The CIA can’t do that?
ISHTAR
You don’t believe they’re real?
BASHAD
Of course they’re “real”, but they can’t come over here, and show a credit card with CIA
all written on it. Bah! You watch too much TV.
ISHTAR
That is what I call you for: I saw them on the telly. When I watched telly I saw them—
BASHAD
Same guys with Platinum Card?
ISHTAR
The very same guys.
BASHAD
They attend demonstration?
SEBAN
The one on the border?
ISHTAR
The same guys. I recognized them because they’d left the tags on the sleeves.
BASHAD
Not too bright. (Sarcastic) But if you say it is true, it must be true.
ISHTAR
I saw them on my telly—
BASHAD
Right after your soap-opera, right?
ISHTAR
Exactly.
BASHAD
I can see it would be difficult for CIA of America to disguise themselves, but they are
probably here to murder the President’s nephew, before he wakes up from his seven year
coma, but they don’t make it, and he sits up in his bed, just in time to push his call button,
22
GERMS AND VIRUSES
and the nurses run in, and they catch the CIA men, and, as they do, the nurse recognizes
the CIA guy. He looks just like her long-lost distant father, recently released from the
mental institution! Bum-bum-bummm! And! Commercial!
ISHTAR
No-no. It is real. I saw my uniforms. The ones I sold them. My uniforms—
BASHAD
You’re uniforms are seventeen years out of date.
ISHTAR
That’s what I’m saying. Anyone could notice if they looked close. What I’m saying is:
those people at the demonstration— They weren’t our people. One, the same guy who
came into my shop, was dressed as a student. The other two, I’d recognize them anywhere,
were dressed as our military. They weren’t our military. They weren’t our people. They
are CIA.
BASHAD
But I tell you: Y. A. C. You. Are. Confused.
ISHTAR
I know what I saw and if I’d known I would NOT HAVE sold ‘em the uniforms. I’m not
the President’s biggest supporter, but he isn’t the worst leader we could have.
BASHAD
No- he’s not the worst; we could’ve had Saddam Hussein.
ISHTAR
So you believe me?
BASHAD
You tell anyone else what you saw?
ISHTAR
No. I tell no one, except you. And now, Seban.
BASHAD
Don’t go spreading lies; they only come back—
ISHTAR
More should know, so I tell you—
SEBAN
I have a friend and she writes a blog—
23
GERMS AND VIRUSES
ISHTAR
Maybe she could interview me—. No. No. But she could report my story.
SEBAN
My friend says we can overthrow the government. It is all over the internet. Stories like
these. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen.
BASHAD
I’ve heard. I don’t know if we… I mean, Ishtar, this is serious; we should be careful.
ISHTAR
Ahha! So? You believe me? I tell you I saw it with my own eyes—
BASHAD
Yeah-yeah. I hear you, woman. You don’t have to keep talking. Talking doesn’t make it
real.
ISHTAR
Our deal! You buy a new wallet? (Beat.) Or maybe you buy something more special from
the back room?
BASHAD
I never said I believe you— but I will come look.
SEBAN
(Narrating) We heard the call for prayers. Ishtar waved me off, to go, to leave for prayer.
ISHTAR
Seban, you go. We will catch up— (To BASHAD) We take care of sale first. Backroom?
(Lights fade on ISHTAR and BASHAD, as SEBAN
returns to typing her blog.)
SEBAN
I walked to prayer, but the whole time I planned this—
RUSSEL
This blog?
SEBAN
Ishtar stories create light in the dark. Her truth is our truth.
(ISHTAR and BASHAD exit; lights fade on SEBAN.)
24
GERMS AND VIRUSES
4
(The Stage Manager from the side of the audience,
near an aisle interrupts.)
STAGE MANAGER
Sorry, folks, but maafi mushkila, right? [No problem.] No problem. You may have noticed
that the Facebook isn’t working. It’s no problem.
BASHAD sticks his head out of where ever he is
offstage.
BASHAD (the actor playing BASHAD)
Should we go on?
STAGE MANAGER
It’s is just a technical issue.
ISHTAR sticks her head out of where ever she is
offstage.
ISHTAR (the actor playing ISHTAR) It
worked yesterday. Is it just the internet?
STAGE MANAGER
You know the problems with access –
SECRETARY sticks her head out of where ever she is
off-stage.
SECRETARY (the actor playing SECRETARY)
It’s an old building!
STAGE MANAGER
I’m telling you: first they cut your internet, then they cut your throats, that’s all I’m sayin’.
SECRETARY (the actor playing SECRETARY)
You all over exaggerate!
STAGE MANAGER
If we’d only done my cousin’s musical.
BASHAD (the actor playing BASHAD) So,
it might be nothing. What’s the House Manager say?
STAGE MANAGER
They’re working on it. You’re call? (Into her/his intercom [walkie-talkie]) Did you check
the server? It is? Aiwa? [Yes?] (To the audience) We’ll have the blog up so you can
comment on it soon.
25
GERMS AND VIRUSES
BASHAD (the actor playing BASHAD) I
say we go on.
ALL of the rest of the cast shrug their shoulders, and
nod in agreement. SM moves off stage and continues
with the play.
STAGE MANAGER
(Into the intercom) Is it them? Do you think they know?
(Stage Manager exits talking into her/his walkietalkie as hip “REWINDING OF TAPE” sounds.)
5
(Lights fade up. SECRETARY and AMBASSADOR
near the map and the internet screens.) (While trying
to do business, SECRETARY is playing tennis with
an unseen tennis instructor. AMBASSADOR tries to
follow the “game”.)
SECRETARY
This plan could get you years at Leavenworth.
(She hits the ball, forehand. Each hit, SEC-SEC
makes a ball sound of the racket hitting the ball.)
AMBASSADOR
Eleven?
SECRETARY
Or twelve years’ worth.
(She hits the ball, backhand.)
SECRETARY (continued)
Let’s be serious. I’m not playing a game.
AMBASSADOR
But they won’t be able to track it back to us.
(She hits the ball, forehand.)
SECRETARY
Us? Definitely not “us”. I’m not doing this. There are too many reasons not to get
involved in the Levant.
26
GERMS AND VIRUSES
(She misses the ball.)
AMBASSADOR
Actually there are too many reasons to get involved over there. No one understands it, and
they’re all fighting amongst themselves, and we can use that to our advantage.
SECRETARY
You mean for the oil?
AMBASSADOR
It’s location.
(She hits the ball, forehand.)
SECRETARY
There’s the up-coming elections, the mid-term, the other terms… I don’t want my
fingerprints on this.
(She misses the ball.)
AMBASSADOR
Anyway, the internet has no prints.
SECRETARY
I am not having this conversation—
(She hits the ball, forehand.)
AMBASSADOR
We’ll use the internet to make our pro-democracy movement sound like a natural
progression—
SECRETARY
And by doing your theory of—
(She hits the ball, backhand.)
AMBASSADOR
Simultaneity.
SECRETARY
No. I’m not hiring, I’m not consenting—
(She misses the ball.)
27
GERMS AND VIRUSES
SECRETARY (continued)
(To SEC-SEC) Really?
AMBASSADOR
They’ll never know we bombarded them with information—
SECRETARY
They’ll know—Senate? Hearings? Everything eventually comes out and I’m not taking
that risk—
(She quits playing tennis. SEC-SEC helps
SECRETARY clean-up. He gives her a water bottle.
She drinks.)
AMBASSADOR
Cyber-warfare—We’re doing it already. Iran. China. Hacking the best of ‘em.
SECRETARY
(Spit take.) We are not. (She gives the water bottle back to SEC-SEC.)
AMBASSADOR
Deny it all you want. You can’t ignore it.
SECRETARY
It’s a rumor even if we are—
AMBASSADOR
And that’s what I’m saying. Use rumor. Rumors rapidly spread. Use Facebook, snap-chat,
or Twitter like your son or my son. And that’s who I would start with.
SECRETARY
My son?
AMBASSADOR
(Shaking his head) Students. The one’s at the college, the university. They are optimistic,
idealistic. So with some proper education, by the properly placed professors, the students
can get excited. Give them voice.
SECRETARY
No. I don’t see the need.
AMBASSADOR
Their president is weak. He’s lost credibility.
SECRETARY
And so have we—since the last war, or the one before that.
28
GERMS AND VIRUSES
AMBASSADOR
So we act.
SECRETARY
You really believe— You think no one would know? Are you deluded? Have you not
learned? We can’t be some Messiah, some redeemer riding on the back of “Democracy”,
and force a country to do what we want. That’s not what I signed-up for—
AMBASSADOR
If we don’t take this opportunity, no one will. This is our chance. We can’t get the other
countries; they all hate us; but we can get this one, and we need a “presence” over there. It
won’t be easy, of course not, but we can make it happen and they won’t even know it was
us.
(She takes a file from AMBASSADOR. SECRETARY
sends SEC-SEC back to the tennis court. A ball hits
SEC-SEC in the groin.)
SEC-SEC
(Quietly) Ow.
(Lights fade out as they exit the tennis court.)
6
(On the screen are video scenes of rioting in the
streets of Levant.) [CHORUS ONE and CHORUS
TWO are a mix of the actors.]
RUSSEL
(Reading) TodaySEBAN
(To the audience.) Friday prayersRUSSEL
(Reading) At the Mosque.
SEBAN
I met Dama. When the service ended, in the men’s section someone shouted:
BASHAD
“God, Freedom to Levant!”
CHORUS ONE
“God, Freedom to Levant!”
29
GERMS AND VIRUSES
DAMA
(Youthful.) Seban, we must leave.
CHORUS TWO
“God is greatest!” (Repeated)
CHORUS ONE
“Freedom to Levant!” (Repeated)
CHORUS TWO
“God is greatest!” (Repeated)
DAMA
Seban, the military moves closer. Shouldn’t
we leave?
CHORUS ONE
Give us a free democracy.
CHORUS TWO
Democracy!
CHORUS ONE
Democracy!
SEBAN
Dama, follow me. (To the audience.) I pulled Dama by the hand through the crowd. I
dragged her even when she tripped up—
DAMA
Seban, the military are outside.
RUSSEL
(Reading) They would never come into the Mosque.
SEBAN
(To the audience) But they did. We squeezed through the growing crowd to get our shoes
and right then—
DAMA
The military!
RUSSEL
(Reading) They came in? The military? Chased the protestors?
30
GERMS AND VIRUSES
SEBAN
Come with me.
DAMA
They’re coming after us! Where can we hide?
SEBAN
The alley! Follow me!
RUSSEL
(To audience) People inside shouted at
the police.
CHORUS (mash-up)
(As if far away) Freedom!
Democracy! Revolution! Republic!
SEBAN
(To Dama) Merci. We can’t leave.
DAMA
We can sneak through the alley. I trust you.
SEBAN
If we leave, the military will detain us.
They are in the alley.
ISHTAR
Seban, here.
SEBAN
Ishtar?
ISHTAR
They’re not us. Outsiders.
SEBAN
They look like—
ISHTAR
Some are, some aren’t. Quick.
RUSSEL
(Reading) The way out—
SEBAN
The back door—
31
GERMS AND VIRUSES
DAMA
Let’s go home.
ISHTAR
No, not that way. It’s very dangerous.
Look girls.
This is all over the country.
RUSSEL
(Reading) It’s all over the country.
ISHTAR
All over the telly. Demonstrations against the president! Hundreds of people protesting for
president to step-down.
DAMA
Really? All over
ISHTAR
Betrayal of the community is the worst treachery. They read this blog, and this girl tells
them where to protest. The Lesbian of the Levant. If you read her she will announce where
the next protest will be.
DAMA
Where is the next one?
ISHTAR
She will post it tonight. Now you two, you should sneak home. Stay in the alleys.
SEBAN
And where are you going?
ISHTAR
Back to the shop. I must order new items.
DAMA
At a time like this?
ISHTAR
At a time like this? Yes—we need helmets. Maybe they have hard-hat-hijabs.
ISHTAR slinks away down the alley.
RUSSEL
And the demonstrations?
SEBAN
(To the audience.) On every corner of each street.
32
GERMS AND VIRUSES
DAMA
The riot is coming. The germ has finally spread. We should go.
(As they sneak down the alley, SEBAN and DAMA
stop when SEBAN’s phone beeps. A text message
arrived. She checks her text message.)
SEBAN
It happened. Near the border, demonstrators met armed forces. The police opened fire on
the crowd.
(Gun fire.)
DAMA
Get down!
(DAMA pulls SEBAN down. Gun fire echoes
around.)
SEBAN
Let’s run home. Run as fast as we can.
(Phones ring as SEBAN and DAMA run in slow
motion home. From all around the space we hear
different phones ringing. The characters’ phones
ring. They answer them. Can we call the audience?
Sure we can. We could tell you how many people
died in the government raid. At SEBAN’s front door
they embrace.)
SEBAN
Dama, be careful, dear. Love you. This is—
(Phone beeps a message arrived. She checks phone.)
DAMA
What is it?
SEBAN
Two killed at the Mosque.
DAMA
Should we go back?
SEBAN
Maybe we should get people to—
33
GERMS AND VIRUSES
(Phone beeps, a message- She checks the phone.)
SEBAN
Three killed.
(Phone beeps, a message-)
SEBAN
Four dead.
(Phone beeps a message-)
DAMA
Oh, no.
SEBAN
Five. Five innocent people dead.
DAMA
Why?
(Phone beeps, a message-)
SEBAN
Shot for Freedom! Dama, I must return to my blog and report these horrible events.
RUSSEL
SEBAN
Don’t return to the square.
You go home.
DAMA
You must write about this. Go write.
(DAMA heads toward her house as SEBAN opens the
gate and goes inside. DAMA hides around the
corner. She waits. Why does she stop and watch to
make sure SEBAN is inside? SEBAN closes the door,
and DAMA sneaks back down the street to the
Mosque. SEBAN returns to her computer, typing)
SEBAN
We must stay strong. They fear us.
RUSSEL
And what do they do?
34
GERMS AND VIRUSES
SEBAN
They offer naked violence. Tomorrow people will meet in Homs.
RUSSEL
(Reading) The protests are horrible—
SEBAN
They must continue. What happens here, today, is the beginning of the end of things.
RUSSEL & SEBAN
The cities of Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Raqqa ...
(A map of the Levant highlights all of the cities as
they are named. Helicopters swoop over SEBAN’s
room, growing with the chorus.)
CHORUS MASH-UP
(Random order and not together) Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Raqqa, Damascus, Aleppo,
Homs, Hama, Raqqa, Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Raqqa, Damascus —
(Everything STOPS. Everyone is silent.)
7
(SEBAN at the desk.)
SEBAN
(She raises her hands and sings.) “Allah u-akbar! (Whispered.)“Al fatiha.” (She folds her
hands and loudly cries out-) “Allah u-akbar! Peace and blessings on the Holy Prophet.”
“Allah u-akbar! Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. (Whispered as she turns her head
first to the right and then to the left.) Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah.” (Silence.) (To
the audience.) Today 100 more dead people. More died. The security forces over-reacted
and used live ammunition on peaceful demonstrations. They claim they didn’t mean to.
Mean to? Tell that to the dead. Then out of nowhere!
(Bullet shots.)
SEBAN
They shot tear gas at us. I ran. We were already on edge, and they fired at us! They will
not let us mourn! They won’t allow us to mourn our dead! We must demonstrate in
Aleppo. Tomorrow join the protests in the street. We remain peaceful. We will not fight
back until it is clearly our only choice.
(Lights fade out.)
35
GERMS AND VIRUSES
8
(Lights fade up on SEBAN as her phone rings. She
picks it up. Lights show DAMA on her phone in
nowhere special.)
SEBAN
Hello, Dama.
DAMA
Good morning, Seban—
SEBAN
I’ve been calling for days—
called a few times today-why haven’t you—
Why not answer my—
DAMA
Now, don’t get mad—
but I think you should know—
SEBAN
Know what?
DAMA
Last week, I went back to the Mosque.
SEBAN
You what?... (Pause.) With who?
DAMA
No one. I found more protestors there.
SEBAN
Are you safe? (Pause.) Are you okay?
DAMA
Yes. Of course. But since then, I’ve become more… More active. With them. (Pause.)
Because of you.—
SEBAN
No. You can’t. You’ll get hurt—
DAMA
I won’t. Anyway, you made me care about you, about this; I believe in you. We believe in
you, in what you write. Tell your followers, that we are going to the border to protest.
SEBAN
No. No. You shouldn’t go.
DAMA
36
GERMS AND VIRUSES
I must. We believe in this as much as we believe in you.
SEBAN
Have common sense! To go to the south today is suicide.
DAMA
We must fight for what we believe. It will—
SEBAN
No, I said. I’ve seen the videos on the news.
DAMA
I’m sending you a video I took on my phone. Please post it. And I will get you more video
today.
SEBAN
But please, Dama, it is not good. Don’t go!
DAMA
We will win. I am going to the border—
SEBAN
Be smart! Did you hear me? … (The phone is silent.) Dama? Are you still there? (Silence.)
Dama?
(DAMA listens. Lights fade out on DAMA and
SEBAN.)
9
(Lights show RUSSEL typing at his computer desk.
SEBAN narrates. The blog is projected with the
quotations of what ISHTAR and BASHAD say for the
first few lines. Lights fade up on BASHAD speaking
to ISHTAR.)
RUSSEL
A new story.
SEBAN
Yes. From Ishtar.
RUSSEL
Was it true?
SEBAN
I don’t know.—
RUSSEL
37
GERMS AND VIRUSES
But you decide.
BASHAD
(Acting like a “terrorist”) “I am paid terrorist. I am from nowhere and everywhere. Paid
good money. I carry-out attacks on security services and police and military.”
SEBAN
(Narrating) Today I overheard Bashad telling Ishtar—
BASHAD
I might believe you now.
ISHTAR
Oh? Now you believe? Because some guy—
BASHAD
Not just some guy. I said, “I am a paid terrorist” That’s what terrorist told me.
ISHTAR
What terrorist would tell you he’s a terrorist?
BASHAD
One from 24, I know. But he was real. Not from TV.
ISHTAR
Oh please. Now I don’t believe you. Where were you?
BASHAD
Ishtar, I told you. At cafeteria, where I go. Run by bunch of Alawiyeen. Nice guys. And
this guy, he sat beside me, at cafeteria— I was having lunch. Hummus from China.
ISHTAR
Good stuff.
BASHAD
And this assassin, he explain…
SEBAN
(Narrating) Bashad closed his eyes as if imagining the assassin—
BASHAD
He said, Saudi government paid him to do this.
ISHTAR
Do what?
38
GERMS AND VIRUSES
BASHAD
Shooting. Spreading fear. He works in Saudi. They sent him here.
ISHTAR
Why?
BASHAD
(Sarcastic) To drive a taxi!
ISHTAR
I knew it. You make this all up.
BASHAD
No, I don’t. He said he’s here to destabilize our country.
ISHTAR
Here? How can you trust a man paid by the Saudis?
BASHAD
You mean I shouldn’t trust what he said?
ISHTAR
Well he is an assassin.
BASHAD
Well, that’s different.
SEBAN
(Narrating) Both Ishtar and Bashad nodded in agreement.
ISHTAR
Are you sure it wasn’t with the Israeli’s?
BASHAD
No. Saudi. One of us. They arrest him.
ISHTAR
For what?
BASHAD
Spying? Espionage? Maybe selling Viagra to little kids.
39
GERMS AND VIRUSES
ISHTAR
I only did that once. And he looked older than he was.
BASHAD
And he was a she.
ISHTAR
He was? Should’ve know. With a name like Ihore.
BASHAD
She was from Pakistan. It’s a common name there.
ISHTAR
Ihore? Not a good name.
BASHAD
That’s beside the point. We get off track. I tell you, I believe you.
ISHTAR
All because this “so-called assassin from Saudi Araba” said… What’d he say?
BASHAD
He’s come to start the downfall of our country. Kill for it, for a price, for money.
ISHTAR
And there he was telling YOU?
BASHAD
I couldn’t believe it! I mean! Of all people! Of all places! Kullu kosaas! [It is all B.S.
stories.]
ISHTAR
No, Bashad. Not Kullu kosaas.
SEBAN
(Narrating) Ishtar said as she leaned forward.
ISHTAR
You say this is if we should shrug off the stories. No-no- We cannot dismiss these people.
They are here. They come from all over to do this to us. These people mean to harm us.
They’re real.
40
GERMS AND VIRUSES
RUSSEL
(Overlapping) These are real.
(Lights fade out on BASHAD, and ISHTAR. SEBAN
is left alone in her own light. RUSSEL types.)
RUSSEL
Dear friends, I write—
SEBAN
Dear friends, I write to warn you. The regime
brings in our own enemies to confuse us. Our
enemies look like us. In some cases they are
us. Don’t be fooled. The regime fades—
RUSSEL
It fades with the sun.
(Lights fade on SEBAN)
10
(The call for prayers and we see DAMA and SEBAN
sitting at the desk with her laptop computer. SEBAN
writes on DAMA’s left forearm with a black marker.
[As they write on each other’s arms, they become
more physical. This is a closeted love scene.]
RUSSEL types as the action occurs.)
RUSSEL
When was it? —
DAMA
It is just Friday prayers, Seban.
SEBAN
They don’t care. They will come again.
DAMA
And writing on my arms…?
SEBAN
Precaution.
DAMA
Why both Arabic and English?
SEBAN
Just in case. And under that your identity number.
DAMA
41
GERMS AND VIRUSES
The Mosque should be—
SEBAN
It’s not safe! Dama, no. There were calls for national protests, you know— Over what had
happened in the south— Over the promises made yesterday.
DAMA
But the government promised reforms.
SEBAN
What promises?
DAMA
They will lift the ban on teachers wearing the niqab.
SEBAN
That is nothing. It is our choice anyway. No one makes us do it now.
(We see photos of SEBAN- montage of her without
any covering. She is a beautiful young woman.)
DAMA
Were you always such a nonconformist?
SEBAN
Even in prep school.
DAMA
Back in Detroit?
SEBAN
Yeah.
DAMA
And even then… did you know… You know? About your feelings for…
SEBAN
Other girls? Yeah.
DAMA
What to do with those feelings. I never know.
SEBAN
Me neither. Once I prayed. “Allah, please cure me, by some miracle fix me.” And nothing.
DAMA
Me too. I cried and cried about it. Sixteen and—
SEBAN
42
GERMS AND VIRUSES
I like how you are—
DAMA
You do?
SEBAN
Yeah.
DAMA
(Blushing) I… Seban? How did you get… How did you accept it?
SEBAN
This one time, I went to my window. I called out to Allah. “Allah! Allah! Show your
love!” And this … light. This brilliant light… like Gabriel—
DAMA
The angel?
SEBAN
Yeah. He came and touched my head. And I … I don’t know. It opened my eyes— right
then… I felt better. Nervous, but better.
DAMA
What’d you do?
SEBAN
Accepted me.
DAMA
But here, as a lesbian woman—
SEBAN
No, this was back in Detroit. Where we used to live, and that’s when I first covered. It was
all strange for me, but I accepted me, so I needed to accept all of my beliefs. And at first
friends looked at me differently.
DAMA
Well of course. Covering in America?!
SEBAN
Yeah, but it empowered me. I was a BMO! A black moving object!
DAMA
Yeah!
SEBAN
43
GERMS AND VIRUSES
It let me avoid men, if I wanted. I could look at who I wanted. Women didn’t notice me
looking at them. My hijab was my empowerment. This scared little mouse was now bold
and fearless.
DAMA
I want to be as fearless as you.
SEBAN
You are more courageous than anyone I know.
DAMA
No, I am not. You are strong like the sun, and I am the sand.
SEBAN
Me? Look at me. I hide behind a computer while you get me video.
DAMA
Yeah, but you post it. I could never do that.
SEBAN
Of course you could. You are an extension of me. We are the suns that rise.
DAMA
We are rising suns. I like that.
SEBAN
Let’s do your other arm. (SEBAN writes on DAMA’s right forearm)… your passport
number… 13977900021. Your address … and your phone number. Just in case. We want
to find all of you.
DAMA
Why do you do this for us? I mean, Seban, you had it so good in Michigan, right?
SEBAN
Father decided. Right after graduation, Father’s company transferred him here.
DAMA
I’ve never moved.
SEBAN
Done. Now you do my arms.
DAMA
How’d you learn about this— (She shows the marker.)
SEBAN
A protestor in Palestine had it on his blog.
DAMA
44
GERMS AND VIRUSES
With all of the reports I fear violence today.
SEBAN
Pray it goes well at the Mosque.
DAMA
You’ll need to roll up your sleeve.
(Lights fade out on SEBAN and DAMA.)
11
(Lights fade up on SEBAN standing near the men
and women as they protest.)
RUSSEL & CHORUS ONE
(Shouting) “Freedom! For the martyrs!”
SEBAN
(To the audience) Dama and I stood with the crowd. We chanted outside the Mosque.
RUSSEL & CHORUS TWO
(Chanting) “Our blood for our President!”
SEBAN
(To the audience) Rumor says that they were bussed in.
RUSSEL & CHORUS ONE
(Shouting) “Our blood, our souls, for you!”
SEBAN
(To the audience) The two crowds met. We shouted at each other.
RUSSEL & CHORUS TWO
(Chanting) “Our souls, for our President!”
CHORUS ONE
(Shouting) “Freedom for democracy!”
RUSSEL & CHORUS TWO
(Chanting) “Our blood, our souls, for our President!”
SEBAN
(To the audience) The police came in and scattered us, siding with the President’s crowd
… I came home.
45
GERMS AND VIRUSES
(DAMA and the others exit. SEBAN stands near
RUSSEL.)
SEBAN
Neighbors tell me, demonstrations all over the country, in Homs, in the villages of the
Hauran—
RUSSEL
Yes. Even in Baniyas thousands protested.
(Lights fade out as RUSSEL types. There is a
blackout and then groovy “REWINDING OF TAPE”
sounds.)
12
The lights fade up on the SECRETARY and
AMBASSADOR making plans while eating at a
Chinese restaurant. SECRETARY’s SECRETARY
tastes food. Throughout the scene SECRETARY’s
SECRETARY tries to snag the AMBASSADOR’s file.
AMBASSADOR
Let me show you how it would work.
SECRETARY
How we’d bring down the repressive government—
AMBASSADOR
It will work if we use the commotion, the madness—
SECRETARY
Crazy. You must be insane if you—
AMBASSADOR
Isn’t all war crazy?
SECRETARY
Of course, and that’s why I’m hesitant to get on board with this. If we do this, if I get
behind this, I want it to be surgical.
AMBASSADOR
Surgical? (Playing around) Scalpel please, Madam Secretary.
46
GERMS AND VIRUSES
SECRETARY
Exactly. And too much of The Levant has been sliced up, shaped, and lifted.
AMBASSADOR
You speak as if the patient was getting a little nip and tuck.
SECRETARY
I don’t support facelifts, boob-jobs, or rhinoplasty on the Middle East.
AMBASSADOR
I can tell.
SECRETARY
Mr. Ambassador- this hyper-space war, with cyber-attacks, is… untidy.
AMBASSADOR
When’s the last time you watched a surgery? It is messy in the ER, and it might look like
bedlam, but underneath it all there is direction.
SECRETARY
And what do you need me to—
AMBASSADOR
You’d help by freezing their assets. Their exports.
SECRETARY
We will need to go through the UN.
AMBASSADOR
Tough since we’d have to get The Bear and The Dragon on board.
SECRETARY
Russia and China?
AMBASSADOR
Shhh!
SECRETARY
(Whispered) Right. Well. We could force The Dragon by not giving them access to Saudi
oil.
AMBASSADOR
Might work. A germ of suspicion.
47
GERMS AND VIRUSES
SECRETARY
They are a very suspicious people.
AMBASSADOR
Paranoid I’d say. But if my premise works we will have a substantial presence in the area
in no time—
SECRETARY
Your premise?—
AMBASSADOR
A pet premise of mine really.
SECRETARY’s SECRETARY snags the
AMBASSADOR’s file, unbeknownst to them. He
hides the file.
SECRETARY
Really?
AMBASSADOR
On why those people, people like them are more paranoid than we are—
SECRETARY
Is this going to ruin the rest of my lunch hour?
AMBASSADOR
It’s their culture—how they’re raised. They’re constantly repressed—
SECRETARY
And we’re not—?
AMBASSADOR
Their repression forces them to feel more anxiety. An anxiety so difficult to explain it
causes more anxiety. And then over time the anxiety grows more intolerable, so they try to
find ways to reduce their fears and—
SECRETARY
That’s why I have religion—
AMBASSADOR
48
GERMS AND VIRUSES
Maybe it’s a way to reduce the anxiety, sure— And I think, the more a person feels
persecuted, or dominated, then they’ll feel more anxiety, which leads to paranoia. And
paranoia makes these people, people like them implode—
SECRETARY
Some would call that racist.
AMBASSADOR
Except maybe Eva Peron, Adolph Eichman, or Richard Nixon, who all had what I’m
talking about. Under stress, the susceptible person is confused, so they believe in more
conspiracies. They believe more in conspiracies because they’ve experienced more
repression and domination. People who’ve lived under domination for a long period of
time have a higher propensity toward conspiracy thinking, and—
SECRETARY
And you’re saying we’d use the internet to get them to believe in conspiracies we’d use
against them?
AMBASSADOR
Bingo! And we could contract it out.
SECRETARY
Outsource a conspiracy to an NGO?
AMBASSADOR
To the lowest bidder?
SECRETARY
Or some unsuspecting CIA worker?
AMBASSADOR
It’ll be like the Mafia, Grenada, or the John Hinkley conspiracy—
SECRETARY
The assassination attempt on Reagan?
AMBASSADOR
Don’t tell me you didn’t know of the Hinkley-Bush Connection?
Paranoid SECRETARY looks at SECRETARY’s
SECRETARY [SEC-SEC]. She waves SEC-SEC out
of the room. He leaves the folder because they are
watching him.
49
GERMS AND VIRUSES
AMBASSADOR
Well. In 1980, Hinkley’s father was a Texas oilman. He fought to get H. W. [Bush] into
the White House. They were frequent dinner dates. They were supposed to have dinner the
day after the shooting. If Reagan had died, the Hinkley’s would’ve had their man in the
office.
SEC-SEC’s sneaks back into the room, and only his
hand is seen as he tries to grab the file he left. He
grabs it and AMBASSADOR and SECRETARY turn,
but they see nothing.
SECRETARY
Some crazy things. Not sure what to believe.
AMBASSADOR
I know. We can watch it all unfold on Al-Jazeera—
SECRETARY
And Fox News. Those Fox guys, I love every single one of them.
AMBASSADOR
Two similar news stations.
SECRETARY
We are at war—We can’t make light of this.
AMBASSADOR
I agree. Our security as a nation depends on winning parts of that area.
SECRETARY
People may oppose us on this, but when they realize we can hurt them, they'll agree.
AMBASSADOR
You know, Madam Secretary, this may hurt our president’s next term.
SECRETARY
Are you kidding? People don't vote on the basis of foreign policy.
(As AMBASSADOR and SECRETARY sit and watch
the “Great Friday5” television clips, the lights dim.)
5
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/scores-killed-syria-great-friday-protests-are-attacked-2011-04-22
50
GERMS AND VIRUSES
13
(Lights fade up on SEBAN. She sits on the edge of
the platform. RUSSEL at his desk types and smokes.)
RUSSEL
Late last night... Everyone—
(OFFICER and OFFICER TWO enter clad in
military and black leather jackets. We hear a bell
ringing. CLANG-CLANG-CLANG! FATHER,
stumbling from sleep, enters wearing just a
nightshirt. He looks “out” through the little window
of the door.)
FATHER
Everyone up! EVERYONE GET UP!! WAKE UP! (To OFFICER) Do you know what
time it is?
OFFICER
Yes, Sir. We do. We are here for Seban.
FATHER
Seban? What business do you have with Seban?
(SEBAN goes to FATHER as he walks into the
“home” with the OFFICER.)
OFFICER
That's her. We need to discuss a few things with you.
FATHER
Like what?
OFFICER
A long list of things she posted in her blog.
SEBAN
(To the audience) If I run, I know they will shoot. I can see weapons, the bulge of pistols
and likely knives under their jackets.
OFFICER TWO
Conspiring against the state, urging armed uprising, working with foreign elements,
including The Salafi plot.
51
GERMS AND VIRUSES
FATHER
Really? My daughter is a salafi? (Laughing.) Look at her: can't you see that that is
ridiculous? And if you have really read even half of what she has written, you know how
ridiculous that is. When was the last time you heard a wahhabi, or even someone from the
brotherhood say that wearing hijab is the woman's choice only? (Pauses.) I did not think
so. When was the last time you saw them saying that the gays should be allowed the right
to marry, a man to a man or a woman to a woman? (Nothing.) And when you say nothing,
you show that you have no reason to take my daughter.
OFFICER
Uh huh, so your daughter tells you everything, huh?
FATHER
Of course.
OFFICER #2
Did she tell you that she likes to sleep with women?
FATHER
(Grinning) That she is one of those perverts who loves other girls? She is my daughter.
And she is who she is and if you want her, you must take me as well.
OFFICER
Stupid city-fuckers. (Stepping toward SEBAN.) All you rich pansies are the same. No
wonder she ends up fucking girls. (He puts his hand on SEBAN’s breast.) Maybe if you
were with a real man you'd stop this nonsense and lies; maybe we should show you now
and let your pansy father watch so he understands how real men are.
FATHER
What are you? Did the jackal sleep with the monkey before you were born? Your father?
Does he know this is how you act? He was an officer, yes? And your mother? Wasn't she
the daughter of Jumpor? What would they think if they heard how you act? And my
daughter? Let me tell you this about her; she has done many things that, if I had been her,
I would not have done. But she has never once stopped being my daughter and I will never
once let you do any harm to her. You will not take her from here. And, if you try, know
that generations of her ancestors are looking down on you. And I will tell you something
now because I think maybe you are too stupid to figure this out on your own. You are
Alawiyeen; do not deny that, I know you. We are Sunni. You know that. And in your
offices and in your villages they are telling you that all of you must stand shoulder to
shoulder now because we are coming for you as soon as we can and we will serve you as
they have served ours in the land of the two rivers. So you are scared. I would be too.
Your President will not live forever, he will not rule forever, and you know that. So, if you
want good things for yourselves in the future, you will leave and you will not take her with
you. You will go back and you will tell the rest of yours that the people like her are the
52
GERMS AND VIRUSES
best friends the Alawi could ever have and you will not come for her again. And right
now, you will apologize for waking her and putting her through all this. Do you
understand me?
(Long Silence.)
OFFICER
(To Seban) Go back to sleep. We are sorry for troubling you.
(OFFICER exits. SEBAN hugs FATHER.)
SEBAN
Father? You are a hero; I always knew that ... but now I am sure.
FATHER
They may come back ... You and mother must leave at once. Go visit family in America.
SEBAN
I will not go. I will stay here with you, Father.
FATHER
That’s a good girl, but maybe we should think of other options—
SEBAN
I must stay.
FATHER
You will not argue with me.
SEBAN
Father?
FATHER
What?
SEBAN
It is in our blood. It is who we are.
FATHER
What is?
SEBAN
To fight. Not to run. Isn’t that what you’ve always taught me?
53
GERMS AND VIRUSES
FATHER
But you heard him—
SEBAN
Our family? Your great-great-great- great--?
FATHER
Grandfather— Peace be on him—
SEBAN
Yes- Where did our ancestors stand
when Muhammad—
Went to Medina?
Peace be upon him—
Don’t use family—
But Father—
FATHER
I won’t see you get hurt.
SEBAN
Who liberated al Quds?
FATHER
Just because father fought to save this country—
SEBAN
I want to be the son you never had. Let me.
FATHER
I… Seban. I don’t know. You ask too much.
SEBAN
I want to stand with you. Not in front, not behind, but next to you, Father. As family.
FATHER
Please?
SEBAN
Please. I will be more careful.
FATHER
You make me proud; to have you as a daughter… Okay. I’ll make a few calls, wake up
some people who are in the regime and tell them about the goon’s visit. I will not stop
until either democracy comes or I am dead.
54
GERMS AND VIRUSES
(FATHER exits. RUSSEL at his desk types furiously.)
SEBAN
(To the audience) Now I have no choice but to stay. Not because Father is making me, but
because he is not making me.
(Lights fade out as RUSSEL types as fast as he can.
Music such as Dubway- Vengeance [part of the
“Free Syria” EP release], or Omar Waleed
Almudaries “Turkish Sufi Music” music aids in the
transition.)
14
(Video from the news in Homs interrupts RUSSEL’s
typing. For a moment the sounds of the video and the
music from Russel’s radio overlap. He turns down a
radio near his work area. He watches video clips of
the massacres in Homs, January 26, 2012, including
the hospitals, the bombing, and the gore 6. RUSSEL’s
cell phone rings. He turns down the video feed. He
answers his cell phone. The video continues to play.
He changes channels randomly.)
RUSSEL
(Into the cell phone) Hello? (He listens.) Yeah? Last week. How many hits? (He listens.)
That was last week? (He listens.) So it’s gone down. (He listens.) That much? Well I…
(He listens.) What I was going to say… the hits will increase. Sky rocket. Yes. I’ve… No.
I’m sure. It’ll go through the roof. More hits than ever. I’ve got an idea on how to… (He
listens.) Yeah, I’m watching. On a few channels. Can’t believe it. (He listens.) I know.
Increase the hits. (He listens.) Yeah. Check on her. Bye.
(He hangs up his phone. He returns to his computer
as the videos play through the transition.)
15
(SEBAN in the desert. ISHTAR [as no one in
specific] brings in a long, deep box on wheels full of
sand. SEBAN extracts her black marker and digs a
hole in the sand with the marker and her hands.)
SEBAN
(As she digs she sings) “Allah u-akbar! Al fatiha. Allah u-akbar! Assalamu alaikum wa
rahmatullah. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah.”She was… (She fights her tears.) Dama,
6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_223F3PcvBU&noredirect=1
55
GERMS AND VIRUSES
my …. She... We were at a … demonstration, over at University. And it was… There was
a professor, a friend, faculty professor, and he alerted us to it, and… She insisted. I said,
“We shouldn’t…”. But… Dama was so… “Rising suns,” she said. And we rushed to the
demonstration. I couldn’t stop her. I should’ve tried, but… The students… all over.
Chanting. Peaceful... More than any other. And then. Security arrived. They started
swinging, and hitting. Batons and guns. And someone, I don’t know who, I don’t know
who threw what. Someone… They shot. Starting shooting. Guns and right next to me. She
was right next to me. (Silence.) Oh, so young. So beautiful… such a promising future as a
doctor. You would’ve made a great doctor, Dama. I am so proud of being your friend.
(BASHAD enters carrying a large bloodied sheet or
plastic bag, bundled, as it contains something like
trash, but it is not trash.)
SEBAN
(To BASHAD or RUSSEL) Do we have to?
BASHAD & RUSSEL
Yes.
SEBAN
I don’t want to.
BASHAD
It’s what’s best.
RUSSEL
Remember? Every sun…
SEBAN
But I loved her.
RUSSEL
She’s a martyr—
BASHAD
For the cause now.
BASHAD gives SEBAN the bundle.
SEBAN
It’s my first. Really. To see someone die. I never told her. First time. And it’s so… It
doesn’t make sense. This. Her dying. Dama. And when you fell, I thought, “No. You fell.”
No problem, but when I looked. And you … you twitched, and your eyes. You looked at
56
GERMS AND VIRUSES
me. I couldn’t, but I knew… you were... And I couldn’t leave you. Your… I mean, not
there. And that’s why I dragged you. I tried to lift you, but … I got you back home. And.
Your father was… We tried a proper burial, but they wouldn’t let us. Your father, he tried.
You deserve better, but they said no. Allah demands bury be proper! But no. Every sun
must set.
(She stands. With her teeth SEBAN pulls-off the cap
of the marker and writes on the white garbage bag
(sheet): 13977900021.)
SEBAN
(Silence. SEBAN puts the garbage bag bundle in the sand.) I have no choice, but to make
your death mean more.
(SEBAN waits. Lights fade out as the sandbox is
wheeled away.)
16
(Lights fade up on SEBAN at her desk. RUSSEL
shines a flashlight on SEBAN as she sit and she says
nothing. She sits there trying to talk. She tries to
type.)
RUSSEL
Something is wrong with the computer.
(SEBAN investigates. Her flashlight losses power.)
17
(STAGE MANAGER enters in the dark carrying a
flashlight. Of course she needs it; she can’t see, and
the electricity isn’t working. The cast ad-libs from
their off-stage positions: “Oh great!” “Maybe we
should all leave?” “Someone look outside. See if it’s
the police.” “Majority voted. Let’s vote again.” Etc.
STAGE MANAGER
Wait! We’re still going on with it. Sorry! We’ve got no electricity.
(She tries to get the lights to work.)
STAGE MANAGER
Hold your horses. I’ll get them back on!
57
GERMS AND VIRUSES
(The actors ad-lib: “I don’t think we should.” “Let’s
vote again.” “Who wants to walk?” “We all
decided.” “I’m not going to die for a play.” SM tries
to get the lights to come on. She trips over something
and falls.)
STAGE MANAGER
I’m okay. I just can’t seem… Can’t do it. No power. Don’t panic. Fucking cease and
desist. I’ve got a generator. Hold on. We’re going on with the play. False alarm!
(STAGE MANAGER exits.)
18
(SEBAN/RUSSEL turns on a FLASHLIGHT on her,
sitting at her desk.)
SEBAN
(Typing and speaking to the audience.) They cut off my electricity! No internet. It’s been
down for virtually the whole country for a day and came back on yesterday. Father has a
generator, but he doesn’t want us to turn on the lights, to make it obvious we have power,
when some people don’t. The regime shut down the internet out of desperation, but it is
back. For how long? I must get out this message. When governments get desperate—
(Black out.)
19
(Lights fade up. SEBAN is not in her chair. On the
screen we see news reports of “Lesbian of The
Levant gone” along with pictures of her without her
full head covering.)
RUSSEL
[ALSO PROJECTED:] MISSING! Missing! Missing! The Lesbian of The Levant is gone!
(More reports/photos of SEBAN looking pretty.)
RUSSEL
[ALSO PROJECTED:] Kidnapped? Blogger abducted? Where is she?
(More posters with her photos asking for help finding
SEBAN. More pictures of SEBAN. They look like they
were taken in Ireland of her without her full head
covering)
RUSSEL
58
GERMS AND VIRUSES
[ALSO PROJECTED:] Murdered? Did they slay Seban? Where is her body?
(Lights fade out. RUSSEL stops typing. The trendy
“REWINDING OF TAPE” sounds signals the time
shift to the Secretary’s office.)
20
(Lights fade up on the SECRETARY and
AMBASSADOR making plans.)
AMBASSADOR
As long as you’re okay with it.
SECRETARY
This is your baby.
AMBASSADOR
That’s what my girl-friend said to my wife.
SECRETARY
Oh dear Lord. Anyway, that’s beside the point. How long will this take?
AMBASSADOR
Not as long as a baby. Anyway, it’s already begun.
SECRETARY
What? You’ve hired someone?
AMBASSADOR
(Nods)
SECRETARY
I am not okay with this!
AMBASSADOR
Now you can deny accountability.
SECRETARY
But not deniability. Now I know!
AMBASSADOR
Along with thousands of others. Many of them knew before you did.
SECRETARY
59
GERMS AND VIRUSES
So it’s not confidential?
AMBASSADOR
The act isn’t, but the motive is. The action is visible, but the agency isn’t.
SECRETARY
So it’s still covert.
AMBASSADOR
Some things are still secret.
SECRETARY
Such as? (Pause.) You can tell me. I have top clearance. (Pause.) Oh, come on. I’m the
Secretary of the State! (Long silence.)
(AMBASSADOR and SECRETARY exit.)
21
(Lights fade up. ISHTAR and BASHAD are packing
up things from her store.)
ISHTAR
Have you heard, Bashad?
BASHAD
The rumor? Is it true?
ISHTAR
Yes. The CIA took Seban. They’re kidnapping girls!
BASHAD
No. That’s not what I heard. I heard they murdered Seban.
ISHTAR
The poor girl. We must leave.
BASHAD
It is too dangerous to stay.
ISHTAR
Where? I don’t know where to go?
BASHAD
You have family?
60
GERMS AND VIRUSES
ISHTAR
Here and there. Maybe Jordan? Do you want to go with me? Maybe?
BASHAD
It’s not that bad.
ISHTAR
I think… Yes. It is, Bashad. It is bad. I was walking home I heard screaming. Maybe
Seban’s screaming—
BASHAD
Blessings be upon her—
ISHTAR
She must’ve given them a fight.
BASHAD
Did you help her?
ISHTAR
You’ve seen what the American CIA will do to you? Waterboarding, the dogs—
BASHAD
I’ve seen it on the internet. Before it got a virus, a diseaseISHTAR
I’ve heard of this virus. They also call it a worm—
BASHAD
My son talks of these all the time—
ISHTAR
We get this and we are eaten from within—
BASHAD
When do you want to leave?
ISHTAR
End of the week?
BASHAD
All this? We must pack more, and talk less.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
(Lights fade out as ISHTAR and BASHAD pack
things and fill boxes.)
22
(We hear the introduction music of a television news
program. With it, we see photographs, the same
headshots of SEBAN we’ve seen before, in the
screens. The REPORTER is in his/her own light.)
REPORTER
Monday night, it was said this woman was abducted in The Levant by armed men said to
have been working for the government. She calls herself Seban Bahaa al-Din, a lesbian in
The Levant. And since her so-called abduction no one has heard from her. Her blog has
been silent.
(Lights up on the television studio. The woman we
saw in the photographs, who we believed as SEBAN,
is sitting in a chair opposite REPORTER without any
covering, and she is HELENA, dressed stylish.)
REPORTER
If she is in fact missing, why is she sitting right here? According to many papers across the
globe, this woman sitting next to me has been abducted in The Levant. But as you can see,
she has not. In fact she’s never even been to The Levant. Was Seban Bahaa al-Din really
bundled and thrown into the back of a car and driven away, as neighbors claim? If so, who
is this? First—(To HELENA) Is this your picture?
HELENA
Yes.
REPORTER
But you are not Seban Bahaa al-Din?
HELENA
No. I am Helena Duncan. But that’s my photo.
REPORTER
Where was it taken?
HELENA
When my brother and I went to Ireland.
REPORTER
62
GERMS AND VIRUSES
And these pictures, Helena—
HELENA
Those are me too. Taken on the same trip. I’d put them up on my Facebook account.
REPORTER
So some one, this Seban, took your photos and used them for her own.
HELENA
That’s what it appears. I don’t know how this could happen.
REPORTER
And how you became the face of Seban?
HELENA
Without my knowing. I was just walking down the street, and I went past a newspaper
stand, and there I am, on the cover of so many newspapers.
REPORTER
Your fifteen minutes of fame?
HELENA
And it has ruined my life.
REPORTER
How? Can you tell us?
HELENA
I am not a lesbian, I don’t support it and I am not from the Levant.
REPORTER
In fact you’ve never been there?
HELENA
Right. But people don’t seem to believe me. The government has questioned me, and they
want to know what I’ve done. But I’ve done nothing. Before I know it my picture is
everywhere.
REPORTER
You’re all over the world. What’s it been like?
HELENA
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
Horrible. Uncomfortable. Newspapers from all over the world keep calling. Camping out
on my flat front. Astonishing how they keep hounding me. Someone sent me horrible
notes.
REPORTER
Campaigns against her release.
HELENA
Yes. I don’t know why they would campaign against her release. The poor girl is missing,
but it isn’t me.
REPORTER
But can you understand why the real Seban would want to hide her image?
HELENA
Of course. She’s been blogging about a horrible regime and about her sexual identity. She
is fighting, and she picked a false photo.
REPORTER
A safe choice?
HELENA
She’s taken my photo, which’s made my life unsafe. And the journalists who published
my photo--. I am not a gay activist.
REPORTER
Her knowledge of what is happening in the Levant is very sophisticated. Do you think
there is a real person here?
HELENA
Of course. Maybe they hid her identity. It is awful that she’s been kidnapped.
REPORTER
Have the police spoken with you?
HELENA
Yes. And interestingly I’ve been interviewed by the US government. But I’m not supposed
to talk about it.
REPORTER
Have you been working for the USA?
HELENA
Of course not. I’ve never even been to the States.
64
GERMS AND VIRUSES
REPORTER
Do you think the girl who took your picture, who used your identity, might be working for
a foreign government like the United States?
HELENA
When this first happened I didn’t think that was possible, but now? I see a connection.
REPORTER
How has this impacted your life?
HELENA
I don’t trust anyone now. I’ve been disturbed at work. Reporters are camped outside my
flat. My regular route on the tube is compromised. I can’t even check my e-mail. My face
is everywhere. Everyone thinks what is reported on the internet, in the press is the truth. I
don’t know how I will get my life back.
(The lights dim on HELENA. We hear television
music out-roduction as the lights fade on the
mainstage.)(They do not leave the stage.)
23
(Lights fade up on SEBAN’s desk with RUSSEL.
What you don’t know, but I guess now you do, Russel
is Seban; there is no real Seban.) (RUSSEL speaks to
the audience, REPORTER and HELENA.)
RUSSEL
I am …. Seban. Yes. I created her. Wrote her. Through the flog, which I invented. (To
HELENA) Maybe, I’m not sure I’ll do this, but I was thinkin’ I’d send Helena a note. For
stealin’ her photo… But. Well.
HELENA exits. The lights shift back to the television
studio. RUSSEL speaks to the REPORTER. Quietly
the characters from RUSSEL’s flog drift into the
shadows and listen to RUSSEL confess.
RUSSEL
No one helped. I was not paid. Just me. I’m not claiming I alone did it all, the revolution,
but I…. Do you understand?
REPORTER
Did someone ask me to do it?
RUSSEL
No comment.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
REPORTER
You worked on my own?
RUSSEL
It wasn’t hard. I wrote her story. And I thought it would be just like in the other countries;
more peaceful.
REPORTER
But it wasn’t.
RUSSEL
That’s not completely my fault. Not completely.
(Pause. Behind RUSSEL ghostly figures glimmer in
the distance: ISHTAR, BASHAD, and DAMA.)
CHORUS MASH-UP
(Whispered with urgency) There is a conspiracy.
Conspiracy. Conspiracy.
Conspiracy. Conspiracy.
Where?
There. It has always been there- It
is happening so it must be real.
Really?
RUSSEL
I am... Sorry. A nice mid-western guy like me, from Detroit, and I… Trust me. For me it
was a writing exercise. And people, they started to read it, and believe it, and her, Seban,
and she got stronger, and got a following, and it was…. Okay. Maybe I went too far. I
wouldn’t call it a hoax, unless all writing is a form of one.
CHORUS MASH-UP
But I’ve seen them. Seen her. My friends have actually seen her.
Really? How can you see such a germ?
Imagine if this is true? If she’s right? The conspiracy.
I am as real as the conspiracy. I am as real as The Levant.
Conspiracies are as natural as the sand around us.
They are real, and go with the winds.
RUSSEL confronts each character he created.
RUSSEL
Horrible. That so many died.
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
The character he addressed turns and exits.
RUSSEL
And those who were hurt. I mean.
The character he addressed turns and exits.
RUSSEL
I never meant for real people to die.
The character he addressed turns and exits.
RUSSEL
(to the audience) Seriously. I didn’t kill any one. I didn’t go there. Didn’t pull the trigger.
Didn’t attack anyone or throw any grenades! I watched TV. I wrote. I blogged! Created
some of it. (Pause.) Sure, I created Seban’s mother. (Pause.) Father. They we’ren’t real.
(Pause.) Ishtar. (Pause.) Bashad. I made them up too.
(The figures of ISHTAR and BASHAD vanish.)
RUSSEL
(Pause.) Dama….
(The figure of DAMA disappears.)
RUSSEL
Maybe we needed her. Maybe they needed her. Needed to believe me, believe Seban.
Need to care about Seban, and how she did something, and to me… I did some good,
right? Maybe I did a good thing.
(Something is thrown at RUSSEL. It is leaking gas.
The entire cast scream and run from their hidden
offstage spots. They run all over the stage panicked
and ad-libbing that they are all in trouble. “They’re
here. They’ve come for us! It’s them! I told you we
shouldn’t have done this!” Lights go black.)
POST-OPENING
(The cast all embraces each other, and huddle and
panic. They ad-lib their fears as there is banging
outside on the door. Wait one second. Was that gas
or fog coming from the canister? Saran gas?
Chemical gas? Tear gas?)
POLICE
This is the police! Cease and desist! Open up! Open this door! Open it NOW!
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
(We see speeches by the same dictators we saw at the
start of the play. The sounds of the speeches are all
on top of each other, growing louder.)
POLICE
If you don’t open this door we’ll break it down. You have been warned! Five! Four!
Three! Two!
(Extended black out. Video of the “war” in Syria.
The video fades to black. Prolonged silence. The
lights come-up on an empty stage.
END OF PLAY. )
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GERMS AND VIRUSES
The Play: In Levant, a place just like Syria, a conspiracy begins to grow, and people in Levant
begin to believe in the existence of a hidden reality behind the familiar reality, the idea that what
one thought was going on all the time was in fact, in large part, an illusion or deception. A blogger,
Seban, tries to rally support for the pro-democracy movement, but is caught in a quagmire of
twisted and humorous intrigue. Who will believe the propaganda for the truth, or the truth for the
propaganda?
AUTHOR’S NOTE/OBJECTIVE:
My play is based on a real person and a real event around the blog, “A Gay Girl in Damascus”?
I've taken the real story and added a few post-dramatic layers to it. On February 19, 2011: Amina
Abdallah Arraf al Omari posted her first blog, and identified herself as a lesbian of American and
Syrian parents, born in the US and now living in Damascus. Over the next few months “she” gave
updates ranging from political analysis and hard news accounts of the brutal repression Syria’s
(Amina’s home) pro-democracy movement to love poetry. Western media started to take notice of
the blog. In Britain, The Guardian lead the coverage, reported: “She is perhaps an unlikely hero of
revolt in a conservative country. Female, gay and half-American, Amina Abdullah is capturing the
imagination of the Syrian opposition with a blog that has shot to prominence as the protest
movement struggles in the face of a brutal government crackdown. Her blog, A Gay Girl in
Damascus, is brutally honest, poking at subjects long considered taboo in Arab culture.” The story
was accompanied by a photograph purporting to be of Amina. Her blogs were helping the Arab
Spring all over the middle-East. People were quoting her, using her name in rallies, posting her
image as a reminder of the hero’s words. This is her story. For this reason SEBAN should be cast
as a MAN for the whole play or that he plays both RUSSEL and SEBAN.
My main objective is to develop this idea further, and play with the actor who can be both Russel
and Seban. We've tried the play in a staged reading at the Kennedy Center with them split, one
actor and one actress, and we did the readings with one actor playing both characters, and I prefer
the latter. I would like to work with an actor who can make it realistic. The play could be adjusted
to accommodate the single actor in two parts. I think the theatrical reveal would be exciting for the
audience and fitting for the story.
APPENDIX:
VIDEO CLIPS TO USE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLdC3sMs3hY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_tRHhVagc4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTQ5zZ-53JA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eGLzLk0kHY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrqyA0MJc88
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTZHSL7LYaY
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