27 world premiere libretto

27

Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

Music by Ricky Ian Gordon Libretto by Royce Vavrek

Commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

SETTING 27 rue de Fleurus, the early decades of the 20th century.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE Gertrude Stein mezzo-soprano Alice B. Toklas soprano Pablo Picasso tenor (also Fernande, F. Scott “Scotty” Fitzgerald, Paintings, Gris Paintings, Gertrude’s Picasso, Soldiers, Empty Frames) Leo Stein baritone (also Madame Matisse, Man Ray, Doughboy, Paintings, Gris Paintings, Gertrude’s Picasso, Soldiers, Empty Frames) Ernest Hemingway bass-baritone (also Marie, Henri Matisse, Paintings, Gris Paintings, Gertrude’s Picasso, Soldiers, Empty Frames) Two American women in Paris, married for all intents and purposes, must weather two world wars in order to preserve their union and their life’s art.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

PROLOGUE Alice Knits the World ALICE TOKLAS, a small, slight, consistent woman, sits on a chaise-lounge downstage, knitting and mumbling to herself by the fireplace as the audience comes into the house.

She is completely enveloped in her crafting, her language almost trance-like.

ALICE (methodically) Knit, one.

Purl, one.

Gertrude Stein.

Knit, Alice.

Purl, Alice.

Gertrude and Alice.

Picasso, one.

Matisse, one.

Gertrude, Gertrude, Alice.

Knit, one.

Purl, one.

Salon, one.

Knock, one.

Knock, one.

Knock, one.

Knock. Knock. Knock! Knock!

(Hanging behind ALICE is a wall of paintings hung in the studio at 27 rue de Fleurus. It should seem that every square inch of the cozy Page 3

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek apartment is occupied by art. Throughout the show, there are three larger, central frames, more prominent than the rest that constitute the changing paintings that sing throughout the opera. These paintings will, throughout the show, become animated and provide the conscience of Gertrude Stein. All of the paintings hang in knitted frames, with balls of yarn collected underneath them on the floor. At the top of the show, these paintings are Matisse’s “Femme au chapeaux”, Picasso’s “Strolling Player with Child”, and Cezanne’s “Bathers”. The three MALE singers stand behind the giant canvases, unseen by the audience. When they sing the lips of the figures in the portraits are animated.)

PAINTINGS There once lived two women On rue de Fleurus.

The writer, writer.

Where is the writer?

ALICE The writer is writing.

She’ll be out in a minute.

PAINTINGS The writer and…

ALICE Her secretary.

PAINTINGS The writer and…

ALICE Her biographer.

PAINTINGS The writer and…

ALICE Please call me wife.

PAINTINGS The writer writes and writes.

ALICE All night she writes.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek PAINTINGS The secretary…

ALICE The wife!

PAINTINGS Types, types, types.

Up up up, wakes up early, Typing the scribbles the writer scribbled.

ALICE Knitting, stitching.

Knit one, purl one.

Typing, cooking.

Knitting, stitching.

Purl one, knit one.

PAINTINGS Have you visited rue de Fleurus?

Knock knock Knock on the door marked “27” Saturday knock.

27. Knock. 27.

Knock Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock…

(GERTRUDE STEIN walks down the long hallway, opening the door.

She is a large, imposing figure, but she is also warm, boisterous, welcoming.)

GERTRUDE (in a decidedly American accent) De la part de qui venez-vous?

Who invited you?

PAINTINGS (to each other) Did you invite them? (the paintings attempt to figure out who) You? Me? No. You? Maybe? No. Gertrude?

GERTRUDE Did I invite you?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Of course I did!

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

PAINTINGS Of course she did!

Yes. Yes. Yes. GERTRUDE I have a habit of inviting.

PAINTINGS And forgetting.

GERTRUDE (bellowing inside) Alice! More hors d’oeuvres!

ALICE Already in the oven!

GERTRUDE The painters paint, and I invite.

Painters invite: Picasso invites, Matisse invites.

My brother invites the most uninteresting.

ALICE Too uninteresting!

GERTRUDE Too many people.

Word spreads, Too many people for this cozy salon. (pointing to a man in the audience) Monsieur with the suspenders… who invited you??

ALICE (chiming in) You invited them all…

PAINTINGS Gertrude invites and invites and Forgets.

ALICE (running about) Page 6

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Invite them in, Gertrude!

GERTRUDE Come in. Come in. Come in!

PAINTINGS Bring your friends, Bring your lovers, Bring your wives…

GERTRUDE The paintings are singing.

Sing so loud, singing.

The neighbors will someday complain.

PAINTINGS Come see the writer.

The writer and her secretary.

ALICE The wife.

PAINTINGS The writer and her companion.

ALICE The wife.

GERTRUDE The writer and…

PAINTINGS Two women, A life.

Gertrude Stein and Alice ALICE Her wife.

(Direct segue into the next scene)

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

ACT ONE Scene I – 27 rue de Fleurus The men step out from behind the paintings, finally visible. They are PABLO (Picasso), HENRI (Matisse) and Gertrude’s brother LEO, scattered about the apartment. It is a claustrophobic room that features a large central table, many chairs with colorful needlepointed cushions, a large wooden chest of drawers up against the wall, and bric-a-brac everywhere. ALICE still sits on the chaiselounge knitting with the wives. The central of the three large paintings has been covered with a veil, it dominates the room.

GERTRUDE (with great excitement, almost breathlessly) You chose the perfect Saturday to come.

Did you hear?

You must have heard!

After one hundred sittings.

I swear, one hundred sittings!

Young Pablo… (she pulls PABLO close to her, he hands her a large bouquet of flowers) Dear young Picasso…

With a pocket full of posies!

The flowers of friendship!

Dear young Picasso will unveil my portrait.

And I, his!

His portrait of me in paint…

And mine in words!

Alice, put these in water!

(ALICE grabs the flowers, and places them on the chest of drawers underneath the veiled portrait) And isn’t he so handsome… (to PABLO, holding his face) Has anybody told you that you look like Abe Lincoln?

PABLO No no no no no…

GERTRUDE Page 8

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Alice! Alice!

ALICE Whatever you say, lovey!

GERTRUDE I say he looks like Lincoln.

But miniature.

A good quality. (to the audience) Peruse, peruse!

The walls are carpeted, From ceiling to floor, With the canvases of friends.

Alice, grab their coats!

(ALICE walks by with a handful of fur jackets and a giant bottle of bubbly) And fill up their goblets.

Peruse, peruse!

Paintings journey, Week to week, Month to month, Each will find their perfect place.

Peruse, peruse!

The Cezannes are clustered over there.

The lesser-knowns around the top.

The Picassos scattered every-which-where.

Peruse, peruse!

Alice, the hors d’oeurves!

ALICE They’re coming! Coming! Coming!

GERTRUDE You must meet Henri. (she pulls HENRI close to her) The outlaw of the Independent!

I adore the fearless!

Fearless with his palate.

Form, form, fearless form.

Do not fear this wild beast, He’s muzzled while with Gertrude!

Speak, Henri!

(HE opens his mouth about to speak, she moves away from him, he turns away defeated without telling about his color) Peruse, peruse!

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

So glad you’re here…

What a night! What a night! A momentous night!

He’s gifted, young Pablo.

Young radical.

A genius, and I know genius!

One hundred times I sat for him!

So glad you’re here!

Peruse, peruse!

Paris!

I am the American in Paris, What did you think I’d do?

Collect Europeans, It makes perfect sense!

Alice!

Another wife has arrived! (pointing to Alice’s chaise-lounge) Wives with my Alice: My lobster, my pussy, my cake…

Geniuses with me.

This is the life for Americans in Paris…

On rue de Fleurus.

Peruse, peruse!

Alice: My kitten, my cherub, my queen…

Snatch the wife!

ALICE (to the audience) I am the wife, The wife who deals with wives.

The wife who cleans the dirty dishes Who washes the laundry Who peels the carrots.

Who does all her dirty work Pruning wilted blossoms of her rotten friendships.

I do not care for cats digging up my garden.

I do not care for fancy fibers.

I do not care to be lonely.

No no no no.

And I do not care for violence.

No no no no. (to Gertrude) Oh, but I’d stab your brother gladly with my needles.

LEO Page 10

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek The Renoirs are on the west wall.

Yes, I am the brother.

I have been called a prophet!

ALICE (on top of Leo’s “prophet”) Bastard!

LEO Angel of Post-Impressionism!

ALICE Who called you that?

LEO You may call me Leo. All the paintings, all the good ones, Credit me!

The Renoirs on the west wall.

Please, peruse!

HENRI (staring at his Woman with a Hat painting) She used to hang in the middle of the room.

Mine was the sensation.

I made this salon a destination!

Sure they laughed, picked at the paint, But Gertrude loved her: GERTRUDE “It’s perfectly natural!”

HENRI She said over and over again.

GERTRUDE “Perfectly natural, perfectly attractive.”

HENRI Over and over…

GERTRUDE Yet they mock your colors…

HERNI Page 11

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek “A pot of paint…”

GERTRUDE … as they mock my words.

HERNI (finishing the quote) “…has been flung in the face of the public,” Mauclair said.

GERTRUDE It’s perfectly attractive!

HENRI That idiot!

Now I’ve been replaced By a Spaniard. (conjuring phlegm, he spits on the ground) By a portrait of Gertrude! (he spits again) By a Spaniard. (he spits again) She’s dead to me. (before he can spit again, GERTRUDE clinks) GERTRUDE (clinking a spoon to a glass) Friends!

It is with great pride, And the reason we gather, That I unveil Pablo’s latest.

(HENRI spits again.)

Alice! Alice!

(ALICE sweeps in) Would you do the honors?

(ALICE crawls on the couch to reach the sheet that is covering the painting, GERTRUDE stands in amazement) PABLO Tell me it’s good.

GERTRUDE (she gasps, smiling from ear to ear) It is, Pablo.

It is very good.

Exactly as I imagined.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Exactly as you imagined!

It is very…

LEO AND HENRI (under their breaths) Brown.

GERTRUDE … bold!

You found my face!

(GERTRUDE kisses his cheek.)

GERTRUDE Do you remember, Pablo?

All those times I sat for you?

The hours I sat, Wanting to wiggle.

But still I kept still.

PABLO You wiggled!

GERTRUDE My legs went numb!

My hands, numb!

I sat so still.

You remember, Pablo!

PABLO I remember.

GERTRUDE I remember.

(ALICE brings a canvas downstage with a partially painted GERTRUDE on it. The lights shift…)

Scene 2 – Gertrude Sits for Pablo FLASHBACK: GERTRUDE sits for her portrait for the 99th time. ALICE brings the easel and holds the paint wheel for PABLO. GERTRUDE smokes…

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek GERTRUDE I have no talent for portraiture.

But I wish, I do wish I could create a portrait.

ALICE (whispering in GERTRUDE’s ear) You paint portraits, Gertrude.

Every day you scribble and scrawl.

GERTRUDE I have no talent for portraiture.

Perhaps some flowers behind me For a pop of color?

PABLO Let the painter paint!

GERTRUDE Perhaps I have the talent of the Person in the portrait.

ALICE You paint, you paint you paint with words!

PABLO My chere Gertrude, Vous fairez la gloire de l’Amerique Like cowboys and Indians, Buildings as high as the sky.

GERTRUDE But I wish, I do wish I could – ALICE With words, Gertrude!

Words, lovey!

PABLO Your face holds the glory of America.

GERTRUDE (like a lightbulb going off) Wait!

I can create a portrait too, Page 14

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek With words, Pablo!

ALICE Knit one, purl one.

GERTRUDE I can scribble and scrawl!

Would you like that, Pablo?

If I were to create your portrait as you do mine?

Would you like that?

PABLO (throwing down HIS paintbrush) No no no no no.

I can’t see it!

After ninety-nine sittings…

I can’t see your face anymore.

(He has covered Gertrude’s face (on the canvas) with paint, haphazardly covering her features.)

GERTRUDE (like a love song, to Pablo) Pablo, Pablo… young Picasso.

It takes a lot of time, Time and time and more time To be a genius.

You must sit around, Doing nothing.

To create a portrait.

PABLO To paint a portrait.

GERTRUDE To write a portrait.

ALICE Knit, one, Purl, one.

PABLO AND GERTRUDE To be a portrait.

It takes a lot of time.

To be a genius, It takes a lot of time.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Doing nothing.

Nothing, it takes a lot of time.

GERTRUDE Give it time.

The face will emerge.

The image finds its reason.

PABLO AND GERTRUDE Genius needs nothing.

And nothing and more nothing.

Genius needs nothing But time and time and more time And the most – (the next scene breaks into the romance of the previous duet)

Scene 3 – Back at the Salon LEO breaks into the flashback, forcing us back to the unveiling of the painting.

LEO (on top of the previous two words sung by PABLO and GERTRUDE, to the painting) The most godalmighty shit.

Words, and paint, and words.

The most godalmighty shit portraits.

GERTRUDE (reading her word portrait) If I told him would he like it?

Would he like it if I told him.

LEO Stop! Stop! Stop!

It’s disgusting.

HENRI It’s embarrassing.

LEO It’s stupid.

Your little poem is stupid.

And the painting as well!

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

HENRI Dull, colorless.

LEO Look look look It looks nothing like you, Except for the size, And the corduroy.

HENRI The corduroy is correct.

LEO I’ve already got one Gertrude in my house.

I don’t need another gargoyled on my wall!

HENRI (shaking his head) This is not a salon.

This is nothing: a circus, a vaudeville, An American vaudeville.

The Theatre de Stein!

With Picasso the star.

With Picasso and Alice the stars. (he spits) GERTRUDE Did you hear that Alice?

ALICE All I hear are the wives…

GERTRUDE Matisse has made you a star In the vaudeville de Stein.

Have you memorized your lines, Alice?

Every line?

I will not share the stage With an unprepared ingénue.

ALICE Never missed a cue.

Never mis-stitched or mis-typed, Go, be a genius.

Let me be a wife, Page 17

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Your wife, Among the wives The wife among the wives.

(ALICE sings with the three men, who throw on wigs and furs to turn themselves (in a very make-shift sort of way) into FERNANDE, MADAME MATISSE and MARIE LAURENCIN. They all smoke exaggeratedly long cigarettes.)

ALICE Knit one, purl one.

Knit one, purl one.

Knit, Picasso, brings his mistress.

Purl, Matisse, brings his wife.

Knit, a whore, with caked on face.

Purl, my job to entertain.

Wives of geniuses Wives who aren’t wives Wives who are the wives, of geniuses Who aren’t geniuses.

So many wives Wannabe wives, Who talk about hats.

FERNANDE Chapeaux!

MADAME MATISSE Chapeaux!

MARIE (overly masculine) Hats!

ALICE I have nothing to say about…

FERNANDE Chapeaux!

MADAME MATISSE Chapeaux!

MARIE Page 18

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Dance in the buff with my hat!

FERNANDE Chapeaux!

MADAME MATISSE Chapeaux!

FERNANDE My hat has a feather!

MARIE And mine’s made of leather!

ALICE Let’s all sing together: ALICE, FERNANDE, MADAME MATISSE AND MARIE Chapeaux!

ALICE But sometimes they talk of perfume!

FERNANDE Parfum! J’adore perfume!

Parfum!

MADAME MATISSE Parfum!

MARIE Merde!

ALICE I have nothing to say about…

FERNANDE Parfum!

MADAME MATISSE Parfum!

I lure him to me with fragrance!

MARIE (plugging her nose, then sneezing) Pi-u!

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Achoo!

FERNANDE My only extravagance!

MARIE Why would I waster my francs?

ALICE Stink up ze room with parfume!

MARIE Ze scent of doom!

ALICE Wives of geniuses Wives who aren’t wives, Wives who are the wives Of geniuses who aren’t geniuses.

So many wives.

Wanna be wives, Who talk about fur.

FERNANDE Fourrure!

MADAME MATISSE Fourrure!

MARIE Fur! ALICE I am bored when they talk of their…

FERNANDE Fourrure!

MADAME MATISSE Fourrure!

MARIE Everyone paws at…

ALICE (interrupting) Page 20

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Marie!

FERNANDE Fourrure!

MADAME MATISSE Fourrure!

MARIE My beaver!

MADAME MATISSE Ma tête!

FERNANDE I am wrapped in La Bete!

ALICE And they croon like a barber’s quartet!

BARBERSHOP QUARTET (THREE MEN AND ALICE) On Monday she’s swathed in her sable.

Oh baby, sweet baby.

On Tuesday her haute couture label.

Ermine with chinchilla trim hangs from her side.

Wednesdays, it’s fox.

Thursdays, the lynx.

Fridays, the hide.

Weekends it’s mink! Mink! Mink! Mink! Mink!

Baby, sweet baby.

ALICE Wives of geniuses.

Wives who aren’t wives.

ALICE AND MEN Wives who are the wives, of geniuses ALICE Who aren’t geniuses.

So many wives Wannabe wives, When I am the wife Who only has eyes, Not for hats, Page 21

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek not for fur, not for perfume…

FERNANDE, MADAME MATISSE, MARIE … Perfume …

ALICE But for Gertrude!

FERNANDE, MADAME MATISSE, MARIE … Gertrude …

ALICE My life!

Knit one…

(LEO breaks in.)

LEO I’m leaving.

GERTRUDE (with feigned disappointment) No! LEO I’m taking Matisse!

GERTRUDE (pointing at Henri) Him? HERNI Him. GERTRUDE On holiday?

LEO No. Permanently.

GERTRUDE Where?

LEO Page 22

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Italy.

HENRI I am not going to Italy.

LEO (scaling the walls with HENRI, taking down his portraits, with a dancelike grace and ferocity) Henri is not going to Italy.

But he is helping me gather my paintings.

I’m taking the apples.

Cezanne’s painted apples.

GERTRUDE Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Take the apples and goodbye.

PABLO (to GERTRUDE) I’ll paint you an apple.

LEO Have the Picassos.

I hate the Picassos.

The Renoirs are mine.

MATISSE (whispering into his ear) Take all the Matisses.

LEO Yes yes yes, I’ll take the Matisses!

GERTRUDE (gruffly) Paws off my Matisses.

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Goodbye.

Au revoir and Goodbye.

LEO Your dainty little Alice… is a boa constrictor.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek ALICE Knit, one.

LEO An abnormal vampire.

ALICE Purl, one.

LEO Waiting to choke you and bleed you…

ALICE Knit, one.

LEO …unknowingly.

ALICE Purl one.

LEO Leaving you comatose.

She does everything: Keeps your house…

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Get out!

LEO Types your words…

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Goodbye!

LEO Rids the undesirables…

GERTRUDE AND ALICE A bientot.

LEO Your pussy has crippled you!

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Goodbye.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

LEO There is a war brewing.

GERTRUDE There will be no war.

There will be no war.

LEO It’s already here!

And you’ll just sit.

Helpless, doing nothing.

PICASSO Genius is doing nothing…

Doing nothing…

(ALICE slams the door in LEO’s face.)

GERTRUDE He’s gone, kitten, My lobster, My pussy, My wife.

Always ready to slam the door.

ALICE He’s gone, lovey.

(PICASSO stands with his back to the audience looking at his painting as GERTRUDE and ALICE have their moment.)

ALICE Look at me, Gertrude.

Let me hear the bells that ring: The bells that chime your genius.

That only chime for genius.

PICASSO Am I good?

I’m good.

ALICE, GERTRUDE, PICASSO Good.

Chime.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek ALICE Chime for you.

Chime for Picasso.

Chime for genius.

ALICE The bells ring.

Your face, your eyes, your voice Ring, ring, rings…

Ring, joyful, Ring, loud, Ring bright, Gertrude!

An angel’s trumpet, Cupid’s bow, The bells, the bells of my Gertrude.

The genius is in At 27 rue de Fleurus.

GERTRUDE They ring, ring, ring.

For my dear Alice.

Locked in the bell-tower of my heart.

ALICE Ring, ring, ring.

GERTRUDE Ring with the whistle of the kettle.

ALICE Ring.

GERTRUDE Ring with chopping of the string beans.

ALICE Ring.

GERTRUDE Ring with the running of your bath.

ALICE Ring, ring…

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Page 26

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Ring.

GERTRUDE You are my genius At 27 rue de Fleurus.

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Ring, ring, ring.

Ring, ring, ring.

ALICE The genius is in…

GERTRUDE At 27 rue de Fleurus ALICE The genius is in…

GERTRUDE You are my genius.

ALICE At 27 rue de Fleurus.

GERTRUDE At 27 rue de Fleurus.

GERTRUDE The bells ring.

PICASSO (turning to Gertrude) The portrait will look like you.

GERTRUDE I have the genius of the person in the portrait.

PICASSO I promise it will look like you.

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Ring!

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ACT 2 – ZEPPELINS Scene 1 - Chatter Three GRIS PAINTINGS occupy the central frames of the salon. It is cold. The paintings seem to have frozen, frost crackles. These are accompanied by the sounds of zeppelin alarms.

The flowers, given by Picasso in the previous act have wilted noticeably. GERTRUDE writes at her desk, ALICE is sleeping. A loud BOMB is heard.

GRIS PAINTINGS (illuminating as they sing, not so much animated, not unlike the final scene of Leos Carax’s “Holy Motors”) The coal’s run out.

The zeppelins drop bombs in the Luxembourg Gardens.

Our teeth chatter, Chatter, chatter.

She’s burned all the pages.

Failed pages.

Manuscript pages.

Writes more and more, More to be burned.

Nobody wants Gertrude’s pages.

She said no war.

She writes and writes, writes more.

With the bombs outside rattling their door, War is war is war.

War is war is war. (another, louder, bomb is heard. The paintings shake, one of the smaller pieces falls off the wall. GERTRUDE runs up to ALICE who is sleeping in bed.)

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

GERTRUDE (quietly) Cherub…

It’s getting closer.

Louder. (beat) Don’t turn the lights on.

My teeth are chattering.

My hands shake.

I can’t write.

ALICE Keep writing.

You must keep writing.

We don’t change.

Paintings change.

We don’t change.

GRIS PAINTINGS The party’s over.

The party’s done.

Get us out of here.

The guests have left.

There’s nothing left.

There is no need to worship.

There is no need to be worshipped.

GERTRUDE Why don’t we leave?

America is only an ocean away.

ALICE We cannot leave.

GRIS PAINTINGS Keep us safe safe safe safe safe, keep us safe.

Send us to the safety of America.

Take us down from the walls.

Even the horses pull the gold out of Paris.

You sent your manuscripts to safety in America.

The bombs explode a block away In the Luxembourg Gardens.

Chatter chatter chatter.

ALICE Page 29

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Your work is here in Paris.

Writing, writing, writing.

GERTRUDE (writes) Paris is a pale absinthe.

ALICE I do not like violence.

You do not like change.

So there is no war!

GERTRUDE But there is a war! (a bomb is heard close) ALICE Roll over, And write.

GERTRUDE Hold me, Alice.

(ALICE’s small body holds GERTRUDE in the bed.)

GERTRUDE What is the answer?

What is the answer?

(The GRIS PAINTINGS’ teeth chatter. GERTRUDE gets out of bed, a large blanket held tightly around her body.)

GRIS PAINTINGS Take us away.

Take us away.

GERTRUDE Is there not a bag of coal to be found in all of Paris?

No way, no way for a genius to live!

(GERTRUDE wraps a blanket around her, flinging the door open.

There is a DOUGHBOY on the corner.)

GERTRUDE Oh boy, oh boy.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek My name is Gertrude Stein.

DOUGHBOY You hear the zeppelins?

Stay inside!

GERTRUDE My partner is shivering, I am an American writer And the blood in my hands is frozen blue.

Can I beg you.

Beg your helping a fellow countryman and his wife.

DOUGHBOY Huh? GERTRUDE Two bags of coal.

(HE hands her two bags of coal.)

Oh boy, oh boy.

GERTRUDE And please, a cigarette?

(HE removes a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.)

GERTRUDE Or two?

(HE gives her two.)

GERTRUDE We’re dying for some eggs.

DOUGHBOY Eggs?

GERTRUDE My wife makes the most perfect omelets.

She’ll cook, she’ll cook for you.

DOUGHBOY Let me see what I can find.

(The DOUGHBOY runs off, as a loud bomb is heard in the direction he runs.)

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GERTRUDE He’ll never return with the eggs.

Another boy lost, Doughboy lost.

A parade of young men From an ocean away.

Lost boys away away.

March away away.

Lost boys away away.

March away away.

An ocean away.

Changed to their marrow.

Lost boys.

Find your way down the rue de Fleurus.

To a place where you can be found.

GRIS PAINTINGS Have you visited rue de Fleurus?

Knock knock Knock on the door marked “27” Saturday knock.

27. Knock. 27. 27.

Knock knock.

ALICE Are we safe safe, are we safe?

Keep us safe safe safe safe safe safe Keep us safe.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

ACT 3 – GÉNÉRATION PERDUE ALICE sits in her chaise-lounge knitting with the wives. HANGING in the three central frames are three paintings by Picasso: his portrait of Gertrude flanked by his “Standing Nude, Hands Clasped” and “Head of a Sailor”. A small study for a portrait is also highlighted on the wall though not in a central location, these three paintings (not the Gertrude portrait) become animated as ALICE knits…

PAINTINGS Lost boys…

Lost boys…

Find your way down the rue de Fleurus.

Find your way…

Lost boys…

Lost boys…

Find your way down the rue de Fleurus.

To a place where you can be found.

ALICE Knit, one.

Purl, one.

Gertrude Stein.

Knit, Alice.

Purl, Alice.

Gertrude and Alice.

Picasso, gone.

Matisse, gone.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Getrude, Gertude, Alice…

Carrying on.

Knit, one.

Purl, one.

Salon, one.

Lost, lost, lost, lost, lost, lost.

Generation, lost.

PAINTINGS (TWO men sing the main text, while the third sings the italicized words) There once lived two women, The war is over!

On rue de Fleurus.

There will be no more war.

The writer, the genius.

There will be no more war.

Where is the genius?

ALICE The genius is writing.

She’ll be out in a minute.

GERTRUDE (opening the door) De la part de qui venez-vous?

Who invited you?

PAINTINGS You, you, we’re sure it was you.

GERTRUDE You lost?

ALICE Invite them in, Gertrude!

GERTRUDE Peruse, peruse.

The art is still on the walls.

You’d never know bombs had fallen!

Feel free to peruse…

Picasso’s not coming, Doesn’t visit anymore.

Too big for his britches.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek He’s a cubist now.

The painters are gone In favor of lost boys.

Yes! American boys!

Once I was the American in Paris.

Now we’re home to a gaggle of them…

Americans in Paris. (beat) Alice, take their coats!

And fill up their goblets!

Peruse, peruse, And be sure to pet Basket the dog!

ALICE (as basket, maneuvering a large knitted poodle) Ruff! Ruff!

GERTRUDE Basket!

Our pride and joy!

Come meet Man Ray. Here to take photos of me.

And the boy writers: Ernest and Scotty.

Alice, where are they hiding?

Have we lost our Hemingway and Fitzgerald?

ALICE (pointing under the table) Under there.

GERTRUDE (she laughs heartedly) Tempt them with pot roast!

(ALICE scurries to the kitchen.)

MAN RAY The camera is set.

(ALICE returns with a pot roast that she reluctantly puts on the floor.

ERNEST and SCOTTY crawl out from under the table, cigarettes hanging from their mouths, devouring the meat like animals, using their fingers and messing their faces.)

GERTRUDE The boys must be thirsty.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Give them a straw!

There’s plenty of beef, boys!

ALICE Pigs.

(ERNEST snorts. ALICE sits with GERTRUDE at the long table, in the pose from their iconic photo.)

MAN RAY Feel free to move, The eyes, the head, Movement, the illusion of a candid snap.

(THEY don’t move) GERTRUDE Man Ray, make us look very…

Literary.

Someday Alice will write her memoirs.

ALICE Perhaps.

GERTRUDE “My Years With Gertrude Stein” ALICE Perhaps a book of needlepoint patterns.

GERTRUDE Perhaps, or a memoir.

ALICE Or patterns.

GERTRUDE Perhaps, or…

A memoir.

MAN RAY And… smile.

GERTRUDE (AND ALICE) (together, turning their heads to the camera, GERTRUDE smiling ever so slightly, ALICE giving her signature straight face.)

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Patterns (memoir).

(A flash!)

ALICE (a brilliant new idea!)

Cookbook!

GERTRUDE Boys!

(ERNEST and SCOTTY look up from the roast, their faces like a cubist painting of meat and sauce.)

GERTRUDE Boys, we must talk.

Alice – (ALICE grabs the tray with the roast on it and drags it with a piece of yarn that she attaches to it. She leaves it in front of GERTRUDE. They follow the trail of the meat.)

ALICE More liquor?

GERTRUDE The water of life! (beat) Come sit, come sit. (they both sit, cross legged in front of her, GERTRUDE in her chair, feet dangling) My boys, My wayward boys.

Why do you insist on coming drunk?

SCOTTY AND ERNEST We don’t!

You keep filling our cups!

GERTRUDE Alice!

They blame me for their boozing. (to Alice) Top them up.

(ALICE does.)

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek My boys, You, of a lost generation.

I know full well what it means to write To write, and write some more.

Alice’s fingers, callused and raw, From typing, typing, typing my words.

ERNEST Did you read my story, Gertrude?

SCOTTY Did you read my story, Gertrude?

GERTRUDE Yes yes yes, I did, And no no no…

I was… disappointed.

It’s all so stark, So stripped, So lean.

You think too much.

SCOTTY (through stifled tears) It’s true, it’s true, I do think too much!

GERTRUDE Have you learned nothing from me?

Nothing from Cezanne?

Nothing from Picasso?

But mostly from me?

Ernest, dear Ernest, In your case it’s crass, it’s crude.

You’ve got talent, it’s true, But your ego, your penis!

Do you think Miss Toklas wants to read about your penis? (to ALICE) Pussy?

ALICE I have no interest.

I have no interest in violence.

GERTRUDE She has no interest.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek And I’m convinced…

That you know diddly about sex!

ERNEST What!?

SCOTTY (practically sobbing) I assure you, He’s very sexual!

Ask his wife!

ALICE The wife of a genius, Who isn’t a genius.

GERTRUDE (To SCOTTY, still quite upset) You, Scotty boy, A clever runt, You write like a man of thirty, Which I quite admire.

But you need to thicken your skin!

I’ve never made a genius Out of a wimp!

I’m not yet convinced you are good enough.

Either of you.

And I don’t have the time To create genius out of every lost boy.

I am Gertrude Stein.

But what if I could make a genius out of one of you?

ERNEST AND SCOTTY How would you choose?

GERTRUDE You should wrestle.

ERNEST AND SCOTTY Wrestle?

GERTRUDE Wrestle for my attention, Like men.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek ERNEST But I’d kill him!

SCOTTY (wailing) He’d kill me!

GERTRUDE (to SCOTTY) Best be scrappy!

ERNEST He is a kitty cat!

He’s a very emotional souse!

(All of a sudden SCOTTY lunges at ERNEST, attacking him like a lion.

They wrestle aggressively, rolling all over the floor.)

ALICE I do not care for Hemingway.

I do not care for Fitzgerald.

I do not care for violence.

And I do not care for their wives Their wives who think Their husbands all are geniuses.

MAN RAY (presenting GERTRUDE with a large framed painting) I have a gift for you, Gertrude.

GERTRUDE Is it our photograph?

MAN RAY (handing her a painting) No, a painting I made for your wall.

GERTRUDE Alice, hang it in your garden.

MAN RAY Not the salon?

GERTRUDE Man Ray, Can I offer you a piece of advice?

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

MAN RAY Please…

GERTRUDE I’ve met many geniuses in my time.

You, my dear, are a photographer.

(MAN RAY grabs his painting from her hands and exits in a huff, stepping over the wrestling boys. ERNEST has SCOTTY in a headlock.)

ERNEST Tell her I’m the genius.

(SCOTTY knees him in the crotch, gets out of ERNEST’s clutches, then throws him up against the giant painting of Picasso’s Gertrude.)

SCOTTY (increasing his chokehold on Ernest) Tell her I’m the genius.

Tell her, tell her!

ERNEST I can’t breathe!

SCOTTY Say uncle.

Uncle.

Tell her.

ERNEST No uncle!

This is stupid, Scotty!

Gertrude Stein does not make genius.

It takes genius to make genius.

(The face of Picasso’s Gertrude becomes animated, ferociously turning towards the audience. The hand in the portrait reaches out and grabs ERNEST by the neck, picking him up, as if she is about to devour him like Goya’s “Saturn Devouring His Son”. ERNEST’s feet kick wildly.)

ALICE Knit, one.

Purl, one.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Gertrude and Alice.

ERNEST I can’t…

Breathe.

Help me!

Help me!

Help me, Soctty.

Save me from the genius who isn’t a genius. (to SCOTTY, but indirectly to GERTRUDE) She calls us lost.

Bullshit.

So she can claim to find us.

Gertrude Stein with her nose For talent.

Bullshit.

Gertrude Stein is a stink That likes her own smell.

She calls us lost.

Bullshit.

Better to be lost Than not be found.

Gertrude Stein was never found.

A man but never a man.

A writer but never a genius.

She calls us lost.

A lost generation.

Her ego.

Her mental laziness.

She is the lost.

She is anonymous.

Bullshit.

GERTRUDE I am historical.

ERNEST Bullshit.

(The painting of Gertrude releases her grip on ERNEST, he falls to the ground. HE gets up, dusts himself off. ALICE opens the door, encouraging him and SCOTTY to leave.)

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek SCOTTY (to GERTRUDE) I’d very much like to be made a genius.

(HE exits.)

ERNEST (at the door, as if to sing another verse of his aria) You call us lost…

ALICE (slamming the door on Ernest) Bullshit! (to Gertrude) He’s gone, lovey.

GERTRUDE My pussy, My lobster, My cake, My wife.

Always ready to slam the door.

ALICE He is wrong.

GERTRUDE You are right, He is wrong.

My baby, My cherub, My queen.

ALICE I am the wife, The wife who deals with wives.

Who tends the weeds and the genius.

Who tends to the lamb and the confidence.

GERTRUDE I will write your memoirs.

Alice B. Toklas will tell my story.

(ALICE and GERTRUDE dance.)

GERTRUDE Ring joyful, Page 43

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Ring loud, Ring bright.

Alice, Alice.

(SOLDIERS remove the two paintings that flank Picasso’s portrait of Gertrude. The appear in the empty frames of the paintings, singing as they march into war.)

SOLDIERS Lost boys march.

The flame of French resistance.

Marching, marching.

Another generation.

Lost boys, lost‌

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

ACT FOUR – GERTRUDE STEIN IS SAFE, SAFE The Gertrude portrait by Picasso hangs prominently in the middle of the stage, flanked by two empty frames. TWO men stand inside one empty frame, while the other stands solo.

The sounds of warfare as the PAINTINGS watch GERTRUDE and ALICE, as ALICE puts the Cezanne painting into a grinder, creating a meal for the two of them. They sit and eat the strings of canvas at the table. Picasso’s flowers have completely died in the vase.

EMPTY FRAMES Twice denying a war is no war is no war is no war.

Twice it came.

War is war is war.

Paintings ripped from frames To keep them fed.

Leave empty spaces sold and served with sauces.

They ate the Cezanne.

They ate us, too, War makes cannibals Out of everyone.

Twice denying a war is no war is no war is no war.

Twice it came.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek War is war is war.

(GERTRUDE stands behind ALICE at the typewriter.)

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Gertrude Stein is safe, is safe, is safe – Gertrude Stein, right famous American authoress, Is safe, safe, is safe.

With Alice and Basket Two, too.

Safe, safe, is safe.

Gertrude Stein is safe in isolation from the Nazi occupation.

Gertrude Stein is safe, safe, is safe Gertrude Stein is safe, safe, is safe…

(The chorus of men congregate behind Gertrude’s Picasso painting, becoming the painted Gertrude. They sing in a rich, deep, booming scary quality that immediately suggests that she is being questioned by the supreme authority: her own conscience.)

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE Gertrude’s eyes, Almonds of worry.

Gertrude’s lips, Holding in lies. (beat) Gertrude Stein, You are charged with Betrayal, Narcissism, Blindness, Collaboration, Self-hatred.

ALICE She is not guilty.

GERTRUDE I am Gertrude Stein, American authoress.

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE How does Gertrude Stein stay safe, safe, stay safe?

What is the answer?

ALICE Page 46

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek She owes no answer.

She is Gertrude Stein.

GERTRUDE The war never entered my house.

War was never welcome.

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE How did Gertrude Stein stay safe, safe, stay safe?

ALICE Always ready to slam the door.

Lock out the war.

GERTRUDE Lock out the war.

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE Did you feel the war, Breathing down, down your back?

Stay safe, safe?

ALICE Knit one, purl war…

Is no war.

GERTRUDE However near, War feels like an ocean away, away.

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE Stay safe, stay safe?

Did you think of your heritage?

GERTRUDE American!

That is my heritage.

Me writing.

Me in my chair writing.

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE Gertrude Stein, right famous Jewish authoress.

Translating speeches, Vichy speeches.

GERTRUDE Translating speeches for highly political friends.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Art-loving friends.

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE Eight hundred pages of hate.

Eight hundred pages To stay safe, safe from the Nazis.

Deaf to the Final Solution.

Deaf to Jewish suffering, Deaf to Jewish silence. (getting much angrier) Gertrude Stein, accomplice!

Gertrude Stein, hangman!

Gertrude Stein…

Gertrude Stein…

Gertrude Stein…

ALICE (cutting them off) Historical!

GERTRUDE (with great ferocity, like a wail, a wall of sound) I did it for you!

For you, Gertrude!

For Gris, for Picasso, Cezanne.

You are my heart, pounding, Hung by nail.

I did it for you.

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE Gertrude Stein, guilty.

Gertrude Stein, guilty.

(GERTRUDE is in a puddle on the floor.)

GERTRUDE De la part de qui venez-vous?

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE You! GERTRUDE (to the painting) Jury of my canvas: Remember the medal placed around my neck, A token of my service, Page 48

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek Of my compassion, Of supplies driven to French hospitals, Of Gertrude Stein in the first war.

Jury of my canvas: Remember that I opened my home, Nurtured genius of painters, writers, soldiers, lost young men who marched away away. (to Alice) The bells!

Jury of my canvas: Remember the books, the portraits, the lectures, the operas, The flowers, the flowers, the friendship. (to Alice) So loud!

ALICE They ring!

GERTRUDE Jury of my canvas: Absolve me.

Solve Stein.

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE How does Gertrude Stein stay safe, safe, stay safe?

How does Gertrude Stein stay safe, safe, stay safe?

GERTRUDE The paintings are singing.

Sing so loud, singing. (to Alice) Tell me.

Tell me that I’m good.

ALICE You are good, lovey, You are very good.

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE How does Gertrude Stein stay safe, safe, stay safe?

How does Gertrude Stein stay safe, safe, stay safe?

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek (Down from the painting walks the DOUGHBOY, lighting a cigarette noticing Gertrude. He pulls from his pocket three eggs that glow.)

GERTRUDE (to the DOUGHBOY) What is the answer?

What is the answer?

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE Take her away…

GERTRUDE (The DOUGHBOY vanishes, and her question gets redirected to ALICE) The answer?

The answer?

PICASSO’S GERTRUDE Take her a…

GERTRUDE Ring, ring, ring…

ALICE Shhhhh.

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Ring, ring, ring.

ALICE Before we say hello, hello.

The answer is Hello.

GERTRUDE What is the question?

ALICE Before we say goodbye, goodbye.

The answer is goodbye.

GERTRUDE What is the question?

(GERTRUDE dies in ALICE’s lap, ALICE closes GERTRUDE’s eyes and kisses her.)

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

ACT FIVE - ALICE ALONE THE paintings are all crated up, ready to be sent to America. All that is left are empty knitted frames. ALICE sits knitting in bed, alone. The flowers on the small desk have wilted entirely.

From off-stage we hear the voices of the paintings. Picasso’s painted Gertrude leans up against the wall.

PAINTINGS (distant) There once lived two women, On rue de Fleurus.

The genius, the writer.

Where is the writer?

(There is a knock at the door. ALICE answers.)

ALICE There is no salon today.

(SHE quickly closes the door, returns to her bed.)

PAINTINGS (distant) There once lived two women, On rue de Fleurus.

Knock knock knock Knock on the door marked “27”.

(Another knock at the door. ALICE gets up and opens it, before she can turn the visitor away, she recognizes him as a figure of her past days with Gertrude…)

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

ALICE Has anybody told you that you look like Abe Lincoln?

(It’s PICASSO, holding a fresh bouquet of flowers, handing them to her.)

PICASSO No no no no no.

ALICE Come in, come in.

They are beautiful, Pablo.

PICASSO It’s been too long.

ALICE (replacing the dead flowers with the new bouquet) What matters is you’ve come back.

And not a moment too soon.

To say goodbye to genius.

To say goodbye to Gertrude.

The American men From the museum Are coming.

(PICASSO stands in front of his painting of Gertrude.)

PICASSO We will never see her again.

ALICE What will I do without her?

It’s a lonely house, Pablo.

And she’s a good listener.

PABLO Your Gertrude.

ALICE Your Gertrude.

She’s been very chatty lately, your Gertrude.

PABLO Your Gertrude.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

ALICE Your Gertrude.

Ours.

PABLO AND ALICE Ours.

ALICE Will she ever shut up? (she laughs) Will she whisper to the passersby?

Filling the room.

Perched high above the crowd, Looking down on her public Picking out new geniuses?

I will miss her laugh. (beat) You were right, Pablo.

You were perfectly right.

PABLO How so?

ALICE It is good.

And it looks exactly like her.

PABLO It is not entirely accurate.

(PABLO gets up and grabs a blank, giant needlepoint canvas, and begins to draw.)

ALICE (trying to knit, but failing miserably) I’ve tried – Gertrude one, Alice one.

I’ve tried – To purl, I’ve tried.

I beg.

PABLO Page 53

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek I remember it takes time.

Time and time and more time.

The face will emerge, The image finds its reason.

Genius needs nothing and nothing And more nothing But time and time and more time.

You are good.

Good Alice.

Genius Alice.

PABLO AND ALICE Stitch her back to life.

She will keep you (me) company.

She will sing so loud singing. (presenting the needlepoint canvas, with outline of Gertrude to ALICE) ALICE These are the flowers of friendship.

(ALICE threads a needle, and begins to stitch GERTRUDE’s portrait.

As she does this, GERTRUDE is revealed sitting in her iconic pose.

ALICE continues needlepointing, as GERTRUDE sings…)

GERTRUDE I’ve been called many things, Many, many things.

The “homme de lettres”.

The dictator of art.

A fascist.

Lovey.

I’ve been called many things, Many many things.

I’ve painted with my words, Painted with colors never seen ever seen by the eye.

The flowers, Before the flowers.

Friendship faded Before the flowers of friendship…

Faded Friendship Faded.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

Come sit, come sit.

Come.

De la part de qui venez-vous?

I invited, I invited, I needed you!

My baby, my kitten, my queen…

My pussy, my lobster, my cake.

I painted your portrait with words…

I painted our portrait, To make me historical.

Gertrude with Alice, historical.

Before the flowers of friendship faded, Friendship faded.

Before the flowers of friendship faded, Alice never faded.

Our friends, they are singing.

Faded, but singing: PABLO, HEMINGWAY, MAN RAY (unseen but heard, repeated under Alice and Gertrude’s following duet) To live, to die, to be: Living, dying, being, existing.

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Two women.

PABLO, HEMINGWAY, MAN RAY To live, to die, to be: Dying, being, existing.

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Two women, The writer, the genius.

PABLO, HEMINGWAY, MAN RAY The writer, the genius.

GERTRUDE AND ALICE Two women, The writer and her secretary.

The writer and her biographer.

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek GERTRUDE, ALICE, PABLO, HEMINGWAY AND MAN RAY Two women, two women.

ALICE The writer…

GERTRUDE and her wife.

ALICE Lovey.

GERTRUDE Lovey.

GERTRUDE, ALICE, PABLO, HEMINGWAY AND MAN RAY Ring, ring, ring.

ALICE The genius is in…

GERTRUDE At 27 rue de Fleurus.

ALICE The genius is in…

GERTRUDE You are my genius.

GERTRUDE, ALICE, PABLO, HEMINGWAY AND MAN RAY At 27 rue du Fleurus.

GERTRUDE The bells ring.

ALICE Ring.

(ALICE ascends into the painting with GERTRUDE. The lights go out on GERTRUDE and ALICE sitting together, revealing the finished needlepoint. It is most definitely Picasso’s portrait of Gertrude, only Alice’s image been added behind Gertrude. Picasso’s portrait now accurate.)

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek (Blackout)

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Ricky Ian Gordon/Royce Vavrek

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