Glenn, a play by David Young

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Act One

 

[Music under: Seigfried Idyll. Lights fade. As the lights come down we listen to a tape collage of on-the-street interviews with representatives from a range of age groups and ethnic backgrounds.]
 VOICES: [a building crescendo] ... a famous pianist ... dunked his hands in this really hot ... hat, scarf, gloves - does that count for three? ... quit performing ... child prodigy ... I think he was part lizard ... total hypochondriac ... swear you were looking at the young Bob Dylan ... a hermit ... from the Beaches ... this special stool ... photographic memory ... night owl ... the guy sneezes on the phone and Gould ... a monk ... the singing ... obsessed with technology ... drove around all night... he took pills ... Fran's Restaurant ... pretty sure he was ... a recluse ... gay? ... a piano player, right? ... a telephone addict ... hated the cold ... loved the north ... the Goldbergs ... wasn't he Jewish? ... lived on scrambled eggs ... this thing about solitude ... listen, I'm going to have to call you right back. I've got Glenn Gould on the other line - that's right, Glenn Gould!
[The tape reaches peak volume, stops abruptly. To black. A single piano note sounds - the first note of the ground bass from the Goldberg Variations. The note reverberates, fades down to silence.]