Excerpt from GIRL BEFORE A MIRROR

GIRL BEFORE A MIRROR (an excerpt from a 15-minute drama)

CAST OF CHARACTERS

MARIE - A girl of 22, childlike, blonde

MARIE’S MOTHER - About 50, matronly

PABLO PICASSO - 51, the famous painter

SCENE: Rooms in two Parisian houses

TIME: March 1932, and the last scene takes place four years later

SYNOPSIS: Pablo Picasso paints a portrait of his mistress, Marie-Therese Walter, in Paris in 1932.

*****

AT RISE: MARIE-THÉRÈ̀̀̀̀SE WALTER, a girl of 22, stands before the audience, combing her hair.

MARIE (To herself, facing out.)

My name is Marie-Thérese Walter. I am twenty-two. The great Picasso has just painted me, and I wonder why? I look at myself, looking into a mirror, and I see a sinister image. My flesh is lavender, my breasts are discombobulated, I have a sharp nose.

MARIE-THERESE’S MOTHER (Entering.)

Marie-Therese! Señor Picasso has left a note for you. He wants to see you again.

MARIE

And why?

MARIE’S MOTHER

I suppose he wants to put the finishing touches on the painting.

MARIE

But I saw it! It is finished!

MARIE’S MOTHER

Not yet, he says.

MARIE

Mother, do I have a sharp nose?

MARIE’S MOTHER

A what?

MARIE

A nose with a sharp point.

MARIE’S MOTHER

You do not. You have a beautiful nose.

MARIE

Do I?

MARIE’S MOTHER

It is exactly like mine.

MARIE

And is my hair not blonde?

MARIE’S MOTHER

Why, of course.

MARIE

But it is green in the painting.

MARIE’S MOTHER

You are lovely, my child.

MARIE

Señor Picasso loves me, I believe.

MARIE’S MOTHER

And if you play your cards right maybe he will marry you.

MARIE

Oh, but he has so many women!

MARIE’S MOTHER

I say, if you play your cards right…..

MARIE

Mother, may I go out to play? I want to pick flowers in the meadow outside the city.

MARIE’S MOTHER

A child, you are.

MARIE

Mother, may I?

MARIE’S MOTHER

You may.

(MARIE exits and lights go down.)

(Lights go up on PICASSO and MARIE’S MOTHER. PICASSO wears a horizontally striped shirt in black-and-white, and a beret.)

MARIE’S MOTHER

And how much will you pay my child for posing for you, in the end?

PICASSO

We have already discussed that, she and I.

MARIE’S MOTHER

The painting will only make you richer.

PICASSO

She and I have an understanding.

MARIE’S MOTHER

I am her mother.

PICASSO

Would you like to pose for me?

MARIE’S MOTHER

I? An old woman? I am nearly 50!!

PICASSO

I will make you beautiful.

MARIE’S MOTHER

My daughter is out picking flowers. I wish she would meet a young man.

PICASSO

She is perfection.

MARIE’S MOTHER

(Looking at the painting, which is turned away from the audience.)

She looks pregnant in the painting.

PICASSO (Shrugs.)

A woman.

MARIE’S MOTHER

My daughter is not pregnant.

PICASSO

I painted her in all her voluptuousness.

MARIE’S MOTHER

And I did not teach my daughter to be vain.

PICASSO

All women are vain.

MARIE’S MOTHER

She is not. She is still a child.

PICASSO

With the body of a grown woman.

MARIE’S MOTHER

Tell me, Senor Picasso. Are you – interested in my daughter?

PICASSO

I am a painter.

MARIE’S MOTHER

But are you in love?

PICASSO

I am.

MARIE’S MOTHER

Will you marry her?

PICASSO

I have loved many women.

MARIE’S MOTHER

But her – what about my daughter?

PICASSO

I create art, Madame, that is all.

MARIE’S MOTHER (Looking at the painting again.)

About the money –

PICASSO

That is settled.

MARIE’S MOTHER

You are many times a rich man.

PICASSO

It is settled.

MARIE’S MOTHER

And you are her lover.

PICASSO

Your daughter and I have an agreement, that is all.

MARIE’S MOTHER

I know you will not marry her.

(She sighs and looks at the painting again as lights go down.)

(Lights go up on MARIE-THERESE and PICASSO. He is putting final touches on the painting, which cannot be seen to the audience. MARIE is posing before a standing mirror, fully dressed in a low-cut gown that is striped black-and-green.)

PICASSO

It is almost done.

MARIE

When can I see it? You have not let me see it all these past four days.

PICASSO

When I am done.

MARIE

You let my mother see it yesterday.

PICASSO

You knew she was here?

MARIE

Yes. It made me angry.

PICASSO

Your mother is an ambitious woman.

MARIE

Pablo, will you always want me in your life?

PICASSO

You are too young to be thinking about that.

MARIE

I know. There is a boy here in Paris who likes me.

PICASSO (Scoffs.)

A boy.

MARIE

But I do not like him, Pablo.

PICASSO

That is good.

MARIE

You are my one true love.

PICASSO

And you are my Muse.

MARIE

I will always love you, Pablo.

PICASSO (Puts down his paintbrush.)

You are sweet, Marie-Therese.

(He kisses her. She entwines her arms around his neck and shoulders.)

MARIE

Will you keep my nose sharp in the finished painting? Will I have lavender skin?

PICASSO

You will be beautiful.

(He kisses her again and lights go down.).....

(End of excerpt.)