NORWICH – Members of the Norwich High School Drama Club explored misperceptions about homelessness in an original one act play recently performed in the school’s theater.
“The Buck Stops Here,” set in a busy Manhattan subway station, was written, produced and performed by eight juniors and seniors who are studying public speaking, drama and improvisation under the guidance of their teacher, Richard Bernstein.
The drama depicts flaws in society’s perception of what makes individuals homeless, what types of people are likely to end up that way, and who is helping or not helping them under the pretense of helping. The student actors played hobos, philanthropists, executives, a clean-needle doling volunteer, and an enthusiastic college sorority girl whose interactions while waiting for their trains were both very funny and painfully sad.
The hobos, played by Shannon Richards as the drug addict, Peg, and Charles, a guitarist played by Jeff Wilkinson, are huddled together inside the station discussing their latest meal or lack thereof. While Peg complains of a canker sore, she identifies the various chords, cadences and keys to the new tune Charles plays. The two appear intelligent, resolved in their state and oblivious to the passing of time, or as Peg says, “Time’s not my thing anyway.”
Lorraine and Stella, activists against poverty played by Julia Simcoe and Ashlee Zammiello, enter the station, see and approach the hobos and yell loud and clear at them as if they were deaf and daft.
“Helloo! Have you eaten today?” sings Lorraine. “Oh that’s right, you’re probably stuffed from the meal of macaroni and cheese with cornbread you had last night at the soup kitchen. You’re welcome, by the way.”
They are smug, and Lorraine congratulates Stella for joining her group and helping to make a difference in the lives of the poor. “I wish I were there with you in the beginning, but I was busy getting my college degree,” said Stella. “Little did I know I only needed to marry a wealthy man to dedicate my time to helping others.”
Meanwhile, Peg and Charles say they often travel many blocks and wait in lines all night long in order to receive food that really isn’t very good.
In walk two corporate executives complaining about the quality of the donuts offered during a Friday afternoon business meeting. One of them, “Rich, played by Sean Sheldon, displays his ignorance when referring to the hobos as government workers paid to entertain commuters. “You would think they would give them a uniform or something because their clothes are really awful,” he says.
When Rich proceeds to tip Charles, his associate, Vivian, played by Molly DeMellier, laughs at his ignorance - while professing her own - saying the hobos are homeless “or at least pretending to be” and “sit in the subways at rush hour to mooch off people like us who actually have jobs.” She makes Rich take his $5 back, saying the money will be used for drugs, “not new clothes or food or any of the essentials he wants you to think he’s using your money for.”
Seeing this, the activists chastise Rich for his selfishness.
Vivian steps in to actually suggest that flushing money down the toilet is America’s best way to feed the hungry because the sewage would ultimately reach the world’s most starving people, the people of India. She professes to have learned this from watching the movie, “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Stella says, “This isn’t about patriotism or whatever you’re trying to prove. It’s about a few extra dollars that you are too stingy to part with.” Upon which Rich complains that he “works hard every day for his money” and has chosen, instead, to spend it on popcorn at Madison Square Garden.
The activists and executives continue to argue about the executives’ selfishness and the activists’ work. The executives are surprised to learn that the activists don’t actually volunteer at the soup kitchen, but instead plan parties for the poor.
“Instead of money, we provide them with ingredients for food, new friendships and the chance to fall in love,” Lorraine explains proudly.
“Love for hobos? Can they fall in love with something besides heroine?” asks Vivian. “They don’t love themselves to get themselves out of this situation, how can they love anyone else?”
Enters Martha, the volunteer counselor, who doles out ‘sobriety syringes’ to Peg in hopes of protecting her from AIDS. Martha, played by Patty McNeil, sarcastically counsels Peg to “work on sobriety” and to “stay away from those bad influences and remember what we discussed two weeks ago at our meeting.”
“It just doesn’t seem like anyone cares. I’m in some pretty big trouble these days...” says Peg to no one in particular.
Charles suggests that Martha isn’t always on time to meet with Peg.
When Martha’s needles shock the activists, who think she’s promoting heroine addiction, Martha stands up for her trade, saying, “I give them clean needles. What else are you supposed to do?”
The comedy and tragedy picks up even more as Stella gets the great idea to invite Martha to hand out needles in goody bags at the next homeless mixer. And then the bubbly sorority girl Megan, played by Sarah Spittler, comes in to sing her original rap song about helping the people of Haiti. Certain players aren’t sure where Haiti is, and others complain that the hurricane was “so last year’s problem.”
Megan says, “Haiti is hip right now,” but says she has also written songs about frogs in the rain forest, minimum wage and pollution in Chicago, sparking Vivian to hand over her business card. It could be “a new niche in the market... a rescue DC!” she greedily contemplates.
Then, of course, Stella invites Megan to come to the mixer, too, as a way to jump start her musical career.
In the end, the struggle to define what’s humane loses steam within the context of the characters’ every day motives. As Lorraine blames the executives for being so selfish as to actually take their tip back, saying, “It’s about choosing your own satisfaction over two human lives” that’s exactly what they all do, including the hobos who decide to pass the time in limbo.
Making friends, and hopefully new business associations, the rich Vivian invites them all over to her boyfriend’s chic apartment that night. The lights dim, the cast sings and dances to Martha’s tune, and the hobos look on. The subway’s clock looms in the background, albeit void of its hands. Another homeless person has stolen them, Charles says.