SCENE

A mansion on Exposition Boulevard, New Orleans. We are in a big, finely-proportioned parlor with high ceilings, Orientals, a crystal chandelier. The atmosphere is that of a grand sanctuary, where the landowner can view Audubon Park as a superior. Floor-to-ceiling windows (sometimes used as entrances) open onto a gallery overlooking a wide lawn, which tumbles into Audubon Park. During the daytime one has the feeling of a semi-tropical park, and at night of an oak garden, which climbs into the stars.

TIME

The present. Sunshine, already hard on the windows,fills the room with a sharp light.

ACT I, Scene 1

SETTING: An April day. Noon. The present. Several suitcases line the stage.

AT RISE: LUCILLE, 35 runs onstage. She’s very healthy with a mass of hair and deep-set hazel eyes. There is a curious blend of country carelessness and intelligence. Her husband, BLAISE enters, buttoning his shirt. He is handsome, about 30, but his carriage makes him appear older. He is tall, long-limbed with a wide forehead, thick brown hair, and fine sensitive eyes. He wears conservative clothes, obviously expensive, and he wears them well. Harsh sunlight falls over the gallery as TED CLAPPER approaches. HE checks back for fear his car will be towed. HE's in his twenties, an effusive businessman.

TED
Anybody home? (crosses to BLAISE) Teddy Clapper.

LUCILLE
Who?

TED
New Orleans Country Club? The Southern Yacht Club cotillion? Now I’m the manager of Susanne Dupre’.

LUCILLE
Susanne Dupré. (screams in delight) Oh my. Oh God. Oh, no.

TED
(searches about) My glasses broke. I've a second pair.

LUCILLE
I’ll fix them. You know my husband. (to herself) Oh my God. Susanne Dupre’.

BLAISE
Can I help you with something?

TED
Mom and I want you to host an exposition of Susanne Dupré.

LUCILLE
(to BLAISE) This is the miracle we’ve been waiting for.

TED
(looks out) They're not giving me a ticket? I double-parked by a fire hydrant, then barged into the curb ._._.

BLAISE
You should move your car.

TED
Like I said, we're looking for patrons to do an exposition of her latest art (Phone rings. TED searches for phone, gives up when ringing stops.)

TED (continued)
Mom might call. I've rough car trips calling her. She fired the night watchman and bought me a phone. My mother is the sweetest, panicked person on earth. I advanced up to escort when Dad departed this world ._._.

LUCILLE
I saw it in the obituaries.

TED
A show on Exposition Boulevard could be an important event. Susanne’s a young legend.

LUCILLE
A practitioner of the—

TED
Nobler forms.

LUCILLE
Her show in Berlin left me—

TED
Ecstatic as did her show at the—

LUCILLE and TED together
Guggenheim in New York.

Performance History

Exposition Boulevard (Former title), produced at Southern Rep Theatre, New Orleans, March 1998, winner of residency at Wiepersdorf Castle, to represent the American artist colony the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts, Summer 1998 and 1999, translated into German by Christa Tragelehn, Hershel Publishers, Berlin, Spring, staged reading at the National Arts Club, 2004.