CASSANDRA: Part 10
Here’s another installment of Bryce Duzan’s CASSANDRA play, which we’re serializing this year to help build your appetite for the festival in November. Enjoy!
CASSANDRA
by Bryce Duzan
Act Two
Scene Four
(It is now the mid-1800s, in the lobby of the Ford Theater, the day of Abraham Lincoln’s death. CASSANDRA paces in the lobby. She is dressed for the times, wearing a fine gown. However, she looks tired. Eternally tired.)
CASSANDRA
Why am I here? On another fool’s errand? Trying to stop a future hurtling towards me with impossible speed? Towards this…gods-forsaken world? Why do I keep trying? All I do is fail. It seems insurmountable. Even more aggravating is the fact that every time I try to change the future…I always feel him.
(As she says this, APOLLO enters the theater, dressed in a fine suit.)
APOLLO
Thinking of me, love?
CASSANDRA
Apollo! What are you doing here?
APOLLO
I could ask the same of you! It doesn’t seem like you’re here to take in a night of theater. Though, if you are, I do have a spare ticket…
CASSANDRA
You’re right, I’m not here for the show. I’m here to save the president. He is going to be assassinated after the show.
APOLLO
By one of the actors, yes, a Mr. John Wilkes Booth. And, let me guess, you want to stop him?
CASSANDRA
Of course. President Lincoln’s assassination would send the country into turmoil, so shortly after it has settled into peace.
APOLLO
Let them tear themselves apart! This young country was founded on the wrong ideals anyhow.
CASSANDRA
Wrong ideals? The United States of America was founded on the principles of freedom, justice, liberty-
APOLLO
And in the same breath was built on the back of slavery and oppression!
CASSANDRA
They are young. They will learn.
APOLLO
You are…ever the optimist, Cassandra.
CASSANDRA
Perhaps I am. I prefer wide-eyed optimism to harsh pessimism, at least.
(There is a pause.)
APOLLO
So where have you been for so long? I’d lost track of you in the seas of time.
CASSANDRA
That can’t be. I always felt your presence at times like these.
APOLLO
You must have been imagining things. “Times like these?” So you’ve tried to influence time before? After our little Caesar incident, that is.
CASSANDRA
Tried, yes. But rarely succeeded.
APOLLO
Do tell.
CASSANDRA
I don’t have time for this, Apollo.
APOLLO
Nonsense. You’re quite early. Booth won’t be here for some time, and the audience won’t be arriving until long after that.
CASSANDRA
(Sighs.) Fine. Where do I start…I hid myself from the world after Caesar’s death. I was ashamed that I had failed. For a long time I hid and lost myself in thought. When I emerged…the world had changed. The proud Roman people with their gladiators, their stolen gods, and their Senate had gone. In their place were knights clad in iron, monarchs ruling strips of land, and a strict system of honor. I saw an emperor rise to power, uniting the kingdoms. All of this and I stood by and watched. In Rome, the popes rose and fell, one after another, a line of religious leaders. Then, one of them sounded a call for action. He called them the Crusades. It was to be a massacre.
APOLLO
And so you acted?
CASSANDRA
I tried, yes. But my words could not convince the pope, and I feared if I said too much, I would be accused of blasphemy. The tenants of this religion called Christianity were much more strict when it came to…the old ways.
APOLLO
Yes, I’ve noticed.
CASSANDRA
…what is your life like now?
APOLLO
What?
CASSANDRA
Well, at least in Rome, they still knew you, though you were called by a different name.
APOLLO
They still know the name of Apollo here!
CASSANDRA
Hardly. They speak of you like a fairy tale. It’s just a word to them. They do not truly know you like the Greeks did. I’m surprised you haven’t…
APOLLO
Haven’t what?
CASSANDRA
No, nothing, don’t pay me any attention.
APOLLO
Well…it’s true. They do not worship me as the Greeks did. They do not tell my stories like the Romans did. They hardly acknowledge my existence except in some scattered writings. It is…infuriating. I was…I am a god! I deserve respect!
CASSANDRA
So…why do you not make them respect you?
APOLLO
I…I will. (For a moment, his composure is gone. He is lost. Then, it’s back, and he is all charm again.) But anyhow, this isn’t about me, is it? It’s about you. Please continue.
CASSANDRA
Alright…the next event I met a French girl named Jeanne. I saw her future, a future where her country was crushed, leading to England becoming too strong and crushing the world in a tyrannical grip. However, I saw that Jeanne was special, and that she could help me change fate.
APOLLO
How was she special?
CASSANDRA
Well, I do not know how, but when I spoke frankly and told her the future…she believed me. Immediately.
APOLLO
What? That isn’t possible!
CASSANDRA
Trust me, I know, Apollo. (Pause.) I told her what I had seen, and she said…she called me an angel sent by God to lead her people to victory. I…was just so happy that someone believed me for once.
APOLLO
So what went wrong?
CASSANDRA
What?
APOLLO
We both know how this story ends, Cassandra.
CASSANDRA
She…was too eager. After she won battle after battle, I saw the future change. She would be captured and executed for heresy. Somehow, she knew I was hiding something. She demanded the full story.
APOLLO
Which was?
CASSANDRA
That her death would be a symbol for the French people. That years afterwards she would provide strength to them in times of need. She sacrificed herself, even when I begged her not to. I…let her die.
APOLLO
And what if you had protected her? Then your original vision would have come true! Would you protect one girl in exchange for a country?
CASSANDRA
No, but…I was close to her. I felt like a sister to her. I had…not been that close to someone in a long time.
APOLLO
Cassandra…
CASSANDRA
I am not like you, Apollo. I do not have godhood to keep me busy. I am merely a mortal who cannot age. Why…why make friends when they just die in a matter of time? Why try to get close to someone? All it ends with…is pain. Pain at the loss. By now, I have seen babies born, age, die, and decay to dust. I have seen empires rise and fall. But her death…I was there, Apollo.
APOLLO
I’m sorry, Cassandra.
CASSANDRA
You wouldn’t understand, Apollo. You and your kind are much too alien to understand true grief.
APOLLO
I…did not intend to hurt you, Cassandra. I merely meant-
CASSANDRA
To punish me.
APOLLO
No! I was just trying-
CASSANDRA
Do not try to twist your words, Apollo! I know why you have cursed me. Cursed me twice, even. If you wanted to apologize for your actions, you have had plenty of time. I have wandered the world waiting for the end to come, and it still has not.
APOLLO
Is that what you want, Cassandra? The end to come?
CASSANDRA
I do not want to be timeless, Apollo. I do not want to see everyone I meet crumble into dust in front of me. I do not want to see this world crumble and rebuild itself anymore. I…I just can’t.
APOLLO
Then join me and give up this pain at last! You will never feel pain again by my side, I swear it.
CASSANDRA
Never. I would rather rot here and be free than be a slave to you.
APOLLO
You would not be a slave, Cassandra. I would treat you-
CASSANDRA
Hush! He’s coming.
(JOHN WILKES BOOTH enters. He is a proud Southern man. He is dressed well and seems to be in a hurry.)
APOLLO
That is him?
CASSANDRA
Yes. Excuse me, sir, Mr. Booth?
BOOTH
Yes? Can I help you, miss?
CASSANDRA
(Curtsies slightly.) Cassie Sanders, Mr. Booth. I wanted to speak with you before the play.
BOOTH
Well aren’t you a pretty face? (Glances at APOLLO.) This your husband?
CASSANDRA
(Chuckles.) God, no.
BOOTH
Well then, what can I do for you? Need an autograph signed?
CASSANDRA
Not exactly, no.
BOOTH
What is it then?
CASSANDRA
You need to not kill Lincoln today.
BOOTH
…I’m sorry, what?
CASSANDRA
You’re planning on assassinating President Lincoln today at the show. You can’t do it.
BOOTH
I’m sorry, lass, but you’re not making any sense! Why would I kill the president of the United States?
CASSANDRA
You’re an accomplished actor, Mr. Booth, but I know what you will do. You hate President Lincoln, and you think assassinating him is the only way to fix things. I’m here to tell you that you are very wrong.
BOOTH
So what, are you going to arrest me?
CASSANDRA
No, I’m here to simply ask you. Don’t do it.
BOOTH
How do you know I’m going to kill him?
CASSANDRA
I have my ways, Mr. Booth.
BOOTH
Look, why not? He smothered the South, that son of a bitch, he deserves to pay for what he did to my people!
CASSANDRA
John, you don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know the implications of your actions! If you kill him then the South will suffer even more.
BOOTH
How do you know what will happen to the South?
CASSANDRA
Because…I’ve seen it.
BOOTH
…right. And I’m the queen of England. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a show to perform.
CASSANDRA
Mr. Booth, please see reason! (He turns to leave.) They’ll catch you within the month. (He stops.) In that month, you will despair as you learn that the entire country, North and South, mourns. It will happen at a farm. You refuse to leave, so they set it on fire. An officer, full of rage, shoots you. You die in a puddle of your own blood. And you are vilified for the rest of history. Is that how you want this to happen?
BOOTH
You…who are you?
CASSANDRA
More than you can comprehend, Mr. Booth.
(Suddenly, audience members begin to trickle in.)
BOOTH
He’s coming…!
(He turns to leave.)
CASSANDRA
Booth, wait! (He leaves.) DAMN IT!
APOLLO
He seemed shaken by your words. Perhaps that was enough?
CASSANDRA
No. It hasn’t changed…nothing has changed! (She stares hard at APOLLO.) This isn’t over. It won’t happen. I won’t let it!
APOLLO
Let what happen, Cassandra? (She exits.) Cassandra, wait!
(BLACKOUT)
Check back next week for the last installment!
Tags: Bryce Duzan, Cassandra