MariSoul. Ribbon in the sky
I was practicing this monologue for a big audition. The piece is from “Marisol” by Jose Rivera. I’ve never seen it acted, just read it from a well worn copy from the Berkeley Public Library. Marisol is to me MariSoul because her Soul is alive like a child’s, and beautiful, and wavy; as i imagine her dark puerto rican hair to be. She lives in an apocolyptic world that is most likely a result of the negative aspects of our present world. A warning.
It’s set in New York, in the Future. And shit is fucked up. They are planning drop human insecticed on overpopulated areas of the Bronx, Nazis (your friends and neighbors, and you too) set homeless people on fire, etc. After escaping death from a golf club wielding homeless man , Marisol meets her gaurdian angel. The Angel is an (undoubtedly badass) black woman who wears a diamond studded leather jacket, sneakers, and ripped jeans. She delivers the news that she will no longer be able to protect Marisol because she must fight in the war against God to save the human race…and would Marisol like to join the war. Marisol rejects the offer because she can’t quite wrap her head around a holy war between god and angels, not to mention she is dreaming. But she soon discovers the angel was not lying, as the world she knows looses all familiarity and becomes a terrifying wasteland.
Early in their conversation Marisol asks the Angel questions about why the world is the way it is. The questions reveal some of the aspects of this world. Our future. “Why are apples extinct? Why does common rainwater turn your skin bright red? Why do cows give salty milk?”
”Why has the color blue dissapeared from the sky?”
The color BlUE, disappeared, from the sky. It made me cry as soon as I said it off the page. It still does. Imagine it. It’s the saddest thing. The words beg for tears.
and so,
I am not Marisol, but every time I said this monologue i teared up at this part. and it was real. It was real for me, and real for the MariSoul coming through me.
I am trying to become an actor
and I am thankful that our sky is still blue
