LIZA TENTINI  |  Tiny

Dolly, a clown in her early twenties.
Minnie, a trapeze artist of the same age.

SETTING:

A dressing room, present day.

AT RISE: 

DOLLY, a young woman dressed like a clown, is sitting at a dressing  table, taking off her costume. After a moment, MINNIE, a woman of the same age, dressed in a tutu and holding a parasol, enters in a fury. When MINNIE enters, the two exchange a glance. MINNIE avoids DOLLY, who is obviously waiting for a response from MINNIE.

DOLLY
Are you finished? Did you really do it? Minnie!

(MINNIE stops and looks intensely right at DOLLY.)

DOLLY
You did. Oh, God . . .

MINNIE
It wasn’t just me, you know. We both—

DOLLY
Do you think we did the right thing? Do you thing she’ll be okay? What do you think she’ll—

MINNIE
Stop it! It’s done.

(Pause.)

DOLLY
When will we know?

MINNIE
We’ll hear.

DOLLY
We’ll hear . . . You’re right.

(Pause)

Oh, God . . . I can’t stand it . . .

MINNIE
Well, it’s done.

DOLLY
I had to do my entire act, knowing, smiling big clown-smiles at kids, and mothers and grandmothers . . . I’m sure they all thought everything was . . . okay . . . that I was really happy.

MINNIE
They thought that you were acting like a clown.

DOLLY
Yes. Yes, they did.

(Pause.)

I want you to tell me about it, but I don’t want to ask.

MINNIE
There’s nothing to tell.

DOLLY
How did you do it?

MINNIE
I just let her go.

DOLLY
Just like that?

MINNIE
Yes.

(Pause.)

DOLLY
I suppose we’ll hear.

MINNIE
I suppose we will.

DOLLY
Do you think she’ll be okay?

MINNIE
Dolly, anything’s better than how she was.

DOLLY
I know, but—

MINNIE
What are you saying?

DOLLY
Nothing. I’m just worried—

MINNIE
It’s too late, Dolly. We made the decision to do it. We made the decision together.

DOLLY
I know, I know—

MINNIE
You knew it had to be all or nothing. Why are you doing this to me? I won’t feel guilty about it. I won’t! Whatever happens to her is not my fault. I was only trying to help her—

DOLLY
Minnie, it’s okay. It’s not your fault. Whatever happens, it’s not your fault.

MINNIE
Our fault. We decided together.

DOLLY
Our fault. That’s what I meant. Whatever happens to her—

MINNIE
I mean, she was—

DOLLY
It wasn’t good for her. Did you see her?

MINNIE
She was very unhappy—

DOLLY
Poor Tiny. It was sad to watch it happen.

MINNIE
At first I thought she’d be all right. At first—

DOLLY
But then she got big. And she became so sad—

MINNIE
Poor Tiny. She was so smart. That was her problem.

DOLLY
She was smart, yes. But so trained—

MINNIE
So trained she couldn’t even move—

DOLLY
They had her so trained she didn’t even try—

MINNIE
But she did try. At first . . . at first she tried, when she was small. And they locked her up with a big, steel chain. Do you remember?

DOLLY
I remember.

MINNIE
They knew. They knew just what to do to make her stay. They started out with big chains around her ankles, around her neck. And as soon as she got used to them, they made the chains smaller. She got bigger and her chains got smaller. And now she doesnt even know how big she really is. She doesn’t know her own strength.

(Beat.)

Oh God, Dolly . . . She doesn’t know her own strength. What do you think they’ll do to her? Do you think we did the right thing?

DOLLY
Minnie, stop! We did the right thing. Anything’s better than where she was.

MINNIE
She wanted to get out. She knew—

DOLLY
She knew a lot. She was very smart—

MINNIE
She was very, very smart. And she knew she was trained. She knew, but she couldn’t get out.

DOLLY
Trained is trained. No matter how smart you are.

MINNIE
All she had to do was pull, just a little bit—

DOLLY
I tried to encourage her—

MINNIE
I tried, too! I’d say, “C’mon Tiny! Just pull on that chain a little bit!”

DOLLY
I coaxed her with food.

MINNIE
I hit her.

(Pause.)

I did. I thought it would get her to go.

DOLLY
You hit her?

MINNIE
I thought I’d scare her. I whapped her real hard. More than once. I thought I could scare her.

(Pause. DOLLY is obviously disturbed by this.)

MINNIE
I did it for her own good—

DOLLY
I know, Minnie. But you know what that means?

MINNIE

(Close to tears.)

Yes.

DOLLY
They—

MINNIE
Dolly, don’t.

DOLLY
She’s—

MINNIE
Please!

(Pause.)

MINNIE
That’s when I knew we had to.

DOLLY
She’ll be better off.

MINNIE
Yes. I know it for sure.

DOLLY
What did she do when you . . . hit her?

MINNIE
I can’t say it.

DOLLY
Minnie, I have to know. Please.

MINNIE

(Having trouble speaking.)

She . . . she put her trunk down on the ground . . . and lifted up her back legs.

DOLLY

(Devastated.)

No!

MINNIE
Yes.

DOLLY
What did you do?

MINNIE
I climbed up on top of her. And I cried.

(Long pause.)

DOLLY
How did it go tonight? The act, I mean.

MINNIE
Surprisingly well.

DOLLY
Even the tightrope?

MINNIE
I didn’t teeter at all.

DOLLY
Not even a little bit?

MINNIE
No. I was totally calm.

DOLLY
Even though you were about to—

MINNIE
Yes. It calmed me.

DOLLY
And the trapeze?

MINNIE
Fine. I can do all that blindfolded. I did, as a matter of fact. You? Did you get a lot of laughs tonight?

DOLLY
Laughs? Yeah. They laughed. It’s funny, really . . . this isn’t what I thought I’d be doing with my life.

MINNIE
You didn’t always want to be a clown?

DOLLY
No. I wanted to be a nurse.

MINNIE
A nurse? Wow! Why didn’t you?

DOLLY
I didn’t have the money and . . . I had a little trouble with school. My dad always used to say, “Better do somethin’ with your body ’cause God knows you can’t do nothin’ with your head.”

(DOLLY chuckles, nostalgically.)

I have a little trouble reading. So, I became a clown. Just seemed like the natural thing to do.

MINNIE
You still wanna be a nurse?

DOLLY
Sometimes I do. I don’t know . . .

MINNIE
Well, I think clowning’s better. Your uniform’s got more color and you’re still making people feel better. Right?

DOLLY
What about you? Did you always have dreams of flying from a trapeze and riding horses bareback?

MINNIE
No, no. I wanted to be a ballerina. But . . . I married young and divorced young and felt that I really didn’t have much of a choice. But I have no regrets. Everything worked out for the best, right?

DOLLY
Amen.

MINNIE
I mean, I don’t know too many ballerinas who get to star in their own show every night. Besides, we have free housing and stuff.

DOLLY
Oh, there are perks. I don’t deny that

MINNIE
Neither do I! I have no regrets.

DOLLY
I have no regrets. I’m quite happy actually.

MINNIE
Me, too.

(Pause.)

DOLLY
Can I ask you a personal question?

MINNIE
Anything.

DOLLY
When you got hired . . . Dickie hired you, right?

MINNIE
Dickie hires all the women.

DOLLY
Well, when you went for your audition . . . did he—

MINNIE
Don’t ask.

DOLLY
Did you have to—

MINNIE
Don’t ask. Forget it. Just put it out of your mind.

DOLLY
Is that normal?

MINNIE
Sure it’s normal. It’s the right thing to do.

DOLLY
I don’t think so, Minnie.

MINNIE
You don’t? Well, what do you suggest, Dolly? Talk about it? Mull over it? Make ourselves crazy—

DOLLY
I don’t think it’s right, Minnie!

MINNIE
It is! It’s right. It’s okay.

DOLLY
Maybe I should go somewhere else. Maybe I could be a waitress!

MINNIE
No, no! Don’t leave me, Dolly!

DOLLY
We both could! We could work in a restaurant or a shoe store like other people!

MINNIE
I can’t, Dolly! I can’t!

DOLLY
Yes! You can! We’ll do it together!

MINNIE
We’re in this together, right Dolly?

DOLLY
I won’t leave you, Minnie! You’ll come with me! We’ll go together!

MINNIE
We’ll leave tonight. We’ll sneak out.

DOLLY
We’ll leave with Tiny!

MINNIE
Yes! Tiny!

(Beat. They scramble to finish getting changed and collecting their things.)

DOLLY
We’ll ride her right out of the gates!

MINNIE
We’ll ride her to Africa where she can be with her family!

DOLLY
I hope she runs things over!

MINNIE
I hope she stampedes!

DOLLY
We’ll ride her all the way to a brand new life!

MINNIE
Oh, Dolly!

DOLLY
Minnie! This is it!

MINNIE
We’re going with Tiny!

(Twelve gunshots can be heard off in the distance. MINNIE and DOLLY are completely still for a long time.)

DOLLY
Minnie?

MINNIE
Dolly?

DOLLY
Tiny.

MINNIE
I hear.

DOLLY
I hear them. There are lots of them.

MINNIE
I hear them.

DOLLY
We did the right thing—

MINNIE
It’s over.

DOLLY
She was so unhappy—

MINNIE
Dolly, it’s over.

(Pause. MINNIE picks up her tutu.)

DOLLY
Minnie?

MINNIE
It’ll be okay.

(She goes to put it back on.)

DOLLY
Minnie!

MINNIE
Dolly . . . Everything works out for the best. Right? We need to trust that everything works out for the best. It’s normal. What we have is normal.  And it’s the best we’ll ever have. I’m happy. You’re happy. And Tiny . . .

(Pause. DOLLY picks up her clown hat.)

DOLLY
Amen.

END OF PLAY