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CHAPTER 1

The citizens of Ancient New York, on the streets of Ancient New York. Prophets roam among them.

ALL (Sung, lightly):

(Be ye astonished oh ye heavens, be ye horribly afraid)

BARUCH: It was—already in the morning—it was a day of astounding light busting out everywhere: bright, bright! Not yet noon

D: What a fascinating sunshine; lustrous and pitiless (I must return my video soon)

F: And so we had this whole discussion. And then he emailed me.

C: Wireless technology is what I like to call bleed-over technology, it’s a commercial civilian application—

E: —over in the corner, where there’s that chunk of ivy . . .

F: It’s the classic tale—every man you speak to over thirty-five: “can’t eat like I used to”

A: Forget about it, I lost

F: I’m babbling right now—

A: I lost about forty-thirty, forty dollars

There is a change of light, or a shift in sound.

JEREMIAH:

A dry wind bears down

from the high rocks

a hot wind from hard places

He is heard, but not heard.

C: Well it was after an NA meeting, and we were all waiting to go out to dinner to celebrate one of the, well it was some sort of anniversary

B: See what I was telling you? It’s so cute!

A: It’s just a big dog.

B AND F: It’s so cute!

D: I didn’t think it was that moronic.

E: Isn’t this part of Manhattan so nice? It’s like a village. Like a little village.

A: So far I like all of the parts of Manhattan I’ve seen

B: . . . Slow motion—

A: —from our hotel

E: Remember I was so nice to Martin? And Martin hated me on sight and that proved my point.

C: If you say “microwave” or anything related to the microwave, like rubbermaid, brodware, or tupperware—

B: Well I feel like—

F: Well that’s good—

A: If you have a hundred dollars—

E: Mommy, it’s really fun but it’s scary.

Beat.

But it’s really fun.

D (Singing lightly):

“dust in de wind”

JEREMIAH:

The young lions roar upon you, and yell

and they make your land waste

your cities are burned without inhabitant

C: This girl Bowen right?

A: Oh god not this again

C: Fucking tits. Perfect rack right?

D (To a child): Yeah that’s the Verrazano Bridge. You can see it all the way from here because it’s big. It’s a Big Bridge.

F: That hurt, I mean she really bumped me.

C: Right. Whatever. I still say you’re gay.

G: I’m gonna stop off here at the restroom

JEREMIAH:

They that did feed delicately

are desolate in the streets:

they that were brought up in scarlet

embrace dunghills

C: Whoops! Are you okay?

F: Uh . . . yes. Yep. Yes I am.

E: They can hear your voice saying “shit” on the first reel

F (To a child): And he’d love it—about the hobgoblins and everything

D (Precise): Yes, he would.

C: We’re not really free. The government tries to trick us.

JEREMIAH:

Thus saith the Lord:

Behold,

I will give this city into the hand of the King of Babylon

and he shall burn it with fire.

E: I always have the same strange sick sad feeling when I see a mad prophet which is this: what if he is right. I always sort of think: he’s right!

B: I know. I do too. I think: that’s my own mad spirit, cut loose somehow from my own body, striding through the streets expressly to warn me.

E: Oh. I don’t think that. But that’s interesting.

B: I do, actually, sort of. For fun, mainly. I always stand far back. I think—what if he grabs me, what if he looks into my eyes, what if they’re my eyes. And then I have to leave off everything I’m doing and wear bad clothes and go barefoot through the street raving too.

Bit of a pause.

I don’t really believe this. But I think it for fun.

E: I like it. I like it. It’s exciting. I might start thinking that too.

You never know do you. It could be true.

JEREMIAH:

Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophecy in my name;

I sent them not

neither have I commanded them

neither spake unto them:

they prophesy unto you a false vision

and a thing of nought:

the deceit of their heart

they say: Sword and Famine shall not be in this land . . .

by Sword and Famine shall those prophets be consumed!

THE NON-PROPHET: What people don’t realize (Takes a sip from his little espresso cup) is that you do have a choice.

You do not have to become a prophet.

And I’m not saying that God isn’t insistent . . .

. . . he is very insistent . . .

And persuasive. But you can, ultimately, if you are determined, you can say:

take this particular cup from my lips, I won’t do it. And He will pass on.

What are the consequences of this. Well I don’t pretend to know. My features look the same, my skin, I don’t see it in my eyes; the world sounds as it always has, I dream as before, I don’t smell . . . unusual.

It may be that now, none of my prayers are answered. I don’t know. I haven’t dared to pray.

What I know is that He is Resistible, and that those who become prophets, agonize though they might, have on some level made a decision.

B: But what is it like to be a prophet?

HANANIAH: It’s a delight.

E: You can’t ask that question!

HANANIAH: No I don’t mind. It’s a delight. I’ll suddenly find myself speaking. The only part I mind is the waiting, and wondering when I’ll speak next.

But it’s like: at a party when the tray comes around and you take something wonderful from it. And then you think: when will the tray come around again? And what will be on it?

But it’s like a good party. Where there’s an endless supply of trays. And the waiters are efficient.

B: Are the waiters angels?!

E: You can’t ask that!

HANANIAH: Why not?

E: What are the waiters?

HANANIAH (Laughs): I don’t see them. I don’t know. I don’t know much, honestly. I only know what I know after I’ve said it.

A serene—for Hananiah—pause in which no one says anything.

THE NON-PROPHET: Do you know, I had dinner with the Devil once. I was in an inn, and he was in the inn, and the inn was full, so we ate dinner at the same table.

He didn’t say a word, he was exhausted. I ordered beef, he ordered lamb.

F: How did you know it was the Devil?

THE NON-PROPHET: After dinner they brought round a brandy and, he had eaten a lot very quickly, and he revived a little and he made a sort of half play for my soul. I think, just, nothing serious; out of habit.

Hananiah and the girls have been listening in to this conversation.

Hananiah smiles in a quicksilver meaningful sort of way.

HANANIAH (To the girls): These are strange times to be alive.

THE NON-PROPHET (Whipping around to speak to him directly): I’ll say.

They look at each other for a moment.

The sound of breakage. Everyone freezes, then turns toward:

BARUCH: The light glitters off the freshly sharded off of the

infinitely ferocious glitters of spanking fresh; the light

shimmers on the newly deadly glass.

C: That bottle’s all in jags now—watch out!

Revealed: Jeremiah, holding a freshly broken bottle.

JEREMIAH:

And I will take from them the voice of mirth

and the voice of gladness,

the voice of the bridegroom, and the

voice of the bride for the land shall be desolate

The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen

and bowmen; they shall go into thickets

and climb up upon the rocks

Destruction upon destruction is cried

for the whole land is spoiled

and I will make this city

desolate

and an hissing;

Everyone that passes thereby shall be astonished

Thus saith the Lord of Hosts:

Indicates the bottle:

“Even so will I break this people, and this city.”

Exits calmly upstage to silence.

Frog sounds begin.