To walk in money through the night crowd, protected by money, lulled by money, dulled by money, the crowd itself a money, the breath money, no least single object anywhere that is not money. Money, money everywhere and still not enough! And then no money, or a little more money, or less money, or more money but money always money. And if you have money, or you Don’t’t have money it is the money that counts, and money makes money, but what makes money make money? - Henry Miller
Money changes everything. – Cyndi Lauper
Money And The American Dream
Phoebe
Money. It does come back to money…the American Dream? I wish it didn’t. But it does.
Facilitator
Benjamins, why do they call...oh cause of Franklin. How important is MONEY? How does MONEY influence the way you go about your day? How much money does it take for YOU to get by today?
Phoebe
I hate money! Why can't everything be free?
Queen of the Fairies
There's never enough. You think you know how much is enough and it isn't. On the other hand you can make it last longer than you think. I mean, how much do you really need?
Phoebe
Old money - my father comes from a long line of Bankers.
Facilitator
If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing for money.
Phoebe
Cheap. Stingy
Queen of the Fairies
It feels good to have your own. It feels shitty to have to ask for it. It feels shitty to owe.
Phoebe
I'm terrified of debt - how could I not be?
Queen of the Fairies
You need it for food, lodging, transportation, some but not all entertainment, some but not all education.
Phoebe
Bryn Mawr. Major: English. Minor: Art History.
Queen of the Fairies
You really don’t need it for real friends.
Phoebe
American Dream my ass.
Queen of the Fairies
You need it if you have health problems, illness, injury.
Phoebe
Don’t get me wrong…it’s a wonderful thing, that people thought they could come to America to escape oppression…it’s a wonderful thing. I don’t buy that whole Horatio-Alger-pull- yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps-bullshit is all.
Queen of the Fairies
You can get arrested for not having enough or having too much, although that's not the charge.
Phoebe
Homeless.
Mike
People say money is a necessary evil, but I think it is an unnecessary one created by us. Once people bartered, here’s a chicken for that shovel, and all was good.
Blackout.
Money and How It Gets That Way
Opening night of the opera. Night crowd of people. Raining. Faces, upper bodies obscured by umbrellas. They cross upstage left to upstage right, forming new crowds and configurations.
A
This couple from New York City, they were married and they lived very frugally. They lived their life. Did their thing. Took the subway and lived in a small apartment. They didn’t have any children and they died.
B
That’s tragic.
A
But early in their life they met a man and they gave him $50,000 dollars to invest.
B
They had $50,000?
A
That isn’t all. That man they gave their money to? That man was William F. Buckley-
B
William F. Buckley? Wasn’t he kidnapped?
A
I believe so. Held hostage in some way. And never found which is tragic too. But this was before.
B
When was this?
A
The early sixties. They gave William F. Buckley their money and after the couple died, people discovered this couple was worth $750,000,000.
B
It seems impossible. Where do you find someone you can trust? Then? Or even now?
A
To hand over $50,000 to.
B
Well that’s interesting.
A Yes.
B
All that money. Where did it go?
A
I don’t know. Charity maybe.
B
Such a waste.
You May Already Be A Winner
Facilitator
If you were to win the 7.5 million dollar lottery, what would be the first thing you would do? What would be the fifth thing you would do?
Phoebe and Rose. Sound of Mike going Woo-hoo!
*/indicates simultaneous dialog
Phoebe
*/I love the fact that it’s 7.5 million…um….. it’s funny I think I got distracted by what I heard Mike say upstairs that he would make some sort of “woo-hoo!” um…that probably it would be the like the first thing he would do...the very first thing he would do is pass out or freak out but I don’t think, I don’t think that’s quite what the question is asking – well, maybe it is but um…
Rose *The first thing I would do would be to set up some kind of annuity or —I think annui—something so that I would know that my mom would have income for the rest of her life and would not HAVE to work, would work if she wanted to. Um the fifth thing I would do [beat] would be [beat] I think to buy myself a condo. If I had that much money, I could wait.
Facilitator
Everyone needs food, clothing, and shelter. The lives of most people on earth are spent in getting these things. Unfulfilled needs lower on the ladder inhibit a person from climbing to their next step. Where does- do you think we have a need for Art? What place does art have in the world? Do you think it-
Phoebe
How important is Art if you can’t feed your kids? You just said-
Facilitator
Someone dying of thirst quickly forgets their thirst when they have no oxygen.
Phoebe
Are you saying we’d die without Art?
Facilitator
I’m just asking a question. Where does Art fit into the hierarchy of needs?
Rose
Wouldn’t Art qualify as a peak experience? An experience, or – um – a simulation of an experience – I think of myself when I – um- like when I hear music or –it’s like love, understanding, happiness, or rapture - or rapture - when all of a sudden something strikes you or, you, you feel like you get what that artist was trying to say like, like, uh, oh the guy that did those drawings that- Paul Klee! That's – especially when he was younger he did these great – they're just a lot of straight lines that almost looked like scribbles but there were these characters and there was a lot of humor in them and, and uh...I like that – when you feel connected to, to humor – and he wasn't even drawing – like this was drawn in 1910 I think. But you think 'God that guy's funny. I could have shared a joke with this guy and we both could have gotten it.' You know? It's nice – it's nice to uh...so it's nice in art, no matter what the form, when you see something kind of, sort of, you feel some sort of shared humanity, whether it's sense of humor or uh, uh....I don't know, you see, or pain or, or whatever you extract from it.
Facilitator
If there is a political message in a film, play, or TV show, how does that make you feel as an audience member?
Phoebe
I think art is bigger than politics. If you are somebody who believes that everything is political and I'm - I don't think I do believe that. I think you can make a good argument for it - but - maybe I just don't - I really don't want everything to be-
Facilitator
Why?
Phoebe
Because it's about power. Because it's about struggle. And I – I – I would really like to say 'Why can't we all just get along?' You know? Why can't Palest – the Palestinians have their land and their nation and the Israelis have their land and their nation and- Why can't they both just share the Temple on the Mount? You know? Why can't they?
Rose
They could give you plenty of good reasons.
Phoebe
But fundamentally - and I know this is a very naive thing to say - but fundamentally that's my ideal.
Mike
I'm not a very political person…um, as far as politics, [sound of male chorus chanting and yelling behind him] …Um…you know part of me wonders whether or not it's a good thing or a bad thing – but it's who I am.
Phoebe
Why can't people just co-exist? Why can't we just have our lives and have our art be about, you know, being able to hold your note longer or whatever it takes? You know whatever struggles you might have with your Art.
Mike
Why can’t it be about making soup? Can’t making soup be a peak experience?
Phoebe
Why does it have to be about living – something as simple as just living?
Mike Wouldn’t it be better to make a first rate soup than a second rate painting?
Phoebe
I resist the notion that everything is political because my ideal is that not everything is political.
Mike
[sound of male chorus chanting and yelling behind him]
Okay well. Making soup probably isn’t political.
Rose
Food Not Bombs?
Mike
Soup is political. Who knew? Uh, who's that guy who – that artist who took all those photos and had one photo of the, the, of the, the, of like the person with like the bullwhip in his butt – coming out –
Facilitator
Mappelthorpe?
Mike
Yeah yeah–Thorpe. And he, and he did that and people looked at it. He didn't say a word. He just put that up there. And that was political, just in taking that picture and putting it up there, uh, you know, was political. Um, and obviously his way of being political compared to like someone like Joan of Arc or a real politician or you know uh Castro in Cuba or someone like that is not as – is not as aggressive. It's a much – it's a much uh more back-end way or – (laughs) right, ha! So that image sticks in my mind – yeah-
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