SYNOPSIS
When Lilacs Last
By
Tony Devaney Morinelli
Ardmore, PA.
tmorinelli@verizon.net
610 348 4669
"When Lilacs Last" is a two act play in blank verse. Each scene is introduced by excepts from the poetry of Walt Whitman.
Two young men confront their sexuality. Brendan, school athlete, three sport champion and son of an abusive alcoholic father speaks to us directly and introduces us to his world. It is through Brendan that we learn the story. It is Philadelphia, 1955. There is a new bridge to be named "The Walt Whitman," much to the outrage of the citizenry who object to the homoerotic works of the poet. Brendan introduces Jackie, a highly verbal and intelligent young man, who, despite the homophobic and ill read populace about him, has found meaning in Whitman and longs to share the poems with someone. Jackie's father, a blue collar bridge worker mistrusts everything in a world "going to hell in a hand basket." To protect his family from the "Commies, the Coloreds, the Queers and the Jews," he keeps a gun. He has also heard all too well about the nature of Whitman's poetry. When he finds a copy of "Leaves of Grass" in his son's room he suspects his son's sexual inclination and beats him with the book. He will kill Jackie rather than see him queer.
We see Brendan in his home, a young man abused by an alcoholic father who has placed his failed aspirations on the shoulders of his son. While Brendan is a star athlete his academics are not so strong. To play in the next game he must pass an upcoming poetry test on "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed." Brendan goes to Jackie for academic help. Together they discuss the poem and other thoughts. Brendan discovers that there is something beyond the academic that draws him to Jackie's company, something that Brendan cannot name.
At school, however, Brendan's team mates harass him for hanging around with faggots. They attack Jackie with intense verbal violence, "We don't want no faggots, no homos, no queers, 'round here." Brendan watches and does nothing to help Jackie.
Brendan is filled with guilt. He comes to the moment of realization that these words of abuse directed against Jackie truly apply to him. Brendan explodes in anger against the world and against a God who has created him this way.
Jackie returns home in torment. He is again alone with no friends. Silently, he finds his father's gun. He loads it.
Suddenly, Brendan calls to him from outside. Jackie puts down the gun. Brendan appeals to Jackie for forgiveness. As he explains his regret he reveals that he has been looking for someone like himself. Jackie is taken aback and confused by the statement "someone like me." Jackie suddenly realizes what Brendan means. He tells Brendan that he is not gay. But Brendan has already revealed himself and collapses in anguish at Jackie's feet begging him not to tell anyone else.
Jackie bends and raises Brendan from the floor. Their eyes meet. At that moment Jackie's father enters. He sees the two boys and rushes for the gun that Jackie has left on the table. In the heat of the moment he will kill his own son. But, Brendan grabs the gun from his hand and runs from the house.
We see Brendan alone. He still has the gun in his hand. We see and hear the same tormentors that repeat , "We don't want no faggots, no homos, no queers, 'round here."
Brendan trembles in anguish.
Brendan fires the gun. He takes his own life.
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EPILOGUE
Each character returns to the stage with a brief statement of conclusion.
Finally, Jackie recites the opening verses of "When Lilacs Last,"
When lilacs last in the door-yard bloom'd
And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night
I mourn'd - and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
O ever-returning spring! trinity sure to me you bring;
Lilac blooming perennial, and drooping star in the west
and thought of him I love.
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