Playwright Portrait, Lynn Rosen, Excerpt from Apple Cove

Lynn Rosen playwright 2006

pswb©2012

APPLE COVE

Characters in this exchange:

Duke, a security guard at Apple Cove - a gated community, formerly swamp

Edie King, a housewife, newlywed, and new resident of Apple Cove

DUKE

Negative. Not new here, born here. My house was down the road. But my home, my escape, was this swamp, where I’d swing on vines tree to tree. My Ma would find me sleeping on a bed of moss, caked in mud, crawling with life. This very spot, your spot, was the thickest, the lushest. But that’s all past. All replaced by this house, this subdivision where I’d be trespassing if it wasn’t, weren’t, if it weren’t for my official capacity. I could run wild here before, I could roar! But now what does a person do when they get that urge to break free?

(Edie kneels and prays.)

DUKE

You pray, you wear a uniform, you suppress.

(He picks her up. Edie is in his arms.)

DUKE

But if the urge returns? If the urge returns, what do you do? Do you break free, Mrs. King? Do you let go?