Happenchance
An Easing of the Reins
by
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Take from Act 1, Scene 1 DANIELLE. Would it be a secret if Mounted Officer Tom, and his Horse Boots came here to visit us, and we didn’t tell daddy, grandpa? ARTHUR. (He makes sighted measurements with his hands.) Boots could fit on the freight elevator, but our loft door may be too narrow for him to get through. DANIELLE. Then read me a memoir from your Spirit In Blue? ARTHUR. It would be more enjoyable for you if Tom and Boots came here, but I’ll read you one about my horse Stanchion. (Removes his Spirit In Blue memoir book from his pants pocket.) Now relax, in the easy chair, dear, and take it all in. I’ll read the memoir, and you can imagine me when I was a Mounted Officer, astride my horse Stanchion, on New Year’s Eve, at Times Square. DANIELLE. I like that one! (She sits in the easy chair, leans back and takes a deep breath.) I’m ready. ARTHUR. (He takes a dining chair, places it several feet from her and swings his leg over it as if mounting horse Stanchion. He sits erect, rests his memoir book on the top of the dining chair, finds the page and reads to her.) ”New Year’s Eve at Times Square with Horse Stanchion” ”Well Stanchion, we are In the midst of hundreds of excited people as they wait to shout the ten second countdown before midnight. The big white mechanical ball will soon descend from the skyscraper. I’m sure your eyes are wide open and I see your ears are pointing upward indicating your alertness. Will it be a safe occasion, as the ball descends and zero moment approaches? You’ve worked with me in the Times Square District, in the service of tourists and theatergoers, but not with this many people in such proximity. You’ve moved crowds to assist foot officers, in making arrests, and have cleared paths for ambulances to reach the sick and injured. The crowd engulfs all fifteen hundred pounds of you, as it waits enthusiastically for the moment of jubilation, at the stroke of midnight. You amaze me with your calmness. It’s good you have your winter blanket on. Is that the reason you are still or is it the crowd pressed against you. Here comes the countdown. Let’s stay the course for it will be over in a matter of seconds.” DANIELLE springs from the easy chair and joins in the countdown with ARTHUR “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, ZERO! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!” DANIELLE falls back into the easy chair and attentively watches ARTHUR continue to read aloud. “The deafening sounds of “Happy New Year”! Yes, Stanchion I'm pleased to be with you in this special moment. It’s true that happiness is not the excitement of bringing in the New Year, but rather the sense of stillness that is present in this special moment in time!” (Silence prevails.) DANIELLE. (She breaks the silence.) Oh, grandpa! I just love doing the countdown with you!
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About the Book
The theme is forgiveness in the farcical tangle of events that permeate this family play. ARTHUR and his preteen grand daughter DANIELLE live in a modest loft-style country apartment with THERON who is her estranged quirky father and son-in law to ARTHUR.
ARTHUR is a retired Police Captain who imagines himself as head of this troubled family and a promising playwright. He's playful with DANIELLE but beneath his exterior façade lays his obsession that she willingly become the wordsmith that he imagines himself to be. He struts about doing dramatic Shakespearean character manifestations to win her approval. While alone in his room he soliloquizes reflectively linking Shakespeare to his police experiences. Thus, revealing an inner craving to make sense of such happenings and to release sorrow for his past mistakes with his daughter LILY who subsequently abandoned DANIELLE and THERON.
DANIELLE loves to dance and play word games with the encouragement of her eccentric and beloved grandpa. She creates a touching poem about her imaginary bookworm that she affectionately nicknames "Boregoo" as she imagines it ingesting dictionary words that she dislikes.
THERON is obsessed with finding treasures with his metal detector. He's an Amateur Radio Operator who thinks he's been thwarted from helping the victims of natural disasters. His chancy detection of a wealthy family heirloom sets up a chain reaction of possibilities.
ADAIR comes to the loft, at ARTHUR'S invitation, to claim his family's heirloom. He's so pleased with its finding that he offers THERON a position as his country estate Caretaker.
LILY stirs up possibilities for forgiveness and reconciliation when she returns, anonymously, as ARTHUR'S invited guest, with a surprise gift for her daughter DANIELLE.
This academic dramedy portends a series of chancy stirrings with suspenseful outcomes - Surely By Chance.
About the Author
Walt retired from the NYPD Mounted Unit with the rank of Captain. As a Mounted Police Officer, in the Theater District, he would rest his horse and take breaks back stage to watch the actors perform.
His love for acting began at a young age while playing the part of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. It continued, in his senior years, with the direction of Ted Pugh, as he studied and applied Rudolph Steiner’s speech and movement techniques with the Chekhovian method of acting. As a playwright, he adroitly integrates his actual police experiences with select Shakespearean soliloquies giving thoughtful meaning to his service in the NYPD and to dramatize his love of Shakespeare.