Great Moments in Theatric Envrionmentalism #1

Well, okay, I'm not sure if this will really be a series (are there really so many plays pertaining to ecology?) but I liked the sound of this title so there.

A few weeks ago, I saw a production of Love Song by John Kolvenbach at Playhouse in the Park and it truly moved me. It's an upside-down love story about an isolated young guy who falls in love with a lady who robs him in his apartment. It is sweet but encompasses so much more than your average romantic comedy.

My favorite scene centers on our protagonist, Beane, as he has recently fallen for his burglar and succumbed to the sweet insanity of bliss. He goes on a rant about the ridiculousness of consumption. Since finding love and true fulfillment in his life, he has figured out that he simply doesn't need stuff.

Here goes:

BEANE. (Holding a carton of Chinese noodles.) Can I eat this? Is there a fork? (Then spying the bottle on the counter.) Wine! "I am a Fool for wine, my friends, a Foolish Nit!" Can I drink this? I was talking to somebody the other day about the Redundancy of Glassware, (Offering the bottle.) [Sorry, Does anybody want any? No?] About the Consipracy, really, of the redundancy of just about everything, you know, You buy a glass thing to pour something from a glass thing into, when, there you are with a glass thing, cheers. (Beane drinks from the wine bottle.) Raincoats, You buy a water-resistant thing when you are in fact already a water-resistant thing, like we're gonna make a purchase that's gonna improve on skin, my A--, I will walk naked down the street and I will show you something about Water Repellence! (He then eats noodles from the carton with his hands.) It's a Conspiracy, the G--d--- Oligarchy that insists we Buy things, Look at this: Eat a noodle from a carton, when you already are a noodle eating a noodle from a carton! "It is foolish food, my friends, when a noodle eats a noodle!"

Okay, I realize that some of this is nonsensical. That's okay with me. What really matters is that our young man in love here has started to look at his life through the prism of contendedness and what he sees in our consumptive culture is all its absurdity.