Inspiration Point

By John Garfield Barlow

Poised between hope and despair, each man faces how best to move beyond the past and adapt to a future in which cultural legacy seems destined to diminish. Symbolic and politically charged, Inspiration Point speaks about life on a small Maritime reservation and the constant struggle for cultural survival.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Release date: May 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9780887549823

John Garfield Barlow

John Garfield Barlow is a Migmaw of the Indian Island First Nation on the east coast of New Brunswick. John is an artist and playwright and lives with his wife and three children in New Brunswick.

Book preview

INSPIRATION POINT

JOHN GARFIELD BARLOW

PLAYWRIGHTS CANADA PRESS

TORONTO

Inspiration Point © Copyright 2011 John Garfield Barlow

Playwrights Canada Press:

The Canadian Drama Publisher

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[e-mail] • www.playwrightscanada.com

No part of this book, covered by the copyright herein, may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical—without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review or by a licence from:

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For professional or amateur production rights, please contact Playwrights Canada Press at the address above.

Cover image © Alessandro Tredicucci

Cover design by Blake Sproule

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Barlow, John Garfield

Inspiration Point [electronic resource] / John Garfield Barlow.

A play.

Electronic monograph in EPUB format.

Also issued in print and PDF format.

ISBN 978-0-88754-982-3

I. Title.

PS8603.A736I67 2011b C812'.6 C2011-901211-1

Canada Book Fund The Canada Council for the Arts The Ontario Arts Council The Ontario Media Development Corporation

Playwrights Canada Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and of the Province of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council and the Ontario Media Development Corporation for our publishing activities.

This work is dedicated to my four wonderful children who always remind me not to forget the play in playwriting… or in life. Remember, do what you love, because if it isn’t fun, it isn’t worth doing. I love you Christian, Elliot, Madison, and Mason.

Contents

Production History

Characters

Inspiration Point

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Inspiration Point was first produced by the NotaBle Acts Theatre Company at the Black Box Theatre in Fredericton, New Brunswick, as part of the company’s 2004 Summer Theatre Festival. The cast and crew for the production were as follows:

Paul: Josh Francis

Joseph: Tim Hill

Peter: Ryan Griffith

Tony: Greg Shanks

Director: Ilkay Silk

CHARACTERS

Paul

Joseph

Peter

Tony

Black.

In the dark:

Paul: (offstage) Come on, come onnnn. Almost, almost…

Lights rise on a truck stuck on a lawn. A man’s crossed legs stick out of the passenger window as he sleeps.

Offstage, hidden by the upstage side of the truck.

Come on you son of a… Damn. No use, no friggin’ use.

He can be heard working on something.

Crap. Never gonna get you out. R-arrgh. Arrrgh. Come on. Damn!

The man, PAUL, stands up behind the truck, grabs the truck bed, shakes it violently, then kicks it.

Joseph: (from inside the truck) Hey! Don’t kick my truck!

The man in the truck, JOSEPH, sits up, kicks the door open, and sits on the edge of the seat with his feet on the ground.

Keep kickin’ my truck and you’ll be walkin’.

Paul: Yeah right. Well I got news for ya. Walkin’ is the only way we’re getting anywhere tonight.

Joseph: We’ll get out. (wipes sleep from his eyes) Chill a while.

Paul: Well, we might have half a chance if you got off your ass and helped a bit.

Joseph: Sorry. That last joint knocked me out. (stands up and shakes the sleep out of his legs, closes the door) How long have I been passed out?

Paul: Long enough, day’s gone.

Joseph: Ahh, no worries, mate. Great way to spend a lazy day.

Paul: It was fun, for a while, but I’d kinda like to do something tonight, anything. If you helped a bit, we’d probably be out by now. We might have been able to find a party. (pause) This is a lame way to spend a Saturday night.

Joseph: Ya well, (beat) suits me fine. I didn’t feel like seeing anybody anyway. All I had planned for today was to spend it hassle-free, puffin’ my problems away.

Paul: Sorry to burst your bubble, but trying to get this damn truck out has been a great big hassle.

Joseph: Well, sit down, take a load off.

He pulls out a baggie, and from the baggie he pulls out a joint and lights it, taking a long, deep drag. Puff pause.

I told you not to worry about it. (passes joint to PAUL) I’m not worried about it.

Paul: (takes a puff) Well, if we’re still here when the owners of this place return, I guarantee, there will definitely be a hassle.

Joseph: Don’t worry about it.

Paul: If you want to keep a low profile today, great. We can buy a case of beer and make a fire in my backyard. There’s nobody twisting your arm to go out, but it’s gonna suck if we see headlights pulling in that driveway.

Joseph: They’re not gonna be comin’ home tonight. Chill.

Paul: You know? I wonder if we’ll go to jail? Do you think they’d send someone to jail for trespassing? You know, I’m not really suited for jail. I’m pretty sure I’m too good-looking. I mean, look at this baby face, just look at this face. Nothin’ wrong with bein’ popular, but in jail, I don’t think that would be a such a good thing. Shit, and now it’s getting dark. (pause) You know…

Joseph: Hey. Come on, man, don’t bogart that joint.

Paul: Sorry. (puff pause) I was just thinking.

Joseph: Oh no, thinkin’ again, eh?

Paul: Fun-nay.

Joseph: You’re pretty loud for someone who’s just thinkin’. Internal monologue don’t mean nothin’ to you, eh?

Paul: What?

Joseph: Heh, never mind. (beat) So, whatcha been thinkin’ about?

Paul: Well, Joseph, since you asked, (puff pause) it’s occurred to me that every time I’ve ever been stuck, it’s been with you. Don’t you find that funny?

Joseph: Oh yeah, that’s funny all right. You want to know what I’ve been thinkin’?

Paul: What’ve you been thinkin’, big guy?

Joseph: I’ve been thinkin’… and this is real goddamned funny too—I been thinkin’ that the only time you seem to spend thinkin’ (beat) is when you’re hoggin’ a joint.

Paul: Oh shit, sorry man.

Joseph: Well sorry don’t buy my weed, man, (beat) and you know what? Sorry, sure as hell, ain’t gonna get us out of here.

Paul: Never said it was.

JOSEPH takes a puff of the joint, passes it back, then stands motioning to PAUL while talking, as though to an audience.

Joseph: You’re bitchin’ because we’re stuck, but I can still hear a voice in my ear… Let’s go to the Point, it says. Cut across the lawn, it says. Slow down, you’re spinning on the grass.

He walks to side of truck and kicks it.

We’re stuck good and you know whose fault that is.

Paul: I wasn’t drivin’.

Joseph: Don’t be bitchin’ to me about being stuck.

Paul: Are you done?

Joseph: We’re not going anywhere without a pull by a four-by-four, and I ain’t about to bother anybody now. (beat) Hah, and we couldn’t call if we wanted to, the friggin’ CB’s fried. Thank you, Paul, thank you very much. You’re like a lucky rabbit’s foot, never any luck to the rabbit.

Paul: (laughing) All right, all right. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. (puff pause) It’s gonna be a funny story though. Hittin’ that damn raccoon, I mean—come on—the friggin’ thing was as big as a collie, and we had to be doin’ eighty, and we only stunned it.

Joseph: I couldn’t believe it when it got up and walked into the woods, damn!

Paul: Then that jump over the brook?

Joseph: Forget it, man, it’s been a friggin’ hell ride, that’s what it’s been, and I love hell rides.

Paul: Fun in the mud with my two favourite buds.

Joseph: Two?

Paul: