ALAIN SAINT-SAËNS

Playwright

PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS,
INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STRATEGIC STUDIES,
ASSOMPTION (PARAGUAY)

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF LETTERS
(BAHIA, BRAZIL)

THE JUMP

To the Jumpers,

brave and resilient New Yorkers

who were not afraid

to choose their death

on September 11, 2001.

                                                              Cover art:

                                      Stan Duchêne

Brenda (Using a gentler, almost pedagogical, tone of voice):

- Roberto, my friend, stop fooling yourself, open your eyes, and get real, please. Dear Ophelia is right: it’s just a matter of time from now on. Within half an hour at the worst, a couple of hours at the very best, we shall be history.

(A deep silence follows. The enormity of what was just said starts to penetrate into each and any of them).

Roberto (looking baffled):

- The fact is: I am not in a mood to die right now…

(Everyone laughs at Roberto’s statement in a liberating way).

Estelle (Laughing almost hysterically):

- Oh, God, Roberto, you’re gonna make me pee my pants! I am with you, Big Blue. No way! Dying is not even an option. WE-DO-NOT-WANT-TO-DIE! (She stands up and yells, with her two fists up, jumping up and down on the couch): NO DYING! NO DYING!

Brenda (Facing the four of them from the side):

- Alright, Estelle, you made your point, calm down now, please. Thanks, my love. (She keeps on talking) Let’s go one step beyond now, would you? In spite of our vigorous protests, all of us are in fact convinced deep inside that we are about to pass away, aren’t we? Well, there is still one other issue to chew over from that moment on.

Jefferson:

- I’m wondering what the purpose of this discussion can be, Brenda. Shouldn’t we just pray together and…

Brenda (cutting him):

- Jefferson, you’re on your way to become a priest, I do respect your believes, so, pray for the salvation of each and any of us, but let me do the talking here! Thank you. (She keeps on addressing all of them): - HOW DO WE WANT TO DIE? That’s the main question now. Either we wait for the tower to collapse; as a consequence, we shall disappear under the rubble. That certainly won’t do any good to my perm… (She touches her hair at the same time she is mocking herself).

Ophelia (Lost in her own world):

- ‘Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust’.

Brenda:

- Or we open the office door, and both heat and smoke thru the fire’s progress will cremate us.

Estelle (Shaking her head):

- I don’t like that idea. I was burnt by boiling water on my leg when I was ten (She lifts up her pant and shows the marks on her left leg). The pain was really excruciating. 

Roberto:

- Or one of us could cut other ones’ throats, as Jews did at Masada in Palestine when they were vanquished finally by the Romans during the 1^st Century AD.

Brenda:

- I am sure you would enjoy cutting the throat of your favorite lesbian, wouldn’t you, Roberto?

(They all laugh again at Roberto).

Brenda:

- Seriously, there is one more option: we can jump.

 

POSTFACE

 

Early morning on September 11, 2001 a passenger plane struck the 91^st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.  The Jump by Alain Saint-Saëns is a two-act play that brings the audience to events that could possibly have happened to a handful of people trapped on the 81^st Floor of the North Tower.  In the piece, two men, Roberto and Jefferson, escaped the collapsed stairs, finding by chance an opening onto an office occupied by Ophelia, a middle-aged woman who walks with difficulty. Roberto explains the initial terror of finding himself pinned by concrete, yelling for help and waving in desperation a hand he was able to get through a crack. Just when he is about to succumb to terror, Jefferson holds tightly to his hand and is able to pull him from the rubble. Soon, the three office occupants are joined by two women. The natural, calm and courteous greetings highlight tensions to the audience who knows the imminent tragedy that shortly will take place. In a matter of minutes we discover that the women are a couple who are planning to marry in the Netherlands where gay marriages have become legalized. Roberto appears to be a bigot who undermines what Brenda, the most apparent butch in the relationship, says. Their bantering about gayness and hetero-normality strains the audience with the realities of life, with the instances in which we are not able to accept diversity in all its forms.  Making us question the expectations of living in harmony with other countries when we have trouble doing so in our own countries. After much bickering and defense from Ophelia and Jefferson who is studying to become a Catholic priest, they all come to the consensus that staying together is essential for their survival. In some comic relief, we hear Brenda offering to carry Ophelia down the stairs to a safe floor. To pass time until rescue comes for them, they begin to recount events lived the night before, once again keeping us on the edge of our chairs. Conversations about games, teams, and places to have a great beer are interrupted by the acrid smells pouring out from the ceiling vents.

Suddenly, they realize that unless they break the glass windows, they will all be gassed by fumes and black smoke. Shortly after finding themselves inundated by fresh air since Roberto was successful in breaking down a tremendous glass window, a text message is received alerting them of the terrorist attack. This only contributes to their bafflement as to why the Armed Forces were not able to stop the planes, or why they attacked specifically the Trade Center. Brenda understands immediately that it is an attack on capitalism, the “heart” of the United States liberal system, and begins to speculate about the possible culprit of the attack. Act One concludes still full of hopes for their complete rescue as they now decide to make sandwiches for the fire fighters arriving soon to save them.

All hopes with which we were left at the end of Act I are erased as we hear the conversation Ophelia is having with a colleague who was not able to make it to work that day. The South Tower has just collapsed and all rescuers have been called off from the standing tower for fear it will follow the same fate as her sister structure. After the realization that they are all going to die that morning, Roberto states bluntly that he is not ‘in a mood to die right now,’ but given the choice he wants to choose how to die. All agree and begin to offer possibilities with the only alternative: to jump. This jump is then equated and glorified with the jump into marriage between Brenda and Estelle, officiated by Jefferson with Roberto as best man and Ophelia, as maid-of-honor. Both women, after the ceremony, locked in a kiss jump into the clear blue sky as they say: ‘Free at last.’ Jefferson announces the return of a stronger America that out of the ashes like the Phoenix will emerge triumphantly.

Magnificently crafted! Among the chaos, like inside the eye of a hurricane, the office on the 81^st floor became the center of peace for a short duration. Understanding, forgiveness, union in spite of all crumbling around them, and closure show that death of the physical is inevitable, but so is the eternity of love. We the onlookers, the ones left behind, hear a huge noise after ten seconds of silence at the conclusion of the Second Act, and as in comradeship with those that jumped, take a deep breath as those individuals that took one for the last time. This indelible and impactful play, followed by an extensive glossary making it timeless, frozen in a historical moment, is a vivid reminder of that lethal morning of September 11, 2001 for all generations to come.

María José Delgado

 Capital University, Columbus, USA

         

ALAIN SAINT-SAËNS IS A NOVELIST, A POET, AND A PLAYWRIGHT.  HIS THEATRICALWORK IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH WAS RECENTLY STUDIED BY 17 SCHOLARS AND DIRECTORS COMING FROM 8 COUNTRIES AND 4 CONTINENTS:

ALAIN SAINT-SAËNS DRAMATURGO.
EL RENACIMIENTO DEL TEATRO PARAGUAYO.

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