By: Ariel Margolin
Playbill Cover: 
Foreword from the composer: Being an apolitical, neutral-sided person in modern times leaves me feeling appalled at the way civility in political discourse has been defenestrated and how Americans are at each other’s throats more than in 1865. I write “A House Divided” to show us that we are all human beings and that we can all coexist if simply respect each other’s Voltairean right to be what we wish without the scorn of others. My parents raised me to be free-thinking, open-minded and apolitical and it makes my brow furrow at the thought of our society devolving into a shameful free-for-all. Inspired by a mix of productions of yesteryear and modern pop-culture, I wish to make an at times humorous, yet thoughtful story that alerts people to the faults in our society’s stars.
Prologue: In our highly politicized times, comes an opera that directly stares the fallacy of divisiveness in its heart of darkness. In a “House Divided” fresh-faced composer, Ariel Margolin, takes the story of forbidden love and gives it a modern twist: a staunchly conservative girl falls head over Ivanka Trump brand heels for a Guevara-shirted left-wing boy. Knowing their friends and families sure aghast at the very idea, they live with this forbidden love until it cannot be lived a minute more.
Act One:
Rage Against the Machine plays as we are welcomed to the wild world of Keith Barrens. In what is a typical Wednesday night vomit-on-the-carpet bender, Keith or “K” seems to have reached a sort of angered boredom at the spiralic lifestyle he is in. As he steps outside for some non-cigarette-scented air, he breaks into a thoughtful solo wishing for a life away from this one (he is wearing a stained GG Allin t-shirt and dreamy electronic music plays). The next scene takes us into a school-night dinner at the Diedriech residence. Here Kelly (she is wearing a baby-blue dress and has pigtails) is bored to tears at her meatloaf and earful of lessons from parents regarding “female etiquette.” Yet another evening passes as dad asks her younger brother about his Lacrosse game, complains about the “blacks” and orders his unloving wife to fetch him a few too many beers (the parents wear the same boring clothing throughout the entire play to show their monotony). The scene then takes us to Kelly’s bedroom where she is in the midst of poorly rolling a joint. After her parents go to bed at their usual 9pm turn-in time in separate beds, she climbs into the backyard tree house to give her $10 pick-me-up a light. Here she goes into a thoughtful piece on how she needs a bit of spice to her sand-bland life (emotional string music plays during). The next scene takes us into the local chain pharmacy. Here our characters both enter, first Keith, then Kelly. Keith (dressed in a torn A-shirt and cargo shorts) is looking for some Alka-Seltzer to alleviate the morning hangover, while Kelly (in a tight ponytail and with a light, flowy blouse) is buying some Burt’s Bees. In his post-inebriation, Keith bumps into Kelly while glancing off at the cleavage-filled magazine rack. He apologizes instinctively, but as he looks up into Kelly’s eyes, he is struck by Cupid’s arrow. Our dear Kelly too is enchanted by this mop-topped Casanova, and accepts his apology offer of buying her a coffee. The next scene takes us to the coffee shop and here the two discover that their interests are quite in-sync. They now begin frothily engaging in complaint about their respective lives (as they discover their chemistry, their speech is muted to allow soulful guitar music to play). Keith says he is sick of his Spencer’s-shopping friends and Kelly says if she hears her mother warn her about “looking like a whore” one more time, she will have an aneurysm. This young-love quickly escalates as the next scene takes us to the backseat of Keith’s heavily used Corolla. As they are kissing (and singing about one another lovingly) in few to no clothes, Kelly’s brother (he is wearing his Lacrosse jersey and has his stick on his back to show that he is coming from team practice) sees the two lovebirds and knocks on the car window so as to nastily tell Kelly “I know.” (The music shifts from loving and angelic to bass heavy and brooding) Here the curtain falls on Act One and intermission begins.
Act Two:
The next act opens with Kelly with her head in her lap (in her bedroom), crying away to her predicament (she is wearing her long night gown and her hair is loose). If her parents find out she is with a boy, she’s a goner, but with her beau being the Devil Incarnate to Mr. and Mrs. Diedriech, her ass is 6 feet below grass. Here a woeful song is sung by Kelly cursing her situation (sad string music plays); the scene finishes with a surrendered Kelly on her knees in the middle of her room. The following scene is Keith (he is a wearing a faded grey hoodie and black denim pants) telling his friends about the girl of his dreams he has met. As he tells them about her, and her family, they begin laughing him down to a puddle. Finally, he tells them to shove it after they call her a “Hitlerjugend,” and he leaves to take a lonesome walk home. As he pulls out a cigarette, he sings about how he finally found someone he feels meaning with, but by doing this, he is undermining all that he has believed in up to this point (thoughtful Broadway show-like music plays). No easy crisis of conscience for our youthful Keith! The next scene is another “leftover night” at the Diedriech abode, but with a bit of drama. Kelly’s brother Tom (dressed in preppy-clothing) grills Kelly (wearing the type of hoodie and sweatpants that girls wear when they are “under the weather”) with his stare of privy, turns Kelly’s stomach like a rotisserie every time Tom opens his mouth (here the string music goes up and down rapidly to simulate Kelly’s volatile changes in emotion and worry). She excuses herself after Betty-Crocker dessert, and goes to the bathroom to hyper-ventilate and splash some cold water on her face. After singing about whether to or not to tell her parents about Keith (the string music here will add to her feeling of indecision), she decides to go through and do it. She steps out to tell them, but Tom has beaten her to the punch. Her parents are furious and began scolding her to no end about the “scoundrel” she is seeing. They forbid her from seeing him ever again, to which (even to her own surprise) Kelly uncharacteristically tells her parents to get off her case and she storms out to see her beloved. The next scene takes place in the park as the Kelly rests her head on Keith’s (same clothes as their last respective scenes) shoulder as they sit atop a wooden bench. After a stage-sanitized sex-scene, they sing about the wonderful things they will do when they run away (here a hopeful melody in a Major accompanies their voices). The last scene takes place in Keith’s Corolla as they calmly drive upon the highway. Behind them a police cruiser turns on his cherry-top, and Kelly knows this is her parents doing; they called the police with the car details Tom gave them. With a final loving glance at one another, Keith and Kelly both know their love cannot be, and with hands held they crash 110 MPH into a tree (light orchestra music in Minor as they look at one another and drive off). The curtain falls.
Notes on Lighting: To make it most life-like, I will keep the lighting the same as we would see in reality.
Notes on the Set: The set will change accordingly with each scene. The opening party scene will be in an apartment foyer with an open door to the outside walkway for when Keith goes out. The Diedriech house is a boring, boilerplate house and their dining room is as unspectacular as they are. Kelly’s bedroom scene will feature her very “girly” bedroom with a high-post bed and the tree-house will be rundown, showing years of disuse. The pharmacy scene will be by the cashier section of a typical corporate pharmacy. The coffee shop scene will be at a local diner booth and we will see them from the inside view. The first Corolla scene will be filmed inside what appears to be a steamy, car inside, similar to the car sex-scene in James Cameron’s Titanic. The scene between Keith and his friends will take place on a swing-set at an elementary school. The second Diedriech dinner scene’s set is identical to the first and the bathroom she enters is lead paint green and has a medicine-cabinet mirror. The park scene takes place on a starry-night and is of a typical suburban park. The last scene takes place with us seeing the star-crossed lovers from the backseat of his Corolla. I liked the Magic Flute’s rotating set and the First Act will have one stage centerpiece that rotates for each scene (it will function like a rotating pastry deck at some restaurants). The Second Act will have a second replacement centerpiece so as to accommodate the bevy of scenes.
