White Suits in Summer

Setting: An April day. Noon. The present. Several suitcases line the stage. A mansion on Exposition Boulevard, New Orleans.

At rise: Lucille, 35, runs onstage. She's very healthy with a mass of hair and deep-set hazel eyes. There is a curious blend of country carelessness and intelligence. Her husband, Blaise, enters, buttoning his shirt. He is handsome, about 30, but his carriage makes him appear older. He is tall, long-limbed with a wide forehead, thick brown hair, and fine sensitive eyes. He wears conservative clothes, obviously expensive, and he wears them well. Harsh sunlight falls over the gallery as Ted Clapper approaches. He checks back for fear his car will be towed. He's in his twenties, an effusive businessman.

TED: Anybody home? (crosses to Blaise) Teddy Clapper.

LUCILLE: Who?

TED: New Orleans Country Club? The Southern Yacht Club cotillion? Now I'm the manager of Susanne Dupré.

LUCILLE: Susanne Dupré. (screams in delight) Oh my. Oh God. Oh, no.

TED: (searches about) My glasses broke. I've a second pair.

LUCILLE: I'll fix them. You know my husband. (to herself) Oh my God. Susanne Dupré.

BLAISE: Can I help you with something?

TED: Mom and I want you to host an exposition of Susanne Dupré.

LUCILLE: (to Blaise) This is the miracle we've been waiting for.

TED: (looks out) They're not giving me a ticket? I double-parked by a fire hydrant, then barged into the curb . . .

BLAISE: You should move your car.

TED: Like I said, we're looking for patrons to do an exposition of her latest art (Phone rings. Ted searches for phone, gives up when ringing stops.) Mom might call. I've rough car trips calling her. She fired the night watchman and bought me a phone. My mother is the sweetest, panicked person on earth. I advanced up to escort when Dad departed this world . . .

LUCILLE: I saw it in the obituaries.

TED: A show on Exposition Boulevard could be an important event. Susanne's a young legend.

LUCILLE: A practitioner of the—

TED: Nobler forms.

LUCILLE: Her show in Berlin left me—

TED: Ecstatic as did her show at the—

LUCILLE AND TED TOGETHER: Guggenheim in New York.