Bitef

dekor, kostimi i svettasi: fred kolouch; koreograf ija: andrem de groat; dodatna muzìka: michael galasso. pevači: sheryl sutton, cynthia tubar, george ashley, Stefan brecht, kathryn cation, terry chambers, Christopher knowles, carol mullins, James neu, scotty snyder, robert milson. igrači: andrem de groat, Julia busto mu zie ari: michael galasso, susan kron gold, kevin byrnes, laura epstein, kathryn cation. dodatni tekstovi: Christopher knomles, cynthia tubar, Stefan brecht, James neu ;koordinacîja muzìke: michael galasso; projekcije: francie brooks, kathryn kean; snimak zvučne trake: Christopher knomles; šef pozornice: pascal ortega ; asistent rezije : carol mullins, terry chambers; koordinaeija zvuka: terry chambers; rekviziti: kathryn cation; realizaeija kostima: carol luiken; izrada dekora: malter pace; administracja: george ashley, keith nelson. pismo za kraljicu Viktoriju

Draga Gospodo, Vale kraljevsko veličanstvo : Pośto nemam (ast da Vam budem predstavljen, cime sam neobično ožalošćen, jer sam nedostojan

da se pojavim pred Vašom svetlom ličnošću, buduti da sam totalno lišen privlačnih osobina, spolja i iznulra , te da bi se moje prisustvo učinilo podnošIjivim potrebno je imati veliku dazu tolerancìje ja jedva nalazim reíi kojima bili opravdao ovo moje obraćanje, Varna lićno, ne samo zato što ne raspolazem ni najneznatnijim delom vestine takve vrsíe opštenja, već i zbog opravdanog razloga da se plašim prekora, odnosno da budem lišen svake zasluge, zbog njenog matematičkog apsurda, čak i kod postojanja njenog moralnog paradoksu, sto bi mogio, i pored najveće pažnje, da dovede u nedoumicu; ali, budući u izvesnoj meri ohrabren (ipak dovoljno da stavim pero u ruku, ako dopustite ovu metafora, koja je jedino odraz moje prekomerne i neoprostive želje) da postupim shodno ovim dobrim razlozima, posto mi je poznała Vaša neprevaziđena snishodljìvost. Dobro. Pre jedno desetak godina, neka zia kob prìvukla je moj odsutno zabrinuti pogled na gradsko dobro, zaokruieno neprometnom uUčicom dui koje som, sedeći u kolima, prolazio. Bio je to, u stvari, jedan neupaljeni fenjer. Na moje najveće iznenađenje, taj neugledni stub, koga dotlę nikada nisam primećivao, jer je bio van mogą vidokruga, stajao je na malom, ali jasno obeleženom beskraju, bacajući u kasnim jutarnjim časovima izdužene senke na sve strane. Sve dotlę, stvari ne bi bile vredne spomena, ali, ako bili dodao, vodeéì raéuna o činjenicama, da je taj prizor beskraja bìo samo prìvremena pojava u prirodi, bojìm se da bih izgubio poverenje i najdobronamernije osobe. A zaito? Zar samo zato sto sam taj stub vìdeo za trenutak? Bilo kako bilo, meni je sve jasno. Ukratko receno, poste deset godina istraiivanja, ustanovìo sam veliki broj takvih prodìranja veinosti u domìnione Vaieg veliéanstva. Prilazem spisak s nadom da me i dalje pailjivo pratite,jer postoje stvari koje potpuno izmìéu uticaju Vašeg veliéanstva, tako blisko povezane, da sam se miao pobuden da prihvatim hipoteza, i to samo hipoteza, prema kojoj pojava privremene defìnieije prostora, osim ito je proizvod bolesnog mozga, u ita sam uveren, predstavlja uznemiravajuéu nejasnoću u mom otkriéu. Ostajem pokorni sluga Vaieg veliéanstva.

Rufus Smith

A letter for queen Victoria

Dear madam, Most gracious of Ladies, August Imperai' ice: Albeit in no way possessed of the honor of an introduction, and indeed infinitely removed from the deserving of it, yea, singularly unfit for exposure

to the brillance of your sun, being in verity of a condition so abject in its destitution of grace, outward or inward, as to make my presence tolerable only to the humblest abounding in the bounty of tolerance. I have the scarcely forgivable presumption of adressing myself to you, knowing fulwell the positive dismerit hereof on the part of one not only deprived of the least talent for the exercise of the arts of adress, but having the best reasons to fear notice, to wit a deprivation of merit so absolute as must, by its mathematical absurdity, before even its moral paradox, puzzle one discommoded, into the most fleeting attention, but being in a slight measure (sufficient to induce me to put pen to paper, if I may be allowed this metaphor, only due to the culpable excess of my desire) encouraged to act contrarly to these good reasons by my awareness of your unexcelled indulgence. Good. Some ten years ago a stroke of ill fortune attached my vacuously preoccupied gaze to a municipal fixture immured in the curb of a small dead-end side street perpendicular to the thorough fare along which, seated on a streetcar, I was passing. It was an unlit streetlamp. To my lasting amazement, the undistinguished post, no sooner seen by me than passed out of sight, stood in sovereignty in a small but welldefined infinity, extending perhaps the extent of a man's late morning shadow to every side of it. So far the matter may not seem of excessive curiosity to the nominalist, but if I add, as I must to do justice to the facts, that this space of infinity was temporal in nature, I fear that I shall strain the credulity of the most complaisant. For did not his post stand in space and did I not see it but for a second? Nevertheless, this much was plain to my senses. To put the matter briefly ten years of research have disclosed to me not only the existance of a number of such incursions of eternity within the confines of your majesty’s capital dominions here there, I append a list, but that, provided one’s attention be undistracted, there is nary a thing wholly deprived of the Majesty of such a residence, so nearly consistenly so, that I have been led to entertain the hypothesis, so far no more than an hypothesis, that the appearance of temporal definition within space is but the product of distraction. I need not, I am sure, adduce the disquieting implications of my discovery to one as accute and informed as your Majesty, whose humble and obedient servant I beg to be allowed to confirm myself to be.

Rufus Smith

Razgovor

Izvod iz »Dva razgovora s Edwinom Denbyem«, 9. novcmbra 1973. i 19. novembro 1973, objavljenih porodom prikazivanja komoda Život i doba Josifa Staljina u Muzičkoj Akademiji Bruklina, decembro 1973. Da, koda sam prri pat otiiao da ridim »Žirot i doba Sigmunda Frajda«, hteo sam, iznerriran,

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