(1996) Developed with and directed by Tim Raphael. Music direction: Michael Keck. With Kaipo Schwab, Dale Soules and Michael Keck. Produced with the New York Theatre Workshop at Bentley Theatre, Dartmouth University, 1996. Reading: Imua Theatre, NYC, 1999.

 [Excerpt]

ELIZABETH ANNE

I sure hope it doesn’t ruin the picnic. Andy and Mary Catherine have their hearts set on it. I’m trying two new recipes, cherry coke jell-o and…

(Holding up a hot dog that she is preparing to slice)

…hot dog tacos.

JAMES

Hot dog tacos?

ELIZABETH ANNE

Something wrong with that? It’s two things the kids love. Hot dogs and tacos.

JAMES

Why do you have to mix things up, Elizabeth Anne? Just stick to American.

ELIZABETH ANNE

Tacos isn’t American?

JAMES

Does it sound American? Ta-co?

ELIZABETH ANNE

Sounds like Waco. Nothing more American than that.

JAMES

This isn’t just a regular picnic. It’s a commemoration, honoring the war dead. Our nation’s finest patriots who gave their lives that the country might live.

ELIZABETH ANNE

When I think about it, you know what I see? The little ones. Laughing and singing and reciting Bible verses, playing with their toys on the grounds of the compound. They have no idea what’s coming. And then all of a sudden they’re covered in a cloud of black smoke, coughing their little lungs out, consumed in the flames being spewed out bythe nozzle of that armored truck, immersed in a giant fireball, the conflagration so hot it singes the skin right off their faces and melts their tiny little eyeballs as if they were made of wax.