Honey Brown Eyes
Bosnia 1992: in two kitchens two soldiers recover a little of what they've lost during the war — a Serbian paramilitary must face the consequences of his own brutality, while a Bosnian resistance fighter, crippled by the limits of his own courage, seeks refuge with a kindred soul.
Read Sample
SCENE ONE: DAY
June 1992. Visegrad. (VEE shih grad) MUSIC: 80s Serbian punk music. SOUND: Commotion from the street and hallway. Doors being kicked in. Shouting. LIGHTS up on a small, bare kitchen. The door has been kicked in. On a table sits a small, battery operated television, which plays a rerun of an American sitcom. We hear its laugh track and light chatter throughout the scene. DRAGAN (20s) a paramilitary soldier wearing military pants and boots and a rock t-shirt from the album Dum-Dum by Ekaterina Velika. He carries a rifle and has a handgun tucked in his belt, and looks slightly out of place. ALMA, a woman in her 30s, holds a dzezva, a Turkish coffee pot with a long handle, which she was just about to pour. ALMA and DRAGAN stare at each other, frozen. Neither dares to move. A long Silence. SOUND: Laugh track. Silence.
ALMA
Coffee?
DRAGAN
What?
ALMA
Coffee. Would you like some?
Silence.
ALMA
I just made it.
DRAGAN
So?
ALMA
It’s fresh.
Silence. SOUND: Laugh track.
ALMA
I’ll pour it out then.
ALMA slowly turns to pour it out.
DRAGAN
Leave it.
ALMA places the pot on the table and steps back. They stare at each other.
ALMA
I just made it.
DRAGAN
You said that already. (beat) I need a cup.
SOUND: Laugh track ALMA carefully places a cup on the table. DRAGAN pours himself coffee. He opens the sugar bowl and turns it upside down. It’s empty.
ALMA
There’s no more. Sugar.
DRAGAN
I see that.
ALMA
I used the last of it.
DRAGAN
(blowing on his coffee)
Uh-huh.
ALMA
The last of it.
DRAGAN
You said.
ALMA
Yesterday the bread.
DRAGAN
Uh-huh, who else is here?
ALMA
Nothing.
DRAGAN
What?
ALMA
No. No one.
DRAGAN sips the coffee and burns his tongue.
DRAGAN
What the fuck are you trying to do- It’s scalding fucking hot. God. Fuck. God.
ALMA
I said I just made it- Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
Silence. SOUND: Laugh track.
ALMA
I’m sorry.
DRAGAN
(tossing coffee towards Alma)
Burned my fucking tongue.
ALMA
Sorry.
DRAGAN
Fuck!
ALMA
I don’t have any bread-
DRAGAN
What?
ALMA
Bread. If you burn your tongue, you can eat a piece of bread-
DRAGAN
I didn’t burn my tongue.
Cast Requirements
3 men
3 women
Set Description
One flexible set
Honors
2009 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play, Dramatists Guild Fellowship, NNPN Smith Prize Finalist.
Publisher
Dramatists Play Service
American Theatre Magazine February 2009 issue
Press
"Ms. Zadravec has tackled a bruising subject and dared to approach it through her own, more humanistic aesthetic, one that can spot isolated moments of grace in even the most nightmarish scenarios.” -The New York Times
Production and Development History
Productions: Theatre J, Washington D.C, World Premiere; The Working Theater, NY Premiere; San Francisco Playhouse.
Development: Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage Festival.