ENSEMBLE SIDES To audition for the role of Ensemble, please select and record NO MORE THAN TWO of the following sides in this PDF packet.

• Pick two characters that strongly resonate with you. • Note that Mrs. Archer and Mr. Olson appear in several scenes together and cannot be

played by the same actor. • It is recommended to use a French accent for the French Officer and Elise.

Max, Annie’s Orthodox husband. Mrs. Archer, a Moralist. Mr. Orson, a Phrenologist. Edward Morehouse, a dilettante and cyclist. Margaret (Margie), 11, a young cyclist. Frances Willard, 78, suffragist. French Immigration Officer. Elise Seigneuret, a young Frenchwoman.

61

Projection: November 24th, 1894. New York Harbor.

A gangplank. Seagulls. To one side, a sign: LA TOURAINE. BOARD HERE. Annie pushes her wheel toward the gangplank. Max stands waiting for her. She stops. He looks her over: her clothes, the advertising, the wheel with its streamers.

MAX You’ve changed. ANNIE Max. Oh, Max. MAX So. Off to France? Then where? ANNIE Greece. Egypt. India. Singapore. Japan. MAX Ah. So. Another year. ANNIE Max. MAX It’s all right. You don’t have to say it. When I heard you had turned back in Chicago, I thought you might be coming home. I was mistaken. ANNIE I’m earning money, Max. For our family. For us. I’ve sent it to you, every penny.

A whistle blows: the steamer is loading. ANNIE I promise I will come home. I promise. MAX I brought them, Annie. ANNIE You… MAX Look back. See in the window? They’re with their auntie, I didn’t want them to cry.

Annie turns, looks offstage. Suddenly shocked.

Start

Max Side

62

MAX Mollie is almost six. She still remembers you. Still cries for you, every night. Libbie is four. Not sure she remembers you. Little Simon is just two. He wouldn’t know his mother if she were to hold him in her arms. ANNIE Bring them here. Bring them to me! MAX I will not. I will not, Annie! ANNIE I want to see my children! MAX How are they your children if you left them? Abandoned them, erased them, never spoke of them, as if they weren’t ours? I read what you said in those papers, never admitting you were even a married woman, let alone a parent! They are yours. They are our children, and there are three of them! ANNIE Bring them here. Now. MAX Not until you come home! Say you will, now, today, and give up this cruel stunt! I will not press those babes into your arms, just for you to hold them and then leave them yet again on this ship! Say you will come home. Now! ANNIE We had nothing, Max! Nothing! We would have starved! I am earning for our family, sending you money, and there’s going to be more. I promise you, there will be more! Near tears. Why did you bring them? Why did you bring our children? MAX How else can I reach you, Annie? How else? What choice did you give me?

She hesitates. Longing on her face.

MAX You are a mother. Three small, lovely children. You are not some crazed adventurer, out to change everything! You are a mother.

She turns back to him. Face determined. ANNIE In fact, I’m both of those things. I’m both, Max. And I love my family.

She turns and pushes her wheel up the gangplank. Onto the ship. He watches, crestfallen.

End

107

Puzzled silence.

REPORTER 3 Is that still done? REPORTER 1 I…think it is. Is it? REPORTER 2 I don’t know, but I just want to! REPORTER 3 But…which weapon would we use? REPORTER 2 I—well—perhaps these smallish rocks? REPORTER 3 You mean the pebbles? REPORTER 2 Or the sand. REPORTER 3 The sand. REPORTER 2 Yes. We could…perhaps sift it together and…anyway, it doesn’t matter! I’m very displeased, and I wish to fight! At once! REPORTER 1 I just don’t think dueling is done any more. REPORTER 2 Of course it’s done, we’re doing it right now! MRS. ARCHER Off. Annie? Annie?

She enters, pushing her wheel. Sees the men. MRS. ARCHER Get. Lost.

They run off. She comes to Annie, rides beside her. Slow and steady now.

MRS. ARCHER How are you, my dear? ANNIE I’m not going to make it.

Mrs. Archer - Side

Start

108

MRS. ARCHER How many days? ANNIE Six. MRS. ARCHER How many miles? ANNIE Nine hundred. MRS. ARCHER Oh dear. ANNIE I’ve lost. I’ve lost. It’s over. MRS. ARCHER Well. I’d say that’s all to the good. You do know, humility is the lord’s tonic.

Pause. They ride.

MRS. ARCHER You find me cruel? I have busied myself with your best interests from the beginning. To arrive on time would only validate these immoral choices of yours. Far better to fall hard on one’s face, to grovel, to accept one’s station in life, and resume our natural allotted course as women. Now, as I see it, the first thing you do when you get home is, you apologize to that poor husband of yours. You drop to your knees and you beg. He deserved none of this. You will owe him a full decade of washing, cleaning, and as many beer nights as he desires. You will accede to all his wishes, with grace and a smile. You will never question his authority, and you will ask for no help whatsoever in raising the children. And only then will you begin to repay this awful debt you have incurred.

Pause. MRS. ARCHER To hell with it. Let’s ride fast and win this thing! ANNIE Yes!

They go crazy, riding fast, both of them, the desert whipping past at breakneck speed.

MRS. ARCHER How fast can we go on these devices?

End

18

MR. ORSON The bicycle, madam? MRS. ARCHER None other. The devil’s wheel. ANNIE Exhausted. I can’t do this. I can’t get anywhere! MRS. ARCHER You should return to your family, girl. If they will take you back. Of course, I would refuse you. MR. ORSON As would I. MRS. ARCHER Do you wish to be an outcast? ANNIE Out of breath. I am an outcast. MRS. ARCHER And why is that? ANNIE Because I choose it!

She resumes pedaling, fighting for each push. MR. ORSON Madam, I’m afraid the situation is even more severe than you describe it. MRS. ARCHER Pray tell, sir. MR. ORSON I speak of the dangers to the female organs. MRS. ARCHER What? ANNIE What? MR. ORSON The subject is quite delicate. ANNIE What about my female organs? MR. ORSON I speak now as a man of science.

Start

Mr. Orson - Side

19

MRS. ARCHER Please speak. MR. ORSON I refer to the matter of the seat. MRS. ARCHER The seat? MR. ORSON And friction. MRS. ARCHER Mystified. Sir, I am at a loss to comprehend your meaning. MR. ORSON Madam, the evidence is clear that the constant friction and motion of the bicycle seat is the cause of unnatural overstimulation of the female sexual organs.

Silence. Annie stops pedaling. MRS. ARCHER I knew it. ANNIE You are joking. MR. ORSON If only. If only, miss. MRS. ARCHER The source of female weakness. Delineated by the devil himself. No wonder they love to ride!

Annie fights to pedal. She’s completely stuck in the mud.

ANNIE There is nothing! Sexual! About! This! Activity!

She’s stuck. ANNIE Why can’t I ride this thing? MR. ORSON Because my dear girl, you weren’t meant to ride it.

Annie climbs off, steps to a ditch, bends down and drinks. They watch her. She collapses, deflated and exhausted.

End

96

Go saw your timbers, you gully fluff! You think you’re some pumpkins, don’t you? Hog doodles, both of you! I’m doing something that matters to people, and I’m DOING IT MY OWN WAY!

She leaps on her wheel, rides fast, angry. Lights change. Fields whip by. Rice paddies. Villages. It grows darker. She rides, furious, fast as she can.

She slows. Stops. Climbs off her wheel. Sits and cries. It’s loud, messy, not subtle. She’s utterly collapsed. Utterly alone.

ANNIE I’m a fake. A liar. A fraud. MOREHOUSE Off. Hello there! Good day!

He rides in, just precisely as before: jaunty, racing attire, leather cap and goggles, breeches. Pack strapped to his back.

MOREHOUSE Good God. Annie? Is that you? ANNIE Leaping up. Edward? Edward? MOREHOUSE Annie Londonderry. A scintillating name. So good to see you!

He hops off his wheel, embraces her.

ANNIE Edward, what are you doing in China? MOREHOUSE I’m riding around the world! Isn’t it astounding? ANNIE But why? MOREHOUSE I’ve followed your lead, of course. ANNIE You have?

Start

Morehouse Side

97

MOREHOUSE Annie! After we met, after that brief ride through the muck back home, I couldn’t sleep. Not a wink. Couldn’t go in the house, couldn’t face the work, couldn’t do a thing but envision you, this astounding trip you were taking. I had to ride! I had to! Look: I packed extra shoes. ANNIE But. Your father? MOREHOUSE He has no idea where I am! None whatsoever! Isn’t it just fizzing good? Oh, I’ll send him a telegram now and then, just so he knows I’m alive. But I’m free! Annie: thanks to you I’m free. Have you been crying? ANNIE No, of course not. MOREHOUSE What were you doing out here in the dark? ANNIE Just thinking. That’s all. So, which way are you going? MOREHOUSE West. Mongolia, Russia, India. I want to see the Taj Mahal! I want to see tigers, Annie. Tigers, with teeth, really big teeth! I want to hunt one from an elephant’s back. Then Egypt. I want to ride my wheel to the top of an Egyptian Pyramid. It might be difficult, I don’t know, we’ll find out. All the places you’ve seen, I want to see them to. They were splendid, weren’t they? India, Egypt? Were they splendid?

Pause.

ANNIE They were splendid. MOREHOUSE Yes! Yes, I’m so worked up, I really should calm down. But I don’t wish to! All those places, all of them, then Europe, then maybe home. Or maybe not! Maybe just go around again, we shall see! ANNIE It sounds lovely, Edward. MOREHOUSE And you? ANNIE East. Home. MOREHOUSE What adventures you’ve had. What places you’ve seen! How I envy you. Your brave, brave journey. Tell me, Annie. How long do you have left? To win the wager?

98

Silence. She bursts into tears.

MOREHOUSE Annie? Oh goodness. Annie?

She hugs him. He holds her awkwardly. MOREHOUSE Oh dear. Dear dear dear. ANNIE It’s just so very good to see you, Edward. MOREHOUSE Gentle. Annie. You changed everything. You truly did. I want to thank you. For changing my life for the better, for giving me something I never, ever would have had. Thank you. Now, I hear there are remarkable writhing snakes that come out in these fields after dark. Six feet long or better, and quite deadly. Shall we wait to see them, or shall we go to dinner? I’m equally excited for both. ANNIE Smiles. Edward. Let’s go have dinner.

Lights change. Max, holding a telegram. MAX To Anna Kopchovsky, stop. My wife, stop. Daughter Mollie turned seven last week, stop. Does not recognize your picture, stop. Press making dreadful accusations about you, stop. Are these things true, stop? We have no money, stop. About to lose our home, stop. Annie, stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Projection: March 25, 1895. California Desert.

A desolate hillside. Two brigands crouch, holding rifles. Annie rides slowly past, not seeing them. They leap from hiding, weapons trained on her.

BRIGAND 1 Hands up! Don’t you move, now! ANNIE Don’t shoot! Please don’t shoot! BRIGAND 2 Stop the wheel! Stop or we shoot! ANNIE Please don’t! I have nothing.

End

32

ANNIE Leave me be. MARGIE But Miss Londonderry— ANNIE My name is not Londonderry! MARGIE Confused. But I have your image.

She holds it out: a black and white photo of Annie, astride her wheel, serious.

MARGIE See? That’s you. I knew you were to come, so I been keeping it. ANNIE Looking it over. Where did you get this? MARGIE One of the school boys gave it to me. ANNIE Where do you go to school? MARGIE Laughing. I don’t go to school. ANNIE You don’t? Why not? MARGIE Cause I work, silly. ANNIE Where? MARGIE At the stitchery. I’m a stitch girl. I’m fizzing good too. The best. No one beats me, that’s a bottom fact. ANNIE How old are you? MARGIE Seven. Been waiting for you. All the stitch girls have. ANNIE For me? Why?

MARGIEMiss Londonderry?

Margie SideStart

33

MARGIE On account of you’re going around the world. ANNIE But I’m not. MARGIE Tosh to that, look at your wheel. She’s a lallycooler, ain’t she? I want to touch her, can I touch her? ANNIE You may.

Margie steps forward. Gingerly touches the bike. Giggles.

MARGIE Oh that’s a scorcher. You shin around with her, don’t you? ANNIE I do. MARGIE Bet I could beat ya. Race? ANNIE Not today. MARGIE Sign my picture? Here, I got my quill. See?

She holds it out.

ANNIE What is your name? MARGIE Margaret. I like Margie. ANNIE Margie. You’re good on that wheel, aren’t you? MARGIE I’m a double scorcher. None of the boys catches me. Foreman don’t catch me either if I don’t want him to. Too high for his nut, I am. Will you sign? I got money. I can pay you.

She holds out a coin. ANNIE Put that away. MARGIE I saved it. You take it, you need it more than I do. You hungry?

End

55

Annie leaps on her wheel, riding fast, furious, determined. Angry, pedaling hard, working up a sweat.

The world flashes by: fields, roads, train tracks, animals. She sees none of it. Furious, fighting off her demons. Gradually she looks around. Laughs.

ANNIE Good morning, sky! Good morning fields, and cows, and trains! Good morning chickens! Good morning endless field of shit! You are beautiful and glorious and I love your smell! A hundred miles today, you hear me? Do you? A century, and why not two? Why shouldn’t I ride two centuries today, under this sky, with this wheel?

She whoops, giddy, laughing. Races, riding faster and faster again.

ANNIE I was made for this! Just this! Do you hear? This! Do not tell me I cannot do this! FRANCES Off. Look out! Oh dear, look out!

From nowhere an older woman runs on, chasing a wheel, trying to mount it at the same time. She’s stout, clumsy and completely determined.

FRANCES All aboard I go!

She runs right in front of Annie. ANNIE Good God! Watch out!

Frances tries to leap on her bike. Stumbles, drops it, staggers and sits hard.

FRANCES Did it work? Am I riding? ANNIE No! You are not riding! You almost struck me down! FRANCES You’re right. I’m not riding. Well, just need to take another go.

She jumps up, dusts herself off, lifts her wheel and takes another running start.

Start

Frances Side

56

Leaps on, rolls a bit, then loses her balance. Tumbles off, lands hard.

FRANCES Almost got it that time. Did you see? Did you? ANNIE This is neither the time nor the place! FRANCES Oh, but it surely is. Can’t do it at home. If my husband catches me, he’ll lock me in the madhouse. Again. ANNIE Good day to you, madam! FRANCES Wait! One question. Give me your honest answer. What am I doing wrong? ANNIE I beg your pardon? FRANCES Tell me! Why can’t I get it? And don’t say I’m too old, I’ve been known to punch a girl for that. ANNIE You’re just now learning? FRANCES Seventy eight years old and haven’t broken a bone yet. That’s likely to change today. ANNIE Well. I don’t really think— FRANCES What, an old lady can’t ride? Look me in the eye and say that! Go on, do it! I’ll punch you, you squirt! ANNIE No, it’s just— FRANCES Give me a pointer! Tell me! ANNIE Well. All right. Pause. Keep your arms straight. Strong and straight. FRANCES Splendid. What else?

57

ANNIE Legs turning evenly. Don’t twist the handlebars, just lean a bit if you wish to turn. FRANCES Brilliant. Here I go, wish me luck! ANNIE Wait—I really don’t think you’re ready! FRANCES Sure I am, now! ANNIE This could be dangerous—

Frances runs, stumbles, leaps, onto her wheel. Almost falls. But now she’s riding. Slow, precarious, happy. Next to Annie. Face terrified but elated.

FRANCES Am I dead? ANNIE No. You’re riding. You’re riding. FRANCES I am? I am! Take that, Arthur! Take that, Doctor Torvald! Take that, medical profession! Old ladies shall rule the world, now and forever!

She chuckles, riding, enjoying the air. Annie rides, eyeing her, wary.

ANNIE Have you been riding long? FRANCES Started ten seconds ago. And I like it. ANNIE You’re seventy… FRANCES Eight and a half, and still nothing broken. Name is Frances. Pleased to meet you. ANNIE Annie. FRANCES How do you do. I would look you in the eye dear, but I’m afraid the results could be tragic.

End

64

ACT TWO Projection: December 3rd, 1894, Le Havre, France.

Bright morning. A French customs officer stands waiting, manifest in hand, checking off passengers. Annie pushes her wheel down the ramp. She’s festooned with ribbons and advertising, even more than before. Her bloomers, her arms, her vest, her wheel. A riot of color, in French and English. She comes to the officer, smiles. He stares in total shock. Then he laughs. Huge and merry.

ANNIE This must be France. OFFICER Yes! Oh yes, welcome to France! Mon Dieu, you are glorious! ANNIE Thank you, sir.

She pushes past him. OFFICER No, no, no, wait, wait, wait. I wish to see it all. Do not rush away so quickly.

He walks around her, looking over the wheel, the streamers. Huge smile.

OFFICER Mais oui. Incroyable. Incredible. Je vous adore. I am smitten. ANNIE Sir, my name is Annie Londonderry. I am embarked upon a race around the earth, to settle a wager. OFFICER Yes yes, of course you are. Around the world. My soul cries in joy for you. And these? These ribbons? ANNIE Advertising, sir. You will see they are both American and French. If you wish to purchase space upon my body, I am happy to offer you a reduced rate. OFFICER Did you say, purchase space? Upon your body?

French Officer Side

Start

65

ANNIE Yes, for advertising. OFFICER You are propositioning me! ANNIE No, sir, of course not! OFFICER Yes you are, you just did, and we have just only met. Ah, the Americans. I love them, so free, so breezy! ANNIE Sir! OFFICER I adore your country. I love you all! Only the Americans could be so bold. Je vous embrasse!

He gives her a bear hug. ANNIE Sir, you misunderstand! OFFICER But I fear I must decline your bold offer. For sadly, I am a married man. Ah well. But I am most honored to welcome you to our humble country. A true American, a modern woman. ANNIE Then…I’m free to go? OFFICER Of course you are. Welcome to our humble paysage. ANNIE Then I can just… OFFICER Of course. ANNIE And Paris is… OFFICER Pointing. That way.

Pause.

ANNIE Thank you. Well. Goodbye then.

66

She starts to wheel away.

OFFICER But I must impound your bicycle. ANNIE What? No! OFFICER Ah, but I must. ANNIE No sir, it’s mine! OFFICER Ah, but you are most clearly une femme, and it is clearly built for un homme, and sadly I must follow the rules. Unless of course you are secretly male?

Pause. He wants her to be.

ANNIE Sir, I am not. OFFICER There is no chance? ANNIE I am quite certain. OFFICER But you could be. A small chance? A man in hiding, as it were? Perhaps? Hidden within? ANNIE No. OFFICER Then I am so sorry. Je le regrette. ANNIE You cannot simply abscond with my wheel! I can prove it is mine! OFFICER I believe you! But I have no choice! If you were a man in bloomers, with the lovely smile and petite shoes, I would be happy to watch you ride away on this steel horse. Perhaps I would join you. In fact I am quite certain of it. But you are not.

He blows his whistle. ANNIE Wait! Don’t do that! OFFICER But I must! Gendarme! Gendarme!

End

84

ELISE Men are fools. Your beer.

She hands it to Annie. Takes a large, nervous pull of her own.

ANNIE Thought you didn’t drink beer. ELISE My first time.

Annie drinks, digs through the stack.

ANNIE Look at this. Look where they’re from! France. Italy. England. America, Australia, China and Russia? What are these men thinking? ELISE They are thinking, they love you. ANNIE Good God!

Annie gets up, paces. ANNIE What a joke. They don’t even know me, they’ve never once met me, maybe they’ve seen one photo, and now they want to marry me? ELISE They are men. It’s how they think. Pause. Will you take one of them? As husband?

Pause. She’s serious.

ANNIE Elise. I can’t. ELISE Why not?

Beat.

ANNIE I’m forbidden to take a husband. ELISE Forbidden? ANNIE It’s in the terms of the wager.

Start

Elise Side

85

ELISE Oh. Relieved. Oh!

Elise sits, abruptly happy. Takes a long drink.

ANNIE You know, for a beginner you’re starting off at a high level.

Elise giggles.

ANNIE What? ELISE Your race today! Those French boys. Their faces, when they lost to you. ANNIE I warned them not to take me on. ELISE They are the best riders in Marseille! Maybe all of France! And you beat them like they were children. ANNIE Marseille needs better racers. Like you. ELISE Me? ANNIE You could beat them. ELISE Me? ANNIE Why not you? ELISE I truly think I could. Before I would have said never. Now perhaps I could. ANNIE I know you could. I do.

Elise finishes the beer. Jumps up, nervous.

ELISE Let’s have another! ANNIE Whoah, sister, slow down. Come back here. What’s wrong? Here now, what is it?

86

ELISE Today, you spoke of leaving. You said you would depart Marseille soon. ANNIE Well. I have to. ELISE But why? ANNIE I have eight months to reach Chicago. I’m not even halfway there. ELISE I see. Of course. You have come to Marseille, you make your money, and now you go. ANNIE Well. Not today. ELISE But soon. You are here for money, and then you go! You just leave! ANNIE Elise? ELISE Why do you go? Why would you not stay? ANNIE And risk the wager? ELISE The wager? The wager? Annie! Ten thousand citizens of Marseille came to your parade! You are famous in every home here, you can have whatever you wish! Work if you wish, teach, race and defeat the French boys, as long as you want! Your lectures, they are so lovely, you must continue them. The wager is nothing! Stay with us! Stay! ANNIE But… ELISE Stay and don’t leave. I demand it. Why should you go back there, you have no one there. You told me, cold, ugly Boston, why would you return, just to be alone? Here you have us. France adores you! You can become French! One of us! This could be your home, you don’t have to sell yourself, over and over again. Stay. Everyone loves you, we all love you! We love you!

A beat. She’s said too much. ELISE I am sorry. I speak too quick, out of my station. Excusez moi, Madam. Je m’en vais.

She goes to the door.

End