The House of Bernarda Alba

My girls were involved in the acting company
When it first started

They were doing this play
The House of something something
Some Spanish name

This was back before they actually had a theater
So they were performing in this abandoned parking garage
Which was probably too bad for the hookers
That used to take their V.I.P.'s there

Anyway, the girls heard from a friend of theirs
That they needed actresses for the daughters
And they couldn't afford to hire professional actors
So instead they were just using local people

But the head guy, Beau
He told everybody that if they worked for free at first
Then when he put together a real theater
They'd all get invited to join the company
And of course I thought it was a load of bullshit
But I wasn't going to say that
Because I keep my opinions to myself

Well, lo and behold
The show ended up doing very well

Because, you know
Those artistic types
Just love going to see a play
In a neighborhood so bad
You get mugged at intermission

They sold out their run
And then they just kept adding more and more shows
Until people stopped coming
And then they all went out and got drunk
And spent most of the money they'd made

Then Beau asked my girls to join the company

Not all three girls though
Just one of them

The one he was sleeping with

I found that out later

My daughter was fifteen at the time
And Beau was engaged to another actress in the company
That he'd gotten pregnant
And had I known about any of this
I would have buried him underneath that parking garage
With certain parts of him shoved in his own mouth
But as it was, I just told my other two girls
That life is life

Disappointment is unavoidable
Especially when you get involved with all that acting nonsense

I thought the girls would give up on it
And I figured the one in the acting company
Would do it for a few years
And then move onto something else

This was back when all you wanted for your daughters
Was a nice husband
And a nice house
And a few kids that treat them
Even worse than they treated you
Just to keep everything fair

But that's not how it all panned out

One of my daughters moved to New York
To show everybody she didn't need to stay in this lousy town
To be an actress

She was doing pretty well too
Got a few shows
One of 'em even on Broadway

We were all...

Well, we were thrilled
You know?

...Then she was walking down the street one night and a guy...

She had a dollar and a dime on her
And he left the dime
And her dead in the street

My other daughter went to London
And I never heard from her again

Simple as that

She just...disappeared

Maybe she's still alive, who knows?

If I think about it
It kills me
So I don't think about it

At least I got to bury my oldest girl
Being unsure about the middle one is just...

It's its own kind of hell

And the daughter in the acting company
Only did one more show
And when Beau wouldn't leave the pregnant girl for her
She, uh...

Well, she couldn't take it
And we had to put her somewhere
Where she could be...

Taken care of

You know, I used to be so protective of my daughters
And when they wanted to do that play
There was a part of me that wanted to say 'No'

Because back then
Good people didn't do theater
Especially not girls

But they wanted it so bad
And they were...

They were so good at it

I saw every performance of that show

I was so damn proud of them
All of them

If I had known...

That theater
That company
That man--Beau
The one everybody speaks so highly of now
The one they named a street after downtown

He was a monster
He tore apart my family

Made two girls feel like they were worthless
Sent them on the road to hell and maybe worse, who knows?

And broke the youngest so bad
She could never be put back together

That's what artists do, you know?

They say they create
But they don't

They destroy

That's my story about that theater

I don't even know why you're asking me

My girls never got to perform in it

It took them about ten shows
Before they moved into that big building
Near City Hall
And by then
Everything was already coming apart at the seams

But the shows kept going on
In this sort of...cruel way

They just kept happening

That's the thing about theater

It just goes on and on
Not caring one bit
Who gets tossed aside
Along the way

The show goes on all right

The show certainly does
Go on