Mountainview International Church

Time:

During the civil rights era.

Place:

Southern United States.

Notes:

Without telling you why, I would like to point out the obvious: I hesitated to put more than the words that Chuck speaks into the script. To be sure, however, there are places where Chuck laughs, shouts, cries, kneels, walks, pretends to be Oliver, or Ralph, or his father, or himself as a boy. Emotions run high in the climax. The actor should use everything within his disposal to create tension and other moods: voice, body, movement, gesture, diction, all the tools an actor must use. When Chuck relates the scene where he is trying to get Oliver to cancel the meeting, his body and voice must sound desperate. When Chuck relates the church burning scene, and the people are being hanged, he can be on the verge of tears. When Oliver walks into the café, you should be able to cut the tension with a knife. At the end, when Chuck is begging God's forgiveness: kneel. Then: stand up as if you are now Oliver, slowly mime as if you are grabbing Chuck's chin and, tilting his face up to yours, slowly speak the words: "God forgives you and so do I. Don't despair. Do not fear. Grace is near." Then: drop the hand that is "holding" Chuck, look at the audience without moving anything else but your face and the hand that was caressing Chuck and say: "That night..., etc." the rest is history. Have fun!

Olive Oil

CHUCK: When I was 6 my daddy said, “Chuck, I don’t want you playin’ with Oliver no more. He’s a black boy, and white boys don’t play with black boys.” That’s why, when I was 12, I had to be careful ‘bout goin’ fishin’ with Oliver every Saturday.

I remember the first Saturday. A black boy and a white boy side by side. We musta sat there for two hours just talkin’. We had plenty of time for talkin’, ‘cause we didn’t catch a thing. After a while, I reached inside my coat and said, “Hey, Ollie.” (That’s what I used to call him when we was 6). “Hey, Ollie. Take a look at this.” I pulled out a girlie magazine. You know, the kind with naked women in it. I gave a little chuckle, but Oliver just frowned. He said, “Where’d you get that from?” “From my daddy. I stole it from him this mornin’.” And then he took it and threw it into the river. “Are you crazy?! My daddy’s gonna kill me, he finds that missin’!” “You shouldn’t be looking at that filth anyway.” I looked at Oliver and said, “What has gotten into you?” He said, “Jesus.”

I didn’t understand what he was sayin’, but the next Saturday he told me ‘bout how Jesus had saved him and how since he asked Jesus into his heart his whole life had changed. He told me how he used to hate white people, but now that Jesus had changed his heart he found that he could love them. I said, “You mean, you love Ralph? He’s the one who started calling you Olive Oil!” He says, “Sure, I love Ralph, but let me ask you somethin’. Why does Ralph call me Olive Oil?” “Well,” I says, “it’s because he says your skin looks oily and your name is Oliver. So he calls you Olive Oil. He calls you nigger, too.” Oliver says, “I know it, but I loves him, just the same, Chuck.” I couldn’t believe my ears. “I guess Jesus really did change you,” I says. He says, “You need Jesus to change your heart, too, Chuck. Why not ask him to come into your life right now?” I just blushed and mumbled somethin’ ‘bout, “Oh…that religion stuff’s not for me.” He just smiled and said, “Some day, Chuck. Some day. Maybe not today, but someday, Jesus gonna change your heart.”

The years went by and I guess it came as no surprise to see that Oliver became a preacher. Pretty soon he was preaching to crowds of more than 300 people. He preached twice every week. Once on Sunday morning and once on Saturday morning—to me over at the fishin’ hole. I just kept sayin’ “That religion stuff ain’t for me, Ollie. You know that.”

That’s when the trouble started. Oliver started doin’ things like drinkin’ from water fountains that was supposed to be for white folks only, or sittin’ in the front of the bus, and leadin’ rallies and things like that for the black people in town. And things started heatin’ up real bad. He even got himself beat up good by Ralph once and the Klan started plottin’ to kill him. I found out they was plannin’ on goin’ to Oliver’s church one Sunday night and they was gonna burn it to the ground with the people still in it. The day before the burning, I was with Oliver at the fishin’ hole, and I warned him ‘bout what was goin’ to happen. I said, “Oliver, the Klan’s plannin’ on hittin’ your church tomorrow night while y’all’s meetin’. You’ve gotta cancel your service.” But he was so stubborn. He wouldn’t listen to me: “Not on your life. Ain’t nuthin’ goin’ to keep me from worshippin’ my Jesus”

Next night the church was meetin’ and I was there with the Klan to see what would happen. Well, the Klan drove up in trucks and bottle-bombed the place. Within seconds the place was up in flames and the people was tryin’ to get out real fast. Some of the people came out of the church and were captured and hung by the Klan. I saw Oliver come out and I grabbed him, threw him into my truck and drove him out to the forest. I said, “There. You’re safe now. Now, do us all a favor: get your family and get outta town for a month or so while things cool down.” He gets outta the truck, smiles at me and all he has to say is, “Some day, Chuck. Some day. Maybe not today, but some day, Jesus gonna change your heart.”

I didn’t see Oliver all that week. I figured he musta left town, like I told him. I was glad. At last, I’d knocked some sense into his head. Then, on Friday, I was in town with Ralph again. We was eatin’ in a café when in walks Oliver. He sits down where the white folks is supposed to sit and I swallow real hard. Wonderin’ what’s gonna happen. Ralph just looks at Oliver and shakes his head.

That weekend, Ralph was spittin’ mad. He was cussin’ and drinkin’ and talkin’ ‘bout how he’s gonna “shoot that Olive Oil and be rid of him for good.” I just listened, ‘cuz, you know, Ralph is a big talker but he’s never actually killed a man. Next mornin’, I goes over to Ralph’s and knock on the door. I wake him up, and he’s in a real foul mood. He answers the door and says, “What time is it?” I says, “11:00.” He says, “They’s meetin’ now.” I says, “Who?” He says, “Olive Oil and his church.” I says, “How can they? They don’t have a church to meet in. It was burned down last week.” He says, “Oh, they’s meetin’, all right. You can be sure of that. Church or no church. They’s meetin’.” He grabs his rifle, and his sunglasses and says, “Come on. Let’s go.” We climb into his truck.

We get there and, sure ‘nuff, they’s meetin’. The church is just a burned out shell of a place, most of the walls is gone, but they’s in there meetin’. Well, Ralph stops the truck real loud on the gravel and the people stop singin’ and turn and look to see what all the commotion is about. They see two white boys get out of the truck, one with a rifle in his hand,-- and they just turns back to the front of the church and starts singin’ again! Well, this just makes Ralph madder, so he storms up to the church, but the people just keep singin’. Just as I thought, Ralph doesn’t have the guts to kill anyone, so we just stood there. Now, I starts to get worried, ‘cause here we are, two white boys, standin’ there not 10 yards away from 300 black people whose church was just burned down. I thinks to myself, “We are dead men.” But, they just keeps on singin and carryin’ on with their service like we was two angels standin’ there.

That’s when Oliver gets up to preach. He starts talkin’ ‘bout how in the end times God’s people gonna see persecution, and how this persecution just means that Jesus is comin’ back soon. So, instead of bein’ sad, he says, they should be happy. He starts talkin’ ‘bout how it’s always darkest just before the dawn, and he starts sayin’ stuff like, “the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.” And “My grace is sufficient for you.” And how God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. Well, I didn’t understand what that last thing was all about but then he says somethin’ that I will never forget for as long as I live. He starts shoutin’ and the people is raisin’ their hands and clappin’ and shoutin’ right back, sayin’ “Amen!” “Preach it, brother!” “Hallelujah!” Thunderin’ real loud, Oliver says, “Cheer up, church! You’re worse off than you think! Cheer up, church! You’re standing at the brink! Don’t despair! Do not fear! Grace is near!” He pauses and says it again, only this time when he gets to the end, he looks right over to me, and says even louder this time so as to make sure that I can hear it, “Don’t despair! Do not fear! Grace is near!” (CHUCK starts crying around here, maybe during the previous quote of Oliver’s)

I’m glad I was wearing sunglasses, because I just started crying. Ralph turns to me and says, “I’ve heard enough! Let’s go home!” I say to him, “No, I’m staying here!” He says, “What?!” I say, “You heard me! I’m staying here!” He looks at me like I’ve got lobsters comin’ outta my ears or somethin’ like that and says, “Whatever. Suit yourself, freak.” He gets into the truck and drives away.

Oliver comes over to me and puts his hands on my shoulders and smiles. He takes my sunglasses off and sees that I’m bawlin’ and then I fall to my knees and say, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Oh God, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. I’m so sorry.” Oliver says, “God forgives you and so do I. Don’t despair. Do not fear. Grace is near.”

That night they busted into Oliver’s home and strung him up. Killed him. I was at the funeral and some of the people said that Oliver was a modern day prophet. Then, I heard someone say how in ancient times they used to anoint God’s prophets with oil. I thinks to myself, “Well, how ‘bout that? I guess I can call him Olive Oil after all.”

END OF DRAMA