Paul Messinger in rehearsal.
A drama for 1M
A bricklayer expounds on the importance of small things in large works... while building the chimneys at Auschwitz.
Runtime: 5 minutes
Period: 1940
Setting: A work site
Characters: (1M)
THE BRICKLAYER -- Ernest, dedicated and fatherly.
The monologue is available at
Free Dramatic Monologues, but also in the collection
InterJACtions - Monologues from the Heart .
Paul Messinger in the 2008 production in Los Angeles, directed by Jeffrey VanderByl, Photo by Alex Moy.
The Bricklayer premiered at the Atlantis Playmakers in Lowell, MA as a selection in the 2006 Short Attention Span PlayFEST. It was directed by Bill Spera and performed by Jim Sullivan. It has since been performed in New York, Los Angeles, and is a YouTube favorite.
The Bricklayer was written originally as part of the production I Shoulda Eaten my Peas and Carrots, at the Black Box Theatre in los Angeles, although by the time the show was produced, this monologue was cut in favor of Mopping the Stage. In this stand alone monologue, a bricklayer working on the chimney stacks at the concentration camp in Auschwitz blithely tells his son about the importance of keeping one's eye on "the big picture". It's a haunting exploration of guilt and the limits of culpability.
