This three minute ecological sketch was written for Eric Bentley’s cabaret, the DMZ, at the Village Vanguard, NYC where it was performed in late 1968 with Cynthia Harris, Jim Antonio and Morgan Freeman, directed by Isiah Sheffer.

WOMAN: G, my name was Gail. My daughter’s name was Goldie. We lived in Bedford Stuyvesant, and coughed and coughed and coughed...

MAN: H, my name was Hank. My wife’s name was Hattie. I was a contractor and died suddenly on Horatio Street.

MAN: I, my name was Isidore. My sister’s name was Ida. We lived on Irving Square. When I died three years ago, my lungs had turned to coal. Ida was already gone.

Published by Dramatists Play Service in Seven Short and Very Short Plays by Jean-Claude van Itallie.