Overcoming Orion
Excerpt of a full-length play.
Featured in The Bechdel Group’s Sunday Shortlist on 12/10/2023.
ARTEMIS
Orion?! What are you doing here?
(ARTEMIS opens the window and helps him climb through.)
ORION
Oh, you know, I was in the area.
ARTEMIS
(Rolling her eyes) Sure you were.
ORION
I heard someone’s been playing hooky.
ARTEMIS
Did my father send you?
ORION
What? No. I would never run errands for that sexist, arrogant, self-centered, corrupt asshole.
ARTEMIS
I trained you well.
ORION
What are you doing here?
ARTEMIS
Visiting my mom.
ORION
Why now?
ARTEMIS
(beat) It’s her birthday.
ORION
Then why isn’t Apollo here?
ARTEMIS
Because he sucks.
ORION
You’ve never been able to lie to me.
ARTEMIS
Gods you’re annoying.
ORION
What happened Artemis?
(Pause.)
ARTEMIS
My dad is threatening to exile me. I haven’t been…fulfilling my responsibilities since– (beat) for a long time. If I don’t restore my position in Mount Olympus, I’m going to be exiled. Just like my mom.
ORION
Why don’t you return then?
(Beat)
ARTEMIS
I don’t want to do it alone.
ORION
You’ve never been alone, Artemis.
ARTEMIS
What, because you’re always in my heart?
ORION
No, stupid, because you have built a wonderful, supportive community around yourself.
ARTEMIS
It’s not the same anymore, with the nymphs. I messed it all up.
ORION
Come on, the only grudges they ever held were the ones their goddess told them to hold.
ARTEMIS
I talked to Evelin and–
ORION
Psh, you know Evelin just needs to put up a front.
ARTEMIS
Anyway, I can’t go back up there. Not if Apollo is there.
ORION
Sure he’s a dick, but that can’t possibly–
ARTEMIS
You don’t know. Of course, you wouldn’t know.
ORION
Know what?
ARTEMIS
Trust me when I say that I cannot be in a room with him.
ORION
Why can’t you tell me what happened?
ARTEMIS
I can’t bear the hurt.
ORION
What makes you believe that?
(ARTEMIS laughs to herself.)
ARTEMIS
Two decades of evidence.
ORION
I think you might be stronger than you believe you are.
ARTEMIS
A lot has changed, Orion. I’m not the person you knew.
(Pause)
ORION
You never see me in the sky at night. Sometimes I notice you looking up, but you never see me.
ARTEMIS
That’s because there’s nothing to see. You’re not up there. You’re nowhere. You’re gone.
ORION
But I’m here.
ARTEMIS
Yeah, in my repressed psyche.
ORION
Do you know why mortals name constellations?
ARTEMIS
Mortals enjoy finding meaning in many things, especially in nature. It helps you make sense of your existence.
ORION
A burden shared is a burden lessened.
ARTEMIS
No one could share my burden.
ORION
But why?
ARTEMIS
Because no one loved you like I did!
ORION
Okay, then what’s the plan, Art? You’re refusing to ask for help, you’re refusing to return to hunting, so what? Really, what?
(Pause)
ARTEMIS
Stay here, I suppose.
ORION
Forever. Do you grasp that? There’s no rescinding exile.
ARTEMIS
If anyone here understands forever, it’s me.
ORION
Since when did you just let things happen to you?
ARTEMIS
Since my brother decided to take my future into his own hands.
ORION
So it was Apollo.
(Silence.)
ORION
What did he do?
(Pause)
ARTEMIS
He reminded me why I can never get emotionally attached to mortals.
ORION
Art, what did he do?
ARTEMIS
He…tricked me. Tricked us. I killed you, Orion. He set it all up. And we fell for it.
(Silence)
ORION
It’s not your fault.
(Silence)
ORION
It’s not your fault, Artemis.
ARTEMIS
I knew better.
ORION
It’s not your fault.
ARTEMIS
Yes, it is! You don’t understand what it’s like to be in my position–
ORION
You have to stop believing that you are alone in your struggle. That you are the most burdened. That you have the most responsibility. That you’re the most tortured, the most fucked up, the most miserable. You aren’t the only one who experiences loss, hell you’re not the only one who experienced my loss. You aren’t the only god, you aren’t the only daughter of Zeus, you aren’t the only person with a godly birthright. You believe you can’t move forward because you think your grief is worse than everyone else’s. You’re wrong.
ARTEMIS
I’m so scared.
ORION
I know. But that never stopped the Art I knew. (beat) And hey. Next time you look up at the stars, squint a little harder. I bet you’ll be able to find me.
(ORION gets up to go)
ARTEMIS
Please stay a little longer.
(ORION tucks ARTEMIS into bed)
ORION
There’s more good to be done in this world. And I can’t wait to watch you do it.
(ORION exits. ARTEMIS closes her eyes for a moment, then wakes with a
start. She looks around the bedroom. She gets out of bed and gathers her
things. She starts to exit. LETO enters and they run into each other.)
LETO
Oh, sorry! I was just… (pause) You’re leaving.
ARTEMIS
I’ll be back soon. I’m sorry.
LETO
I figured it was too good to be true.
ARTEMIS
I promise I’ll come back, and I’ll stay for a week. A month. As long as you want, and we can cook and bake and go for walks. I just need to clean up my mess. (beat) I have to do this.
(ARTEMIS kisses her mom on the cheek and starts to leave.)
LETO
People forget you’re the goddess of birth, too. (beat) Not that I ever pictured you bearing children, gods no. But there are more things to be born than just children. Everything starts anew at some point.
ARTEMIS
But doesn’t it hurt?
LETO
Like you can’t imagine.
ARTEMIS
Were you scared?
LETO
Petrified.
(Pause)
ARTEMIS
I love you, Mom.
LETO
I love you more.
(ARTEMIS exits. Lights fade.)
