The Platform

The Platform is a play written by Molly Montgomery. It was directed by Aaron Lynch and produced by Jack Baur (no, not that Jack Baur) through the Berkeley Public Library. See it here!

It centers around Agatha, a homeless woman living in a subway station, who believes she is a fallen angel, and has no memory of her past.The only way she can redeem herself is by saving commuters from their unfulfilling lives, or other disasters, but she can't seem to save anyone. Meanwhile, one commuter, a young woman named Olivia, struggles with the memory of her dead mother, and her engagment to a man she isn't certain she loves. Upon failing to save a young boy from a seizure, and watching as others save him instead, Agatha begins to loose hope that she will ever be able to leave the subway. Agatha's friend Manny, a homeless man who has been with Agatha since she moved into the subway, convinces her not to give up, and to try to help Olivia. Her words of advice anger Olivia's fiance, the controlling Kyle, but Olivia doesn't want to believe them.

Kyle's complaint to the Police bring two cops to the scene, the older and more sarcastic Jill, and her young rookie partner, Sara. As they start to investigate, Sara brings up an old urban legend of an Angel living in the subway, and speculates that the Agatha and the Angel woman are one and the same, but Jill berates her and continues down to the subway platform. Before they can reach the stairs, a young man named Sage asks them for help finding a woman ten years missing, a woman named Agatha suffering from Dissociative Fugue (Amnesia). While Jill thinks that he is making the story up, the younger policewoman isn't so certain, and tells him of the legend. While Sage tries to prove his story, Manny happens by with dinner for Agatha, and sees the photo Sage is showin to the cops- a photo of Agatha. He hurries down to the platform and sends Agatha away, but in doing so, she leaves behind the dream catcher she has been playing with throughout the play. At last convinced, the older policewoman relents, and follows her eager partner and Sage into the now empty station, where Sage discovers the dream catcher, and reveals that the his Agatha and the Agatha the police have been searching for are the same person- his mother.

Early the next morning, Olivia comes alone to the platform, wanting to see Agatha, both for more advice, and to be sure that she is alrght after the call to the police. When she can't find her, Olivia thinks about what Agatha told her the night before, about the marrige being doomed, and not truly loving Kyle, and realizes that she was right. The realization shocks Olivia, and she stands at the edge of the platform, considering jumping, when Sage comes down the stairs and pulls her back. Olivia asks him if he will look for someone for her, and he reveals that he is looking for Agatha, when Manny stops him and orders Olivia not to tell him anything, that Sage is working with the police to trap Agatha. Sage denies it, but Manny won't listen. Before the fight can come to blows, Oliva stops them, demanding an explanation from both. Manny agrees, and tells the story if how he first met Agatha, ten years prior. She was left on the street by a man, and Manny, being less honest than he is now, tried to steal her warm winter coat- but she gave it to him instead, unsure of anything but the idea that she was an Angel, being sent to Hell. she starts to go into the subway, then stops and invites Manny to join her, because "all angels need people to save". Manny concludes, telling Sage that no one is going to take her away and lock her up. Sage pulls out the dream catcher, and Manny demands he explain where he got it. Sage admits that he knows it is Agatha's, his mother's, and that he made it for her before she was left on the streets, by his father. He then tells his side of the story- that his father was a politician, and left Agatha on the streets after she went crazy. Olivia and Manny believe him, but Manny admits he doesn't know where Agatha is, having sent her to lie low.

Olivia and Sage spend the day searching other subway platforms for her, with no luck. Sage asks Olivia why she tried to kill herself, and learns about Kyle, and that Olivia has had to throw away her dreams of writing to support her father. Sage becomes increasingly sad about not finding his mother, and Olivia comments that at least she is alive, while her own mother is dead. Sage then reveals to Olivia that he knows what she is doing to herself, that she has to control her 'whim' to kill herself- he's seen it before. Olivia is shocked to learn the real reason that Sage's father left Agatha was that she had tried to kill herself, by crashing her car into a train, with Sage in the back seat. She promises to remember Sage and Agatha, and live.

Meanwhile, Kyle has called the police about Olivia's vanishing, demanding that they find Agatha, who clearly is responsible. They catch Manny in the subway, but before they can take him back to the police station, Olivia and Sage return. Kyle freaks out, yelling at Olivia and accusing her of cheating on him. She finaly stands up for herself, and breaks off the engagement. At this point, the Policewomen recognize Sage as the man that asked them about Agatha. He tries to convince them that Agatha isn't in the subway after all, but they don't buy it. Kyle steals his guitar bag and finds the dream catcher. Still furious at Sage and Olivia, he throws it into the subway tracks, just as a train comes in. Before he can savor his 'victory' Agatha gets off the train, scaring the crap out of him. Sage spots her, and walks to her, but she can't believe it's him, because she's convinced that he is dead, that she won't see him again until she is redeemed. Sage tries to comfort her, but the Police interrupt. Manny then tells Agatha that she has saved someone- she saved him, all those years ago. Agatha smiles, nodding, and allows the Police to handcuff her. Sage and Olivia try to argue with her, but she tells them they need time alone together. At her request, the Police release Manny, who thanks her. Agatha starts to remember things, and asks if he is the only one shes saved, and Manny tells her that she has saved many people, but she never remembered and kept on doing good- miracles. As the Police take her away, Agatha asks Sage to make her a new dream catcher, singing a little song about miracles.

This Play provides examples of:
"Manny: You're both crazy."
 * Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: The Younger Policewoman.
 * Bittersweet Ending: Olivia decides to follow her dreams, gets out of a bad relationship, and meets Sage. Sage finds his long lost mother, and she looks like she might be getting less crazy. But Manny still lives in the subway and Agatha's still going to jail.
 * Control Freak: Kyle.
 * Cool Old Lady: Of the slightly-crazy-but-awesome type, Agatha.
 * Crazy Homeless People: Agatha.
 * Creator Cameo: The writer shows up in one scene as a Paramedic, along with the director.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Manny can be this occasionally. Also, the older policewoman.
 * Fallen Angel: What Agatha believes herself to be.
 * Flash Back: As Manny tells his story, there is a flashback on a balcony of the stage, with Young!Manny, Young!Agatha and Sage's father.
 * Heroic BSOD: When Agatha finally remembers what she did- or thinks she did.
 * Heroines want redheads: Olivia dumps Kyle for Sage, a redhead.
 * Its All My Fault: Agatha, when she fails to save a little boy.
 * Jerkass: Kyle.
 * Maybe Magic Maybe Mundane: Is Agatha really Psychic/Angelic, or is she just insane? Sage tells Olivia that she " saw things no one else could see", and she was able to tell Olivia things about her past- and possible future. She also appears just as the dream catcher is destroyed, claiming that she was called.
 * On that note, the dream catcher itself. Is it really just something Sage made in school when he was 12? Or is it magic- after all, it survived the car crash that was so bad, Agatha and Sage both thought the other had died.
 * Missing Mom: both Olivia and Sage lost their mothers when they were young, 16 and 12 respectivly. The difference is that Olivia's mother died, while Sage's went crazy, tried to kill herself, and was abandoned on the streets all while having amnesia.
 * Missed Him By That Much: In scene four, Manny shoos Agatha out the door just as Sage and the Younger Policewoman enter
 * No Name Given: Helen, a woman appearing in a prolouge-esque first scene, is only named in the final scene by Manny. Geoffry Nolan is only named in the script, but the best example is the Younger Policewoman, who has no name given at all. The actress pointed this out, and chose the name Sara for herself.
 * Only Sane Man: Manny. Agatha's just plain crazy, Kyle's got some issue with having to be in control of everything, Olivia's depressed, Sage is obsessed with finding his mother, the Younger Policewoman's ADHD, and the Older Policewoman's an Inspector Javert. Lampshaded


 * Police Are Useless: to Kyle, at first. Then to everyone when they are perfectly content to ignore Kyle's theft and malicious disctruction of someone else's property, in favor of watching Manny.
 * Scratching The Fourth Wall: Manny and Agatha both do some panhandling in the audience.
 * Sleazy Politician: Sage's Father, Geoffery Nolan, was one of these.
 * Shout Out: A blink and you miss it shout out to Doctor Who in one of the Older Policewoman's lines, when she asks if the "Angel" will turn to stone.