from the house,
And play the farce. The audience will forget.

PIERROT: That's so. Give me a hand there,
Columbine.

[PIERROT and COLUMBINE pull down the table cover in such a way
that the two bodies are hidden from the house, then merrily set
their bowls back on the table, draw up their chairs, and begin
the play exactly as before.]

COLUMBINE: Pierrot, a macaroon,--I cannot _live_ without a macaroon!

PIERROT: My only love,
You are _so_ intense! ... Is it Tuesday, Columbine?--
I'll kiss you if it's Tuesday.

[Curtains begin to close slowly.]

COLUMBINE: It is Wednesday,
If you must know. ... Is this my artichoke
Or yours?

PIERROT: Ah, Columbine, as if it mattered!
Wednesday. . . . Will it be Tuesday, then, to-morrow,
By any chance? . . .

[CURTAIN.]

AUTHOR'S NOTE

ON THE PLAYING PO

ARIA DA CAPO

ORIGINAL CAST

AS PLAYED BY THE PROVINCETOWN PLAYERS, NEW YORK CITY

PIERROT HARRISON DOWD

COLUMBINE NORMA MILLAY

COTHURNUS HUGH FERRISS

CORYDON CHARLES ELLIS

THYRSIS JAMES LIGHT

AUTHOR'S NOTE

So great is my vexation always, when reading a play, to find its
progress constantly being halted and its structure loosened by
elaborate explanatory parentheses, that I resolved when I should
publish Aria da Capo to incorporate into its text only those
explanations the omission of which might confuse the reader or lend
a wrong interpretation to the lines. Since, however, Aria da Capo
was written not only to be read but also to be acted, and being
conscious that the exclusion of the usual directions, while
clarifying the play to the reader, may make it bare of suggestions
and somewhat baffling to the producer, I am adding here some remarks
which have been found of value in preparing it for presentation on
the stage.

Since the production of Aria da Capo by the Provincetown Players, I
have received a great many letters from the directors of little
theatres, asking for copies of it with a view to producing it. Very
often, after I send the play, I receive a letter in reply asking for
some suggestions for its presentation, and enclosing direct
questions on points that have been difficult. It occurred to me
finally that it would be reasonable to make up a sort of informal
prompt-book to send about with the play; and it is that which is
printed below. It will be found incomplete and uneven, in some
instances unnecessarily detailed, in others not su