Tony Pasqualini

An Idyllic Life, was workshopped at the Pacific Resident Theatre in

August of 2012.

    Lillian Cortessi has devoted her life to charitable causes. Living in a dreary town in Washington State, married to a retired prison guard, and saddled with a depressed daughter and an invasive neighbor, she dreams only of aiding those most in need. When an e-mail arrives from a Mrs. Joyce Bailo, a Nigerian-born woman living in London, Lillian’s interest is piqued. Joyce tells the story of being orphaned at a young age, marrying a wealthy and philanthropic doctor, Nicholas Bailo and, when Nicholas is killed on a charitable mission in Somalia, being left alone to carry on his work. Now, however, Joyce has been stricken by a brain tumor and been given only a short time to live. She wishes Lillian to preside over the foundation she has set up in her husband’s name, to carry on their life’s work. Lillian is deeply moved by Joyce’s story, but her daughter, Susan, recognizes it all as a scam and insists her mother ignore the communications. Undeterred, Lillian agrees to Joyce’s plan to visit her in America. When Joyce arrives, along with her male nurse, Geoffrey, Lillian finds herself in a moral struggle that pits the desires of her family against her faith in mankind.

    “An Idyllic Life” is a play about our enduring need to trust other human beings in a devious and untrustworthy world.

SUSAN: All of that can be faked.

LILLY: (Sighs) Yes, Dear. All of it can be faked. Everything can be faked. Every human interaction. No one ever needs to tell anyone the truth. Even if someone says they love you, that they’ll stand by you, it can all be just a big fake. And no one ever needs to believe anyone then. We can all go on being suspicious of everyone else. Like being in a prison, right Harry?

HARRY: Darn tootin’.

LILLY: And then you’ll be protected. And you won’t ever have to look someone else, another human being, in the eye and decide whether or not they mean anything to you. You’ll never have to do that. Because you will be certain in your heart that it’s not true. That it could never be true. And you’ll never touch another human being. And you’ll never be truly close to another human being. And you’ll never know what might have been.

SUSAN: You’ve made up your mind, haven’t you?

LILLY: Susie…

SUSAN: No. You say, nothing’s been decided yet, we’ll see if there’s anything fishy, but you’re not examining anything, you’ve already decided.

LILLY: When I look that woman in the eye—

SUSAN: You see what you want to see.