BLUE WINDOW
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One by one the characters are introduced. It’s a Sunday evening in Manhattan, an hour or two before they are all about to gather at a party. Libby, the hostess, is an inexplicably nervous young woman, and as she hustles around preparing punch and so forth, the other characters crowd the stage, invisible to one another, since they’re still at home getting ready, creating an initial impression of an artificial but extremely significant space that crops up between people.
A few scenes later, with the initial character exposition laid to rest, the guests gather at the party. The group includes one lesbian couple (a self-obsessed writer and a family therapist), one heterosexual couple (a secretary and a studio musician), Norbert (Libby’s skydiving instructor), and Griever (Libby’s confidant from group therapy). Despite Griever’s enthusiastic efforts to make the party work, these people do not get along: they don’t know each other, and they have no common ground whatsoever.
Also after the party, Tom and Emily are killing time in their alienated way. He’s picking out a song on his guitar, and she’s watching (the blue window of her) TV with the sound off. Shortly, and again without the overt sort of symbolism that beats you over the head, Emily voices a wish that people had little windows in their heads, so she could look in and see what’s going on. Alone together, they’re the classic dead-end couple. He has the music, and she has the words, but they haven’t a clue as to how to make a song.
