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The excerpts on this page are the openings of three short plays that were
staged in the Spring 2011 Playwriting show, titled
"My Playce Tonight?"
The link with each selection opens a PDF with the
entire script.
The Pirate
by Yaul Perez-Stable '11
Link here for entire script
Link here for video of the Spring 2011 performance
AT RISE:
NORMA is asleep on her bed but she is not under the
covers.
She is in her nightgown. The door is stage left.
There is a
knock at the door. NORMA startles awake.
NORMA
(speaking to herself)
Can't fall asleep! Did I? But I can't! I can't go
back there. What time is it?
(NORMA checks her watch)
2:35. But don't fall asleep. After tomorrow
maybe. Not now though. Listen -- not now. Remember,
it's not your fault. You were just sleeping. They're
gonna ask you what happened. You were sleeping.
(Pause)
But you saw it happen. What are you gonna say? No!
No! They told you what happened afterwards. You're
just so tired. What'll the pirate say? He wanted you
to --
(NORMA covers her mouth)
No! Don't think about him!
(Beat. Enter OSCAR. He comes up behind NORMA.)
You gotta tell them something Norma. Tell them
-- I don't know. Tell them he threatened you. He
couldn't sleep. He was an insomniac. He never slept.
Tell them --
(OSCAR lays his hand on NORMA'S shoulder. NORMA
screams, then jumps out of her seat, backing away.
NORMA does not make eye contact with OSCAR until
indicated.)
(agitated)
Who the f--- are you? Stay away from me. Don't come
near me.
OSCAR
It's me, Norma. It's Oscar.
NORMA
No you're not! No you're not! Oscar's dead.
(NORMA closes her eyes, speaking to herself.)
You're just seeing things. He's not there. He's not
there. You're just tired. Now, I want you to go
downstairs and make yourself a cup of coffee and
drink it and then he'll be gone.
(OSCAR approaches her again and touches her shoulder
from behind. NORMA again jumps and runs to the
opposite
side of the stage.)
Don't touch me!
(NORMA closes her eyes, speaking to herself.)
He's not there. You're tired. You're so tired,
Norma. He's just a figment of your imagination.
That's all. A figment.
(OSCAR wraps his arms around NORMA. NORMA doesn't
fight it. she is still not looking at OSCAR.)
OSCAR
Do I feel like a figment?
NORMA
(speaking to herself)
He's not Oscar. Oscar jumped out the window.
Fifteen stories. It was suicide. Pronounced dead on
the spot.
OSCAR
Is that what you're going to tell the police
tomorrow? That I committed suicide?
NORMA
It's what happened.
OSCAR
You know that's not what happened Norma.......
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Milo and Bones
by Aly Robalino '12
Link here for entire script
Link here for
video of the Spring 2011 performance SETTING:
Nowhere specific. Perhaps a patch of green. Near a
bush. Just
somewhere secluded and where the sky is clear.
(Lights up. MILO [a frog] is sitting at the edge of
center
stage, looking out. He's lost in thought.
Immediately,
BONES [a cat] starts to sneak out on stage, trying
to
come up behind him, lowering herself to pounce. As
she
raises her hands over him, as if to strangle him,
MILO
mutters, almost bored, without looking away.)
MILO You're late. BONES Sorry.
Friends wouldn't get off my tail.
(She laughs at her own joke. MILO rolls his eyes. He
seems a little spacey, thoughtful. BONES slips to
his side
and wriggles into his lap until she's looking upside
down
at him.) MILO They didn't follow
you, did they? BONES They tried.
They were like, "Where ya' going' Bones? You ain't
off to see that -- frog -- again, are you? You're
gonna get warts!"
(Pause.) They called me a wart kisser.
MILO
(Offended) Wartkisser? I'm not a toad for god's
sake.
(MILO absent-mindedly reaches a hand to scratch
her behind her ears.) BONES I
don't get the weird taboos we have. If a cat wants
to be friends with a frog without -- oh to the left,
left! -- causing a scandal why can't she?
(BONES, lifting herself up from his lap,
accidentally
digs her claws into his leg. MILO flinches.)
MILO Ow! Because you have claws.
(He briefly looks to his leg, irritated, to see if
any damage
is done and scowls, brushing fur off his lap.)
You know this is how my friends can tell when you've
been with me. BONES Sorry. Cat
thing. Hey Milo?
(Pause.)
Does it make you nervous, knowing very well that at
any moment I could shred you open like a can opener
does to ... um ...
(Thinks hard.)
... a can? I think. MILO I
thought about it once. BONES
(Dramatic) Yet ... neither claws nor teeth keep
you from me!
(She opens her arms up, preparing to embrace him.
He holds out his arm to stop her.)
MILO Don't. You'll get more fur on me .........
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Inheritance
by Sayre Quevedo '11
Link here for entire script AT RISE:
The stage is split. HIVELY is sitting in a tacky
hotel room. She is watching a TV, which is playing
from a camcorder. Across the stage is a bed where
RED and JIM are laying. This room has a small
lamp and a bedstand. Their clothes are strewn about
the floor. HIVELY She set the bag
down. She sat down. She remembered this place.
Anniversaries. Their ... first night. Back in
college. She couldn't sneak him into her dorm.
"There's always the Old 86 off the highway." That's
what he said. "You and me, let's make this happen,"
he said. And they did and now ... she was going to
make the decisions. She started the tape.
(HIVELY grabs the remote from the table beside her
and presses Play. RED rolls off of JIM and lies down
beside him.) JIM Something is up
... RED What?
JIM You're quiet, You've been ... distant ...
(beat) RED It's not -- I'm not
... I'm fine.
(long silence) JIM I can't
believe this is my first time in your house ... I
like it ... it's really, uh, homey ...
RED Thanks ... I didn't really organize it ...
That was Hively ... f--- ... Hively ...
JIM What's up? RED Nothing.
It's just -- she left this morning -- I think she
might be catching on ... HIVELY
She was catching on. She had her suspicions
... sure ... She knw that men ... men ... they play
tricks but it was innocent ... that's what she told
herself ... it's just your head ... for a while
that's what she said ... then she bought the
camcorder ... just in case ... just to check ...
just to, you know ... make sure ...
(RED wraps an arm around JIM then suddenly
perks up.) RED Did you hear that?
JIM What? RED Nothing ...
Sorry, I thought I heard a car pull up ...........
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