PIECE 1
(Lights up on 3 teenage
girls and an older, middle aged woman. The girl in the middle, Briana, is
sitting across from the middle aged woman. The two other girls to her sides,
Bri and Ana, stand beside her.)
Doctor
So Briana, do
you want to tell me what's wrong?
Briana
I'm depressed
Doctor
And why's
that?
Bri
Yeah why's that? You have so much to be grateful
for! Loving parents, good friends, a bright future. What more could you ask
for?
Ana
I can answer that.
Bri
Excuse me?
Ana
I can tell
you what more she could ask for.
Bri
Well now I'm curious. Shoot.
Ana
Well for one, she could ask for a treadmill. She's
packing on more pounds. She can stop over exaggerating every little thing. She
could get people to actually like her. Oh, and she can stop being a burden to
everyone.
Bri
What was that
last part?
Ana
She's a burden
Bri
No she's not.
Ana
Yeah she is. She has her parents spending all of
this money on her SAT classes, trips into Manhattan, and this therapy session
too. She bothers her friends with every little problem she has. They talk about
her behind her back all the time
Bri
You’re a liar
Ana
How so?
Bri
Her parents
do those things because they love her, and her friends listen to her problems
because they care. And you have no proof that they talk about her behind her
back
Ana
Well who
wouldn't? She's a stress case.
Bri
No!
Ana
Yes!
Bri
No!
Ana
Yes!
Briana
Guys!
Doctor
Briana, is
everything okay?
Bri
Yes!
Ana
No!
Briana
I... I don't
know
Doctor
Who are you
talking to?
Briana
Myself
Doctor
Do you do that a lot?
Briana
I guess
Ana
You guess? Give her a straight answer you idiot!
Bri
Stop that! Briana, tell her whatever you want.
Briana
Yes. I do
Doctor
When did this start?
Bri
Um, I really don’t know. Probably when puberty
started.
Ana
Because that’s when she became disgusting
Bri
Stop that! She’s beautiful
Doctor
So middle school?
Briana
Um, yeah.
Doctor
And in your head, are you talking to anyone
specific?
Briana
Yeah um, two of me.
Doctor
What do they say?
Briana
Um, one’s pretty good I guess. Talks me through
problems, gets me through the day.
Doctor
And the other one?
Ana
The other
one?
Briana
The other one
is….
Ana
Honest
Briana
Brutal
Doctor
Define brutal
Ana
I’ll define brutal for you. I tell it how it is. I
don’t sugar coat things for you like little miss sunshine over here.
Bri
Hey!
Ana
Does it hurt? Maybe, but you wouldn’t last a day
without me. I protect you.
Briana
She protects
me.
Bri
Don’t listen
to her! She doesn’t protect you, she brings you down! She tells you lies to
make you disgusted with yourself.
Briana
But she makes me feel disgusted with myself.
Doctor
Can you give
me an example?
Ana
Here’s one! Remember freshman year when you had a
crush on Brett and he found out? He tried to let you down easy and all by
saying he just saw you as a friend, but he was lying. There was a different
reason.
Bri
Briana don’t
listen
Ana
You don’t
have to listen, but you already know the reason. You’re…
Bri
Don’t
Ana
Fat. You’re a
cow.
Bri
She isn’t fat. She’s slightly overweight and that’s
nothing to be ashamed of. Curves are good. They’re healthy
Ana
Not when she
can barely run two feet in front of her.
Doctor
Briana?
Briana
Huh?
Doctor
I asked if
you could give me an example of something she says to you.
Briana
Um, things
about myself that I already know I guess.
Doctor
Such as?
Briana
I’m fat.
Bri
See what you
did!
Ana
Hey she said
she already knew.
Doctor
Anything
else?
Briana
Well, I’m…
Briana
& Ana
Ugly, awkward, boring, weird, stupid, unexperienced,
oversensitive.
Bri
That’s it!
Ana
Way to interrupt. That’s rude.
Bri
Really? I’m
the rude one? You’re destroying her!
Ana
I’m just
repeating what she already knows.
Bri
Yeah because
you’ve been drilling these adjectives into her head for years! You’re horrible!
Ana
Flattery
won’t get you anywhere.
Doctor
And it’s only things like this?
Briana
Um, not
really.
Doctor
What else?
Briana
She talks me
into things, out of things.
Doctor
Such as?
Briana
She talked me out of going to a party today
Ana
Hey don’t
blame that on me. You were invited out of pity.
Bri
Liar. You just don’t want her to have fun.
Doctor
And how did
she do that?
Briana
Convinced me it was a bad idea. I’m not really a
party person anyway
Ana
You aren’t.
Bri
She could be!
Doctor
And why’s that?
Briana
I’m…
Briana
& Ana
So awkward.
Bri
Again.
Lies. She’s perfectly capable of socializing at a party.
Ana
But the
question is, does she want to?
Bri
Do you
want to?
Briana
Even if
I wasn’t so awkward. I’m not really sure if I’d want to
Doctor
So it’s
not just a self-confidence thing?
Briana
I don’t think so. I’m not a people person.
I don’t think so. I’m not a people person.
Ana
See?
Bri
Be
quiet.
Doctor
I see.
(Pause) Well we only have about 5 more minutes, but I’ll tell you what I think.
Ana
Lay it
on her doc. She’s hopeless
Bri
She’s
not hopeless she just needs help. A lot of help.
Ana
Just face
it. I’m not going anywhere.
Doctor
Well,
you can’t have a little voice in your head always telling you the bad things
about yourself. It just isn’t healthy.
Bri
See!
Doctor
But
everyone has flaws. It’s just life.
Ana
See!
Doctor
So
here’s what we’re going to do. You and I are going to work together so that
those two voices in your head can become one. Okay?
Briana
How are
we going to do that?
Doctor
That’s
up to you.
Briana
I don’t
know.
Doctor
You
control what goes on in your head, even though it may be hard to believe.
Bri
It’s
true.
Ana
Yeah, it
is.
Bri
Did we
just agree on something?
Ana
Shit...
I think we did.
Briana
Whoa,
you’re right.
Doctor
So can
we do this?
Bri
Truce?
Ana
Yeah..
why not? Truce.
(Bri
and Ana shake hands)
Briana
Yes.
END
END OF
PLAY
PIECE 2
So Wrong, It’s
Right
I want to be a feminist. A feminist doesn’t fan girl right?
A feminist doesn’t wait outside a concert venue for hours just to get a glimpse
of that cute guitar player. A feminist doesn’t scream on the top of her lungs
for an encore. A feminist doesn’t do this. A feminist isn’t someone whose day
can be made by listening to her favorite song. A feminist doesn’t measure her
life in the amount of concerts she has attended. A feminist doesn’t fantasize
about band members.
A feminist doesn’t do
this, but I do.
What lifts my spirits isn’t drinking my favorite Starbucks
drink. What puts me out of a depression isn’t curling up with a good book. I
don’t live for an applause or an “I love you”. I live for my music. Music is
what gets me out of bed in the morning. Music is the reason I’m still here. I
save all of my money to see my favorite bands in concert. I have more band
merch than friends. Warped Tour is my Christmas.
If being a feminist
and having a slight obsession with something that brings me most of my
happiness is wrong, well then I don’t want to be right.
PIECE 3
What I’m scared of is so not feminist of me. What I’m scared
of isn’t that big of a deal to most people, but that’s because most people have
had this. But when I tell people, they say: “Oh, big deal. You’re being
dramatic.” Or “That’s a stupid reason to be upset.” But I say it is. And I say
that I’m not being dramatic. All
of my friends, they have had boyfriends and “experiences”. But me? I’m just
innocent old Bri. The one who is too awkward to find anyone to like her. The
one who has the romantic experience of a toilet brush. This
scares me. It scares me that no one will ever look at me that way. I’m scared
that no one will ever want to be with me. I’m scared that when prom comes
around, all of my friends will have dates and I’ll be that person who goes
alone and third wheels everyone. People
always talk about slut shaming right? Well I think people should start talking
about virgin shaming. Because it is a big deal to some girls. Girls are looked
at differently for it. Girls are bullied for it, and that is just as bad as
shaming a girl for the opposite reason.
So as it turns out, pieces 1 and 2 were picked for the open mic. Which means I have to DUN DUN DUN perform. It's pretty cool because most new company members usually only have one piece in the show. The show is next monday, so I will spend this week memorizing my work completely and working on stage presence because lets face it, I don't really have any
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