Categories
In
Progress
by David Speranza
(Originally produced by Misery Loves Company—Prague, Czech Republic, May 1996)
Lights up on foreground stage left, revealing a desk and chair. Backstage right is a kitchen table with two chairs and a cupboard, though this area is presently dark.
Enter WRITER from stage left, who places a cup of coffee on the desk. He is about to sit, but remembers something and goes back offstage. He returns with a cookie, sets it down carefully next to the coffee cup. He sits, takes up a pen, writes the date at the top of a pad of paper. Pauses. Takes a sip of coffee. Puts the cup down, decides it is not placed to his liking and arranges it on one corner of the desk. Puts the cookie beside it, has a sudden thought and takes a bite before putting the cookie back. He stares at his pad. A few pens on the desk look messy, he lines them up neatly. He stares at the pad again. Finally he begins to write.
WRITER: "Scene 1. A kitchen. Humphrey sits reading at the kitchen table. Enter Irene..."
As he says "kitchen," the area at stage right lights up. We see HUMPHREY at the table with a newspaper, then IRENE entering on cue. She sits across from Humphrey, regards him a moment.
IRENE: I think we should get a divorce.
The action freezes, the lights over the kitchen table dim.
WRITER: No, that's no good...
The Writer crosses out what he has written as Irene departs offstage. He starts again.
WRITER: "Scene 1. Enter Irene..."
Again Irene enters, the same as before, and sits. Only now it is Humphrey who speaks.
HUMPHREY: ...I think we should get a divorce.
The action freezes, the lights dim.
WRITER: No, that's no good either.
He tears up the page and starts a fresh sheet.
WRITER: "Scene 1. A kitchen. Humphrey sits reading at the table. Enter Iree—" No. "Enter...Carolyn."
The same girl, only now wearing a different top—and perhaps with a slightly different manner—enters and sits.
HUMPHR: Do you know how much I love you?
CAROLYN: How much?
HUMPHR: So much I could puke.
Freeze.
WRITER: Oh, that's romantic!
He scribbles out the line, starts a new one. The scene picks up again...
- full text available upon request