David Speranza

White Wine with Chicken

by David Speranza

SCENE 1

Curtain rises on a café scene. Three or four round tables sit scattered across the stage. At one table sits MARTY, a young bespectacled man scribbling notes on a small pad while sipping coffee. At another sits CATHERINE, a self-sufficient young woman reading a thick romance and smoking a cigarette.

After a few moments Marty begins to notice Catherine. In fact, as she bounces her attractive, stockinged leg, he cannot take his eyes off her. By the time she puts out her cigarette and stashes her book in her purse, he is transfixed, his writing long forgotten.

She notices him and smiles. He smiles back, then quickly shuffles through the notes before him. She rises, draping her purse over one shoulder and leaving her table. As she approaches Marty, he tries not to seem like he is watching.

MARTY (as she passes):  Will I ever see you again?

She pauses. Her look throws him off balance.

CATHERINE:  I'm just going to the bathroom.

MARTY:  Oh. Then I guess I will.

CATH.:  Unless I like it so much I decide to stay.

MARTY:  What--?

But before he can respond, she exits.

He resumes his writing, once or twice glancing back towards the off-stage bathroom. Then he gets an idea and, standing, gathers his notebook and coffee and goes to sit at Catherine's table.

Catherine emerges from the bathroom. She pauses when she spots him. He smiles. She smiles back. Then she seats herself at his table and takes out her book. He stares at her, but she ignores him.

Gathering his resolve, Marty takes up his notebook and coffee and crosses to sit down beside her. She looks up from her book with faint amusement and surprise.

MARTY:  Do you believe in love at first sight?

CATH.:  No.

He considers this.

MARTY:  Do you believe in lust at first sight?

CATH. (pause):  I believe in strong, mutual attraction between members of the opposite sex.

MARTY:  What about members of the same sex?

CATH.:  I don't see what that has to do with anything.

MARTY:  Just being open-minded.

CATH.:  I'm as open-minded as the next person, but seeing as you're a boy and I'm a girl, it doesn't seem particularly relevant.

MARTY:  Do you believe in God?

CATH.:  Yes.

MARTY:  Is he a man or a woman?

CATH.:  He's both.

MARTY:  A hermaphrodite?

CATH.:  He's like a playing card that shows the same image right-side-up and upside-down, only on one end he's a woman and on the other a man.

Marty nods thoughtfully, notes something down on his pad, then rises and goes back to the other table.

- full text available upon request