a while

this is the script I wrote for the incredibly successful 'twenty-four hour project.' there will be a longer post reflecting on the entire process later, but I thought I should get this out there now, to prove to you that I am still committed to updating this thing. here you are, it's called 'a while.'

[scrippet]
Under Manhattan. A still subway. Two benches, a trash can, and the almost infinite track stretching both directions into the gloom. CHANCE sits alone on a bench. He is listening to his iPod, and he is deep in thought. There is giggling, and then MAURA and AVERY enter.

MAURA
Never in my life have I been kicked out of a restaurant.

AVERY
Plenty of other places.

MAURA
Yes, plenty of other places, but never a restaurant, and never for no reason. Didn’t even get to eat dinner.

AVERY
Did we miss the train?

MAURA
I don’t know. Ask the guy.

AVERY
You ask the guy.

MAURA
Fine.

She moves to CHANCE and gets his attention.

MAURA (CONT'D)
Hey, did we miss the train?

CHANCE
No, there hasn’t been one for a while.

MAURA
So it’s coming soon?

CHANCE
Should be.

MAURA
Alright, thanks buddy.

CHANCE
Sure.

She moves away.

AVERY
Did you hear back about that grant?

MAURA
No.

AVERY
Are you ever going to hear back about that grant?

MAURA
I don’t know, I sort of assumed that, much like meeting an ugly guy at bar, them not calling me was tantamount to them telling me I didn’t get the grant.

AVERY
Do you do that a lot at bars, not call ugly guys?

MAURA
Well, I’m not a lush.

AVERY
No, but you do go out to the bars a lot.

MAURA
Okay.

A pause. CHANCE pulls his phone from his pocket, reads a text message.

CHANCE
Lil. Great.

He sends a response. He is still wearing his headphones.

MAURA
Wonder what that was about.

AVERY
Not any of your business, anyway.

MAURA
Doesn’t really matter if it’s my business or not, I’m still curious.

AVERY
Curiosity killed-

MAURA
The cat. Fine, but I’m a lot smarter than a cat.

AVERY
Debatable.

MAURA
You’ve got me thinking about that grant, now.

AVERY
Sorry.

MAURA
I’m just very sick of being a student. I feel like, in most ways, my life is not up to me.

AVERY
That’s a bit of a comfort though.

MAURA
The routine?

AVERY
The routine and the structure. The normalcy.

MAURA
A bit suffocating for a person like me.

AVERY
Nah, you thrive on it.

MAURA
Maybe.

AVERY
Maybe.

A pause. LILIANA enters briskly, confidently, darkly. She takes the vacant seat next to CHANCE.

LILIANA
How you doing, Chance?

CHANCE
Liliana.

LILIANA
Train come yet?

CHANCE
Not yet.

LILIANA
What time is it?

CHANCE
Don’t have a watch.

LILIANA
Girls, you got a watch?

MAURA checks her phone.

MAURA
Phone says-

LILIANA
Hold the phone.
(To CHANCE.)
Why didn’t you just check your phone.

CHANCE
(Biting.)
No fucking service, Lil.

LILIANA
(To MAURA.)
Babe. Time.

MAURA
Uh, 5:52.

LILIANA
Shiiiiit, missed dinner. You eat dinner Chance?

CHANCE
Do I ever eat dinner, Lily?

LILIANA
Not since the night I first met you, you haven’t.

CHANCE
So what’s your guess?

LILIANA
My guess is, no, you didn’t eat dinner.

CHANCE
Correct.

LILIANA
Well. Maybe tonight.

CHANCE
Maybe tonight.

A pause.

MAURA
Maybe tonight what?

AVERY
Maura.

MAURA
Maybe tonight what?

LILIANA
What?

MAURA
You said, ‘Maybe tonight.’ And I’m asking, maybe tonight, what?

A pause.

LILIANA
Maybe tonight the train is gonna be on time. ‘Maybe tonight.’

A pause.

AVERY
Sorry.

LILIANA
For what?

AVERY
For Maura, she’s a little drunk, we got kicked out of a restaurant.

LILIANA
At dinnertime?

AVERY
Yeah.

LILIANA
Shiiiiiit, sun is still up.

AVERY
I know.

MAURA
Wasn’t my fault.

CHANCE
What’d you do?

MAURA
Nothing.

LILIANA
Must have done something, to get kicked out of a restaurant and the sun’s not even down yet.

MAURA
I didn’t do anything.

CHANCE
Sure you didn’t.

MAURA
I didn’t do anything, you don’t even know me.

AVERY
She’s drunk.

MAURA
Son of a bitch waiter.

AVERY
Just a bit drunk.

MAURA
Son of a bitch waiter spills water all over me and I’m, what, not going to say anything?

AVERY
She hit him.

MAURA
‘Course I hit him, I hit him because he spilled water all over me and he laughed about it.

LILIANA
Was it a fancy restaurant?

AVERY
Yes.

LILIANA
I used to go to restaurants.

MAURA
Not even worth it. Food is terrible.

AVERY
You don’t go to restaurants anymore?

LILIANA
I try, but they don’t serve me. Like I’m not even there.

MAURA
You gotta dress slutty.

AVERY
Okay, that’s enough, Maura.

LILIANA
What’s your name, Avery?

AVERY
Did I say that?

LILIANA
No, your friend did.

AVERY
Yeah, it’s Avery.

LILIANA
You young?

AVERY
What’s ‘young?’

LILIANA
Twenty-one?

MAURA
Twenty-two.

LILIANA
Student?

AVERY
We’re students.

LILIANA
I used to be a student.

AVERY
How old are you?

LILIANA
Thirty-three.

MAURA
No shit.

AVERY
You don’t look thirty-three.

LILIANA
Don’t look like I’ve aged a day past twenty-five.

AVERY
You really don’t.

MAURA
Have a secret?

LILIANA
Everybody’s got a secret.

CHANCE
That’s probably enough, Liliana.

LILIANA
Aw, shit. Sat in gum.

CHANCE laughs.

LILIANA (CONT'D)
It’s not effing funny.

CHANCE
Not like it’s going to bother you much at all.

LILIANA
Are you calling me a slob?

CHANCE
You know what I’m calling you.

LILIANA
I know what your calling me but I can’t believe you’d call me that in front of two total strangers.

CHANCE
I’m not sure someone like you should really be talking with people like them, unless you want to get us in trouble, unless you want us to have to sit here and wait for a fucking train until the fucking sky falls in, which could really be any day now the way you go on talking to people about stupid, stupid things that have no bearing on their lives, or on our waiting for the train. You could talk to them until your face turns purple and it’s not going to change anything for the better and it may just change things for the worse. Maybe you should take a walk, Liliana, maybe you should take a walk.

A pause. LILIANA gives a low whistle and moves over to the trash can. She digs out a piece of wadded up paper and tosses it right in CHANCE’S face. He gives a bitter laugh and plugs his headphones back in to his ears. LILIANA sits on the bench by the two other girls.

LILIANA
Sorry about that.

AVERY
That was...weird.

LILIANA
Chance is weird.

MAURA
Do you know him well?

LILIANA
I’d say so. Well as you can know anybody.

MAURA
Known him a long time?

LILIANA
Ten years or so.

AVERY
And is he always like this?

LILIANA
Most nights.

A pause.

LILIANA (CONT'D)
Where are you girls off to?

MAURA
Home. I had enough excitement at the restaurant tonight.

LILIANA
You live together?

AVERY
Yep, roommates.

LILIANA
Cute. Take this train often?

AVERY
Never been to this station before.

LILIANA
I figured.

AVERY
Is the train usually late?

LILIANA
(Laughing.)
You have no idea. You girls got a lot of plans? Things you want to do with your future?

MAURA
Who doesn’t?

LILIANA
Well, I don’t mean to scare you girls, you seem like nice girls, but I don’t think you want to wait around for this train.

A pause.

MAURA
Why?

LILIANA
Just trust me.

MAURA
What?

LILIANA
I say, maybe you should just trust me.

AVERY
You’ve been smiling this whole time, even when he yelled at you.

LILIANA
I like to keep a positive outlook on...

MAURA
On life.

LILIANA
Well, I didn’t say that.

MAURA
But you were going to.

LILIANA
Old habits.

MAURA
What the hell is that supposed to mean.

LILIANA
Just means what it means.

MAURA
You’re not making any sense.

LILIANA
(Laughing.)
Good, good.

She moves back to her seat next to CHANCE.

AVERY
Alright, maybe we should get out of here.

LILIANA
Maybe you should get out of here.

MAURA
You’re here every night?

LILIANA
Most nights.

MAURA
Most nights, or every night.

LILIANA
Every night.

MAURA
Why?

LILIANA
Sometimes people got a powerful connection to a place.

MAURA
Why?

LILIANA
A powerful connection to a specific place. Unbreakable.

A pause.

LILIANA (CONT'D)
Purgatorial. Even.

MAURA
What do you mean, purgatorial.

AVERY
What does that mean?

MAURA
It means Purgatory, Avery.

AVERY
No, what does Purgatory mean?

MAURA
It’s where dead people go when someone decides they can’t go to heaven or hell. It’s where they wait.

A pause.

LILIANA
Maybe you nice girls should just leave.

MAURA
Answer my question.

CHANCE
Maybe you should leave.

MAURA
How long have you been waiting?

CHANCE
A while.

A pause.

CHANCE (CONT'D)
Take a seat if you want.

AVERY
No thank you.

MAURA
Wait.

A pause.

CHANCE
Why don’t you just leave?

AVERY
Maura...

CHANCE
Can you hear the train?

MAURA
Why?

CHANCE
I think I hear the train.

MAURA
Why are you smiling?

AVERY
Maura, it’s time to go.

MAURA
Liliana, why are you smiling?

CHANCE
She’s not going to tell you. She can’t say it out loud.

AVERY
Maura.

MAURA
Right. Time to go.

LILIANA
It’s a secret, Maura.

MAURA
Say it out loud. Say it out loud.

AVERY physically pulls MAURA towards the exit.

MAURA (CONT'D)
Alright, Avery. We’re going.

CHANCE
The train could be just around the corner.

AVERY
I’m not sure we can afford to wait.

LILIANA
(Laughing.)
Good, very good.

AVERY and MAURA exit. AVERY is gone as quickly as she can, but MAURA lingers, and she turns back, once, to watch the phantoms at the station. She leaves. LILIANA picks herself up from the ground and takes a seat on the bench.

LILIANA (CONT'D)
Take a seat, Chance. The train’s not coming tonight.

CHANCE
I can hear it.

LILIANA
It’s just an echo.

CHANCE
Maybe. Maybe.

CHANCE sits next to LILIANA.

LILIANA
Maybe tomorrow.

CHANCE
Maybe.

LILIANA
Ah, it’ll be alright.

CHANCE
Maybe tomorrow.

LILIANA
Yeah.

There is the sound of a train approaching, and CHANCE and LILIANA stiffen, waiting for it to appear along the tracks. It doesn’t.

CHANCE
Maybe tomorrow.

END OF PLAY.

[/scrippet]

the process

when I start writing a play, I do so by creating a step outline. in 'the biz' we use this system to plot out major points before we do the brunt of the writing. solidifying the plot and important elements and themes helps to make sure all of that is indeed intact when you finally start writing.

here is a step outline for a play that is forthcoming, don't read it if you want to be 'surprised' when I post the finished product sometime next week.

Act I

Scene One: A Restaurant

1. Booker and Upshaw, two shady men of unknown capacity, consider taking an upcoming job. Throughout the scene the conversation returns to them, and as they describe the gruesome things they have been contracted to do, in stark contrast to the light hearted conversation going on around them. Their dealings have something to do with a woman named Poppy Weisz, who is spoken about in hushed, reverent tones, as if it is a name we must already know.

2. David and Paul, two friends out for lunch, talk about David’s new girlfriend, and how Paul does not like her at all. The two men notice Elizabeth and Amelia and begin to talk about the women in terms of future love opportunities.

3. Elizabeth and Amelia, co-workers at a corporate bookstore, eat and talk about their jobs. There is a discussion, the two lament that life cannot be as adventurous as life is in the movies.

Scene Two: David and Paul’s Apartment, One Month Later

Paul gives Elizabeth the tour of the apartment. The two discuss how David and Amelia are out on a date, and wonder at the strong connection the two seemed to have at their very first meeting. The talk turns to other things, about the news and weather. They talk briefly about Poppy Weisz, who’s work in Africa is causing quite a stir in congress. They talk about their sex lives, and things start to heat up. Elizabeth takes control, and the two exit to the bedroom.

Scene Three: The Park, The Same

David and Amelia sit on a park bench, resting. David is romantic and does all he can to woo Amelia, who he has already won. Amelia talks of many other suitors who want to sleep with her, because of her father. David learns that Amelia’s father is the President’s chief of staff. They joke about assassinations and how risky it would be for David to date her, but he is unfazed. He vows to do anything to win her affection. Amelia makes an offhand comment about “stealing her someone famous.” David vows to do it. Amelia finally accepts him, and agrees to a second date. David asks, but Amelia is vague about cutting off her other suitors. The two leave for dinner.

Scene Four: Amelia’s Apartment, Two Weeks Later

Amelia and Elizabeth discuss their romances. Elizabeth is head over heels in love, but Amelia is hesitant. She does not want to get involved with the overly ambitious David, who she feels might be too conservative for her. Elizabeth tries to help by talking up David’s strongpoints, but really only ends up building Paul’s character, with whom she is infatuated. On cue, Elizabeth gets a call on her cellphone from Paul, who invites the girls to dinner to celebrate David’s promotion. He has risen to the level of Manager at his P.R. firm, which will allow him to move up in the world. Without consulting Amelia, Elizabeth assents. This new raise does not help to ease Amelia’s fears. Amelia wonders if she could love someone for their money alone. Elizabeth says no, she could never. Amelia still wonders.

Scene Five: David and Paul’s Apartment, Later That Night

Amelia, Paul and Elizabeth are talking about David’s promotion. They are waiting for him to arrive so that they can leave for the restaurant to celebrate. Paul stops and turns up the volume on the television. The news is reporting that the famous actress, social activist and politician’s daughter Poppy Weisz has gone missing. David enters and hears the news. Everyone dismisses it as celebrity gossip, except for Elizabeth, who seems very wounded by the news.

Scene Six: A Restaurant

Booker and Upshaw sit at a table, toasting to some victory. They talk about how beautiful it is when things go perfectly to plan. They discuss how they have a guest back at their house, and how they must treat her respectfully. Upshaw seems more than infatuated with her and her physical features. They talk about how much easier life will be when their money arrives. Amelia, David, Elizabeth and Paul enter and take their seats. Together they toast David’s corporate victories and talk about how beautiful it is when things fall into place. David talks about how much easier life will be when he starts to receive his pay-raise. Lights out as all on stage toast a final time, to their various victories.

Act II

Scene One: A Restaurant, Two Weeks Later

David and Amelia sit, toasting. They are both dressed to the nines. David begins a long speech about responsibility and growing up. He talks about his past and how things are going to be different now that he has money. He concludes by getting down on one knee and proposing to Amelia. After careful thought, as they have known each other only a short time, Amelia consents and the two discuss in businesslike tones what their engagement will do to their lives. David says life will be easier for both of them on his salary. David asks her if she loves him. Amelia assents.

Scene Two: The Subway, One Week Later

Elizabeth sits alone on a seat. Booker and Upshaw sit a few seats away, a few large duffel bags between them. Neither party recognizes the other. Booker and Upshaw hold a conversation that is unheard by Elizabeth, talking about the job and how sometimes things don’t work out how you want them to. They gloomily discuss how backup plans must be made. Both are bemused by Fate. Paul and David enter, having called Elizabeth and discovered that she was riding the subway, and meet up with her. They talk about shopping for gifts, and Paul’s planning of the bachelor party. It becomes clear that Amelia has not told Elizabeth the news. Elizabeth acts unhurt, citing a lot of reasons why Amelia may not have told her. Elizabeth pretends to act very concerned about the Poppy Weisz situation. Booker laughs and lights a cigarette. Upshaw pats the duffel bags. At the next stop, Booker and Upshaw pick up their very heavy duffel bags and start to leave. Always a gentleman, David asks the men if they need help getting the bags off the train. Booker and Upshaw laugh and refuse, calling him a gentleman and acting grateful, but saying what’s in these bags might be too much to handle. David does not press the issue, but is stuck with a bad feeling as they ride to their destination.

Scene Three: David and Paul’s Apartment, One Week Later

David and Paul talk about the engagement, about how happy David is and how it’s going to change his life. David breaks the news to Paul that he has found a beautiful brownstone apartment that he can afford, for himself and Amelia, that he will be moving into. Rather than being wounded, Paul is very happy for David, though he is concerned that this will mean a major shift will take place in their friendship, as they will no longer be able to take the subway together to work. David wrongfully makes a speech about how it is time for them to begin thinking about growing up and making a life for themselves, and cites Paul’s lack of steady work as a major hindrance to his success in life. Paul is now deeply offended and threatens to call to cancel the bachelor party, on account of Amelia’s shady appointments at all hours of the day. Paul begins to talk about how dysfunctional he thinks David and Amelia’s relationship is, but their fight is interrupted by a call from Elizabeth, who has seen on the news that they’ve fished the dismembered body of Poppy Weisz from the river, and needs immediate consoling. David makes some mean remarks about how weak Elizabeth is, that she is so affected by whatever happens with that “Poppy woman.” Paul leaves, still on his cell phone, and after the door closes David makes a call to Paul, leaving him a very apologetic voicemail before exiting to work.

Scene Four: The Park, One Week Later

Paul sits on a park bench with a camera. Amelia walks up, disheveled. Paul asks her about her day, about what she’s been doing. Amelia is frazzled, dodges questions and picks at her clothing. She keeps making excuses to leave, but Paul pins her there with conversation. It comes out that Paul has seen Amelia come to the park with a strange man, and followed them with his camera that he had been using to do freelance photography work. He followed her to a secluded area and watched her have sex with this strange man, and took pictures to he can prove her infidelity to David. Paul asks why she did it, and Amelia refuses to answer. Paul asks again, and Amelia launches into a speech about how it’s only sex, how it doesn’t matter who you love in this day and age as long as their wallets are stuffed. She rants and raves like a crazy woman, before finally leaving in a tirade of insults. Paul gets out his cell phone and calls David.

Scene Five: Amelia’s Apartment, Later That Day

Amelia is drunk and drinking, searching her pockets and purse for cigarettes. Elizabeth is attempting to extract from her what exactly has happened, but Amelia is reluctant to say. When she cannot find anything to smoke, Amelia begins to talk, trancelike, about Poppy Weisz’s death, about how it must have felt to have been kidnapped and murdered and dumped in a river. This is upsetting to Elizabeth, who is still very affected by the whole situation. Elizabeth begs her to stop, but she does not. She relates how Poppy must feel to her own life, how she is cracking and coming apart at the seams. In a moment of lucidity, Amelia expresses to Elizabeth no regret for cheating on her fiancee, how it has been happening for weeks, how she never promised to give up any of the men in her life for him. Elizabeth is horrified, and wants to run to Paul for advice, but when she tries to do so, Amelia restrains her and calls her weak. Elizabeth begins to cry, and Amelia is disgusted, finally throwing money at Elizabeth as she lies on the floor, and telling her to come back with cigarettes. She turns over a table on her way to her room and slams the door. Elizabeth sits, crying.

Scene Six: David and Paul’s Apartment, One Month Later

David, Paul and Elizabeth talk about the news, how two men have come forward and confessed to killing Poppy Weisz. They wonder how anyone could do such a thing, how gruesome it must have been for her. They talk about what good is done in the world by people with influence, and how admirable such change is. Delicately, Elizabeth mentions that Amelia has moved out of the city and gone back to New Jersey, where her parents live. David accepts the news gracefully and thanks her for the information. David makes a joke about how happy Paul and Elizabeth look, and how it gives him hope. The group dances around the issue of trying to pick out a place to eat. Elizabeth wants to eat at their favorite restaurant, but Paul fears that it may be too soon for David to return to the place where he proposed to Amelia. David asserts that returning there will be fine, that he is willing to whatever he can to confront his memories of her so that she might be out of his life forever. He wants to move on. David confides in Paul that he has given up his lease to the brownstone, that he will continue to live with Paul. Paul is visibly excited, but covers up his feelings with some emasculating jokes. The three prepare to leave, and David goes to catch an elevator. There is a short dialogue between Paul and Elizabeth, wondering if David is going to be okay. Elizabeth is sure that he will be.

Scene Seven: A Restaurant, That Night

David, Paul and Elizabeth sit at a table and joke about Poppy Weisz. They have seen tasteless jokes about her on late night talk shows and wonder about humor as catharsis. David talks about how he is likely to be promoted again, so that he may start working as P.R. for some big name celebrities. Paul considers this a sign of good fortune for his living situation, as when David’s financial situation improves, so does Paul’s. David asks a few sad questions to Elizabeth about Amelia. Elizabeth discloses that Amelia sold the engagement ring and destroyed everything that David had left in her apartment. Elizabeth does not know her address in New Jersey. David tries to seem unhurt, but can only marvel at the loss of the ring, as it was very expensive. Elizabeth talks about Poppy Weisz, about how there are people in the world who are the movers and shakers, who can affect global opinion by a simple action. On cue, Booker and Upshaw enter and sit at a table nearby. Elizabeth continues, saying how thankful she is for those people, the newsmakers, as her life would be utterly boring without them. David and Paul discuss this, and decide that it is better for them to remain as they are, as the pressure of being so instrumental in creating headlines would be more than they could handle. They are happy for their anonymity and small social stature. Paul wonders if Poppy Weisz was somehow happy to be murdered, as it meant she would make an impact on the world and her social activism would be brought to new light. Booker and Upshaw overhear as Elizabeth appeals to the world that Poppy must have been happy, that it gave her life some validation. She thinks that had Poppy died in a car accident, or some other death without the social implications of such a gruesome murder, her work would have gone largely unnoticed. David thinks that such horrible things happening in the world make his own life seem that much more normal. As the three get up to leave, they pass by Booker and Upshaw, who sit with wine glasses in their hands. Booker gives a nod of his head to David as the three exit. David lingers behind for a short moment, deeply disturbed for some reason he cannot put to word. After they leave, Booker and Upshaw laugh. Booker lights up and cigarette and passes it to Upshaw. Booker raises his glass and proposes a toast, “To the newsmakers.” The end.

I get wordy and obsessive. on some level, this is embarrassing. as I try to be 'mysterious' and 'deep' in my writing, the step outline is the one point at which I am allowed to go free-form in my consciousness of what the events of the play will mean in the overarching superplot, as well as how elements within individual scenes will help to drive that plot forward. I also do this for novels. here is the step outline for the first few chapters of almost-finished novel, 'the 44 days.'

1 - David is a bourgeoisie white American who is at the pray and mercy of his addiction to pharmaceuticals. In him is a force of anxiety and insanity that he calls “the sea inside.” After kicked out of college on a drug possession charge, he rejects his middle class comfortable upbringing in a largely metaphorical way by forsaking his home continent on a whim. He dumps his stock of pills and heads to the airport, where he engages in a random sexual encounter with an American woman named Alexandra. He trades in his ticket to Minneapolis, the home of his parents, for a ticket to Madrid. He falls asleep on the plane exhilarated and contented.

2 - David avoid initial withdrawal symptoms by replacing his physical addiction with wanderlust.

3 - Irritable on the cusp of withdrawal, he meets and American woman named Leto, (skinny, white blonde, with a tattoo that says: “The greatest sin is,”) in a queue at a money exchange bank. Leto is a political analyst for NBC. Her paychecks are in American dollars. Leto is only a few years older than David. David is looking for someone to cling to, more than he knows. Leto invites David to her apartment, where they discuss David’s history. David first shares the idea of “the sea inside,” that unstable part of himself that often drives him to drugs and rash behavior. Leto understands and shares her tattoo’s story. Leto has a journal in which she only writes entries of statements that begin with “I feel.” Back at his room, David tries to write some “I feel” statements, but can’t do more than two or three. David falls asleep troubled.

as I read it now, it seems more like a sparknotes reader's notes than anything else. maybe someone can use this to help them out of a few hours work once this novel is undoubtably taught in public schools.

I am, in conjunction with the other two directors in my advanced directing class, holding auditions for my production of 'the vise' tomorrow at four and six-thirty. this is terrifying to me. the gravest errors are made in casting, and that's a hell of a lot of responsibility to hold.

please please will kaleb durocher be my personal designer? for free.