Here's what I need:
3 mystery props, which must appear in the play at some point. They should be fairly commonplace objects, small enough to be carried or moved by a single actor on stage.
3-4 "actors": their gender, approximate age, and one special talent or performance ability (e.g.: "can juggle" or "good at accents" or "blindingly handsome") The "special talent" may or may not appear in the script.
My challenge is to write a 10-15 minute play (about 10 pages in 12-point, so I'm told) encompassing all of those elements. Let's see if I can do this.
OK here's what we're going with: a whisk, a toothbrush, and a timer.
Male, 30-40, female, 20-30, and male 55-65.
Male, 30-40, female, 20-30, and male 55-65.
THOSE WHO WAIT
a 10-minute play
by Paul E. Halley
CAST
GEORGE - 60, café owner
PENELOPE - 25, his employee
JASON - 30, a soldier
a note about the TIMER, a critical prop: should be the type of timer which makes one single "ding!" chime, like the ringing of a tiny bell, not an electronic beeping, not a ringing like a classroom or firehouse bell.
LIGHTS UP on a typical diner. A counter with stools, some tables or booths. Could be a roadside café almost anywhere, and almost any time. A flat-screen TV, which plays silently at one end of the counter, could be the only reminder that it is the PRESENT DAY. Perhaps a ceiling fan might be turning slowly, the only movement in an otherwise still tableau. We get the sense that not much has happened here in quite a while. We see GEORGE seated near the cash register, reading the newspaper. He turns the page.
GEORGE
Sons of bitches!
PENNY enters, bustling through the kitchen door, a huge mixing bowl in one arm and a WHISK in the other.
PENNY
What? Someone here, George?
GEORGE
No, Penny, I was just talking to myself, reading the newspaper. Those idiots down in Washington… Just make me so goddam mad! We’re paying the sons of bitches to go in there and behave like a bunch of ten year-olds.
PENNY
George…
GEORGE
Yeah?
PENNY
Are you sure you want me to keep on making these pies? I mean-
GEORGE
Of course I want you to keep making pies! What kind of question is that?
PENNY
It’s just that- Well, business has been, well…
GEORGE
A little slow.
PENNY
A little slow? George! The last customers we had in here was two days ago! And that was your niece Brünhilda and those awful kids…
GEORGE
Her name is Rebecca. Becky.
PENNY
Whatever- the point is, they didn’t even pay! Why should I keep on making these pies if no one’s going to buy them?
GEORGE
Because, somebody might buy them! What’s the point of being open at all if you have nothing to provide the customers?
PENNY
It’s just that-
GEORGE
It’s the same reason I keep buying lettuce and tomatoes, the same reason I pay the goddam electric bill. Look, Penelope, I know times are bad. Believe me. But we’ve been through worse - things will get better. You just keep on making those pies and leave the worrying to me, OK?
PENNY
OK, George, if you say so, but-
GEORGE
I do say so. And besides, those pies must be made, Penny! How long has it been since you tasted one of your own pies, huh? They are like music, like art! For me to deny the world one of your White Chocolate-Banana Cream Pies because business has been a little slow, would be like denying the world a Beethoven symphony, or a Renoir masterpiece!
PENNY
Oh, George…
GEORGE
And if I’m going to lose it all and end up in the poorhouse anyway, I might as well go out fat and happy and eating your pies.
PENNY
(smiling) Alright George, if you say so. I’m doing blueberry today. (She looks up at the clock)
GEORGE
Are you expecting someone?
PENNY
God, no, who would I be expecting?
GEORGE
Beats me, but you’ve been looking at that clock all morning.
PENNY
No, not expecting anyone. It’s just… one of those days when I sort of woke up with a feeling… probably nothing.
GEORGE
What kind of feeling?
PENNY
Like maybe something was gonna happen today. I don’t know. I’m sure not expecting anyone.
GEORGE
Your dad?
PENNY
My dad? God no. I haven’t even spoken to him in, I dunno- six, seven months.
GEORGE
I thought the two of you got along OK.
PENNY
We do. I mean, it’s not that we don’t get along. It’s just that, I dunno, we don’t really have anything to talk about, really. I mean, ever since he moved out to Arizona, you know, I’ll call him and after a while we’re just sitting there, listening to each other breathe. You can practically hear us both trying to think of something to say. Until eventually one of us says something like, “Well, I gotta run…” and that will be that. So after a while, it was like, why even bother?
GEORGE
Don’t you have a brother, too?
PENNY
Yeah.
GEORGE
What about him?
PENNY
What about him? Nothing, really. He lives in Virginia, he’s got a wife and three kids, a life… I just don’t think he has the time to worry about mine.
GEORGE
That’s too bad.
PENNY
No, it’s alright. I’m sure that if the chips were down and I really needed it, I could count on my brother… (again, she glances up at the clock)
GEORGE
Are you sure you’re not expecting someone?
PENNY
No, George… But I’ll tell you-
GEORGE
What?
PENNY
There is one person…
GEORGE
Yeah?
PENNY
One person who I sure wouldn’t mind seeing walkin’ through that door…
GEORGE
Yeah? Who’s that?
PENNY
Did I ever tell you about Jason?
GEORGE
Jason? No, I don’t think so.
PENNY
This was like, three years ago or so, so I guess it was a while before I got the job here. I had just graduated from community college and I actually thought I was going to take the world by storm with an Associate’s Degree in Managerial Accounting. Yeah, well, look how far that got me…
GEORGE
Hey, watch it!
PENNY
You know what I mean, George. Anyway, one night I was just sitting at Starbuck’s, having a coffee, and I met him. He actually just sort of bumped into me and when I looked up, my first thought was that he was someone I already knew, and before I could think about it I had flashed him this big smile and this big ol’ “Hi! How are you?” like he was my long-lost best buddy from band camp or something.
GEORGE
And…?
PENNY
Well, as soon as the words left my mouth, I realized that I was actually talking to a complete stranger, but by then it was too late. He was already sitting down next to me. The two of us just started talking.
GEORGE
Yeah? About what?
PENNY
I dunno, everything, I guess. You know, small talk at first, and then just, whatever. Big stuff, little stuff, just life, I guess.
GEORGE
Sometimes, I think it’s actually easier to spill your guts to a stranger than to somebody you know really well.
PENNY
Yeah, you’re right. I think that’s true. Anyway, we just kept on talking, it was like time just stopped for a few hours. We ended up sitting on that big hill in the middle of the park and just watching the sun come up. By then I think we had talked ourselves out and it was just quiet.
I remember just sort of looking over at him, and seeing that face, and those eyes, and the morning sun made everything look so beautiful… And I remember I just wanted him to kiss me.
GEORGE
And did he?
PENNY
(smiling demurely) Yes. Yes he did. And then, then he sort of pulled away, and he looked at me. He didn’t look happy, he looked kind of sad. And then he said, “Goodbye, Penny.”
GEORGE
Goodbye? Really? Why? What was that all about?
PENNY
He was a soldier, George. He was shipping out to Afghanistan that morning.
GEORGE
Oh, my god.
PENNY
Yeah. So, we sort of made our farewells. He walked me home and we kissed one more time before I went in… But that was the last I ever heard from him. At this point, I don’t really hold out much hope that he’ll ever be back. I mean, I never even told him my last name or anything.
GEORGE
I can’t believe you’ve never told me that story before.
PENNY
I am still a woman of mystery, George!
Anyway, I still think about him from time to time. At first, it was like, all the time, and it made me ache a little bit, like I had somehow let something precious just slip through my fingers. And then, you think about it a little less and a little less, and then one day you realize you’re having a hard time just remembering his face…
You know what I remember best about him at this point, George?
GEORGE
What?
PENNY
His hair. He had this one lock of hair that kept falling into his eyes… I suppose they cut all that off in the Army. And his breath.
GEORGE
His breath?
PENNY
Yeah, it always smelled minty, nice - like he brushed his teeth fifteen times a day or something.
SFX - we hear the single “ding” of a TIMER going off in the kitchen
Oh! My crusts! (she exits into the kitchen)
GEORGE goes back to reading his newspaper. The ceiling fan turns. After a few moments, JASON enters. He is in military uniform and carries a large duffel bag.
GEORGE
Hello, young man.
JASON
Hello, sir. Are you open?
GEORGE
Absolutely! Absolutely, young man. Here, have a seat. Coffee? Coke?
JASON
Coffee sounds really nice.
GEORGE
Just made a fresh pot a few minutes ago. Are you hungry?
JASON
(looks at his watch) Not really. Little late for lunch. But you know what? Those pies sure look good.
GEORGE
They are good, son. Here, try a piece of this one. Strawberry-Rhubarb.
JASON
Well, alright…
GEORGE
On the house, young man. Least we can do for a military man. Are you heading home?
JASON
I am home, sir. Landed last night in Chicago. Been in Afghanistan.
GEORGE
(takes Jason’s hand and shakes it ernestly)
Thank you, young man. Thank you for your service.
JASON
Oh my god, this pie is amazing.
GEORGE
I told you they were good! Homemade, son.
JASON
Nothing like it.
GEORGE
From the hands of our very own Penelope.
JASON
( finishing the last of his pie, hungrily)
Penelope? I knew a girl once…
(He rises and takes a TOOTHBRUSH, perhaps in a travel case, out of his jacket pocket, along with a tube of toothpaste.)
Would you excuse me a moment, sir? I’m a little fanatical… My dad was a dentist.
GEORGE
No problem, son, I understand completely. The restroom is straight back that way.
JASON
Sometimes it feels like I brush my teeth fifteen times a day… (exits)
(PENNY enters from kitchen, carrying the TIMER. She sets it on the counter.)
PENNY
Just a couple more minutes and they should be all done. (she notices the dirty plate on the table) Did somebody come in?
GEORGE
Yes.
PENNY
Well, did they order something?
GEORGE
He had some pie.
PENNY
That’s it?
GEORGE
That’s it.
PENNY
Well, I suppose it’s better than nothing. (beat) Did he like it?
GEORGE
He loved it, Penny.
PENNY
Good. (beat) Well, George, if there’s nothing else… What are you smiling about?
GEORGE
Me? Nothing?
PENNY
Well, you look like the cat that ate the canary.
Anyway, if there’s nothing else, George, I figured I’d just head on home after those pies come out of the oven. That timer should be going off any second now.
GEORGE
Sure, sure Penny. Take the rest of the day off, darlin’. And the night, too.
PENNY
The night, too? What the heck are you talking about, George?
GEORGE
Nothing, Penny. Don’t mind me.
PENNY
Well, Ok then. I’m just going to grab my purse and I’ll go out the back way. (She bends down to retrieve her purse from under the counter)
JASON enters
JASON
Well, thank you, sir. Thank you for that fantastic piece of pie.
PENNY stands, and turns to face JASON.
A moment. We see PENNY and JASON as they realize that they recognize one another. At the very moment of recognition, as the merest hint of a smile begins to creep across their faces, we hear SFX - the single “ding!” of the timer rings out.
BLACKOUT
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