Friday, August 26, 2005
Play: The Second Semester Freshman: Told in Two Acts, and Seven Scenes
I wrote a play in 1995 for my Theatre class in college. A total of three people had the chance to view this 10-year-old play until today. I'm not a professional writer and this is the only play that I've written. I'll just post Act I for now (the second Act becomes rather surreal; and I've suddenly now decided to include it anyway).
The Second Semester Freshman
By Michael S. Briggs (April 13-16, 1995)
Characters:
Dave
John (Dave's friend)
George (Dave's roommate)
Dim Figure (RA) (person that keeps things in order when the fire alarm goes off)
Woman (Cafeteria cash register attendant)
extras (crowd effect in scene II act I; and in scene II act II)
Act I
Scene I
(Note: because of the design of Act I, there are not any breaks between the scenes, since the stage is re-set while the darkened endings of the scenes are being performed; Act II involves some break between scenes)
At the beginning of act I scene I, a mildly dark room is set up on the stage. Two wooden loft beds are against the far wall, with a window next to the left loft (the audience's left), a door next to the right loft, and a refrigerator is along the wall on the other side of the door from the loft. Clothes, books, trash, and many other odds and ends are strewn around the room.
Place: A dorm room in the tallest coed hall on campus (any campus, though originally set in an Eastern USA University)
Time: Spring 1995
Set: see attached scene I design (? not sure what happened to that)
As the curtain (or lights come on if there is not a curtain available) rises, a semi-dark room is revealed that contains two sleepers on two different loft beds. Suddenly a loud fire alarm bell is heard, which awakens both sleepers in different ways. George, in the loft to the audience's right, hurriedly springs from his bed, grabs some clothes and other needed things and hurries from the room. Dave, in the other loft, springs up at the sound of the bell and crashes his head into the ceiling, and then reaches over to grab an alarm clock lying next to him.
Dave: (while, rubbing head, he mutters) Who was the idiot that lowered the ceiling while I slept . . . (he pounds on the alarm clock but the sound continues (the sound has been gradually softened)) stupid alarm clock won't stop, the same idiot that lowered the ceiling must have rewired the alarm clock . . . (he looks up and then glances around the room and the situation finally hits him). Some stupid moronic idiot has obviously decided that right now is the correct time for everyone to get up. (he mutters) Stupid fire alarm (as he carefully, since he still feels his meeting with the ceiling, drags his weary body to the loft ladder at the foot of the loft and gingerly edges his feet down the 2X4 loft ladder to the step-ladder. He attempts to walk down the step-ladder but nearly falls onto his nose after he takes the first step down, and a loud crash is heard . . . He stares at the ladder for a second and exclaims) Dang it, who was the moronic toad that put the step-ladder backwards. Some idiot needs to be told that with the steps on the inside and the supporting bar on the outside, a person that climbs down a ladder will naturally walk down the outside, and end up killing his foot if he tries to use the supporting bar as a step, when he actually expected a real step.
Dave hurriedly grabs some things and runs out of the room. The door is just about to shut when he storms back in, grabs his keys and rushes back out, and locks the door from the outside. The stage darkens.
The stage remains dark as the sounds of many people hurrying down stairs can be heard . . . (new set is set up while the sounds of people running downstairs is being heard)
End Scene 1
Scene 2 (new set)
place: outside the dorm
time: a couple of minutes later
set: see attached design for scene 2 (?)
Dave bursts from the building and pushes his way through the crowd (around 5 extras are sitting/standing around to represent a crowd; extras softly murmur during the following scene, and some smoke) until he reaches the outskirts of the crowd. He hurries over to a bench and sits down. People are sitting/standing all over the place, on the walls, on the ground, everywhere (oddly enough, they seem to avoid the benches). After a couple of seconds, Dave spots John and rushes over to him.
Dave: Hello John . . . I would have to say, that judging from the various states of undress, and the surprisingly freezing weather, I would hazard the guess that the R.A's (resident advisers, they monitor the hall) will decide to keep us out here for a while, suffering, as they check everybody's room, like they have done before, looking for "contraband". What do you think?
John: Probably will . . . (looking annoyed and staring at the "sky" mutters under his breathe, loud enough for the audience to hear) and the last blasted fire alarm was yesterday night around 1:30 am . . . when do they expect us to sleep?
Dave cuts into John's ramblings to ask: By the way, out of some odd desire to know how long until I actually have to get up for the day, do you know what time it is?
John continues looking around and remarks: Oh, I don't know, though it is probably after1:00, since me and Ed were finishing up some school work until then . . . (He wabbles over to the wall and takes a seat)
Dave (mutters to himself): Working on school work? Nah, you and Ed were probably up till after 1:00 but not because of school work . . . (he starts to follow John to the wall when a dim figure comes to the door of the building and announces)
Dim figure (R.A.): A . . . . bomb . . . second floor . . . everyone on that floor . . . see me . . . check your room . . . (the distance and the crowd drown him out).
Dave: What the heck did he just say?
John: Oh, something odd like everyone on the second floor has to come forward and that they're going to use their keys to examine someone's room . . .
Dave (baffled, and not completely figuring out what John meant replies): Ah . . . good . . . another 20 minutes standing out here freezing to death . . . this fire drill must be the worst one . . .
John (leaps up and grabs onto Dave's shirt, tearing it in the process): Hey, weren't you here last week . . . (Dave nods, but John continues without noticing) We were here standing around freezing for over an hour . . . (John loses some of his excitement and mutters) that was the worst one . . .
Dim figure (RA) is at the door and he waves everyone in.
Everyone rushes inside . . . stage becomes dark and sounds of people running (or dragging their weary little legs) up the stairs . . .
John's voice, sounding exhausted: Why in the world would you always choose to travel six flights of stairs instead of just using the comfortable, relaxing elevator?
Dave's voice, also exhausted: Well . . . I don't want to join the 200 . . . (breaks are from exhaustion) people on the elevator . . . I always think that the thing will get stuck, like it used to in the first semester, and then I'd be stuck in a cramped smelly space with 200 other people breathing my air and crushing me . . .
Sound of a door opening
Dave: Well, this is my floor, goodnight
John: Sixth floor? Blasted stupidity, I'm on the second floor, why'd I just climb up this many flights . . .
Scene ends, set changed during the darkness.
Scene III
Place: same as scene I
Time: a couple of minutes latter
Set: same as scene I
The door opens and Dave stumbles into the slightly light room, and mutters:
Dave: The doors unlocked. I locked it, my roommate must have already returned . . .
Dave wanders into the room and sees all of his stuff that had been on the top of his bookshelf has now taken up residence on the floor, which includes his fan; all of which were knocked down when Dave tried to climb down the ladder.
Dave shrugs: I'll take care of that in the morning . . .
He carefully climbs up the ladder and crawls into his bed.
End Scene III
End Act I
Act II
Scene I
Place: same dorm room
Time: mid-afternoon, the next day
set: same as in Act I Scene I
The curtain rises and the audience is presented with a view of the room that looks similar to Scene I, with mess all over the place and two sleeping forms, except for two things. One is the new stuff knocked over by Dave, and the other is the sun light coming in through the window. The light of the sun shines through the vertical blinds and brightens the room to the point in which turning on the lights would not cause the room to become any brighter. A ray of light shoots its way through the vertical blinds and finds its way to the sleeping form of Dave. He rolls around in bed looking for an area of the bed not in the light. He grumbles and reaches his hand over to his alarm clock, causing his head to start to hurt again. He grabs the alarm clock with one hand and his head with the other hand. He sleepily examines the clock. The time, not visible to the audience, visibly startles the young "hero".
Dave mumbles: What the . . . 10:00 AM! (He examines the clock some more, playing with some of its buttons and mutters) The alarm is set at 6:00 am, so . . . Dang it, that stupid fire alarm has messed up my day. I banged on the stupid alarm clock trying to shut it up, and now I have found out that, in reality, that's what I've accomplished. I've succeeded in turning off the alarm and succeeded in missing my first two classes, and am in the process of missing a third class. (He stumbles around in the bed and then carefully climbs down the ladder and very carefully feels his way down the step ladder, and safely reaches the ground, causing him to smile and take a step forward, which then causes him to trip over some of the things that were earlier knocked over, and he lands into his rocker, bounces off of that and ends up on the floor sitting up).
Dave mutters: Luckily the room is so small that I am able to trip over trash, while at the same time am able to land on my butt, instead of my nose, (his roommate glances down at the fallen Dave and mumbles:
George: I'd give you a 10, but you messed up in the style category, so I'll have to give you a 7 (with that said, George rolls over and falls back to sleep).
Dave mutters: very funny . . . (he suddenly gets a odd look on his face and jumps up) if George is still in bed, then maybe the clock is wrong, or I have the wrong day in my mind . . . (he grimaces from pain as he drags his body over to his messy desk and begins a long and labored search for his watch; after making a lot of noise, and generally making his desk messier, he finally finds his watch and happily holds it over his head, then frowns when he jams his hand into the overhanging loft, he drags his now sore hand out of the loft and stares at the watch. He sees that in the spot of "Day" is the word "Mon", and in the spot of time is "10:15" (Note: unless produced as very surreal, with a huge watch that can be seen by the audience, then Dave needs to mutter)
Dave: This stupid watch must be wrong, it has the audacity to bluntly state that today is "Mon" and that the time is "10:15", and since the sun is out, I'll assume that it means 10:15 am. That means that my luck is continuing to . . . (Dave turns around and glances at the bare top bookshelf and gasps) Great, I forgot about knocking everything over last night . . . ok, either I'll sit around here cleaning it or I'll try to make my already started class. (Dave hurriedly flings on any article of clothing that he can lay his hands on, and starts to rush toward the door, but stops and grabs the junk that he normally puts into his pocket. He again starts to rush to the door but stops himself right before he is about to trip over the trash can. He grabs his bookbag. Without combing his hair, or making sure that his clothes actually adequately protect him, he runs out of the room, leaving his roommate in an unlocked room).
end Scene I
Scene II
Place: on a path supposedly leading from his dorm to his class
Time: somewhere around 10:26
set: see Act II Scene II design
Dave runs at top speed along the path and suddenly stops.
Dave thinking aloud: Why does everyone keep looking at me? I could have sworn that the last two people even laughed. (Dave looks down to what he is wearing and what might be funny about it) Ok, I didn't comb my hair, so that's all messed up . . . I appear to be wearing two completely different style shoes, both of which are killing my feet . . . the long johns are covering my socks so . . . LONG JOHNS! what happened to my pants? (Dave quickly glances around and then studies his watch) Well, they'll have to do, I've seen women wandering around in similar leg wear, and I don't have time to change, even though I am also wearing a super small Mickey Mouse pajama top. (Dave continues to hurry to class when he is stopped by John).
John: Whoa there . . . ah . . . insane asylum escapee, don't you think that you need some clothes?
Dave: Yes, I realize that I look stupid, but I need to get to class . . . wait a second, aren't you in my 10:00 class?
John: Sure, but we don't have it today, you ignorant slob, don't you remember? Today's class was canceled for conferences . . . you know, so that people can talk to the teacher about their papers . . .
Dave: And that's just for this class right (John nods his head) Ok then, I also have an 11:00 o'clock class and I haven't eaten yet, so I'll eat breakfast and go to that....
John (sarcastically): I always pick food over appearances . . .
Dave: I can tell, what is that any way? it looks like you have a pizza stain from the top of your shirt down to your belly . . .oh well, off I go to enjoy the wonderful breakfast food . . .
Dave runs off of the stage heading for food, and John exits going the other direction.
Curtain falls, or the lights go out
End of Scene II of Act II
Scene III
Place: Cafeteria
Time: 10:31
set: see Scene III (of act II) design
A large oldish woman sits behind a cash register as Dave appears at the (audience's) left door. A large Clock hangs on a wall next to the cash register and in view of the audience. On the clock is 10:31.
Woman (wearing a hair net and a blue outfit): You do know that we stopped serving breakfast, don't you?
Dave (glances over to the clock, then at the woman, back to the clock and then back to the woman): But breakfast ends at 10:30, it just now turned to 10:31, can't you let me in?
Woman: I would probably under different circumstances, but not this time, we have policies you know. I can't let you in looking like you do, you'll scare and sicken the customers.
Dave (glances around the empty room and sighs): Yep, a lot of your non-existent customers would be terrified to see me . . . (Dave backs up and catches himself as he begins to trip down the stairs) stupid shoes, how did I end up with two different kinds of shoes, neither of which I can actually wear?
Dave stops at a vending machine outside of the entrance to the cafeteria and grabs some food and drink, he then sits down against the wall and slowly eats the food. He figures that he is close enough to his next class that he can rest a second to eat.
End of Scene III
Scene IV
Place: on the path again
Time: 10:55
Set: see act II, scene II design
Dave continues his search for his next class through horribly stormy weather (lights, fog, and sound effects create the effect, don't need a sprinkler system). Thunder and lightning flash and boom in the background, and Dave's hair finally looks combed, though that's only because of the water pushing it down.
Dave: This is great, just great. If it weren't for this stupid weather I'd have gotten to class already. (Dave looks up and sees a pack of "wild" dogs coming towards him) Ah, I knew that the weather wasn't enough to slow me down. Yep, I needed some dogs to tangle with. Well, one thing at least gives me hope. I'm wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt, and all the cartoons I've seen have the dog helping the mouse.
Pack of Dogs start growling when they see Dave and immediately stop and stare at him. Dave tries to keep from staring back, but he can't help it. He can't stop staring at the dogs.
Dave: What, a pack of wild wiener dogs? Ya got to be kidding . . . (lighting strikes in the distance could use wiring along the wall and this scares the dogs, who all decide to run away, though not all of them go in the same direction highly trained dogs) Well, I was doubting there for a minute. Yes, after all of the humiliation and annoyance of the past day, I knew that I could count on . . . (darkness descends on the stage, and a huge noise, along with a scream, is heard . . . )
(Note: ending open to interpretation of the producing company. Though I have set it up as ending with a lighting strike. Producing company might change ending on different nights/showings)
End Scene IV, End Act II, End of Play
I probably should edit this more (or at least read the second act) . . .
The Second Semester Freshman
By Michael S. Briggs (April 13-16, 1995)
Characters:
Dave
John (Dave's friend)
George (Dave's roommate)
Dim Figure (RA) (person that keeps things in order when the fire alarm goes off)
Woman (Cafeteria cash register attendant)
extras (crowd effect in scene II act I; and in scene II act II)
Act I
Scene I
(Note: because of the design of Act I, there are not any breaks between the scenes, since the stage is re-set while the darkened endings of the scenes are being performed; Act II involves some break between scenes)
At the beginning of act I scene I, a mildly dark room is set up on the stage. Two wooden loft beds are against the far wall, with a window next to the left loft (the audience's left), a door next to the right loft, and a refrigerator is along the wall on the other side of the door from the loft. Clothes, books, trash, and many other odds and ends are strewn around the room.
Place: A dorm room in the tallest coed hall on campus (any campus, though originally set in an Eastern USA University)
Time: Spring 1995
Set: see attached scene I design (? not sure what happened to that)
As the curtain (or lights come on if there is not a curtain available) rises, a semi-dark room is revealed that contains two sleepers on two different loft beds. Suddenly a loud fire alarm bell is heard, which awakens both sleepers in different ways. George, in the loft to the audience's right, hurriedly springs from his bed, grabs some clothes and other needed things and hurries from the room. Dave, in the other loft, springs up at the sound of the bell and crashes his head into the ceiling, and then reaches over to grab an alarm clock lying next to him.
Dave: (while, rubbing head, he mutters) Who was the idiot that lowered the ceiling while I slept . . . (he pounds on the alarm clock but the sound continues (the sound has been gradually softened)) stupid alarm clock won't stop, the same idiot that lowered the ceiling must have rewired the alarm clock . . . (he looks up and then glances around the room and the situation finally hits him). Some stupid moronic idiot has obviously decided that right now is the correct time for everyone to get up. (he mutters) Stupid fire alarm (as he carefully, since he still feels his meeting with the ceiling, drags his weary body to the loft ladder at the foot of the loft and gingerly edges his feet down the 2X4 loft ladder to the step-ladder. He attempts to walk down the step-ladder but nearly falls onto his nose after he takes the first step down, and a loud crash is heard . . . He stares at the ladder for a second and exclaims) Dang it, who was the moronic toad that put the step-ladder backwards. Some idiot needs to be told that with the steps on the inside and the supporting bar on the outside, a person that climbs down a ladder will naturally walk down the outside, and end up killing his foot if he tries to use the supporting bar as a step, when he actually expected a real step.
Dave hurriedly grabs some things and runs out of the room. The door is just about to shut when he storms back in, grabs his keys and rushes back out, and locks the door from the outside. The stage darkens.
The stage remains dark as the sounds of many people hurrying down stairs can be heard . . . (new set is set up while the sounds of people running downstairs is being heard)
End Scene 1
Scene 2 (new set)
place: outside the dorm
time: a couple of minutes later
set: see attached design for scene 2 (?)
Dave bursts from the building and pushes his way through the crowd (around 5 extras are sitting/standing around to represent a crowd; extras softly murmur during the following scene, and some smoke) until he reaches the outskirts of the crowd. He hurries over to a bench and sits down. People are sitting/standing all over the place, on the walls, on the ground, everywhere (oddly enough, they seem to avoid the benches). After a couple of seconds, Dave spots John and rushes over to him.
Dave: Hello John . . . I would have to say, that judging from the various states of undress, and the surprisingly freezing weather, I would hazard the guess that the R.A's (resident advisers, they monitor the hall) will decide to keep us out here for a while, suffering, as they check everybody's room, like they have done before, looking for "contraband". What do you think?
John: Probably will . . . (looking annoyed and staring at the "sky" mutters under his breathe, loud enough for the audience to hear) and the last blasted fire alarm was yesterday night around 1:30 am . . . when do they expect us to sleep?
Dave cuts into John's ramblings to ask: By the way, out of some odd desire to know how long until I actually have to get up for the day, do you know what time it is?
John continues looking around and remarks: Oh, I don't know, though it is probably after1:00, since me and Ed were finishing up some school work until then . . . (He wabbles over to the wall and takes a seat)
Dave (mutters to himself): Working on school work? Nah, you and Ed were probably up till after 1:00 but not because of school work . . . (he starts to follow John to the wall when a dim figure comes to the door of the building and announces)
Dim figure (R.A.): A . . . . bomb . . . second floor . . . everyone on that floor . . . see me . . . check your room . . . (the distance and the crowd drown him out).
Dave: What the heck did he just say?
John: Oh, something odd like everyone on the second floor has to come forward and that they're going to use their keys to examine someone's room . . .
Dave (baffled, and not completely figuring out what John meant replies): Ah . . . good . . . another 20 minutes standing out here freezing to death . . . this fire drill must be the worst one . . .
John (leaps up and grabs onto Dave's shirt, tearing it in the process): Hey, weren't you here last week . . . (Dave nods, but John continues without noticing) We were here standing around freezing for over an hour . . . (John loses some of his excitement and mutters) that was the worst one . . .
Dim figure (RA) is at the door and he waves everyone in.
Everyone rushes inside . . . stage becomes dark and sounds of people running (or dragging their weary little legs) up the stairs . . .
John's voice, sounding exhausted: Why in the world would you always choose to travel six flights of stairs instead of just using the comfortable, relaxing elevator?
Dave's voice, also exhausted: Well . . . I don't want to join the 200 . . . (breaks are from exhaustion) people on the elevator . . . I always think that the thing will get stuck, like it used to in the first semester, and then I'd be stuck in a cramped smelly space with 200 other people breathing my air and crushing me . . .
Sound of a door opening
Dave: Well, this is my floor, goodnight
John: Sixth floor? Blasted stupidity, I'm on the second floor, why'd I just climb up this many flights . . .
Scene ends, set changed during the darkness.
Scene III
Place: same as scene I
Time: a couple of minutes latter
Set: same as scene I
The door opens and Dave stumbles into the slightly light room, and mutters:
Dave: The doors unlocked. I locked it, my roommate must have already returned . . .
Dave wanders into the room and sees all of his stuff that had been on the top of his bookshelf has now taken up residence on the floor, which includes his fan; all of which were knocked down when Dave tried to climb down the ladder.
Dave shrugs: I'll take care of that in the morning . . .
He carefully climbs up the ladder and crawls into his bed.
End Scene III
End Act I
Act II
Scene I
Place: same dorm room
Time: mid-afternoon, the next day
set: same as in Act I Scene I
The curtain rises and the audience is presented with a view of the room that looks similar to Scene I, with mess all over the place and two sleeping forms, except for two things. One is the new stuff knocked over by Dave, and the other is the sun light coming in through the window. The light of the sun shines through the vertical blinds and brightens the room to the point in which turning on the lights would not cause the room to become any brighter. A ray of light shoots its way through the vertical blinds and finds its way to the sleeping form of Dave. He rolls around in bed looking for an area of the bed not in the light. He grumbles and reaches his hand over to his alarm clock, causing his head to start to hurt again. He grabs the alarm clock with one hand and his head with the other hand. He sleepily examines the clock. The time, not visible to the audience, visibly startles the young "hero".
Dave mumbles: What the . . . 10:00 AM! (He examines the clock some more, playing with some of its buttons and mutters) The alarm is set at 6:00 am, so . . . Dang it, that stupid fire alarm has messed up my day. I banged on the stupid alarm clock trying to shut it up, and now I have found out that, in reality, that's what I've accomplished. I've succeeded in turning off the alarm and succeeded in missing my first two classes, and am in the process of missing a third class. (He stumbles around in the bed and then carefully climbs down the ladder and very carefully feels his way down the step ladder, and safely reaches the ground, causing him to smile and take a step forward, which then causes him to trip over some of the things that were earlier knocked over, and he lands into his rocker, bounces off of that and ends up on the floor sitting up).
Dave mutters: Luckily the room is so small that I am able to trip over trash, while at the same time am able to land on my butt, instead of my nose, (his roommate glances down at the fallen Dave and mumbles:
George: I'd give you a 10, but you messed up in the style category, so I'll have to give you a 7 (with that said, George rolls over and falls back to sleep).
Dave mutters: very funny . . . (he suddenly gets a odd look on his face and jumps up) if George is still in bed, then maybe the clock is wrong, or I have the wrong day in my mind . . . (he grimaces from pain as he drags his body over to his messy desk and begins a long and labored search for his watch; after making a lot of noise, and generally making his desk messier, he finally finds his watch and happily holds it over his head, then frowns when he jams his hand into the overhanging loft, he drags his now sore hand out of the loft and stares at the watch. He sees that in the spot of "Day" is the word "Mon", and in the spot of time is "10:15" (Note: unless produced as very surreal, with a huge watch that can be seen by the audience, then Dave needs to mutter)
Dave: This stupid watch must be wrong, it has the audacity to bluntly state that today is "Mon" and that the time is "10:15", and since the sun is out, I'll assume that it means 10:15 am. That means that my luck is continuing to . . . (Dave turns around and glances at the bare top bookshelf and gasps) Great, I forgot about knocking everything over last night . . . ok, either I'll sit around here cleaning it or I'll try to make my already started class. (Dave hurriedly flings on any article of clothing that he can lay his hands on, and starts to rush toward the door, but stops and grabs the junk that he normally puts into his pocket. He again starts to rush to the door but stops himself right before he is about to trip over the trash can. He grabs his bookbag. Without combing his hair, or making sure that his clothes actually adequately protect him, he runs out of the room, leaving his roommate in an unlocked room).
end Scene I
Scene II
Place: on a path supposedly leading from his dorm to his class
Time: somewhere around 10:26
set: see Act II Scene II design
Dave runs at top speed along the path and suddenly stops.
Dave thinking aloud: Why does everyone keep looking at me? I could have sworn that the last two people even laughed. (Dave looks down to what he is wearing and what might be funny about it) Ok, I didn't comb my hair, so that's all messed up . . . I appear to be wearing two completely different style shoes, both of which are killing my feet . . . the long johns are covering my socks so . . . LONG JOHNS! what happened to my pants? (Dave quickly glances around and then studies his watch) Well, they'll have to do, I've seen women wandering around in similar leg wear, and I don't have time to change, even though I am also wearing a super small Mickey Mouse pajama top. (Dave continues to hurry to class when he is stopped by John).
John: Whoa there . . . ah . . . insane asylum escapee, don't you think that you need some clothes?
Dave: Yes, I realize that I look stupid, but I need to get to class . . . wait a second, aren't you in my 10:00 class?
John: Sure, but we don't have it today, you ignorant slob, don't you remember? Today's class was canceled for conferences . . . you know, so that people can talk to the teacher about their papers . . .
Dave: And that's just for this class right (John nods his head) Ok then, I also have an 11:00 o'clock class and I haven't eaten yet, so I'll eat breakfast and go to that....
John (sarcastically): I always pick food over appearances . . .
Dave: I can tell, what is that any way? it looks like you have a pizza stain from the top of your shirt down to your belly . . .oh well, off I go to enjoy the wonderful breakfast food . . .
Dave runs off of the stage heading for food, and John exits going the other direction.
Curtain falls, or the lights go out
End of Scene II of Act II
Scene III
Place: Cafeteria
Time: 10:31
set: see Scene III (of act II) design
A large oldish woman sits behind a cash register as Dave appears at the (audience's) left door. A large Clock hangs on a wall next to the cash register and in view of the audience. On the clock is 10:31.
Woman (wearing a hair net and a blue outfit): You do know that we stopped serving breakfast, don't you?
Dave (glances over to the clock, then at the woman, back to the clock and then back to the woman): But breakfast ends at 10:30, it just now turned to 10:31, can't you let me in?
Woman: I would probably under different circumstances, but not this time, we have policies you know. I can't let you in looking like you do, you'll scare and sicken the customers.
Dave (glances around the empty room and sighs): Yep, a lot of your non-existent customers would be terrified to see me . . . (Dave backs up and catches himself as he begins to trip down the stairs) stupid shoes, how did I end up with two different kinds of shoes, neither of which I can actually wear?
Dave stops at a vending machine outside of the entrance to the cafeteria and grabs some food and drink, he then sits down against the wall and slowly eats the food. He figures that he is close enough to his next class that he can rest a second to eat.
End of Scene III
Scene IV
Place: on the path again
Time: 10:55
Set: see act II, scene II design
Dave continues his search for his next class through horribly stormy weather (lights, fog, and sound effects create the effect, don't need a sprinkler system). Thunder and lightning flash and boom in the background, and Dave's hair finally looks combed, though that's only because of the water pushing it down.
Dave: This is great, just great. If it weren't for this stupid weather I'd have gotten to class already. (Dave looks up and sees a pack of "wild" dogs coming towards him) Ah, I knew that the weather wasn't enough to slow me down. Yep, I needed some dogs to tangle with. Well, one thing at least gives me hope. I'm wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt, and all the cartoons I've seen have the dog helping the mouse.
Pack of Dogs start growling when they see Dave and immediately stop and stare at him. Dave tries to keep from staring back, but he can't help it. He can't stop staring at the dogs.
Dave: What, a pack of wild wiener dogs? Ya got to be kidding . . . (lighting strikes in the distance could use wiring along the wall and this scares the dogs, who all decide to run away, though not all of them go in the same direction highly trained dogs) Well, I was doubting there for a minute. Yes, after all of the humiliation and annoyance of the past day, I knew that I could count on . . . (darkness descends on the stage, and a huge noise, along with a scream, is heard . . . )
(Note: ending open to interpretation of the producing company. Though I have set it up as ending with a lighting strike. Producing company might change ending on different nights/showings)
End Scene IV, End Act II, End of Play
I probably should edit this more (or at least read the second act) . . .
