[School bell, sound of young people.]
Now we’re going to go back to the day two of our kind really saw each other for the first time. And knew that there was some future in it.
[Beat.]
Oh, this is high school and well, you all remember what that was like. In your heart of hearts aren’t you still standing by your locker waiting for that certain one to walk by and maybe, just maybe stop to say your name?
• • •
STAGE MANAGER Excuse me, you’re interrupting a wedding.
[To audience.]
There’s never any lack of trouble for what ought be a person’s own business. George’s father never spoke to him again after he found out. Emily’s mother, well, she kept in touch but wouldn’t look Elizabeth in the eye. It’s a hard thing when your own turn away. It’s a powerful hold they’ve got on our hearts and minds—Mother. Father. The world is unforgiving enough without the people who brought us up in it taking the other side. So, let’s not allow that part of the world in today. Just for a little while, let’s give these families a break.
[Beat.]
It seems to me we’d all sleep better at night knowing our children had someone decent to worry over them each and every day, each and every time they laid their head down to rest from the day’s struggle. What does it matter, all the rest of it?
[Music starts again. STAGE MANAGER turns her back to the audience and toward the couples.]
I now pronounce you part of the human race that has the good fortune and the daily struggle of being married.
[Turns her head back to the audience.]
We wish them all the best, don’t we?
[The lights shift, as the couples move out. STAGE MANAGER rearranges the boxes or chairs onstage.]
Well now, this is the hard part. This last scene, if you haven’t already figured it out, is called “The End of Things.” Of course, that’s only one way of seeing it. Once you’ve known someone, they never stop being a part of how you look at the world. That goes for the living as well as the dead. And who knows but that we’re being watched over somehow or carried out into the eternal universe, by every soul we ever mattered to or mattered to us.
[Beat.]
But our sad friends don’t know any of this today. So bear with them.
Credits and Permissions
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Abeille, A. K., and David Manos Morris. A Little Haunting. Copyright © 2013 by A. K. Abeille and David Manos Morris. From The Best American Short Plays 2011–2012.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Albert, Michael Ross. Starfishes (excerpt). Copyright © 2012 by Michael Ross Albert. From The Best American Short Plays 2010–2011.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Allard, Janet. Creatures. Copyright © 2012 by Janet Allard. From The Best American Short Plays 2010–2011.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to Mark Orsini, Bret Adams, LTD, 448 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036, 212-765-5360.
Armstrong, James. The Rainbow (excerpts). Copyright © 2012 by James Armstrong. From The Best American Short Plays 2012–2013.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected] or www.armstrongplays.com.
Ayvazian, Leslie. Deaf Day. Copyright © 2000 by Leslie Ayvazian. From The Best American Short Plays 2001–2002.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to Leslie Ayvazian, c/o Abrams Artists Agency, 275 Seventh Avenue, 26th Floor, New York, NY 10001.
Bolen, John. A Song for Me, or Getting the Oscar (excerpt). Copyright © 2012 by John Bolen. From The Best American Short Plays 2010–2011.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected] or P.O. Box 53394, Irvine, CA 92619-3394.
Canady, Darren. You’re Invited! (excerpts). Copyright © 2012 by Darren Canady. From The Best American Short Plays 2010–2011.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Englar, Brent. Snowbound (excerpt). Copyright © 2011, 2012 by Brent Englar. From The Best American Short Plays 2010–2011.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Fitts, Jonathan. White or the Muskox Play (excerpt). Copyright © 2012 by Jonathan Fitts. From The Best American Short Plays 2011–2012.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Freni, Edith. Flare (excerpt). Copyright © 2014 by Edith Freni. From The Best American Short Plays 2012–2013.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to Ron Gwiazda, Abrams Artists Agency, 275 Seventh Ave., 26th Floor, New York, NY 10001, 646-461-9325 (tel.), 646-486-0100 (fax), or [email protected].
Gomez, Gabriel Rivas. Scar Tissue (excerpt). Copyright © 2011, 2012 by Gabriel Rivas Gomez. From The Best American Short Plays 2010–2011.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Guare, John. Blue Monologue. Copyright © 2008 by John Guare. Reprinted by permission of ICM Partners. One of seven works collected by Daniel Gallant under the heading Five-Story Walkup, copyright © 2008 by John Guare, Neil LaBute, Quincy Long, Laura Shaine, Daniel Frederick Levin, Clay McLeod Chapman, and Daniel Gallant. From The Best American Short Plays 2007–2008. What It Was Like. Copyright © 2008 by John Guare. Reprinted by permission of ICM Partners. One of seven works collected by Daniel Gallant under the heading Seven-Card Draw, copyright © 2010 by Daniel Gallant, Clay McLeod Chapman, John Guare, Neil LaBute, Daniel Frederick Levin, Quincy Long, and Laura Shaine. From The Best American Short Plays 2009–2010.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to ICM Partners, 730 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, 212-556-5784.
Hall, Angela C. Wife Shop (excerpt). Copyright © 2012 by Angela C. Hall. From The Best American Short Plays. Copyright © 2011–2012. From The Best American Short Plays.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected] or Angela C. Hall, 338 Southern Bell Tower Road, Dublin, GA 31021.
Holland, Patrick. The Cowboy (excerpt). Copyright © 2013 by Patrick Holland. From The Best American Short Plays 2011–2012.
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La Force, Kimberly. A Marriage Proposal (excerpt). Copyright © 2012 by Kimberly La Force. From The Best American Short Plays 2010–2011.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Miller, Susan. It’s Our Town, Too (excerpts). Copyright © 1993 by Susan Miller. From The Best American Short Plays 1992–1993.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to Joyce Ketay, The Gersh Agency, 41 Madison Avenue, 33rd Floor, New York, NY 10010, 212-634-8105, or [email protected].
Pepper, Cary. Come Again, Another Day (excerpts). Copyright © 2013 by Cary Pepper. From The Best American Short Plays 2011–2012.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Pink, Andrea Sloan. Warner Bros. (excerpts). Copyright © 2011 by Andrea Sloan Pink. From The Best American Short Plays 2011–2012.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Pospisil, Craig. Dissonance (excerpts). Copyright © 2012 by Craig Pospisil. From The Best American Short Plays 2010–2011.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to Bruce Miller, Washington Square Arts and Films, 310 Bowery, New York, NY 10012, www.wsfilms.com.
Rusiecki, David. Kid Gloves (excerpt). Copyright © 2013 by David Rusiecki. From The Best American Short Plays 2012–2013.
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be addressed to [email protected].
Schisgal, Murray. The Hysterical Misogynist (excerpt). Copyright © 2007 by Murray Schisgal. Used by permission. From The Best American Short Plays 2007–2008. Naked Old Man. Copyright © 2009 by Murray Schisgal. Used by permission. From The Best American Short Plays 2008–2009. Queenie. Copyright © 1993 by Murray Schisgal. Used by permission. From The Best American Short Plays 2002–2003.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to Zachary Schisgal, [email protected].
Schmidt, Kyle John. St. Matilde’s Malady (excerpt). Copyright © 2012 by Kyle John Schmidt. From The Best American Short Plays 2010–2011.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Silverstein, Shel. The Devil and Billy Markham. Copyright © 1991 by Evil Eye, LLC. All rights reserved. Used by permission. From The Best American Short Plays 1991–1992. The Trio (excerpt). Copyright © 1999 by Shel Silverstein. From The Best American Short Plays 1997–1998. And from The Man-Woman Plays Collection by Shel Silverstein. Copyright © 2002 by Evil Eye, LLC. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to Evil Eye, LLC, P.O. Box 5324, Madison, WI 53705-0324.
Skillman, Crystal. Rise (excerpt). Copyright © 2013 by Crystal Skillman. From The Best American Short Plays 2012–2013.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected] and Amy Wagner, Abrams Agency, [email protected].
Soderberg, Douglas. The Root of Chaos (excerpt). Copyright © 1984 by Douglas Soderberg. From The Best American Short Plays 1986.
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Soland, Lisa. Spatial Disorientation (excerpts). Copyright © 2013 by Lisa Soland. From The Best American Short Plays 2012–2013.
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Thelen, Lawrence. Ichabod Crane Tells All. Copyright © 2013 by Lawrence Thelen. From The Best American Short Plays 2011–2012.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected] or care of the Dramatists Guild, New York.
van Itallie, Jean-Claude, and Joseph Chaikin, Struck Dumb. Copyright © 1992 by Jean-Claude van Itallie and Joseph Chaikin. From The Best American Short Plays 1991–1992.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to [email protected].
Wellman, Mac. The Sandalwood Box (excerpts). Copyright © 1995–1996 by Mac Wellman. From The Best American Short Plays 1995–1996.
Inquiries concerning rights should be addressed to Buddy Thomas, ICM Talent, [email protected].
Best Monologues from the Best American Short Plays, Volume Three Page 16