Can we talk about this?
By: Mark J. Sutherland
Characters:
Mike (boyfriend)
Marla (girlfriend)
The scene opens with the stage black. A fade in of lights reveals a city skyline in the background and in the foreground, the wires and road resembling a suspension bridge and two adult figures. As the lights increase intensity, a sense of dawn is felt as the post 9/11 NYC skyline and backdrop reveals a red sunrise warning with its change of colors. The stage offers a feeling of being high above water and should resemble something that of the George Washington Bridge in Brooklyn / Queens but which New York bridge is irrelevant. Dark, oppressive shadows of the bridge give in as light focuses more on the two motionless characters, MIKE and MARLA, side by side, standing on the bridge's edge and staring down into the unknown, dark abyss below.
[A FOG HORN SOUNDS like that of a lighthouse to warn of a nearby harbor]
[MARLA is the first to move. She raises her chin and looks to her right. Staring at Mike still gazing below, she inhales slowly and then exhales abruptly, in the form of a question]
MARLA
Can we talk about this?
MIKE
We can.
MARLA
Now?
MIKE
It's as good a time as any. Actually, it's better now than later.
Hahaha.
MARLA
Look. This is something serious. It's not just something people do on a whim.
[Mike gets serious, lowering his voice]
MIKE
Something has been bothering me.
Really that is all this is and it has been bothering me more
than I think I am going to be able to, no,
more than I think I am willing to, no,
more than I CAN handle.
[Mike shakes his head in disbelief]
MIKE
Shits more than I can handle Marla.
[Mike PAUSES, takes a deep breath, and steps forward. ]
[Marla GASPS and grabs his left forearm with her right hand. ]
MIKE
It's...too much.
MARLA
You're being so fucking unfair.
You're so great at thinking about yourself you selfish prick!
MIKE
Nice love. That's not talking, that's attacking.
Should that be the last thing spoken or
you want to do this Romeo and Juliet style?
MARLA
You're attacking me every time you shift your weight
and make my heart sink. You said together forever.
Romeo and Juliet? Try Bonnie and Clyde except
I'm Clyde and you're more Bonnie's tampon.
[Marla laughs quickly and stops when she sees Mike only grins]
[Mike shifts his weight AWAY from the edge just slightly and steps with his left foot towards Marla. He looks at Marla for the first time starting with her feet and traces her body with his eyes and he notices how her light blue dress is catching updrafts of wind and exposing her nude legs high enough to see her white laced panties]
[Marla meets Mike's stare. An awkward to forgiving pause takes place when facial expressions go from stern to soft over the course of about 8 seconds. ]
[Mike then walks towards Marla and she steps with each of his steps and they stand again center stage. Mike tenderly reaches for Marla's wrist and takes it with two fingers and his thumb, as if afraid to break her hand.]
MIKE
Baby, I'm not happy. I haven't been happy.
MARLA
I've never heard of anyone giving up and finding happiness.
MIKE
I'm not going to chase it either. Everyone around me is happier. You know why? Because I'm the most miserable of anyone I know.
MARLA
You don't know many people, that's not a fair assessment.
MIKE
Yea, not like you. You know lots.
[Mike looks down, away from Marla and into the darkness below.]
MARLA
What the hell does that mean?
MIKE
Nothing, just that I've thought this through and I want to end it today. No more waking up to ordinary.
MARLA
No more waking up at all Mike.
MIKE
That's how I roll, Marlboro.
MARLA
I hate it when you call me that.
MIKE
I hate.
MARLA
I'm pregnant.
[Mike snaps his head back at Marla's eyes.]
MIKE
What the fuck shit no helluva way you what the fuck?
MARLA
I said, I'm pregnant!
MIKE
I know what you said. I also know you've said that only a hundred times
before and we don't have a hundred kids.
[A long pause and only Marla's increasing shortness of breath hints to the mood on stage. Mike senses her anger and fuels it.]
MIKE
Is it mine?
[Marla lets her right hand up from the bridge's rail and her weight starts to pull her over the edge.]
[Mike's three fingers become both his hands in an instant and he yanks her easily into his arms. ]
MIKE
I'm sorry; I shouldn't have said that.
MARLA
I wanted you to hold me or I wanted to die.
MIKE
I wanted to hold you.
MARLA
Before you die?
MIKE
Something like that...
[Mike kisses Marla on the forehead as if to say 'good-bye' and then moves his mouth to hers and presses his lips and face into hers so much that her head is forced backwards, awkwardly, painfully.]
MARLA
Ouch Mike! That hurt!
[Marla (R.C.) pushes Mike away from her and holds her left hand near her left cheek, upstage from audience and both step away from each other, leaving the entire Down Center of stage between them.]
MARLA
Damnit Mike, what the hell?
MIKE
I dunno. I feel weird. I was trying to lighten the mood.
MARLA
By shoving your face and head into mine?
[Marla rubs her face in her hands briefly and then traces her lips with her fingers.]
MARLA
Mike, that really hurt my mouth.
[Mike begins speaking in monotone for the remainder of the scene. As if a strange calm, a weird solace has overtaken and possessed whatever was human about him. He has become a shell of a man and his voice is cold and lacking all empathy.]
MIKE
I'm sorry babe. I didn't mean to do it like that.
MARLA
I hate it when you get like this.
I hate you, when you act like that.
MIKE
Know what? I agree.
I hate being like this and I'll never be like that again after today.
MARLA
That's not what I was getting at. It doesn't have to be like this.
MIKE
But, that's why we're here.
MARLA
That's why YOU'RE here.
MIKE
That's why WE'RE here!
MARLA
Please, Mike, please.
MIKE
No Marlboro. Let's go. Let's all go.
MARLA
You would really do that to me, to your child, our baby?
MIKE
I'm doing us a favor. We talked about this. The baby changes nothing.
MARLA
She changes everything.
MIKE
She? It's a she now? You cannot even tell you're pregnant.
This is just like you to be like this now.
MARLA
A daughter, yes Mike, I feel her.
I even feel like she can sense the danger she's in.
MIKE
Danger? Marls, you gotta get this family life stuff out of your head.
Come on babe, it's time.
[Mike suggestively moves himself to the edge, beckons Marla with a wave of his hand. He notices her body weight shift away from him and he becomes enraged.]
MIKE
[Monotone]
Don't be like that.
[Defensively, Marla steps back and Mike begins to charge at Marla.]
[Marla panics and runs upstage left, center, right, twisting and turning as Mike chases her around for a few seconds before trapping her near the edge with a dark, vertical metal pole in-between them. Out of breath, they stare each other down in a standoff.]
MARLA
Mike, please. Don't be like this!
MIKE
[Monotone voice, but louder than before]
Don't be like that.
MARLA
Not like this. Please, not like this.
[Without warning, Mike grabs at Marla and tries to pull her toward him and the edge. She unexpectedly gives in briefly and surprises Mike as she shift her weight into him.]
[Mike loses his balance and Marla grabs the metal pole, her lifeline, and stops her momentum from following Mike's silent body as it falls into the dark abyss below and after Marla stares motionless for 8 seconds over the edge, holding onto the pole, she pulls herself back and places her palms on her lower abdomen.]
[A FOG HORN SOUNDS]
MARLA
[Monotone, emotionless]
Go ahead. Be like that.
[END]
---
Questions for the Playwright (Rewriting)
1.What did you like about your piece? I liked that I had no idea what I was writing about when I started, as I wrote, and right up to the very end.
2. What’s the major conflict? The major conflict ended up being between two lovers as to whether or not they were going to go through with their plans to commit suicide. How strong is it? I think once I added a baby into the mix, it became VERY strong.
3. What’s the dramatic action of the play? Two figures, one pregnant, standing on a dark bridge overlooking the unknown abyss below...the dark past, the unknown future.
4. Did anything confuse you about your play? No, I think it reads well.
5. What’s the most important image or moment to you in the piece? The ending, as Mike falls to his death and Marla stares motionless. She mimics him in monotone and holds her pregnant belly. That's powerful.
6. Did your characters all sound the same or like different people with distinct voices? The sounded slightly uneducated but at the same time certainly intelligent enough to have deep, conflicting values, pains, hopes and resolutions.
7. What did each character want? Resolution to pain, to suffering. They wanted a permanent end and one later realizes life was worth living when it came to being responsible for another life.
8. Are they going after something that is critically important to them? Yes.
9. Were the stakes high enough? Yes, their own lives on the line AND their unborn child.
10. What sections made you cringe? When Marla was letting herself fall over the edge of the bridge unless Mike grabbed her.
11. Which ones surprised you? I did not see my ending coming...I just typed it and ended it right there because I was so pleased with the visual and emotional conclusion.
12. Explain what the play is about in one or two sentences. (The clearer you are, the clearer it will be in the play.) This play is about two lovers, Mike and Marla, who have planned to commit suicide on the top of a NYC bridge one early morning but the scene opens with Marla having second thoughts. With some surprises throughout the play, the two characters argue about whether or not to proceed with plans to bring about their own demise by jumping off a suspension bridge in post 9/11 New York City, NY.
13. Is there anything you’d like to see more of? (A more developed relationship? More specific
behavior from a character? Stronger needs?) I would have liked to have more emotions surfaced, more argument of the two characters providing valid reasons for life or death. Specifically, I'd like to hear more from Mike as Marla seems to have the right to life because she is pregnant. I wonder where Mike is coming from to not consider his own child? Developing Mike might have brought about that understanding and deepened the overall offering of the play to the diverse public.
14. Were there any loose ends? (Is something introduced in the play that kind of drifts away?) A: Not in my opinion.
---
GARY'S EDITS:
Can we talk about this? <good title
By Mark Sutherland
Characters:
Mike (boyfriend)
Marla (girlfriend)
The scene opens with the stage black. A fade in of lights reveals a city skyline in the background and in the foreground, the wires and road resembling a suspension bridge and two adult figures. As the lights increase intensity, a sense of dawn is felt as the post 9/11 NYC skyline and backdrop reveals a red sunrise warning with its change of colors. The stage offers a feeling of being high above water and should resemble something that of the George Washington Bridge in of Brooklyn / Queens but which New York bridge is irrelevant. Dark, oppressive shadows of the bridge give in as light focuses more on the two motionless characters, MIKE and MARLA, side by side, standing on the bridge's edge and staring down into the unknown, dark abyss below. <strong set-up: detailed and purposeful
[A FOG HORN SOUNDS like that of a lighthouse to warn of a nearby harbor]
[MARLA is the first to move. She raises her chin and looks to her right. Staring at Mike still gazing below, she inhales slowly and then exhales abruptly, in the form of a question]
MARLA
Can we talk about this?
MIKE
We can.
MARLA
Now?
MIKE
It's as good a time as any. Actually, it's better now than later.
Hahaha.
MARLA
Look. This is something serious. It's not just something people do on a whim.
[Mike gets serious, lowering his voice]
MIKE
Something has been bothering me.
Really that is all this is and it has been bothering me more
then than I think I am going to be able to, no,
more than I think I am willing to, no,
more than I CAN handle.
[Mike shakes his head in disbelief]
MIKE
Shits more than I can handle Marla.
[Mike PAUSES, takes a deep breath, and steps forward. ]
[Marla GASPS and grabs his left forearm with her right hand. ]
MIKE
It's...too much.
MARLA
You're being so fucking unfair.
You're so great at thinking about yourself you selfish prick!
MIKE
Nice love. That's not talking, that's attacking.
Should that be the last thing spoken or
you want to do this Romeo and Juliet style? <funny
MARLA
You're attacking me every time you shift your weight
and make my heart sink. You said together forever.
Romeo and Juliet? Try Bonnie and Clyde except
I'm Clyde and you're more Bonnie's tampon. <lovely! <she's great!
[Marla laughs quickly and stops when she sees Mike only grins]
[Mike shifts his weight AWAY from the edge just slightly and steps with his left foot towards Marla. He looks at Marla for the first time starting with her feet and traces her body with his eyes and he notices how her light blue dress is catching updrafts of wind and exposing her nude legs high enough to see her white laced panties]
[Marla meets Mike's stare. An awkward to forgiving pause takes place when facial expressions go from stern to soft over the course of about 8 seconds. ]
[Mike then walks towards Marla and she steps with each of his steps and they stand again center stage. Mike tenderly reaches for Marla's wrist and takes it with two fingers and his thumb, as if afraid to break her hand.]
MIKE
Baby, I'm not happy. I haven't been happy.
MARLA
I've never heard of anyone giving up and finding happiness. <great line
MIKE
I'm not going to chase it either. Everyone around me is happier. You know why? Because I'm the most miserable of anyone I know.
MARLA
You don't know many people, that's not a fair assessment.
MIKE
Yea, not like you. You know lots.
[Mike looks down, away from Marla and into the darkness below.]
MARLA
What the hell does that mean?
MIKE
Nothing, just that I've thought this through and I want to end it today. No more waking up to ordinary.
MARLA
No more waking up at all Mike.
MIKE
That's how I roll, Marlboro.
MARLA
I hate it when you call me that.
MIKE
I hate.
MARLA
I'm pregnant. <pow! <good complication to plot
[Mike snaps his head back at Marla's eyes.]
MIKE
What the fuck shit no helluva way you what the fuck?
MARLA
I said, I'm pregnant!
MIKE
I know what you said. I also know you've said that only a hundred times
before and we don't have a hundred kids.
[A long pause and only Marla's increasing shortness of breath hints to the mood on stage. Mike senses her anger and fuels it.]
MIKE
Is it mine?
[Marla lets her right hand up from the bridge's rail and her weight starts to pull her over the edge.]
[Mike's three fingers become both his hands in an instant and he yanks her easily into his arms. ]
MIKE
I'm sorry; I shouldn't have said that. <so, she's right; he is a "prick"
MARLA
I wanted you to hold me or I wanted to die.
MIKE
I wanted to hold you.
MARLA
Before you die?
MIKE
Something like that...
[Mike kisses Marla on the forehead as if to say 'good-bye' and then moves his mouth to hers and presses his lips and face into hers' <no apostrophe< so much that her head is forced backwards, awkwardly, painfully.]
MARLA
Ouch Mike! That hurt!
[Marla (R.C.) pushes Mike away from her and holds her left hand near her left cheek, upstage from audience. and <read my mind both step away from each other, leaving the entire Down Center of stage between them.]
MARLA
Damnit Mike, what the hell?
MIKE
I dunno, I feel weird, I was trying to lighten the mood. <watch comma splice
MARLA
By shoving your face and head into mine?
[Marla rubs her face in her hands briefly and then traces her lips with her fingers.]
MARLA
Mike, that really hurt my mouth.
[Mike begins speaking in monotone for the remainder of the scene. As if a strange calm, a weird solace has overtaken and possessed whatever was human about him. He has become a shell of a man and his voice is cold and lacking all empathy.]
MIKE
I'm sorry babe. I didn't mean to do it like that.
MARLA
I hate it when you get like this.
I hate you, when you act like that.
MIKE
Know what? I agree.
I hate being like this and I'll never be like that again after today.
MARLA
That's not what I was getting at, it doesn't have to be like this. <comma splice
MIKE
But, that's why we're here.
MARLA
That's why YOU'RE here.
MIKE
That's why WE'RE here!
MARLA
Please, Mike, please.
MIKE
No Marlboro. Let's go. Let's all go.
MARLA
You would really do that to me, to your child, our baby?
MIKE
I'm doing us a favor. We talked about this. The baby changes nothing.
MARLA
She changes everything.
MIKE
She? It's a she now? You cannot even tell you're pregnant.
This is just like you to be like this now.
MARLA
A daughter, yes Mike, I feel her.
I even feel like she can sense the danger she's in.
MIKE
Danger? Marls, you gotta get this family life stuff out of your head.
Come on babe, it's time.
[Mike suggestively moves himself to the edge, beckons Marla with a wave of his hand. He notices her body weight shift away from him and he becomes enraged.]
MIKE
[Monotone]
Don't be like that.
[Defensively, Marla steps back and Mike begins to charge at Marla.]
[Marla panics and runs upstage left, center, right, twisting and turning as Mike chases her around for a few seconds before trapping her near the edge with a dark, vertical metal pole in-between them. Out of breath, they stare each other down in a standoff.]
MARLA
Mike, please. Don't be like this!
MIKE
[Monotone voice, but louder than before]
Don't be like that.
MARLA
Not like this, please, not like this. <CS
[Without warning, Mike grabs at Marla and tries to pull her toward him and the edge. She unexpectedly gives in briefly and surprises Mike as she shift her weight into him.]
[Mike loses his balance and Marla grabs the metal pole, her lifeline, and stops her momentum from following Mike's silent body as it falls into the dark abyss below and after Marla stares motionless for 8 seconds over the edge, holding onto the pole, she pulls herself back and places her palms on her lower abdomen.]
[A FOG HORN SOUNDS]
MARLA
[Monotone, emotionless]
Go ahead. Be like that. <yes! <perfect!
OUtstanding writing, Mark. So, did you know you'd excel in this genre or is it a surprise to you too?? -Gary
---
ORIGINAL:
Can We Talk About This?
By Mark J Sutherland
Characters:
Mike (boyfriend)
Marla (girlfriend)
The scene opens with the stage black. A fade in of lights reveals a city skyline in the background and in the foreground, the wires and road resembling a suspension bridge and two adult figures. As the lights increase intensity, a sense of dawn is felt as the post 9/11 NYC skyline and backdrop reveals a red sunrise warning with its change of colors. The stage offers a feeling of being high above water and should resemble something that of the George Washington Bridge of Brooklyn / Queens but which New York bridge is irrelevant. Dark, oppressive shadows of the bridge give in as light focuses more on the two motionless characters, MIKE and MARLA, side by side, standing on the bridge's edge and staring down into the unknown, dark abyss below.
[A FOG HORN SOUNDS like that of a lighthouse to warn of a nearby harbor]
[MARLA is the first to move. She raises her chin and looks to her right. Staring at Mike still gazing below, she inhales slowly and then exhales abruptly, in the form of a question]
MARLA
Can we talk about this?
MIKE
We can.
MARLA
Now?
MIKE
It's as good a time as any. Actually, it's better now than later.
Hahaha.
MARLA
Look. This is something serious. It's not just something people do on a whim.
[Mike gets serious, lowering his voice]
MIKE
Something has been bothering me.
Really that is all this is and it has been bothering me more
then I think I am going to be able to, no,
more than I think I am willing to, no,
more than I CAN handle.
[Mike shakes his head in disbelief]
MIKE
Shits more than I can handle Marla.
[Mike PAUSES, takes a deep breath, and steps forward. ]
[Marla GASPS and grabs his left forearm with her right hand. ]
MIKE
It's...too much.
MARLA
You're being so fucking unfair.
You're so great at thinking about yourself you selfish prick!
MIKE
Nice love. That's not talking, that's attacking.
Should that be the last thing spoken or
you want to do this Romeo and Juliet style?
MARLA
You're attacking me every time you shift your weight
and make my heart sink. You said together forever.
Romeo and Juliet? Try Bonnie and Clyde except
I'm Clyde and you're more Bonnie's tampon.
[Marla laughs quickly and stops when she sees Mike only grins]
[Mike shifts his weight AWAY from the edge just slightly and steps with his left foot towards Marla. He looks at Marla for the first time starting with her feet and traces her body with his eyes and he notices how her light blue dress is catching updrafts of wind and exposing her nude legs high enough to see her white laced panties]
[Marla meets Mike's stare. An awkward to forgiving pause takes place when facial expressions go from stern to soft over the course of about 8 seconds. ]
[Mike then walks towards Marla and she steps with each of his steps and they stand again center stage. Mike tenderly reaches for Marla's wrist and takes it with two fingers and his thumb, as if afraid to break her hand.]
MIKE
Baby, I'm not happy. I haven't been happy.
MARLA
I've never heard of anyone giving up and finding happiness.
MIKE
I'm not going to chase it either. Everyone around me is happier. You know why? Because I'm the most miserable of anyone I know.
MARLA
You don't know many people, that's not a fair assessment.
MIKE
Yea, not like you. You know lots.
[Mike looks down, away from Marla and into the darkness below.]
MARLA
What the hell does that mean?
MIKE
Nothing, just that I've thought this through and I want to end it today. No more waking up to ordinary.
MARLA
No more waking up at all Mike.
MIKE
That's how I roll, Marlboro.
MARLA
I hate it when you call me that.
MIKE
I hate.
MARLA
I'm pregnant.
[Mike snaps his head back at Marla's eyes.]
MIKE
What the fuck shit no helluva way you what the fuck?
MARLA
I said, I'm pregnant!
MIKE
I know what you said. I also know you've said that only a hundred times
before and we don't have a hundred kids.
[A long pause and only Marla's increasing shortness of breath hints to the mood on stage. Mike senses her anger and fuels it.]
MIKE
Is it mine?
[Marla lets her right hand up from the bridge's rail and her weight starts to pull her over the edge.]
[Mike's three fingers become both his hands in an instant and he yanks her easily into his arms. ]
MIKE
I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.
MARLA
I wanted you to hold me or I wanted to die.
MIKE
I wanted to hold you.
MARLA
Before you die?
MIKE
Something like that...
[Mike kisses Marla on the forehead as if to say 'good-bye' and then moves his mouth to hers and presses his lips and face into hers' so much that her head is forced backwards, awkwardly, painfully.]
MARLA
Ouch Mike! That hurt!
[Marla (R.C.) pushes Mike away from her and holds her left hand near her left cheek, upstage from audience. and both step away from each other, leaving the entire Down Center of stage between them.]
MARLA
Damnit Mike, what the hell?
MIKE
I dunno, I feel weird, I was trying to lighten the mood.
MARLA
By shoving your face and head into mine?
[Marla rubs her face in her hands briefly and then traces her lips with her fingers.]
MARLA
Mike, that really hurt my mouth.
[Mike begins speaking in monotone for the remainder of the scene. As if a strange calm, a weird solace has overtaken and possessed whatever was human about him. He has become a shell of a man and his voice is cold and lacking all empathy.]
MIKE
I'm sorry babe. I didn't mean to do it like that.
MARLA
I hate it when you get like this.
I hate you, when you act like that.
MIKE
Know what? I agree.
I hate being like this and I'll never be like that again after today.
MARLA
That's not what I was getting at, it doesn't have to be like this.
MIKE
But, that's why we're here.
MARLA
That's why YOU'RE here.
MIKE
That's why WE'RE here!
MARLA
Please, Mike, please.
MIKE
No Marlboro. Let's go. Let's all go.
MARLA
You would really do that to me, to your child, our baby?
MIKE
I'm doing us a favor. We talked about this. The baby changes nothing.
MARLA
She changes everything.
MIKE
She? It's a she now? You cannot even tell you're pregnant.
This is just like you to be like this now.
MARLA
A daughter, yes Mike, I feel her.
I even feel like she can sense the danger she's in.
MIKE
Danger? Marls, you gotta get this family life stuff out of your head.
Come on babe, it's time.
[Mike suggestively moves himself to the edge, beckons Marla with a wave of his hand. He notices her body weight shift away from him and he becomes enraged.]
MIKE
[Monotone]
Don't be like that.
[Defensively, Marla steps back and Mike begins to charge at Marla.]
[Marla panics and runs upstage left, center, right, twisting and turning as Mike chases her around for a few seconds before trapping her near the edge with a dark, vertical metal pole in-between them. Out of breath, they stare each other down in a standoff.]
MARLA
Mike, please. Don't be like this!
MIKE
[Monotone voice, but louder than before]
Don't be like that.
MARLA
Not like this, please, not like this.
[Without warning, Mike grabs at Marla and tries to pull her toward him and the edge. She unexpectedly gives in briefly and surprises Mike as she shift her weight into him.]
[Mike loses his balance and Marla grabs the metal pole, her lifeline, and stops her momentum from following Mike's silent body as it falls into the dark abyss below and after Marla stares motionless for 8 seconds over the edge, holding onto the pole, she pulls herself back and places her palms on her lower abdomen.]
[A FOG HORN SOUNDS]
MARLA
[Monotone, emotionless]
Go ahead. Be like that.
