Fences by August Wilson - FEMALE

Fences by August Wilson - FEMALE

ROSE

You can't be nobody but who you are, Cory. That shadow wasn't nothing but you growing into yourself. You either got to grow into it or cut it down to fit you. But that's all you got to make life with. That's all you got to measure yourself against that world out there. Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn't ... and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was. I don't know if he was right or wrong ... but I do know he meant to do more good than he meant to do harm. He wasn't always right. Sometimes when he touched he bruised. And sometimes when he took me in his arms'. he cut. When I first met your daddy I thought ... Here is a man I can lay down with and make a baby. That's the first thing I thought when I seen him. I was thirty years old and had done seen my share of men. But when he walked up to me and said "I can dance a waltz that'll make you dizzy," I thought, Rose Lee, here is a man that you can open yourself up to and be filled to bursting. Here is a man that can fill all them empty spaces you been tipping around the edges of. One of them empty spaces was being some body's mother.

I married your daddy and settled down to cooking his supper; and keeping clean sheets on the bed. When your daddy walked through the house he was so big he filled it up. That was my first mistake. Not to make him leave some room for me. For my part in the matter. But at that time I wanted that. I wanted a house that I could sing in. And that's what your daddy gave me. I didn't know to keep up his strength I had to give up little pieces of mine. I did that. I took on his life as mine and mixed up the pieces so that you couldn't hardly tell which was which anymore. It was my choice. It was my life and I didn't have to live it like that. But that's what life offered me in the way of being a woman and. I took it. I grabbed hold of it with both hands. By the time Raynell came into the house, me and your daddy had done lost touch with one another. I didn't want to make my blessing off of nobody's misfortune ... but I took on to Raynell like she was all them babies I had wanted and never had. Like I'd been blessed to relive a part of my life. And if the Lord see fit to keep up my strength ... I'm gonna do her just like your daddy did you ... I'm gonna give her the best of what's in me .

Fences by August Wilson - MALE

Fences by August Wilson - MALE

CORY

You ain't never gave me nothing! You ain't never done nothing but hold me back. Afraid I was gonna be better than you. All you ever did was try and make me scared of you. I used to tremble every time you called my name. Every time I heard" your footsteps in the house. Wondering all the time ... what's Papa gonna say if I do this? ... What's he gonna say if I do that? ... What's Papa gonna say if I turn on the radio? And Mama, too ... she tries ... but she's scared of you. I don't know how she stand you ... after what you did to her. What you gonna do ... give me a whupping? You can't whup me no more. You're too old. You just an old man. You just a crazy old man ... talking about I got the devil in me.

From Dark Horse by Gary L. Blackwood - Male

From Dark Horse by Gary L. Blackwood - Male

COLE

You are correct, of course, when you say that I've never been a slave. But you're wrong when you say I don't understand. (hesitantly) When I was your age, I attended what is called a military school. I was a frail child, and my parents thought the regimen would make me stronger. And so it did . . . eventually. But I suffered through several years of being thrashed and humiliated by upperclassmen first. I begged my parents to let me come home, but they wouldn't hear of it. In time I learned that I had to stand up to those upperclassmen and fight back in order to make them respect me. I disliked fighting, but I couldn't let matters go on as they were, so I fought – not very well, but I got in enough licks to give them something to think about. I'd like to get in a few licks at this trial, too. Now, I know you're afraid of getting yourself in worse trouble by speaking up. But the fact is, to put it bluntly, you have nothing to lose. If we do not come up with some sort of defense, no matter how carefully I select the jury they are going to find you guilty of murder. We have to give them some reason to believe either that you are not guilty or that there were extenuating circumstances. We have to stand up and fight back, even a little. Tell me what happened. Tell me anything!

Almost Maine - FEMALE

Almost Maine - FEMALE

GAYLE  

Shh!!! I’ve tried to make you love me by giving you every bit of love I had, and

now…I don’t have any love for me left, and that’s…that’s not good for a

person…and…that’s why I want all the love I gave you back, because I wanna

bring it with me. I need to get away from things…Okay, YOU. You are the things

in this town I need to get away from because I have to think and start over, and

so: all the love I gave to you? I want it back, in case I need it. Because I can’t 

very well go around giving your love—‘cause that’s all I have right now, Is the

love you gave me—I can’t very well go around giving your love to other guys,

‘cause that just doesn’t seem right—Shh!!! So I think--. I think that, since I know

now that you’re not ready to do what comes next for people who have been

together for quite a long time, I think we’re gonna be done. So I think that’s the

best thing we can do, now, is just return the love we gave to each other, and call

it even.

I Just Stopped By To See The Man by Stephen Jefferys - MALE

I Just Stopped By To See The ManStephen Jefferys

See this, Jessie. You made a certain sound. Then forty years later, that sound
crosses the Atlantic. Settles in English suburbs. I thought I was the only guy
in Britain who knew about it. Then I found out, there's hundreds of us. London,
Newcastle, Liverpool, Glasgow. It meant more to us than it did some new shit,
we're all saying, no man, go back, go back, find the root. We didn't live
through what you lived through. But we knew what it was you were saying. First
time I heard your voice, on an old go and crash - escaping - I heard your voice
and I thought "This is it." The blues is the blues for all time. You invented
it. But we took it on and we knew straight off what the blues meant. So look at me and you. Is it better to sing the blues but not to have them. Or
to have the blues and not sing them? We've been on tour, three months. Last two: Baton Rouge tomorrow. New Orleans
the day after. This is the shot. End of the show, I go back on stage and
introduce the encore. You. And you come on, the suit, the fedora, the guitar.
And you play with the band. Three number and out. The back from the dead gig.
Ten years time, people who were thousands of miles away will swear they were
there. Are you in?

Strife by John Galsworthy - MALE

StrifeJohn Galsworthy

There's not one single sentence on that paper that we can do without. All those
demands are fair. We have not asked anything that we are not entitled to ask.
What I said up in London, I say again now: there is not anything on that piece
of paper that a just man should not ask, and a just man give.
Ye best know wether the condition of the company is any better than the
condition of the men. Ye best know wether we can afford your tyranny... I tell
ye this Mr. Anthony. If ye think the men will give way the least part of an
inch, ye're making the worst mistake ye have ever made. Ye think because the
union is not supporting us, more to shame it! That we will come on our knees to
you one fine morning. Ye think because the men have got their wives and families
to think of, that it is just in question of a week or two!
I will say this to you Mr. Anthony, ye know your own mind, and I know mine. I
tell ye this, the men will send their wives and families to where ye country
will have to keep them and they will starve sooner than give way. I advise ye
Mr. Anthony to prepare yourself for the worst that can happen to your company.
(Beat) Mr. Anthony, you are not a young man now; from the time I remember, ye
have been an enemy to every man that has come into your works. I don't say that
ye're a mean man, or a cruel man. But you are not a young man anymore.

A Great Night of Something by William Munt - MALE

A Great Night of SomethingWilliam MuntCOMEDIC

Hey! . . . Hey!! Oh my god . . . WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME!Jesus, I know you'reall righteous and shit and don't think you need to even pay attention to me butwhy don't you humor me here, ok? No no no stay with me don't look away! I wantyou to look right at me as I say this to you. You're going to pay attention toevery word.

First off I bought the weed so I don't know what the problem is. Yes it was agift, but it was here and you know what? No big deal, I can get more. Second,the fish was old and you never took very good care of him anyway so his dayswere numbered. And third, the police understood the whole thing and they said itwould go on your record as a misdemeaner at the very worst. So yeah, you're alittle banged up and yes it will take some time to get the stains out of thecouch but isn't worth it man.

You need to look on the bright side of things more. Look, I'm not saying Ifucked up, but if i did . . hey come on focus here buddy, don't look over there,there's nothing going on over there . . . if I did fuck up, then you have tounderstand that there were a whole set of circumstances that were stackedagainst me. No one would have believed she was underage, there was no sign thatsaid animals not allowed, and Ricky can usually hold his shit a lot better thanhe did. I mean I've seen him do a lot more and end up less fucked up. So in theend maybe it's just a really good story to tell our grandkids.

Before It Hits Home By Cheryl L. West - FEMALE

Before It Hits Home

By Cheryl L. West

(When Wendal comes home to fight his illness AIDS, Reba cannot accept him. She can't even bring herself to touch the things that he has touched. Here, Reba blames Wendal for the death of everything she ever loved.)


REBA: Shut up. Just shut up. Don't say a word. I heard enough from you last night to last me a lifetime. I'm about to walk out that door and try to explain to that man out there why I don't have a home no more. I hate what you've done to my house, Wendal. Spent my life here, inside these walls, trying to stay safe, keep family safe...didn't know any better, maybe if I had, I could deal with what you done brought in here. See this slipcover, I made it. And this afghan, I made that too, these curtains...I made this tablecloth, see this lace. I made you. My son! And I took such pride...but last night you made me realize I hadn't made nothing, not a damn thing...been walking around fooling myself...It's hard to look at something...I mean I look around here and it's like somebody came in and smeared shit all over my walls...I'm scared to touch anything...you hear me, Wendal, scared to touch anything in my own house...Nothing. Maybe if I could get outside these walls I could...I can't stay here and watch it fester, crumble down around me...right now I can't help you...I can hardly stand to even look at you...I can't help your father...what good am I? I don't know anymore. I just know this house is closing in on me and I got to get out of here.

THE GOOD FATHER by Christian O’Reilly - MALE

THE GOOD FATHER

by Christian O’Reilly

Act I  Scene 3

TIM

She looks at me and says, ‘Are you aware that you only have one testicle?’ 

Well, I nearly dropped, or I would have only she was holding me by the – and

obviously one of  them hadn’t dropped, or somethin’.  ‘You’re jokin’?’ I says. 

She says, ‘Surely you must have noticed?’  But that was the thing.  I always just

assumed I had two.  Like I never bothered countin’ them.  I thought, I dunno, I

thought maybe they were so close together they felt like one, or maybe when

one was down there, the other was off doing somethin’ else – like I dunno, I just

never thought about it.  So she tells me then that I might have what they call an

 ‘undescended testes’, meanin’ that one dropped, but the other didn’t...She said

I’d have to get it checked out, cos if there was one still up there it would have to

be removed because, guess what – it could become cancerous.  

So I go home, an’ I’m delighted, like, that I don’t already have cancer – cancer

of the missin’ ball, an’ I’m thinkin’ I’ve a great story for the lads if ever I had the

nerve to tell them, but all I’m thinkin’ is, ‘Am I fertile or not’?

Like I didn’t know until that moment just how much I wanted to be a father.  It’s

stupid, but like I’d started imaginin’ it, what I’d be like, walkin’ around with a little

fella holdin’ me hand, teachin’ him how to cross the road, or a little girl and

holdin’ her up in the air – the way they look down at you, they’re so amazed to

be up high.  And bein’ a good father like – encouragin’ your kids, givin’ them a

tenner if they’re stuck, askin’ them how they are, always knowin’ if somethin’

was up, bein’ there for them, bein’ there for them always, always...givin’ your life

for them, givin’ your life to them – fuckin’ hell, that’s the kind of person you want

to be to somebody, more of those kind of people, the kind of person I want to

be.  Father I wanted to be. 

FOOL FOR LOVE by Sam Shepard - MALE

FOOL FOR LOVE

by Sam Shepard

EDDIE

And we walked right through town.  Past the donut shop, past the miniature golf

course, past the Chevron station. And he opened the bottle up and offered it to

me.  Before he even took a drink, he offered it to me first.  And I took it and

drank it and handed it back to him.  And we just kept passing it back and forth

like that as we walked until we drank the whole thing dry.  And we never said a

word the whole time.  Then, finally, we reached this little white house with a red

awning, on the far side of town.  I’ll never forget the red awning because it

flapped in the night breeze and the porch light made it glow.  It was a hot,

desert breeze and the air smelled like new cut alfalfa.  We walked right up to

the front porch and he rang the bell and I remember getting real nervous

because I wasn’t out for a expecting to visit anybody. I thought we were just out

for a walk. And then this woman comes to the door. This real pretty woman with

red hair. And she throws herself into his arms. And he starts crying. He just

breaks down right there in front of me. And she’s kissing him all over the face

and holding him real tight and he’s just crying like a baby. And then through the

doorway, behind them both. I see this girl.  She just appears. She’s just

standing there, staring at me and I’m staring back at her and we can’t take our

eyes off each other. It was like we knew each other from somewhere but we

couldn’t place where. But the second we saw each other, that very second, we

knew we’d never stop being in love.

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