Studio

A 10-minute play

Characters

 

Stephen – A recent college graduate. He is handsome, and apathetic about his own life. He is currently unemployed. He wears sweat pants and a white undershirt. His hair, medium length and brown, is messy and unkempt.

Carolina – Stephen’s undergraduate girlfriend, short, slender, and pretty, with long brown hair. She wears plaid pajama pants and a yellow tank top. He lives with her in a studio apartment. Together, they don’t own much.

 

[Stephen lays in a bed, reading a newspaper. Carolina is sitting in her comfy chair, facing Stephen, with an open book in her lap. She is attempting to read. There is not much else in the apartment. A desk with a computer, a bookshelf filled with a few dozen books.  She turns her head to stare into the audience, as if looking out a window.]

 

Carolina

It’s snowing.

 

Stephen

Is it?

 

Carolina

Yes. You know, those giant flakes that cover up where they land, and build, and build, and build. It’s beautiful to watch from a warm place. The weather is bound to get worse, too. I feel it in my chilly bones. It will only get colder today. Yes, the snow will pile up three feet high, surely. School may be cancelled. You think school will be cancelled?

 

Stephen

Yes. It says it right here in the newspaper. “Chance of snow, seventy percent.” Those are good odds.

 

Carolina

I’m skipping class tomorrow. Even if school isn’t cancelled.

 

Stephen

Why? Don’t you care about the pursuit of knowledge, and such…?

 

Carolina

It’s no big deal, just biological anthropology. Evolution, human adaptation. Among its subfields are archeology, paleontology, s**t like that.

 

Stephen

But isn’t it in your best interest of evolution and human adaption to engulf knowledge while you can? Isn’t that why we are here? Or are we here just to waste away in each other’s arms?

 

Carolina

Oh please, you are overreacting. I mean, it’s just one class. And it’s cold. I hate the cold.

 

Stephen

Of course you hate the cold, you’ve told me before.

 

Carolina

Remember, Stephen, that most all of what we say, we’ve somehow said before. Conversation is overrated. It’s cold outside. I felt the impulse to say how I felt. You, of course, already knew that I hate the cold. But I said it anyway. It’s, a way to transcend my isolation. I wanted you to understand … oh, never mind.

 

Stephen

Eh, I guess it’s no big deal, with Wikipedia.

 

Carolina

What?

 

Stephen

Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge. Why would you ever go to class?

 

Carolina

Were you even listening?

 

Stephen

Yes. Class, it doesn’t make any sense.

 

Carolina

You don’t make any sense. And you weren’t listening to me. I was trying to make a point. Did you hear me?

 

Stephen

On Wikipedia, you can look up all sorts of things. Like biological anthropology.

 

Carolina

You, sir, are impossible sometimes.

 

Stephen

That may be.

 

Carolina

And don’t you know, anyone can put any information on Wikipedia. It’s not one-hundred percent full proof… Maybe I will go to class, if it’s not cancelled.

 

Stephen

I wouldn’t.

 

Carolina

Oh, I know what you would do, lazy boy. Which reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask you. What do you do? While I’m gone?

 

Stephen

Me?

 

Carolina

Yes, mister. [she stands up and crawls into bed with him, and pokes him in the chest] You.

 

Stephen

I search Wikipedia, of course. [he tickles her and she laughs] You know, they do have people who check the information. If they find out that it’s fake, they take it off and ban that IP address from ever posting on the site again.

 

Carolina

I know someone who wasn’t caught for three months, and he continually posted pieces of misinformation on purpose. What if you read it and now whole-heartedly trust that it’s true?

 

Stephen

Then the world would end, of course. [He leans in and they kiss, and now are cuddling]

 

Carolina

Ha, ha, very funny. But what else do you do? Do you spend all day here?

 

Stephen

I think … I stay in bed, all day, and just think.

 

Carolina

Think? About what?

 

Stephen

You, mostly. [they kiss]

 

Carolina

Aw, that’s sweet. But what else do you think about?

 

Stephen

Reasons.

 

Carolina

Reasons?

 

Stephen

... To live, of course. To sleep. To eat. To comprehend. To digest all the suffering around me. Why should I? What difference would it make, if suddenly, I didn’t? This is an experiment, you see. I’m proving that I don’t matter, that I can stay here and the world outside the window keeps moving. But I still need reason, so that’s what I think about.

 

Carolina

Stop it. You scare me sometimes, Stephen. [a moment of silence] Don’t you care about yourself? You have to care about yourself.

 

Stephen

Well … no. But there are millions of things I care about. All the world’s tragedies. They are unavoidable. The wars and deaths and genocides and imperialism, and capitalism. The cars, the gas, the pollution, the melting ice caps, the education gap, the homeless and the helpless. I can’t bear to go outside. I care, Carolina, but no, not about myself. That I care so much, that’s why. It’s what’s killing me. I need to remember why I’m here. I need to remember you. I need, reasons to doubt that I’m just an occupation of space, trapped here.

 

Carolina

I didn’t realize this was a trap.

 

Stephen

I didn’t mean here. Not literally. I meant, trapped in this, this existence. It had nothing to do with you. You are the best reason to, go on. I browse through the day, looking out the window, or through the internet, and I wait for you to come home. I wish you would never leave, and we’d stay here in this lemon shell, safe from hungry eyes.

 

Carolina

Stephen. I can’t be the only reason. You can’t wait for me all day. I want you to stop.

 

Stephen

What? Why? I love you. Without you, I would … I would …

 

Carolina

Give up?

 

Stephen

Yes. Give up.

 

Carolina

You have no self esteem, Stephen. Haven’t you figured it out yet?

 

Stephen

Figured what out, Carolina?

 

Carolina

Life isn’t a trap. We are all alone, and we all suffer horrible moments of isolation, or soul crushed hearts from the pain we exist within. But you don’t have to all the time. This life, this isolation, is beautiful. Love yourself, Stephen. The senses are calling you to leave here, to test your sights, sounds, sensations, tastes, experiences and knowledge, and expression. You have so much to offer. You’re sweet and sensitive and smart, just not ambitious. Wikipedia, Stephen? Is that the best you can do? I think not.

 

Stephen

[a moment of silence] You know what, Carolina? I want to leave. So badly. But I need you to help me move. I’m just scared to death of it all.

 

Carolina

No, Stephen. I’m not a crutch. You have to walk on your own, to get out of this bed while I am away, and do it by yourself. It’s not up to me. It’s up to you. Don’t you get it? Even when I’m here, with you, [she squeezes her arms around him] holding you tight, all I have is myself. Can’t you feel it? We can talk like this all you want, but I’ll never cheer you up if you don’t try to be cheerful, because all you have is yourself, and you don’t realize it. You don’t have to be so foolish.

 

Stephen

A fool? You may be right … But, I do realize, that all I have is myself. And, I’m just not satisfied with that. I wish I were everyone. I feel so, trapped here, in this skin. They say I’m free, but what about the laws of physics? I’m not free. I’m constrained. Where can I go in this giant universe but anywhere on this earth, and why can’t I get there fast enough? And money ... But you, you make me feel, a connection, a kindred kind of human nature instead of what I see outside. I love you, and hate it outside.

 

Carolina

Of course you do. You’ve told me before … And you just proved my point.

 

Stephen

Huh?

 

Carolina

About speech repetition … never mind. [a moment of silence] Stephen?

 

Stephen

What is it, sweet Carolina?

 

Carolina

When was the last time you left this bed?

 

Stephen

Not lately. I’ve had no motivation. I bundle up and wait. I know what’s out there. A waste land. I read about it in the newspaper. It’s too cold, anyway. I’d only go out with you, and well, you’re gone during the day and when you’re here, I’d rather just, hold onto you, just like this.

 

Carolina

I love this, too. But I won’t be around forever, and can’t be with you all the time. I’m trying to give you good advice. Try to take it.

 

Stephen

But, it’s dangerous outside. The newspaper said …

 

Carolina

The newspaper? You think that’s real? Those are just words. How would you know what it looks like through print? [a moment of silence] I want to help you, but it’s got to be you, Stephen. Help yourself. It’s not all like you think. Go out and talk to people, you’ll find that most of them are friendly. Or, better yet, help them. You’re not the only person with problems, Stephen. Yours are downright selfish, when compared to… [a moment of silence] Stephen, are you listening?

 

Stephen

Yes.

 

Carolina

Say something.

 

Stephen

You … you’re right. I’m a piece of s**t.

 

Carolina

[She grabs his face] No, no, no. That is not what I meant.

 

Stephen

Sure it is, and you are right.

 

Carolina

I just think you could use some change. This is unhealthy. You’re getting more depressed every day. I can sense it when I walk in and hang up my winter coat. You just sit in our bed and face the wall, like you’re ashamed to look at me … or be with me.

 

Stephen

No, no, no. I’m never ashamed of you [they kiss]. I’m ashamed of me. You see it, I know you see it. And you’re right. You are so, so right. I am unhealthy to do this. But do you see my point, now? I need you, Carolina, to explain these things to me. I can’t figure it out on my own, or see it with my own eyes. I need to look through yours to see any life at all. Sweet, sweet Carolina. [he rubs his hands through her hair, and she still has her arms wrapped around him, they start to deeply kiss, and their hands rub each other’s backs] I love you.

 

Carolina

I love you, too.

 

Stephen

I can feel it … the isolation.

 

Carolina

That’s good.

 

Stephen

I’m, not so sure. [a moment of silence] So. What now?

 

Carolina

Um…

 

Stephen

Should I, do I, give up?

 

Carolina

No. No, no, no.

 

Stephen

Then, what?

 

Carolina

[she squeezes him, and rests her mouth beside his ear, cheek to cheek] Just stay close to me, Stephen, right here, with me. And don’t give up.

Author's Note

CRITIQUES WELCOME!

Reviews

[Mike Hunter is Hilariou..]

Interesting concept. This made me realize that I'm turning into the character of Stephen, slowly but surely�

The only problem I had with it is the lack of emotion expressed in the dialogue between the two characters. When I read it, I have no real sense of the characters emotions. Perhaps it's the kind of thing that only really works on the stage. Words on a page can be so stale sometimes.

[Roger Ferguson II]

great play!

[Ezira Kardtman]

Very nice. I sometimes find myself wondering about my own existence, as Stephen does.
So, I'm curious since you added this to my contest ("Life is a Stage: Live It!"), is the character of Stephen inspired by your own fears?