The Break-Up

A piece inspired from Postsecret.com, writen for my creative writing class

Cast of Characters

Andrew, a gay male

Scotty, the new boy

Jason, the ex-boyfriend

 

Setting: An apartment. On stage left consists of a kitchen with the telephone and countertop and cabinets while stage right consists of a sofa and coffee table.

 

AT RISE: The room is empty. The phone rings. Andrew enters and picks up the telephone.

 

ANDREW

          Hello?

              (Slight pause)

          Hello…oh hey Scotty what’s up? I don’t really wanna talk about the other night right now.

 

Jason enters.

 

                   JASON

          Hello Andrew what’s up?

 

                   ANDREW

          Look I gotta go, My ex just walked in

              (sigh)

          You know how much fun that is

              (hangs up phone)

          Jason we are broken up now. We are no longer a couple. You can’t just come in here anytime you feel like it.

 

                   JASON

          You were serious about that? I thought you were joking?

 

                   ANDREW

          Why would I joke about breaking up Jason? You said you would never do anything to hurt me. You broke my heart then went off and oops I did it again. Give me a break.

 

                   JASON

          I’m sorry if I hurt you babe…I didn’t mean to

 

                   ANDREW

          How do you not mean to sleep with anybody? You just go over to your man’s house and wake up with him on top of you and go “Hey sorry I guess I didn’t mean to do that”.

 

Andrew crosses right.

 

                   JASON

          No---that’s not what happened…not exactly.

 

                   ANDREW

          Come on Jason admit it that’s exactly what happened. I don’t go sleeping around with people. Anyway what did you want?

 

                   JASON

          I came to see you. It’s obvious what I did was wrong…

 

                   ANDEW

              (snotty sarcasm)       

Yeah-

 

                   JASON

          Okay…forget the whole thing

 

Jason walks towards the door.

 

                   ANDREW

          Wait…I’m sorry.

 

                   JASON

          Why should I even bother with you?

 

                   ANDREW

          Because I’m sexy and you know I make every other guy jealous. You know you love me.

 

                   JASON

          You still wanna give yourself to me?

 

Andrew is dead cold.

                   ANDREW

              (breaking silence)

          Yeah I’d guess I have no problem giving myself to you

 

                   JASON

          I didn’t realize we broken up. Last couple weeks you kinda stopped talking to me.

 

                   ANDREW

          We weren’t talking

 

JASON

          No, no you were the one not talking you…you just started ignoring me.

 

                   ANDREW

          Because you cheated on me

 

                   JASON

          You were never supposed to find out about that one

 

                   ANDREW

          Well, I did.

 

                   JASON

          You’ve seem to be so moody lately.

 

                   ANDREW

          Fine…I’ll tell you. I’ve been dealing with a lot lately. No one is there for me. My own friends just walk away when things get tough. I’m desperate. Things got difficult…

 

 

                   JASON

          Out with it…Why don’t you want me to be your first?

 

                   ANDREW

           Because….Because I already had a first

 

                   JASON

          How could you. I’m disgusted by you… What a jerk

Jason Stammers off stage left.

 

Andrew walks off stage right. 

 

Reviews

[Escritora]

I love Postsecret! What a great idea to let one of those postcards inspire a story. The idea in and of itself is fantastic (gotta love a good plot), but I found it a little difficult to follow what was going on. Without the picture, it would have been almost impossible. I think it would be helpful if you add in stage direction to let the reader see the tone of the dialogue better (here's a tip: write stage plays as though you're writing it for the actor and leaving him to his own devices). Also, if you improve, what's the word? The structure (like, when things happen, what makes the emotions shift, what the motivation is for the actions and when you give background information that minimizes information 'dumping') and make the dialogue clearer and more natural, this story has a lot of potential to expand and develop, as always. Keep up the good work!

[Eric Richard]

For this piece we had to write about a character who wanted to reveal a secret. In the piece you just read Andrew's secret was revealed after Jason forces it out of Andrew. The picture used for this piece was the inspiration from postsecrets.com. I thought it was easily be relatable. The picture could have been of the guy a girl slept with but I took it as the man in the picture was the one who lost his virginity.