The Unexpected Letter

One act play I wrote for my Advanced Acting class last year that was produced at our Annual Festival of Student-Written One Act Plays.

Characters

ALICE                                        27

EMILY                                    27

MILTARY OFFICER (offstage)                        48




SCENE
ALICE’s house.



TIME
October 1944, around 1:00 p.m.

 

 

SETTING
The living room/study of ALICE’s home.  There is a couch center stage, with a coffee table, covered with newspapers on the war, in front of it.  There is desk located stage right slanted towards the audience.  The entrance to the home is located upstage left.  On the desk is a typewriter, several crumpled up pieces of paper, and some picture frames of her and her fiancé Kevin.  ALICE is sitting at the desk clearly looking both stressed and frustrated.  She repeatedly types and rips out paper from the typewriter.



(ALICE is sitting at her desk.  Doorbell rings)

ALICE
Coming! (She rips the current piece of paper from the typewriter and reads it as she walks to door and opens it.  EMILY enters)  Hi!

EMILY
Hi, Al!  How are you?

ALICE
I’m doing well.  And you?

EMILY
Good.  What are you doing?

ALICE
Oh, I’m just working on my book.

(ALICE walks to the desk, still reading the paper in her hand.  She crumples the piece of paper and throws it on the desk.  She sits in the chair behind her desk.  EMILY walks over to the couch and sits)

EMILY
Is it really that bad?

ALICE
I never said it was bad!

EMILY
You didn’t have to!   (Points to the crumpled up piece of paper)

ALICE
Excuse me!?


EMILY
I’m only kidding, for Pete’s sake!  Calm down!

ALICE
Sorry.  I’ve just been on the same page for the past five hours.

EMILY
What page?

(ALICE looks around trying to avoid the question)

EMILY
Come on, AL.  It’s not like you’re only on the tenth page.

(ALICE looks at EMILY with a guilty expression)


EMILY
(Laughs) Are you serious?  (keeps laughing)

(ALICE gives her a look)

EMILY
I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  It’s just, gosh, how long have you been working on this story?  Two months?

ALICE
Yes.  But it’s not easy writing a book you know. 

EMILY
How hard can it be?

ALICE
You’re not really asking me that, are you?

EMILY
What?  All you have to do is come up with a story and write.  It’s that simple.

ALICE
(Walking to couch to sit)  It’s easier said than done.

(Pause)

EMILY
So…have you heard anything from Kevin lately?

ALICE
No.  Not recently at least.  But what else is new?

EMILY
Does he really not write you for that long?  That stinks.  I’d be a little suspicious if I were you.

ALICE
What are you implying?

EMILY
I’m just saying that…well you know…being away from home…away from his wife…in France…with the beautiful French women…

ALICE
(Furious and insulted) If you’re trying to say that Kevin has been unfaithful, then you can just leave right now!  He loves me and would never do such a thing!  How can you say that!

EMILY
ALICE I’m sorry.  But you have to admit it’s a possibility.

ALICE
For other people not me.

EMILY
I’m sorry I mentioned it, I just thought that we could finally…

ALICE
Finally what?

EMILY
Talk!  ALICE, you can’t keep putting this subject off.  It’s going to kill you.

ALICE
Do you not think I realize that?

EMILY
It sure doesn’t seem like it!

ALICE
Why are you doing this to me?

EMILY
Doing what?  Trying to be a good friend!

ALICE
I said I’d talk to you eventually!  Now’s just not a good time.

EMILY
(Stands up and starts pacing back and forth in front of the couch)  It’s never a good time for you!  You always come up with some silly excuse, including the book you’ve been working on for two months and have only completed ten pages of!  (Takes a breath and calms herself down) You tell me to come over so we can talk.  So what do I do?  Well, as your best friend I come over.  But what happens? I come over here just to be criticized for trying to help you.

ALICE
(Staring at floor).  EMILY, please!  I’m sorry.

EMILY
That’s funny, because if I remember correctly, you say the same thing every time we go through this.

ALICE
I’m really sorry.  Please…just…I’m sorry.  I just don’t need this right now.

EMILY
(Stops pacing and sits back down on the couch)  You should be happy I love you otherwise I would’ve left. 

ALICE
I know I’ve been acting like a bad friend.  It’s just that…

EMILY
I know.  And you’re not a bad friend.  It just tears me up see you like this, almost as much as Kevin fighting in Europe is tearing you up.  Listen, I would say I understood exactly what you’re going through, but I’m not going lie to you.

ALICE
Thanks.  I knew there was a reason I liked you.

EMILY
(Cocky) Well it is me.  What’s not to like?

(ALICE laughs)

EMILY
So.  Are we going to talk?

ALICE
Yes.  I suppose.

EMILY
Look, I’m not forcing you.  I just think it is a good idea for you to talk about it.

ALICE
You’re right.

EMILY
So we were talking about letters. 

ALICE
Yes.

EMILY
How long does it actually take to get a letter from him?

ALICE
I think the longest time has been around three months.

EMILY
My G-d! 

ALICE
Yes.  I know.

EMILY
What’s the point of even writing!?  He tells you something that happens from three months before?  I couldn’t take it.

ALICE
Well at least I get letters.  I know it’s a long time, but, in a way it’s actually kind of a good thing.

EMILY
How is sending him a letter only to wait three months to get a reply a good thing?

ALICE
Because it’s like I have something to look forward to, something that helps time pass faster.  Something that makes me hope he’ll be coming home soon.  (Pause) Something that makes me feel like he’s here.

(Silence)

EMILY
Have you gotten anything from him lately?

ALICE
Well, I did get a letter from him a couple of weeks ago, for my birthday.

EMILY
You’re birthday was four months ago!

(ALICE gives her a look)

EMILY
I’m sorry.  Continue.  What did he say?

(ALICE looks around the room, avoiding the question)

EMILY
You did read it.  Didn’t you?
(ALICE sighs)

EMILY
Aw, ALICE!  You’re not helping yourself in anyway by not reading it.

ALICE
No, no, no.  It’s not that I didn’t read it…I just…don’t like thinking about it.

EMILY
Did something happen to him?

ALICE
Almost.  Not yet.

EMILY
(Looks at ALICE curiously)  Show me the letter.

(ALICE gets up and walks over to the desk.  She pulls the letter out of one of the drawers.  She pauses and stares at it.  She then walks back over to the couch; her hands are shaking, choking back tears)

EMILY
Are you alright AL?

(ALICE hands the letter to EMILY as she sits down. EMILY reads the letter)

EMILY
ALICE, my dearest –
    What has happened to me and my Battalion would be scoffed at.  Why the few of us left alive—are alive—is something to figure out in church.  I’ve seen as many of my very best friends killed beside me.  I just can’t believe it  is all really happening.  I never in my wildest dreams knew such terror could grip your very soul. 
    The night we jumped, D-Day—6 hrs, was the pay off night.  The Jerries knew our plans down to the last detail and were waiting for us with everything they had.  My chute was on fire from tracer bullets when I landed—right in front of a machine gun emplacement.  I cut myself out of my harness & crawled for a couple of hours with bullets whistling past my ears coming from seemingly every direction. 
    My darling, I love you more than life itself—I’ve realized that many times these last few months when I thought I was going to be killed & always the regret of missing seeing & marrying you was topmost in my mind at the time.  I think I can say my love for you has been pretty well tested.
                            Goodbye for awhile,
                            —Kevin 

EMILY
He’s alive at least.
ALICE
But don’t you get it?  You read the letter.  He could’ve died.

EMILY
But he didn’t.  That’s all that matters.


ALICE
No, it’s not!

EMILY
Then what matters more.

ALICE
The fact that he could’ve died.

EMILY
But he didn’t and won’t because he loves you.  He said it himself.  Don’t you realize it?  You are what’s keeping him alive.  But if you keep telling yourself that he can die, you’re saying you don’t love him.

ALICE
But…

EMILY
But nothing!  You need to stop worrying about what might happen and what has happened.  You’re just making your life more miserable.  I don’t know what else to do.  I’m trying to help you.  I’m you’re best friend, I know you more than I know myself. 
EMILY
Have I ever told about my brother in the army?

ALICE
No.  I thought he was joining the marines?

EMILY
Well, he was going to.  But he is lazier than a sloth.  He kept putting off the enlistment until it was too late and he was drafted into the army.  Anyway, he decided to play a prank on his drill sergeant.

ALICE
A prank?

EMILY
Yep.  He should’ve been kicked out, but considering the current situation, that didn’t happen.

ALICE
He wasn’t purposely trying to get out of the Army was he?

EMILY
No, he just really hated his drill sergeant.

ALICE
What did he do?

EMILY
He broke into the supply closet and stole some extra strong glue.  Then he put it on the sergeants toilet seat.
ALICE
Eww, EM!  You’re brother is the nastiest person I know.

EMILY
(Proudly) That’s his claim to fame.

ALICE
(Sarcastically)  You don’t say!  He pulled the same stunt on Principal Wheeler in the sixth grade.

EMILY
(Leans back on couch and puts feet up on the coffee table) Those were the days.

ALICE
(Whacks EMILY’s feet off the coffee table)  Hey!  Get your dirty feet off the coffee table.  It was a gift from Kevin’s mom.
EMILY
A coffee table?  Some engagement gift.  (sarcastically) I can’t wait to see the wedding present.

ALICE
I think it’s nice. 

EMILY
Please tell me you’re kidding.

ALICE
Well…isn’t it the thought that counts? 

EMILY
AL.

ALICE
Alright.  (Puts hands up in a surrender position) I hate it.  (Straightens out the magazines on the table and uses her sleeves to wipe of the spot where EMILY put her feet)  But Kevin likes it.  And when he comes home I don’t want whatever’s on the bottom of your shoes on the table.

EMILY
I think it’s…

ALICE
I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell me.

EMILY
Enough about the bottom of my shoes, and back to the letter.  You said you got that letter three months ago?

ALICE
Four, but who’s counting?

EMILY
Obviously you.  Anyways, shouldn’t you be getting a letter from him soon?

ALICE
Yes.  And if my calculations are correct…

EMILY
Are you serious?

ALICE
What?

EMILY
You’re such a dork.  Calculations?

ALICE
Hey, who went to Wellesley?  (Looks at EM who just rolls her eyes)  Yep, that always works.

(EMILY laughs)

ALICE
As I was trying to say, I should be getting a letter today.  Of course I had to factor in the fact that this letter took four months to get here instead of the usual three.  Then there’s the holidays, and his pay, how much time he…

(EMILY pretends to fall asleep and snore)

ALICE
EMILY!
EMILY
Huh?  What?

ALICE
Did you even hear a thing I just said?

EMILY
Yes, you’re getting a letter today. 

ALICE
Good enough.

EMILY
Well aren’t you excited?

ALICE
Well, of courses.

(Doorbell rings)

ALICE
Coming.

(ALICE goes to door and opens it)

 (The MILITARY OFFICER enters carrying an American flag.  ALICE stares at the flag and shakes her head as she begins to cry hysterically)
EMILY
AL?  Who is it?  (Turns around and sees the officer.  She gets up and goes over to ALICE.  Just as ALICE’s sobs get worse, EMILY hugs ALICE who cries into her shoulder).

Reviews

[M.b.p.]

This was really really good!
I hope that you pass some glances to any of my plays...
I do like the ending, it leaves you guessing...not too long of a guess though

[Roger Ferguson II]

wow, this was really good. =)

[Shadows of Sight]

This was really good! I think the end couldn't have happened any other way. I notice one thing though, in the opening of the play where Alice's friend comes in, there are no emotional cues, for actors to pick up on what each character might be feeling at that moment., while you do have them for the remainder three fourths of the play. I was wondering if that was on purpose? The other. Is in the setting of the play, or forward. I think you might add the ages of both, and add in the setting that Emily is just about to knock.
Just things I saw. Spent quite a few year in college playing theater junky. :)
For a simple one act, you added alot of emotional tones to it, which is really impressive!
Good Job.!