The October People’s Choice goes to…..
The October People’s Choice Award Goes to…..
The people have spoken… The October People’s Choice Award goes to Nicki Spencer for her short play, WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD , presented as a staged reading at Monday Night PlayGround on October 14th at the Broadwater Main Stage. Congratulations, Nicki !
Courtesy of Ms. Spencer, we’re pleased to share the first two pages from the award-winning script. Enjoy!
Welcome to the Neighborhood
by
Nikki Spencer
CAST BREAKDOWN
LIZA – Female – Age 30 – Any Race – Just moved into 1524 Hillcrest. Wife of Stephanie. Unafraid to dream about nice, simple things. Her pregnancy has catapulted a devout desire to build a happy environment for her baby.
STEPHANIE – Female – Age 35 – Any Race – Just moved into 1524 Hillcrest. Wife of Liza. Pragmatic, pensive, and strong-willed. Doesn’t bend to anybody… except her wife for whom she adores and always wants to make happy… even if it means doing crazy, ridiculous things.
JAQUELINE – Female – Age 40+ – Any Race – Lives at 1526 Hillcrest. A rich husband who is never around actually makes for a pretty fun life. She’s all about her dogs, her friends, and the neighborhood. A wacky, helicopter personality who is always up in your business.
MOE – Male – Age 40 – Any Race – Lives at 1522 Hillcrest with his husband and two sons. A deft and artful flare for the dramatic. Stay at home dad with more time on his hands since both his kids went to school.
(The day before Halloween. A stunning English Tudor style house in a safe, picturesque neighborhood in Hartford, CT. Two chairs stand UC. A stack of cardboard boxes marked in with various identifiers written on them (i.e. “kitchen”, “office”, “bedroom”). DR. STEPHANIE enters from DL holding a box and adding it to the stack. LIZA also enters DR with a box, it’s a heavier one, Stephanie rushes over to take it from her.)
STEPHANIE
I told you to leave the heavy ones for me.
(She rubs Liza’s stomach)
LIZA
I know but, I’m perfectly fine. The doc said I could do all my normal activities.
STEPHANIE
I’ve got a normal activity for ya. (She leads Liza to one of the chairs.) Just rest for a sec, you’ve been on your feet all day.
(Liza sits down in the chair. Stephanie starts unpacking.)
LIZA
I hope our neighbors are cool. Maybe we should bring them a Jello-mold or something.
STEPHANIE
Jello-mold? Ok, Donna Reid.
LIZA
I wanna bring them something that says, “Hi, we’re the new pregnant Lesbian couple that moved in up the street and we want to be able to knock on your door when we need to borrow some sugar.” What can we bring that says that?
STEPHANIE
Vodka.
LIZA
I’m serious, Steph. I’d really like us to try hard to be friends with the people we’ll live next to for the next however-many years. I want our kid to have neighborhood friends like I did.
STEPHANIE
I want that too. I do. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. Sorry to be a downer, but this ain’t the 50s. People don’t really bond with their neighbors the way they used to back in the day.
LIZA
I hope that’s not true here.
STEPHANIE
I was just talking about this with a colleague. It’s something like less than a quarter of Americans interact with their neighbors on a regular basis. Used to be that neighbors really knew each other, and large corporations were far off entities that seldom entered daily life. Now it’s the opposite.
LIZA
Social media has made us anti-social.
STEPHANIE
Exactly. And Walmart knows more about us than the people next door. And, sad to say, but nobody welcomes the new neighbors with Jello-molds, those days are long gone—
JAQUELINE
Hellooooo!! Any one home? Neighbors are a’knockin’!
LIZA
Oh, uh hi! Come on in.
MOE
Hi, I’m Moe. I live in the house next door that way (He points to the left). 1522 Hillcrest. I’m there with my husband and our two kids, you’ll meet them some other time. And this is Jaqueline she lives the other way (He points the other way) at 1526 Hillcrest.
JAQUELINE
Hope you don’t mind us barging in. We brought a Bundt cake to say, “Welcome to the hood!”
LIZA
Thank you. That’s so nice of you! I’m Liza and this is my wife, Stephanie. Nice to meet you.
JAQUELINE
You too. So, what do you both do?
MOE
Jaqueline… we don’t have time for this!
JAQUELINE
It’s fine, Moe. (to Liza and Steph) Please, continue.
LIZA
(A little confused) Uh… ok… Steph’s a corporate lawyer, and I’m a yoga instructor. We met in one of my classes she was doing her downward dog all wrong—
MOE
Oh, isn’t that’s just the cutest story— So, listen. We didn’t come over here just to say our hellos. We also had some time-sensitive logistical concerns to discuss with you.
STEPHANIE
What kind of logistical concerns?
JAQUELINE
No need to worry, we just wanted to make sure you understood what the neighborhood expects of you in regard to participation in the community traditions we’ve fostered over several years.
LIZA
Oh, we definitely want to participate in everything.
STEPHANIE
Well, I dunno about everything.
MOE
Look, I’m gonna get straight to the point because you have a lot to get done in a very short amount of time. We’re here to make sure you’re totally prepared for Halloween.
STEPHANIE
I’m sorry—what?
JAQUELINE
As you probably already know, Hillcrest Avenue, our, your neighborhood is the number one spot for trick-or-treaters in the state. People drive from other cities to come here.
LIZA
Oh, wow. No, we didn’t know that.
MOE
Yeah, so, you need to get your act together. Like— now. I mean, Halloween is tomorrow.
STEPHANIE
Oh, well, we’ve got a lot of other things going on, we’re still moving boxes in—
LIZA
Of course, we’ll participate. I’ll head to Vons and grab some pumpkins to put on the porch. How’s that sound?
MOE
(Disgusted) Pumpkins on the porch? (To Jaqueline, upset) I told you this would happen. They don’t know anything. (To Stephanie and Liza) Do you even own a single life-sized skeleton? No, I didn’t think so. This is a disaster!
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Join us on November 11 for Monday Night PlayGround! Click here for more info.