The November People’s Choice Award goes to…
The people have spoken… The November People’s Choice Award goes to Evelyn Wu-Coffey for their play Guest Slippers, presented as a staged reading at Monday Night PlayGround on November 13th live at Broadwater Second Stage and simulcast via Vimeo Livestream. Congratulations, Evelyn!
Courtesy of Evelyn, we’re pleased to share the first two pages from the award-winning script. Enjoy!
Guest Slippers
Evelyn Wu-Coffey (they/she/他/她)
Characters (in order of appearance):
老公 Lǎogōng: 40s-50s; Taiwanese-Taiwanese; husband and father; barely intact
shower shoes
老婆 Lǎopó: 40s-50s; Taiwanese-Taiwanese; wife and mother; faded striped slippers
弟弟 Dìdì: 14; Taiwanese-Taiwanese; son and little brother; athletic slides
姊姊 Jiějie: 16; Taiwanese-Taiwanese; daughter and big sister; Hello Kitty slippers
小妹妹 Xiǎo Mèimei (pre-recorded dialogue only): 6; Taiwanese-American; Lǎopó’s sister’s daughter
Setting:
A city apartment in Taipei. Morning – dinnertime.
Notes:
Although this play is written in English, its characters are speaking Mandarin Chinese to each other. * denotes instances where English is spoken. Director must be of East or Southeast Asian descent.
Living room. Modern gray walls and an old wooden front door. A red and gold
diamond-shaped banner wishing you a long life. A wall-length cabinet for storing slippers and shoes. A little bench in the entryway. A perpetual stain on the floor.
Lǎogōng enters in morning clothes. He ritualistically changes out of his house slippers and into his outside shoes before exiting through the front door.
Lǎopó enters, dressed for work and rubbing sleep off her face. She puts the kettle on and tends to morning business.
After some time, Lǎogōng re-enters with a hot cup of soy milk and yóutiáo, spilling some soy milk on that perpetual stain. With breakfast in hand, he performs his tai-chi routine and warms up his voice and sinuses for the day, grossly.
Lǎopó spots the stain.
Lǎopó: Ai-ya!
Lǎogōng: Hm?
Lǎopó: Come here come here!
Lǎogōng: Eh?
Lǎopó: You see this?
Lǎogōng: I see what?
Lǎopó: This! You see this?
Lǎogōng: Oh yeah I see
Lǎopó: Clean it up before she arrives.
Lǎogōng: But it wasn’t me
Lǎopó. Eh?
Lǎogōng: It’s been there forever
Lǎopó: Eh?
Lǎogōng: I’m eating
Lǎopó: I have to go to work. I don’t want her to see it.
Lǎopó exits. Lǎogōng gripes.
…
Lǎogōng: Dìdì!
…
Lǎogōng: Dìdì come here!
Dìdì enters. He’s in the middle of getting dressed for a date.
Lǎogōng: You see this?
Dìdì: See what?
Lǎogōng: I know you see
Dìdì: What are you talking about?
Lǎogōng [gesturing to stain]: Eh?
Dìdì: Yeah I see it
Lǎogōng: Eh?
Dìdì: It’s probably some mud that dried up a while ago. It’s been there forever
Lǎogōng: Where are we?
Dìdì: What?
Lǎogōng: Right now where are we?
Dìdì: In the living room?
Lǎogōng: We are inside. Where does mud belong?
Dìdì: Outsi–
Lǎogōng: Mud should be outside. We are not mud, yes?
Join us for the next round of PlayGround-LA on Dec 11! For more info, click here!