The February People’s Choice Award goes to…

The people have spoken… The February People’s Choice Award goes to Maya De La Torre, for her play, MAKE BELIEVE, presented as a staged reading at Monday Night PlayGround-LA on February 23rd live at Broadwater Second Stage and simulcast via Vimeo Livestream. Congratulations, Maya!

Courtesy of Maya, we’re pleased to share the first two pages from the award-winning script. Enjoy!

MAKE BELIEVE
Maya De La Torre

CHARACTERS
Charlie, man, thirty-four, a skeptic
Topaz, can be anything at all, Charlie’s former imaginary friend, a little out of this world, loves
Charlie most of all
Mateo, boy, six, appears only off stage, one line

TIME
Now.

SETTING
A liminal space. A pirate ship. A regular living room.

NOTES
/ denotes an interruption
A large amount of this play is mimed, have fun with it. Sound effects made by the actors are
welcomed, if not encouraged.

(Lights up.. CHARLIE is wandering through the empty space holding several pages worth of children’s drawings.)

CHARLIE
Hello?
(Silence.)
Hello?
(Silence.)
I’m not really sure how this works. Or if it works. Or if this is just crazy — well, it is crazy, but crazy in a way that leans “psychotic break” and not “highly unlikely but worth a shot.” My name is Charlie. I’m thirty-four. I’m looking for —
(He riffles through a couple of the drawings before picking one.)
Topaz the Magnificent? I think you used to be a friend of mine? Once upon a time. I — I found some old drawings of us in my mom’s house.

(While CHARLIE speaks, TOPAZ stands. Were they always in the room? Regardless, they are unable to be seen by CHARLIE, and unable to believe he is actually here.)

CHARLIE (CONT.)
It says here you’re the best — and I was a very picky kid, so I’ve been told, so I figure it’s true — this is crazy — I could really use your help.
(TOPAZ perks up.)
My son. Mateo. He’s only six, and he has all — had all these imaginary friends, but now he says they’re all gone, they all got lost at sea. And I told him he could just bring them back, or meet new ones while these guys are away, but he doesn’t seem to think — well, no. He knows that’s not true. He’s so sad, and I don’t know what to do. And these drawings seem to suggest you have water powers, so maybe you could find them for me. They look like this:
(He brings out another drawing, this one done by his son, and holds it up. TOPAZ looks at the drawing and takes an imaginary copy of it to hold up to the light. They paste it to the wall.)
Maybe I am crazy.

(CHARLIE sits down. TOPAZ unsuccessfully tries to get his attention. An idea strikes. They begin to build an imaginary wall. They knock on it:
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
CHARLIE hears the last one. He looks around. TOPAZ knocks again. KnockKnockKnock.)

CHARLIE (CONT.)
Hello?
(A moment passes. CHARLIE knocks on the ground. TOPAZ knocks back.)
Are you serious?
(TOPAZ pushes the wall into CHARLIE, who falls over from the impact.)
Woah! No way.
(CHARLIE reaches out to the wall, feeling it under his fingers.)
Is it actually you? Or is this a kind of ghost situation?
(TOPAZ procures an empty glass, which they fill with water from their aforementioned powers, and toss it at him. The water splashes CHARLIE in the face.)
Okay. Okay! Why can’t I see you?
(TOPAZ grabs CHARLIE’s hand.)
Woah, okay.
(They bring it to his heart, tapping it twice, and then move to his head, tapping it many, many times.)
Okay. Okay. I’m thinking too much.

(to be continued)

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Stay tuned for information about the next installment of PlayGround-LA! For more info, click here