The January 2022 People’s Choice Award goes to…
The people have spoken… The January People’s Choice Award goes to Rhea MacCallum for her short play, Eliminate the Backlog, presented as a staged reading at the Broadwater Second Stage and simulcast online on January 10th. Congratulations, Rhea!
Courtesy of Rhea, we’re pleased to share the first few pages from the award-winning script. Enjoy!
Eliminate the Backlog
by
Rhea MacCallum
CHARACTERS:
JANE DOE – early to mid-20s, female, BIPOC, despondent, wearing minimal clothing
ALEX – 20s to 30s, trans woman, Caucasian preferred otherwise any ethnicity, pragmatic yet spunky, glamorous
YASMINE – early to mid-20s, female, BIPOC – Indian-American preferred, college student, retains a belief that justice will prevail, wearing a ‘date’ dress that she holds together because it’s been torn
DETECTIVE MILLS – early 30s and up, female, any ethnicity, no nonsense, professional yet comfortable attire
SGT. HARRIS – early 30s and up, male, Caucasian, Desk Sergeant lacking in ambition
SETTING:
Inside a police evidence storage room and box.
SYNOPSIS:
Three backlogged rape kits discover their fate.
Inside a police evidence storage box. JANE DOE, ALEX and YASMINE sit in an otherwise empty space. Near them is a stack of storage boxes sealed with police tape. The faint sound of keys rattling.
YASMINE
Shh, shh, shh… did you hear that?
ALEX
No one was saying anything, dear.
YASMINE
I heard keys rattling.
ALEX
You always hear keys rattling.
YASMINE
Someone must be coming.
JANE DOE
No one’s coming.
YASMINE
You don’t know that.
ALEX
You don’t know that anyone is.
YASMINE
But they might.
ALEX
It was probably someone walking by.
JANE DOE
Like the janitor.
YASMINE
Maybe.
(Beat.)
I don’t hear it anymore.
ALEX
Accept your fate, darling. You’re going to be here a while.
YASMINE
I don’t believe that. I can’t believe that.
ALEX
(To Jane Doe.) How long you been here, love?
JANE DOE
Years.
ALEX
See.
YASMINE
Not me.
JANE DOE
What makes you so special? You know somebody important?
ALEX
High profile case, perhaps?
YASMINE
No, nothing like that.
ALEX
Girl, mine was a hate crime and it didn’t help me any.
YASMINE
But I know my assailant.
JANE DOE
I did, too. Sort of.
ALEX
A regular?
JANE DOE
Yeah.
YASMINE
Regular what?
ALEX
John, dear. A regular John.
YASMINE
You were a pros-
JANE DOE
Sex worker.
YASMINE
I didn’t think…
ALEX
Sex workers could be raped? Of course, they can, dear.
JANE DOE
I said no, didn’t matter. I said, I don’t do it like that. No matter. I screamed, then everything went black.
Join us on for the next Monday Night Playground on February 14th! For more info, click here!