Think About It

THINK ABOUT IT BY JEFFREY LO (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)

GUY:

So you know that whole MeToo thing?

All of the women posting on Facebook about the bullshit sexual harassment they’ve been through in their life…

Yeah.

That was tough.

I mean, don’t get me wrong it was much tougher for the women.

Obviously.

Not me.

But.

Like.

Ok, so.

I read all of this and I thought about myself.

And my initial impulse was to think – well, luckily I’m NOT one of those guys.

…

But here’s the thing.

I thought about it.

Like really thought about it.

And…

…

Yeah…

…

I know this doesn’t mean anything at this point but…

I’m sorry. 

END OF PLAY.

An Excercise in Patience

An Excercise in Patience by Jeffrey Lo (Download PDF Here)

Lights up on DIRECTOR.

DIRECTOR is holding a binder with a script in it.

DIRECTOR was not expecting us.

DIRECTOR smiles at us nervously.

DIRECTOR opens the binder and shows us the pages.

They are blank.

DIRECTOR smiles again nervously.

DIRECTOR: I’m not sure what to do...

DIRECTOR stares at the blank pages.

END OF PLAY.

Fountain

FOUNTAIN BY JEFFREY LO (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)

A fountain outside of a hotel.

Inside, a wedding can be heard.

On one side – CHUCK.

On the other side – HEATHER.

They sit in silence.

You can tell from their energy that they know each other but are unsure how to interact.

Beat.

More silence.

Beat.

A lot of silence.

Beat.
CHUCK: Did you know that I used to be your fiancé?

A brief silence.

CHUCK: Hah… Hah…

HEATHER: What?

CHUCK: I wasn’t sure how we should start this conversation so I thought maybe I –

HEATHER stands up and leaves.

CHUCK: Oh. Goodbye… Again. 

END OF PLAY.

Circles

CIRCLES BY JEFFREY LO (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)

Lights up on ARLENE, at center walking in a circle.

She continuously walks in a circle over and over again as she speaks.

ARLENE:

What is happening?

It won’t stop.

I thought it would stop.

It doesn’t stop.

What am I supposed to do?

How am I supposed to deal with it.

Not that long ago I felt ok.

And then… not.

I thought once I felt ok I would stay ok.

But no.

Wait… Wait… Wait…

There it is!

I feel ok!

I feel really good.

Like clouds passing in front of the sun – here is the sun!

…

…

…

Shit.

And here we are.

One moment I’m great.

The next moment not.

What’s the pattern.

There must be a pattern.

I have to solve the pattern and avoid the pattern.

Then all will be ok…

And – THERE!

Ok, feels good.

Feels great.

What did I do to get back to here.

…

And there it goes.

That time it came and went much faster.

But why?

What did I do?

Why am I here.

Why do I feel awful?

I don’t know what to do.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Shit.

Ok. Ok. Ok

Calm down.

Stay calm Arlene.

How did you end up back here?

How did you end up in tears?

How do you get out of these tears?

Come on Arlene… Come on…

…

And there.

I feel good.

I feel so good.

How can someone feel so good one moment and feel so terrible the next?

It doesn’t make sense.

I don’t know how I got here.

I don’t know how I got there.

I don’t know…

I just don’t know…

ARLENE continues to walk and walk and walk in circles and circles and circles.

Forever in circles.

Stuck in circles.

Always in circles.

Lights fade in circles.

END OF PLAY.

Inspection

INSPECTION BY JEFFREY LO (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)

JOE C and ELENA C walk inside of JOE’s restaurant.

JOE: And here it is.

ELENA: What?

JOE: This is it.

ELENA: Ano?

JOE: My restaurant!

ELENA: Ito? This is your restaurant?

JOE: Yeah!

ELENA: Where are your customers?

JOE: Ma –

ELENA: You won’t make any money in a restaurant if you have no customers, Joe.

JOE: Ma, it’s not open yet. That’s why I brought you here. To show it to you before anyone else.

ELENA: Why?

JOE: What do you mean, why? Because you’re my mom!

ELENA: I’ve always been your mom. You don’t show me everything before you show anyone else.

JOE: Well, this is my first restaurant.

ELENA: Ok…

JOE: And… Well… Come on, you know.

ELENA: I know what?

JOE: My first experiences eating food is the food you cooked.

ELENA: Actually your first experience eating is the milk from my body.

JOE: Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean mom. You know – we can just go back –

ELENA: I’m kidding. Thank you for thinking of me. This is very nice.

JOE: You like it?

ELENA: I’m not talking about the restaurant! I’m talking about being with you. It’s nice.

JOE: Oh.

ELENA: I’m kidding again! The restaurant is nice too.

JOE: You sure?

ELENA: Yes…

JOE: Promise?

ELENA: Yes! Stop being so insecure!

JOE: Because if you don’t like it… I’ll have to apologize to you about something…

ELENA is suddenly suspicious.

ELENA: What…

JOE: Nothing…

ELENA: What did you do?

JOE: Nothing!

JOE walks up to a curtain covering a space on his wall.

JOE: It’s just… this might embarrass you.

ELENA: What did you do Joe!?

JOE takes the curtain down, revealing the name of the restaurant – ELENA C’s.

Next to the name of the restaurant is a warm, and beautiful photo of ELENA C feeding food to JOE as a child.

ELENA: What is this?

JOE: Our name.

ELENA: You named –

JOE: it after you… After the woman who inspired me to cook. To create my own food…

ELENA: Joe…

JOE: And it took a long time to find a photo of you being nice to me…

ELENA (Jokingly hitting JOE): Lintik ka talaga!

JOE laughs.

JOE hugs his mom.

ELENA looks at the photo while in her son’s arms.

JOE: This is for you.

Pause.

A lovely moment for the two of them.

Beat.

ELENA: Well then you better not go out of business. This has my name on it.

Blackout.

END OF PLAY.

The Cinema

THE CINEMA BY JEFFREY LO (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)

A full audience of moviegoers sit in the theatre.

They are all at a hush as the final preview just ended.

The movie begins.

One character appears on screen – it is a Black Woman.

Another character appears on screen – it is a Vietnamese Woman.

Another character appears on screen – it is a Cambodian Woman.

A final character appears on screen – it is an Iraqi Woman.

The scene continues with these four characters going about their lives.

They are fully rounded characters.

They are interesting characters.

The movie is quite good.

All of the moviegoers look around at each other.

They look at the screen.

They look back at each other.

They all nod their heads in agreement.

MOVIEGOER: This is odd…

The audience continues to enjoy the rest film.

END OF PLAY.

Sales

SALES BY JEFFREY LO (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)

 

A makeshift sales stand.

SALESMAN stands inside of it.

In the corner is OTHER PERSON.

He sits alone in his corner.

SALESMAN: Sale! Happiness for sale!

SALESMAN looks at OTHER PERSON.

SALESMAN: Happiness for sale!

No response.

SALESMAN looks out to the audience.

SALESMAN: Happiness for sale!!

A LINE OF PEOPLE enter and form in front of SALESMAN’s side.

SALESMAN: Happiness for sale!!!

A LINE OF PEOPLE “Ooh!” and “Ahh!” at SALESMAN. 

SALESMAN: We’ve got happiness for sale for everybody!

One by one, A LINE OF PEOPLE purchase happiness from SALESMAN.

After they have all purchased their merchandise, they exit.

SALESMAN shifts his attention back to OTHER PERSON.

SALESMAN: HAPPINESS FOR SALE!!!!

OTHER PERSON looks at SALESMAN.

OTHER PERSON: Broke.

Silence.

SALESMAN: Oh.

SALESMAN starts to pack up his stand. 

OTHER PERSON: Do I still get some happiness?

SALESMAN finishes packing up his stand and exits.

Lights fade.

END OF PLAY.

Wheels on the Bus

WHEELS ON THE BUS BY JEFFREY LO (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)

TRISTIN, a calm and quiet woman in her 60’s on the bus.

This is TRISTIN’s usual route.

TRISTIN likes to sit quietly on her usual route.

She finds it soothing,

Silence.

Soothing silence.

 The bus stops to pick up the next group of passengers.

TRISTIN nods at the folks she recognizes.

They smile back.

Then a new girl enters the bus.

That new girl is MARISSA.

The new girl, MARISSA sits next to TRISTIN. 

MARISSA: Hi.

TRISTIN: Hi.

Pause.

MARISSA: How are you?

TRISTIN: Ok.

Pause.

TRISTIN feels MARISSA anticipating more.

TRISTIN clears her throat.

TRISTIN: How are you?

MARISSA: You know… odd. You know how that is?

TRISTIN: I’m not sure, to be honest.

MARISSA: I’m sure you do.

TRISTIN: I’m not so sure,

MARISSA: Well –

Pause.

TRISTIN: Well?

MARISSA: You know.

TRISTIN: Ok.

Silence.

TRISTIN thinks she got off easy.

Back to the soothing silence.

Then –

MARISSA: You ever notice how many funny things happen to us everyday?

TRISTIN: No.

MARISSA: So many funny things happen to us everyday.

Pause.

TRISTIN: Like?

MARISSA: Like lines.

TRISTIN: Lines?

MARISSA: Lines. Like you know, when we are at the grocery store and want to pay for our stuff we stand in line?

TRISTIN: That’s funny?

MARISSA: But like, why do we do that?

TRISTIN: That’s how the world works.

MARISSA: But no one talks about it. Like… no one asked me if I thought that was the way we should do things.

TRISTIN: Ok. Do you have a better idea than lies?

MARISSA: No, but that’s not what I’m talking about.

TRISTIN: Then what are you talking about?

MARISSA: I’m talking about how funny they are.

TRISTIN: Ok.

MARISSA: Cause it’s funny.

TRISTIN: Sure.

MARISSA: And you know what else is funny?

TRISTIN: I’m sure you’re about to tell me.

MARISSA: Money.

TRISTIN: Money?

MARISSA: Money.

TRISTIN: Ok. Tell me about money.

MARISSA: It’s just pieces of paper.

TRISTIN: Pieces of paper.

MARISSA: So, in other words – money is just bullshit.

TRISTIN: Well if you’re looking into getting rid of some bullshit, feel free to let me help you with that.

MARISSA: But we need the bullshit. Ya know?

TRISTIN: Don’t have to tell me twice.

MARISSA: Which is like some sort of sick joke – to make us NEED bullshit. Like… we NEED the bullshit THE MAN produces even though we all KNOW it’s BULLSHIT. Like… it’s such a power move from the BULLSHIT MAN.

TRISTIN considers this.

Silence.

TRISTIN: I agree.

MARISSA: You do?

TRISTIN: Yeah. You have a point there.

MARISSA: I know I do.

The bus halts for it’s next stop.

MARISSA looks up.

MARISSA: Oh, that’s me.

TRISTIN: Alright.

MARISSA: Bye.

TRISTIN: Goodbye.

MARISSA exits the bus.

TRISTIN stays seated.

Silence.

Soothing silence.

Lights fade.

END OF PLAY.

Clearing

CLEARING BY JEFFREY LO (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)

Lights up DANIEL, putting his things in boxes.

After DANIEL completes packing up his things, he works to close the boxes.

DANIEL closes the boxes one by one by one.

DANIEL looks at all the boxes and considers what to do with them.

DANIEL picks up one box and walks up to a dumpster.

DANIEL throws the box in the dumpster.

Beat.

DANIEL picks up another box and throws that box into the dumpster.

Beat.

DANIEL picks up all of the boxes and throw them into the dumpster.

One by one by one by one, DANIEL throws all of his belongings away.

Silence.

DANIEL: Freedom…

Lights fade.

END OF PLAY.

Who It Actually Was

WHO IT ACTUALLY BY JEFFREY LO (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)

A blank stage.

At center is Jamaican musician, singer and DJ – Shaggy.

SHAGGY: Hey.

SHAGGY smiles at the audience.

SHAGGY: It was me.

Blackout. 

END OF PLAY.