Excerpt from ALEX DISCOVERS FREEDOM
SYNOPSIS
The actor playing Alex threatens to rewrite history (and the play, if necessary) to avoid a love story between he and his costar. The man he portrays, an inventor in the 1890s, abandoned his most promising work when he fell in love with Grace, his lifelong partner. Under the pretext of doing right by his character, the actor plots to change Alex’s destiny. Can he succeed in derailing this love story? For that matter, can any of us find a point of departure from our seemingly imperfect lives, or are we unable to betray ourselves, bound to some destiny?
CAST
(3M, 2F)
- Alex — man, 30s—40s
- Oliver — man, 20s—30s
- Grace — woman, 30s—40s
- Kevin — man, 20s—30s
- Emily — woman, 20s—30s
TIME
1890’s / Present
PLACE
A drawing room.
STYLE
Farce.
EXCERPT
[page 18-28] Alex, an historical inventor from the 1890’s, abandoned his most promising work to fall in love with Grace. The actor playing Alex seeks to remedy these historic facts and has attacked the actress playing Grace in order to derail the love story. The actress, who doubles as stagehand, has just been accused by the actor of bringing on inappropriate set pieces. Oliver, while helping her, has broken his real glasses. She has just replaced them with props.
OLIVER
No lenses. Just props. Everything’s a blur.
ALEX
That woman. She broke your glasses.
OLIVER
She didn’t break my glasses.
ALEX
Because you helped her. It never would have happened otherwise.
OLIVER
Alex. Stop it. Really.
ALEX
What? So you’re just going to wear them?
OLIVER
What’s the difference? She’s trying to help.
ALEX
She broke your glasses. I think it’s time we let her go.
OLIVER
Let her… What? No. Listen Alex. You have got to start taking this more seriously.
ALEX
I am taking this seriously. I care deeply about this man. Myself. Him. Me. His life. This character. Why do you think I’m so upset?
OLIVER
I’m asking you to calm down.
ALEX
He deserved better. A real career. So many inventions ahead of him. We can fix this.
OLIVER
You cannot change history, Alex.
ALEX
Why not? Tell me.
(OLIVER crosses up to the french doors, walking sideways, squinting.)
OLIVER
You’re being selfish.
ALEX
What are you doing? No.
OLIVER
My God. Relax. It’s a couple of doors. Somewhere.
ALEX
Those are not doors. They don’t go anywhere.
OLIVER
Sure they do. I can walk through them. Watch.
(OLIVER, walking sideways, puts his hand on the handle.)
ALEX
Oliver. Stop! I’m serious. You know that I have a door phobia. Please.
OLIVER
It’s “agoraphobia.”
ALEX
No. A door phobia. Early childhood traumatic. Never at home in myself.
(OLIVER opens the doors and stands in the doorway. ALEX lifts his legs a few times, one then the other, as a method to cope with his door phobia.)
OLIVER
Won’t you join me on the veranda?
(GRACE enters swiftly with a vase of flowers and a plant. She places the house plant stage right, sets the vase down on the tea table.)
ALEX
Uhhh. It’s not a veranda. You know it’s not.
(If there is fly space, a chandelier begins to lower into place from above. The chandelier is lowered too far, then drawn up to the proper height.)
OLIVER
One cigarette. Look, I’m outside. I’ve just stepped outside for a cigarette.
ALEX
Close the doors!
OLIVER
Alright. Alright. God.
(OLIVER closes the doors. With ALEX and OLIVER distracted by the door, GRACE moves Alex’s chair back to its original position, then retrieves the vase from the tea table. ALEX turns.)
ALEX
No. No. No. You’ve got to be kidding me.
OLIVER
I did. I closed it. Can you see?
ALEX
She’s moving his chair. You moved my chair.
GRACE
This chair belongs here.
ALEX
It’s you. You!
(OLIVER crosses down quickly.)
OLIVER
Alex, please. Whatever you do, just-
GRACE
I’m going to need that jacket too, Oliver.
ALEX
He drops everything because of you.
GRACE
Is he on something?
OLIVER
Third person singular, actually.
ALEX
Gone. His most anticipated inventions. Woosh! Phooow!
(ALEX makes ridiculous gestures, waving his arms.)
OLIVER
Oh. You mean chemically.
ALEX
Inventions. Unfinished. And you’re the reason he stops. Abandons everything.
GRACE
There’s no proof. Sure, he stopped, but-
ALEX
What? So, it’s just a coincidence? I don’t think so.
GRACE
I’m just saying. There are plenty of theories.
ALEX
Put my chair back! Put it back!
GRACE
I have a job to do, and I take it seriously. Do you see those marks?
ALEX
Marks? Are you kidding? Who gives a flying-?
OLIVER
Alex! No. Look, he’s identifying heavily with him, self.
GRACE
And you. Give me that jacket.
OLIVER
Alright. Alright. Just hang on a second.
(GRACE crosses to OLIVER, who reluctantly removes the blazer.)
ALEX
No. Step back control freak. Here.
OLIVER
What are you-?
(ALEX takes the jacket from OLIVER and puts it on.)
ALEX
There. This will be symbolic of my quest.
GRACE
That jacket is all wrong.
ALEX
I’m wearing it anyway.
OLIVER
I think it looks nice.
GRACE
For the time. Eighteen nineties. But you really don’t care, do you?
ALEX
I’ll tell you what’s wrong. You are wrong. You know, when I read this thing, I pictured Grace as someone helpful, someone nice. But you. You are off the charts. Like, more terrible than I could ever imagine.
GRACE
You’ve got me confused with someone else, I think.
ALEX
Hah. If it weren’t for you, he’d still have his glasses.
GRACE
He has his glasses.
ALEX
Those are-
OLIVER
Fine. These are fine. Really.
(ALEX points his fingers at GRACE.)
ALEX
Enemy of science. You. Yes. Leave my chair alone, and… and stop dragging all of this meaningless, useless crap out here.
GRACE
Meaningless? No. This is all absolutely correct.
ALEX
A wardrobe in my drawing room? Think about it.
GRACE
It’s not your… God. Never mind.
ALEX
I live here. I actually sit in that chair. I use it. This is my home. Mine. I’d like you to leave. Seriously, you are totally miscast, and a horrible person. Let’s face it. You’re in the way. So go away! Goodbye! We’ll find someone else!
(Angry and utterly at a loss, GRACE turns to exit and stumbles over the lamp, knocking it over, the bulb going out. A moment passes.)
OLIVER
Wow.
ALEX
That went well, don’t you think? Phew! Yes!
(ALEX paces, breathing deeply, holding his arms high.)
OLIVER
You promised me, Alex. Really.
ALEX
Promised you what?
OLIVER
Totally inappropriate to bring up my glasses. That was not her fault.
(ALEX ceremoniously returns his chair to where he likes it.)
ALEX
That might have been enough. Don’t you think?
OLIVER
Enough for what?
ALEX
Boom. Yes. I really think so.
OLIVER
Enough for what, Alex?
ALEX
To prevent me from being derailed from my true purpose. I’m free to do what I want.
OLIVER
Look, Alex. Aside from your obvious issues with Grace.
ALEX
No. No. Don’t put it like that. I’ve told you.
OLIVER
Okay. How can I put it?
ALEX
I’m trying to recover a reputation here.
OLIVER
The man you are playing is dead.
ALEX
Abandoned a career to fall in love. Yeah. Hah! I don’t think so.
OLIVER
It happened. It’s what happened.
ALEX
Before.
OLIVER
Yes. In the past. Exactly.
ALEX
Oliver, we have an opportunity here. It’s what he would have wanted. You want this to be historically accurate. I get that. But history is what went wrong for this man. So, we tweak it a bit. Listen. I care about this man. I care about what he can be. That’s my job.
OLIVER
Actually, no. Your job, like any other self-respecting tragic characterization of a human being, is to become so immersed in your identity that you develop a sort of tunnel-vision, and then struggle to manipulate your environment.
ALEX
I’m sorry. No. Buried alive? I won’t do it.
OLIVER
So? What? Half-buried? How can you simultaneously acknowledge what is not real, and at the same time emotionally invest in it?
ALEX
I’m a professional. What about you? How can you just stand back? You don’t care.
OLIVER
No. I do care. I just try to keep a level head. Trust me. I have blind spots.
ALEX
Look, outside the game, I can see the game, gain insights on the game. Inside the game, there’s no way to hang on to the bigger picture.
OLIVER
You want a perspective? Five kids. They had five kids together.
ALEX
Who? Really? Yeah. No, I knew that.
OLIVER
Someone has to drive this thing. Someone has to take the wheel. All fun and games aside, you can’t really expect to change how this ends. o you’d better prepare yourself. Just because it’s experimental, doesn’t mean you personally get to experiment.
(OLIVER has noticed GRACE, who enters pushing a modern-day wheelbarrow. ALEX turns. GRACE brings it in almost center stage, and lets the back of the wheelbarrow drop on the stage floor pointedly, then exits. There is silence as ALEX and OLIVER take it in.)
ALEX
What in the world-?
OLIVER
It’s a wheelbarrow.
ALEX
I know what it is.
OLIVER
She’s making a point. There’s meaningless crap for you.
ALEX
In my drawing room. Utterly inappropriate for the period.
OLIVER
I don’t know.
ALEX
What? Were they around in eighteen ninety?
OLIVER
Sure. Wheelbarrows go way back. Let me see.
(OLIVER pulls out his smart phone to search as ALEX draws closer.)
ALEX
She’s coming after me, Oliver. With a wheelbarrow.
OLIVER
You started this.
ALEX
I didn’t.
OLIVER
You did.
ALEX
She moved my chair. Any luck?
OLIVER
Year of the wheelbarrow. I’m checking.
(GRACE enters again, this time with an enormous pile of rope. She crosses stage right and stops, drops the rope pointedly, and exits.)
ALEX
Now rope. From backstage.
OLIVER
Rope is fine. Wheelbarrows. Very interesting. Ancient Greece.
ALEX
Check rope.
OLIVER
I told you. Rope is fine. Trust me. Eighteen nineties.
ALEX
Check cell phones.
OLIVER
There’s no way. Oh, Jesus! Look at me.
(OLIVER quickly returns his smart phone to his pocket.)
ALEX
We can’t let her do this
OLIVER
This is your mess. You need to apologize. And be with her.
ALEX
I am not apologizing, and I will not be with that woman.
OLIVER
You have no choice. That’s how it goes.
ALEX
How what goes? I’m a free man. A free person.
OLIVER
You know what I’m talking about. Certain things happen.
ALEX
I’m still an individual. I can do what I want.
OLIVER
Not really. You’re missing this. Listen to me.
ALEX
Don’t be ridiculous. Look. See? Watch my arm.
OLIVER
God no. Not the arm bit.
ALEX
Look at this. I want to raise my arm. So. I raise my arm. See? Freedom.
(ALEX raises his arm.)
OLIVER
You were always going to raise your arm.
ALEX
I just decided. You saw me decide. Just now.
OLIVER
You only thought you decided. Alex, this is a performance. Do you understand?
ALEX
You think that in terms of ultimate reality that this is a performance, and I’m telling you that in fact, this is my life. Here. Now. This. Look in my eyes. I’m a living person.
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