n Flashcards by Lore Sayasithsena

Bird sound

KATE: (Taken aback by the crowd.) Well, this is quite a
party you got going on in here…I thought you were
supposed to be rehearsing?

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

DUNCAN: I will not be treated like this. I was Lear!!

KATE: Okay, now everyone, Quiet! Well, I guess this didn’t
exactly work now, did it?

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BRAYDEN: Not exactly.

KATE: All right, then, so what are we going to do here?
Huh? You’re all going to have to get along with each other
or there isn’t going to be a play.

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DUNCAN: If I may…

KATE: (With control.) No, you may not. Now, look, what you
do on your own time is your business, but when you’re in
my theatre, you’re on my time and you play by my rules.
Okay?
KATE: (Cont’d.) I do expect more from them, but under the
circumstances, I’m forced to be understanding. But, you. I
really expected more from you. You’re the one who
wanted to do this. So, what’s the problem?

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BRAYDEN: Look, the way you busted our chops just now…if
anyone’s gonna make this work, I got a feeling it’d be you.
(KATE is hesitant.) Plus, you’re kind of scary.

KATE: Huh?

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BRAYDEN: Isn’t there some way you can do this?

KATE: Me!? No

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BRAYDEN: (Big charming smile.) Why not? You do
everything else around here.

KATE: Because…because

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BRAYDEN: C’mon, Kate. Don’t you care about the play?

KATE: Of course I do. (Thinks.) If I do this, will you take it
seriously?

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BRAYDEN: Absolutely

KATE: (Somewhat skeptical.) I mean it, now. This is serious.
No blowing it off. No screwing around. No quitting!

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BRAYDEN: Yep.

KATE: And you’ll do it my way? No questions asked?

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BRAYDEN: (Cont’d.) I am being totally serious, Kate.
(Pause.) Hey, I know I’m a good actor. But I’m not that
good. (With charm.) Yet.

KATE: (Decisive.) Okay. I’ll help you. We’ll start right now.
Go home and read your script.

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BRAYDEN: The whole thing?

KATE: The whole thing. Front to back. Twice.

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BRAYDEN: Um. Okay.

KATE: Once you’ve done that, then we can get down to the
hard work.

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BRAYDEN: Thanks, Kate. You won’t regret this.

KATE: I already do.

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BRAYDEN: Farewell, then. Parting is such…um…sweet
stuff.

KATE: Well? What are you waiting for? Go home and read
your scripts! Front to back! Twice.

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BRAYDEN/RUDY: (Off.) Will make us all fine actors yet!

KATE: Boy, he’s looks wrecked. I thought he said he was in
shape.

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RUDY: He’s all yours, Kate.

KATE: Great. Thanks for your help, guys. Same time
tomorrow night?

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RUDY: Ya know, I could stick around, Kate, if you think you
still needed me

KATE: Thanks, but I think we’ll be okay

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RUDY: Oh. Okay. Sure. See ya tomorrow, then. Bye,
Brayden.

KATE: Okay. So you read your script? (BRAYDEN nods.)
Twice? (BRAYDEN nods.) Good. What can you tell me
about Romeo and Juliet?

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BRAYDEN: Well, it’s about this guy, Romeo, from Corona…

KATE: Verona.

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BRAYDEN: Uh, right. And, um, his folks are fighting with the
folks of Juliet, but he doesn’t know Juliet at this point,
because he’s all uptight about this other chick, but then he
sees her at a party and then…

KATE: Nope. Stop, stop, stop. You’re just telling me what’s
happened. I want to know if you know what it’s about.

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BRAYDEN: Oh. (Looks down at his script for a long time.)

KATE: Anything. Give me anything at all.

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BRAYDEN: Give me a sec, will you! (HE flips through his
pages while KATE stares intensely.) You’re making me
nervous! Stop looking at me!!

KATE: Stop looking at you?

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BRAYDEN: Yeah. Turn around or something! (KATE
complies and turns. BRAYDEN reads, thinks and then
finally answers.) Passion

KATE: Passion?

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BRAYDEN: (Cont’d.) No?

KATE: (Negating his “no.”) No

BRAYDEN: (Misunderstanding.) No?

KATE: No, I mean, no. That’s good. That’s really good.

BRAYDEN: (Thinks for a moment.) Could you turn around again, ‘cause I can’t think with you...

KATE: (Turning.) Oh. Sure, sure.

BRAYDEN: Oh, good, for a minute there I thought I was way off base.

KATE: (Pleased.) No, you’re on. You’re definitely on base. So, how would you relate that to your character?

BRAYDEN: (Showing more confidence.) Well...I think everything is really, really important to him. Kind of like my soap. You know, The Flame Within.

KATE: Uh. In what way?

BRAYDEN: Connecting?

KATE: Yeah. Connecting with the material. Connecting with your cast. Connecting with your audience.

BRAYDEN: So I was right?

KATE: It’s not really a question of “right” or “wrong.” You made a choice. And it connected you to the material. That’s kind of what theatre’s all about.

BRAYDEN: Well, it’s like all the characters on the soap, the things they do are really, really important to them. They want everything at a super intense level. Like a hundred and ten percent. So if they hate something, they really hate it, and if they love something, well, you know. (Pause.) I think Romeo is like that.

KATE: (Turns back around. Impressed.) Well, I’m not sure if Will Shakespeare would appreciate being compared to daytime drama, but I’ll take it.

BRAYDEN: Huh. I never thought of it that way.

KATE: (Triumphant.) Shall we try a little of the script?

BRAYDEN: Yes, ma’am.

KATE: Okay. Romeo’s entrance...page three KATE: (Cont’d.) You’ll need your script.

BRAYDEN: No, I’m good.

KATE: Brayden. Hold your script.

BRAYDEN: I was on a soap for eight months. If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s memorize lines.

KATE: Yes, but this is Shakespeare

BRAYDEN: “Is the day so young?”

KATE: (Faster.) “But new struck nine.”

BRAYDEN: I know that, Kate. And with all due respect, if I can trust you with your stuff, you can trust me with mine.

KATE: (Looks to BRAYDEN and then to her script. Testing him.) “Good morrow, cousin.”

BRAYDEN: “Ay me! Sad hours seem long.”

KATE: (Kate looks further into the scene.) “I aim’d so near!”

BRAYDEN: “A right good mark!”

KATE: (A little competitive.) “Forget to think of her.”

BRAYDEN: “O, teach me how I should forget to think. He, that is strucken blind, cannot forget The precious treasure of his eyesight lost.” (BRAYDEN looks at HER, prepared and serious.)

KATE: (Smiling.) Okay. Romeo’s entrance. Page three...

RUDY: Um, so Kate? I was thinking about what you said...about how this play has a...what do you call it...a recurring theme about unrequited love. So I looked up unrequited love at the library and it says the definition of unrequited love is, like, the total adoration and respect of a lover for a beautiful, intelligent and unattainable object where, like, the lover welcomes his misery for it inspires him to greatness.

KATE: Wow, Rudy, that is really profound.

RUDY: So, um, do you think it’s true? That misery inspires greatness?

KATE: Well, I suppose it’s possible.

RUDY: Ya think so? I mean, like, I didn’t write it or anything, but I’m glad you liked it.

KATE: I do. It’s beautiful

SID: Let us remember that Juliet is your daughter, so no more wandering hands, all right? All right. Kate, where did we leave off?

KATE: Act Two, Scene Two

SID: (Suddenly serious.) All right, people, let’s get back to work. We’ve got three days until we put this thing up and put it up we shall! From where we left off. Act Three, Scene One! Gentlemen... (No one moves.) Act Three, Scene One!!

KATE: Sid, do you realize what you just did?

SID: What?

KATE: You just fired one of your actors

SID: Yes, and...?

KATE: Well, I hate to be obvious, but how are you going to do Romeo and Juliet without Mercutio?

SID: No worries.

KATE: Am I speaking to the same Sidney Nelson Reilly who freaked out about his pen not two minutes ago?

SID: Yes. (Pause.) Your point being?

KATE: Well, you’re awfully calm about all this.

SID: Actors are easily replaceable.

KATE: (Small laugh.) Yes, but this is Shakespeare, Sid. And we open next week.

SID: Yes, yes, yes, I know. We open next week. (Takes a quick glance around the room, thinks, and then, to KATE.) You do it.

KATE: What? Me? No, no way!

RUDY: Sure you are!

KATE: No, I’m not! Now, c’mon, there has gotta be someone else more qualified!

AUDREY: Oh, that’s perfect! You already know the script

KATE: No, no, no. Now, wait, Sid. I am not an actor

SID: Kate. Look around you. You are doing it.

KATE: What about Rudy?

SID: Rudy is already playing nine parts

KATE: I know. Lloyd!

ALL: He’s just supposed to be the usher!!

KATE: All right, now wait, I know, I got it. What if I just cut Mercutio out of the script? There are too many characters in this play anyway!

WAYNE: Somebody’s gotta kill me!

KATE: (To BRAYDEN.) Help me out here. This is a bad idea, right?

BRAYDEN: No, I think it’s a terrific idea.

KATE: (Hyperventilating.) Oh, no! Oh, help! Oh, me!

RUDY: C’mon, Kate. We’re family. And you can’t let your family down.

KATE: Yes I can!!

SID: (Shaking HER.) Kate, listen to me. Listen. What is the stage manager’s job? To solve problems. And what we have right now is a problem that you need to solve.

KATE: Sid, I can’t. I can’t! I really, really, can’t!

SID: No, you cannot! Now I don’t want to hear another word about it. You are doing this part and that is that! Let’s go, people. We have a lot of rehearsing to do!

KATE: (Looks at the encouraged faces around her.) Right. Right. Rehearsing. Lots of rehearsing. Lots and lots of rehearsing. Much rehearsing. Right. Um…Sid? Can we speak?

SID: (A little impatient.) Well, what is it? Speak up.

KATE: (With growing urgency.) Sid, forgive me. But, I’m getting a sense that you don’t fully appreciate the situation that we have here. See, what I really need you to understand is that I cannot do this! I’ve been in that light booth for years, watching their faces, seeing the enrichment of their souls as only a Sidney Nelson Reilly production can do! The power of this event could potentially change these people’s lives and I...I can’t take it!!! I can’t! It’s too much! I can’t handle that kind of personal responsibility!!

GIGI: (Impatient.) Please. Actress! Stand still, won’t you?

KATE: I think I have a hive. Audrey, do I have a hive? I think I have a hive. Do I? Do I have a hive? (SHE shows her neck to AUDREY.)

AUDREY: (Trying to be kind.) Um...well...

CAROL: (To KATE.) Kate, dear. Now, I know exactly what you’re going through and I have a very simple solution. (Pause.) You just have to process.

KATE: (Quietly.) Go away

RUDY: Yeah, it’s not the end of the world, Kate.

KATE: Yes it is. Leprosy is the first sign of the apocalypse!

RUDY: Hey, Kate, you know what helps me when I’m nervous? I think about my tongue. You know, how big and weird and flat it is. And when you’re all like, wow, this big, weird, flat thing is actually in my mouth, you completely forget that you’re nervous.

KATE: (Pause.) That really just doesn’t help me at all.

WAYNE: (Strained.) Oh, sure.

KATE: (Popping up.) Oh, no, Rudy! The lights! What about the lights!

RUDY: It’s no problem, Kate. Sid said he would leave them up the entire show. So you don’t have to worry about it!

KATE: (Whimpering.) Oh. Oh, good. Good.

BRAYDEN: I don’t get it. You run this place. You do the work of, like, five people. You know everything about this show backwards and forwards. I’d think you’d be the last person in the world to get stage fright.

KATE: (Lying down on the ground.) No, see, no, no. No! It’s not stage fright. I’m ill. I’m very, very ill. In fact, I think I may need medical attention. Nurse! Nurse!

BRAYDEN: “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, to boist’rous; and it pricks like a thorn!”

KATE: Wha?

BRAYDEN: (Pause. BRAYDEN gets an idea.) “Oh, gentlemen, my very friend has got his mortal hurt; Brave Mercutio is dead!"

KATE: (Weak.) Very funny.

BRAYDEN: (To VI.) I think I better handle this. (To KATE.) C’mon, Kate, you’re not sick.

KATE: (Coughs weakly.) Yes, yes, I am.

BRAYDEN: Make a choice, Kate. That’s what theatre’s all about. (Intensely serious.) “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, to boist’rous; and it pricks like a thorn!” (Then, intensely.) “Is love a tender thing?! It is too rough! Too rude! to boist’rous! And it pricks like a thorn!!”

KATE: (Blinks and then snaps into “Mercutio.”) “If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for the pricking and you beat love down.”

n Flashcards

(75 cards)