It Can Wait By Megan Lebowitz. Scene One. (The scene opens with Diana sitting on a chair at the table, texting. There are four chairs at the table.

Transcription

1 It Can Wait By Megan Lebowitz Scene One (The scene opens with Diana sitting on a chair at the table, texting. There are four chairs at the table.) (Mrs. Jones enters) Mrs. Jones: Diana, please get off of your phone. Diana: Mom, come on, I m just texting Matt, he s coming over like any minute now. (Mrs. Jones exits. Doorbell rings.) Mrs. Jones: (from offstage) Diana, it s your friends Sarah, Tim and Alex. (Mrs. Jones enters with Sarah, Tim and Alex, who are on their phones. They take seats, except for Mrs. Jones, who pulls Diana upstage.) Diana, why didn t you tell me that you were having friends over? Diana: We re just seeing a movie, okay? Matt s meeting us here, and I m driving them to the theater. Mrs. Jones: What s it rated? Diana: Mom! (Mrs. Jones crosses her arms and exits. Diana sits down.) Hey guys! Sarah, Tim and Alex: Hey. Sarah: Sorry we re late. Diana: It s fine; we ve got a little time before we have to leave for the movie. Alex: What time is Matt getting here? Diana: He should be here any second now. Sarah: So how s it going with you two? I mean, are you still together? Tim: Sarah, way to be nosy! Sarah: Tim, I m not being nosy! You re so lucky you don t have Tim as a brother. (says to Diana) Tim: Hey! (Sarah rolls her eyes and nods at Diana to continue) 1

2 Diana: Well, if we weren t together, do you honestly think I would invite him over? Yeah, it s going well. I mean, we ve only been officially dating for two weeks now, but I think he s going to ask me to the fall dance! I m texting him now. (pauses) Ooh, that s him! Sarah: What did he say? Diana: It says, So, about the fall dance Sarah: Text back, text back! Tim: (mocking Sarah) Text back, text back! (Sarah play hits Tim, who laughs) Sarah: No, seriously, this is the first time he hasn t been a jerk! Diana: Sarah, he s not a jerk! (says as texting) What about the fall dance? (Diana looks at her phone.) He texted back! Sarah: Read it! Diana: It says, Will you- Sarah: Go to the dance with me? Diana: No, that s all it says. Will you. Sarah: What the heck? Alex: He probably accidentally made it into two texts. You ll get it in a minute or so. Diana: But I don t want to get it in a minute or so, I want to get it now! Mrs. Jones: (steps in for a minute) I can t help overhearing this. Honey, why don t you call him? See what he wants? Diana: I can t. I m too nervous. (Mrs. Jones exits.) Tim: Here, I ll call him for you. Diana: Thanks, Tim. (they wait for a moment) Tim: He s not answering. He probably just wants to tell you in person. Alex: What time did he say he would be here? (Diana checks wristwatch) 2

3 Diana: He should be here. Sarah: The movie starts in twenty minutes, let s leave and he can meet us there. Diana: No! I want him to ask me here, not in the theater! Tim: How do you know he s even going to ask you? Sarah: He s obviously he s going to ask her, unless he s being a jerk. Alex: Maybe a cop caught him for speeding, that s why he s not answering. Sarah: That means he might not be here for a while. Seriously, I really want to see this movie! Diana: So does Matt! And if we re going to miss the beginning of the movie because Matt was caught speeding, might as well wait for him and stay here tonight. We can see the movie another time. Tim: Fine by me. Alex: Same here. Sarah: Whatever. Alex: This is weird, even for Matt. Tim: And Matt is a pretty weird person. Sarah: I think he s breaking up with you! Tim: Whoa, whoa, we didn t say that! Sarah: No, really, it makes perfect sense! Matt can be, well, rude, no offense, and he probably changed his mind and decided to turn around. Tim: Sarah, cut it out. Sarah: Just saying. But it s okay; he wasn t a great person to begin with. You can do better. Alex: Sarah, no one broke up with anyone. Get that through your head. Diana: No, it makes perfect sense! What a jerk! Look at the time; he was supposed to be here! I can t believe it! He s really going to break up with me! 3

4 Sarah: So about that movie Alex: We re not going to make the movie, might as well just stay here. We can rent one. Tim: Sorry, Diana. Diana: I can t believe it! (phone rings offstage, she starts to stand) Let me go get that. Mrs. Jones: (from offstage) I ve got it! Alex: That sucks. And Tim and I are his best friends; he s such a jerk not to show up! Tim: Yeah, I just texted him twice. Nothing. He can at least tell us that he s not going to come! Sarah: I knew he was one of those people. Diana: I just want to talk to him. Sort this out. Mrs. Jones: (enters, crying silently) Diana, kids, I need to talk to you. Diana: Mom, can you believe that he didn t show up? Mrs. Jones: Diana. Please, not now. Diana: I mean, not even a text or anything. Mrs. Jones: Diana. I mean it. Diana: I don t get- Mrs. Jones: QUIET! (pause) I just got a call about Matt Diana: Great, maybe we re not over, yet! I ll call him. Mom, is he breaking up with me? Mrs. Jones: No! He s- Diana: I ll call him now! Mrs. Jones: You can t. Diana: Why not? 4

5 Mrs. Jones: Kids, I just got a call from Matt s mother. Matt was in a one car accident. He veered off the road and crashed into a tree. (silence) Diana: I don t believe it. Alex: Is he okay? (silence) Mrs. Jones: Honey, he s dead. (Silence, after a minute Diana starts crying on Sarah s shoulder.) Oh, I m so sorry. But he s in a better place now. (runs up to hug Diana, who stands up to get away from her Mom.) He s- Diana: I don t want to hear it! Please leave me alone! (Mrs. Jones starts to cry again, exiting. Sarah stands up and hugs Diana. They slowly sit back down.) Tim: What? Alex: This can t be happening. Tim: I just talked to him earlier today Sarah: I can t believe it. Diana: (angry) Well, believe it! He s gone! Alex: (cannot comprehend) No! Tim: We ve got to be tough. Matt wouldn t have wanted us breaking down like this. Diana: You don t get everything you want! Sarah: Diana- Diana: No, Sarah, you didn t know him like I did! I wish I had never met him! Sarah: You don t wish that! Diana: Yes, I do! Because if I had never met him, he wouldn t be dead. (stands up and walks downstage, turning her back to her friends) Sarah: Maybe I was being a bit harsh on him. He wasn t as bad as I made him out to be! Tim: Sarah, not the time! Alex: What do you mean? Just because he was on his way to your house, doesn t mean it was your fault! It was the fault of the person who smashed into his car! 5

6 Diana: No, you don t understand! No one hit him; he drove off the road himself! He must not have been paying attention. I was texting him! His last words were will you! He never got to finish asking me to the dance because while he was texting, he must have veered off into another lane and gotten hit! He died because I exist! Sarah: (Sarah and Tim stand) Diana, it s not like that! Diana: Don t lie to make me feel better! Sarah: I m not! Alex: (stands up) So Matt would be standing here, right now, if you had decided that it probably wouldn t be the best idea to text him when he s on a busy road? It s your fault? (pause) How could you? He was my best friend; do you know how close we were? We were like brothers! Diana: I m sorry! I m so sorry! I didn t know! Alex: Tell that to Matt s family! (Diana and Alex fight and argue while Tim tries to get them under control. Volume builds.) Tim: QUIET! (pause) He was like my brother, too. (Sarah guides a sobbing Diana back to her seat. Tim helps Alex sit.) Mrs. Jones: (Enters with tissue box, places it on the table.) Your parents want to pick you up now. Alex: I ll be waiting outside. Diana: Alex! (Alex exits) Tim: He just needs time to cool off. Sarah: We all do. (Doorbell rings, Mrs. Harrison, Sarah and Tim s mom, enters) Mrs. Harrison: Sarah! Tim! I m so sorry, you two. I m so sorry. Sarah: Mom! (runs to hug Mrs. Harrison) Mrs. Harrison: Diana, you too. I can t imagine what you must be feeling right now. Diana: No, Mrs. Harrison, I m sorry. 6

7 Mrs. Harrison: Why are you sorry? None of this is your fault. Diana: Actually- Sarah: Mom, I ll tell you later. Mrs. Harrison: Alright. (to Diana) Take it easy, Diana. (to Sarah and Tim) Let s go home. Tim: (to Diana) We can get through this. (Sarah slowly and silently touches Diana s shoulder. Waits for a moment, no one moves. Exits with Tim and Mrs. Harrison. Blackout.) Scene Two (In Diana s house. Diana sits at table, on her phone. She is visibly upset and suddenly breaks down crying. Doorbell rings, and Alex, Sarah, and Tim enter together.) Sarah: Diana? (pause) Diana, do you want us here now? We could come by another time. (Sarah and Tim come forward to check on her, but Alex remains further behind them, not able to face Diana) Tim: Let s go. She s still in shock; we ll come back later. Alex: (steps towards Diana) Are you serious? You re still on your phone, after what happened to Matt? I don t know about you, but I m leaving. I can t be around someone that selfish. Diana: No, please stay! I---I want to say something for Matt, just the four of us. Sarah: I think we should stay. (Tim nods, and eventually Alex shrugs. The three of them sit down.) Alex: He should be here right now. He shouldn t have left as he did. Diana: I m sorry, Alex. For everything. I should have known that he was driving while we were texting. I should have told him to stop. Sarah: Diana, you can t blame yourself that he s gone. Diana: No, not entirely, but I m partially responsible, even if I wasn t at the accident scene. I have to own up to my mistakes. I should have just waited until he got here to talk to him. It could ve waited. 7

8 Alex: No, Diana, I m sorry. I shouldn t have blown up at you like I did the other day. It wasn t fair. Tim: None of this is fair. Why Matt? He never did anything wrong. He was a good student, good athlete, he never did anything wrong. He made one mistake. Sarah: In the end, none of that mattered. It was still Matt that got into the accident. Just one mistake Diana: (Diana stands up and gets something from the other side of the room). This was Matt s. His lucky keychain. He left it at my house the other day, and I was going to give it back to him the day he---he passed. (places in on the table) We miss you, Matt (says looking up). Alex: We owe it to him, to never make the same mistake. It wouldn t be right. Diana: His funeral is tomorrow. It all happened so quickly. Sarah: Can you all come to my house tomorrow and we can all go there together? I can t go in there alone. Alex: Of course. (Others nod in agreement, just as Sarah s phone rings.) Sarah: Tim, that s Mom. She wants us to come home. Alex: I should leave, too. Diana: Thanks for stopping by. I ll see you tomorrow. Tim: Bye, Diana. (Tim, Sarah, and Alex exit) Scene Three (Lights come up on a sitting area in Sarah and Tim s house. Alex, Tim, and Sarah are dressed nicer for the funeral. They are sitting together.) Sarah: Where s Diana, she s ten minutes late! I don t get it! She s always early! Tim: Caught for speeding? Sarah: No, that s not Diana, she s a good driver. Alex: So was Matt. Tim: Call her! (says to Sarah) 8

9 Sarah: Okay, hold on. (Dials number on her phone and holds it up to her ear. Waits for her to pick up, there is no answer) She s not picking up! Alex: Yeah, right (says sarcastically, and Sarah nods). Diana s always on her phone, I mean, she was on it the day after Matt died. Sarah: Well, she s not on it now. Tim: You---you don t think that she--- Sarah: Stop it, we can t think that way! She s fine! Come on, Diana! (Doorbell rings, Diana enters) Sarah: Diana! (runs up and hugs Diana) Diana: I m sorry; I just saw that you called when I was getting out of the car. (Everyone sits down again) Alex: Why didn t you pick up? Sarah: Yeah, you scared us half to death! You always pick up your phone! Diana: I turned my phone off. Tim: What? Diana turned her phone off? Diana: Yeah, and I stored it in the glove compartment so I wasn t tempted to look at it. I owe it to Matt. And I think it would be good if all of us did that. Stored our phones in our glove compartments when we drive, so we never get into an accident for texting and driving. Sarah: You mean, never look at them, even when we re at a red light? Not even then? Diana: Not even then. Tim: I m in. For Matt. Alex: Same here. Sarah: I guess I m in too. I just can t believe that you never looked at your phone even once on the drive here. Diana: Promise you re going to keep your phone in the glove compartment? And not look at it until you re parked? 9

10 Sarah, Tim, and Alex: Promise. Diana: Good. (looks at watch) We should probably leave now. Who s driving? Sarah: I ll drive. (All of them stand up and exit) Sarah: (says from offstage) Wait, I forgot something. (Enters with phone in hand. Make it obvious to the audience that she s debating about leaving her phone here or not. Finally leaves her phone on the chair or where the audience can clearly see it, and exits). 10