WELCOME TO SCENES FOR CLASSROOM STUDY!

WELCOME TO SCENES FOR CLASSROOM STUDY! Use this scene in your classroom for character study, scene work, substitute teachers, performance, Individual Event competitions, and however else you can imagine. This scene comes from a published play (the complete play can be found on at theatrefolk.com) and is FREE for you to print, copy and distribute. But wait there s more! This scene comes with: Close Reading Questions: Use the scene as a close reading exercise with these text dependent questions. Staging Suggestions: If groups are self-directing, or you have student directors, these notes will help them effectively stage the scene. Character Development: This section includes character specific questions and suggestions for your student actors. If your students perform IE s or compete with scenes, they re going to want their characters to be at their best! Your students will not only have relevant material at their fingertips, you can help them take their work to the next level. Enjoy! Lindsay Price 2017 1

Play: Hall Pass Full Script is available at: theatrefolk.com DETAILS Characters: HENRY (15) Comes across as a nerd. Wears a sash that identifies him as a hall monitor. BRADY (17) Cool laid back surfer kind of guy. What you need to know: The scene takes place in an empty hall. Brady can t dress too differently than Henry, because of the ending. CLOSE READING QUESTIONS Read the scene through a number of times for deeper comprehension and analysis. First Reading 1. Where are the characters? 2. Is there anything you don t understand in the scene? 3. What is the relationship between the characters? 4. What is the tone of the scene? Cite the text to support your answer. 5. Why is it so important that Brady get by Henry? 6. What happens at the end of the scene? Second Reading 1. Based on his language, what can you infer about Brady s character? 2. How does the author use language to reveal character? 3. What is significant about this line: All you ll do is prove you re the same kind of monster I meet every day. 4. How does line length affect the tension in the scene? Cite the text to support your answer. 5. What tactics does Brady use to get what he wants? Third Reading 1. In your opinion, why does the author give a twist ending? 2. Given the ending is there any truth to what the characters say? Why or why not? 3. Why does the author choose to portray these characters as opposites? 4. What is the theme of the play? Cite the text to support your answer. Lindsay Price 2017 2

STAGING SUGGESTIONS Things to think about as you stage the scene. The scene takes place in an empty hallway. That means the two characters will stand for the whole scene. Watch to make sure that however the characters stand or move is character driven. Shifting weight from foot to foot and pacing are often actor s nervous ticks rather than character choices. Give each character a defined pose, and way of moving. Henry is stoic in his language, so he probably moves very little in the scene. Decide when he does and why. There is a lot of back and forth in the scene. The tension of the scene will come through pacing. Don t put in pauses between lines that aren t there. Don t foreshadow the twist at the end. Play the scene as written. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Important questions for a three-dimensional characterization. 1. What is a typical day like for these characters? 2. Why do these characters role play like this? 3. Why do they use the slacker character as the opponent? Is Brady a character type they have come in contact with? 4. How does your character see themselves? 5. What is the most important line for your character? 6. Create a Character Profile for your character: Full Name, describe your family life, favourite food, least favourite food, childhood memory, pet peeve, secret. 7. Based on the scene describe the bedroom for your character using the five senses. Lindsay Price 2017 3

HALL PASS BY LINDSAY PRICE HENRY stands at attention centre stage. He s wearing a sash over his shirt. He is a hall monitor. BRADY enters and walks up to HENRY with confidence. BRADY: (with a wave) Dude! HENRY: Hello Brady. BRADY: (trying to pass by HENRY) How s it? HENRY: (getting in the way) Sorry. BRADY: What? HENRY: You know. BRADY: Really? You re really gonna do this? To me? HENRY: Hall pass please. BRADY: Dude. HENRY: Hall pass please. BRADY: Dude. BRADY: To me? HENRY: To everybody. BRADY: I ll be late. HENRY: Hall pass. BRADY: (patting his pockets) I got it. HENRY: Show me. BRADY: (patting his pockets) I just had it. HENRY: Fine. BRADY: Musta dropped it. HENRY: Shame. BRADY: You believe me, don t you? HENRY: No. BRADY: Dude! BRADY: Come on. We re buds. We know each other, right? HENRY: I don t know you. BRADY: What? HENRY: I don t know you. BRADY: It s Brady. HENRY: You say you re Brady. You may imitate Brady. But I don t know for sure. BRADY: Of course you do! HENRY: Do I? Lindsay Price 2017 4

BRADY: Dude. BRADY: You just called me Brady. HENRY: Did I? BRADY: Just now. HENRY: Interesting. BRADY: You did! HENRY: I don t recall. BRADY: Right. Ok. Look. This has been... this has been, but the fun s over ok? I gotta get to class. (Tries to get by. HENRY stops him.) Let me by. BRADY: I ll be late. HENRY: Should have known better. BRADY: You re gonna make me go all the way back down there? BRADY: I can t. HENRY: You turn around and use your feet to take you to the front office. BRADY: Ok. Look. I can t. You re not going to believe HENRY: No thank you. BRADY: I m telling you HENRY: No thank you. BRADY: What? HENRY: I don t want to hear it. BRADY: I have a reason. HENRY: I don t care. BRADY: It s a good reason. HENRY: Tell the front office. BRADY: I can t. HENRY: (with a shrug) Sorry. BRADY: Come on. For old times sake? HENRY: Whose old times? BRADY: Ours. HENRY: I don t know you. BRADY: You do. HENRY: Do I? BRADY: I m Brady. HENRY: So say you. BRADY: Dude! It s me. Lindsay Price 2017 5

HENRY: So you say. BRADY: I know everything about you. HENRY: Imitators can be sneaky. BRADY: I ll be late. BRADY: I ll fail. HENRY: Should have taken that into consideration. BRADY: (pointing a finger in HENRY s chest) It will be your fault. HENRY: I beg to differ. BRADY: Come on! Who stood up for you in the second grade. When Joe Whatshisname HENRY: Johan Van Marten. BRADY: When he shoved you down and stomped on your glasses and everyone was afraid except for me. HENRY: Everyone. BRADY: I stood up for you. HENRY: And? BRADY: That counts. HENRY: For what? BRADY: Something. Doesn t it count for something? HENRY: If you were Brady. BRADY: I am! You know I am! BRADY: I ll be late. HENRY: Your time management skills are lacking. BRADY: I ll get caught. HENRY: (pause) Ah. BRADY: Ok, so I came in the side door. So what? What s the big deal? So I knew you d be here. So I thought for old times sake... for an old friend... HENRY: We re not friends. BRADY: Dude, I m telling you HENRY: We are not friends. Brady and I are not friends. BRADY: Not now, maybe not now. But before. HENRY: Before? BRADY: Yes. HENRY: No. BRADY: Yes. A long time ago. That makes us old friends. BRADY: I stood up for you. Lindsay Price 2017 6

HENRY: I have a different memory. BRADY: I stood up to Joe Whatshisname HENRY: Johan Van Marten. BRADY: I remember. I remember his name. I remember standing up for you when no one else would. HENRY: So? BRADY: You owe me. HENRY: Not a chance. BRADY: It s the right thing. Let me by. HENRY: No. BRADY: Don t you want to do the right thing? HENRY: I am doing the right thing. BRADY: I m going to be late! BRADY: Are you calling me a liar? That we re not old friends? That I don t know you? HENRY: You re doing all the talking. BRADY: I know you. (getting frustrated) You know me! Are you saying that we didn t live on the same street, that our parents didn t know each other? Are you saying that my sister wasn t friends with your sister? That our sisters weren t in the same car coming back from the movies when they were hit by a drunk driver? Are you saying I don t remember my own sister s death? Are you saying we don t have a bond? That we didn t sit side by side at the funeral and you didn t see me bawl my freaking guts out? Are you saying we re not friends, Henry? I dare you to say that. BRADY: (with fury) Goddamn you! HENRY: Stop that. Don t be vulgar. BRADY: Don t be vulgar? I ll give you vulgar, if I want to be vulgar, you can be damn sure I ll Let me through! HENRY: No. BRADY: I m warning you Do it now! HENRY: Or what? BRADY: You want this? HENRY: Talker. BRADY: You want me to hurt you? HENRY: Bragger. BRADY: Do you? HENRY: Yes. BRADY: (not the answer he was expecting) What? HENRY: Go ahead. BRADY: Henry? HENRY: You go ahead and try. You ll find I m pretty much unhurtable, Brady Cutter. You couldn t hurt me if you left me a bleeding heap on the floor. You gonna hurt me so bad? Is that what you re gonna Lindsay Price 2017 7

do? You go right ahead. You think you re different, OLD friend? You think you can swing your way by with an easy wave and get what you want? You can t. And the sooner you learn that message baby, the better. I ve met you a million times before in a million different empty-headed losers who love calling me dude. You go ahead and hurt me, it s happened before and it ll happen again. All you ll do is prove you re the same kind of monster I meet every day. You re no different. You re the same empty dusty shell of a human being and all you have ahead of you is a wasted life of nothing. You re nothing, Brady. You re no one and you re no one I would ever want to know. You re no friend of mine. Got it? Cat got your tongue, dude? Got nothing to say to me now, do you? Do you?! Say something! BRADY: It s 2 o clock. HENRY: Huh? BRADY: It s 2 o clock. HENRY: What? Already? BRADY: Yeah. You re done. HENRY: (snapping out of character) Holy cow! That one just flew by. (he takes off the sash and hands it to BRADY) BRADY: That was a really good one. Did you feel it? HENRY: Uh huh. Totally intense. I thought you were really going to hit me. BRADY: You were so good. HENRY: You were so good. Where d you come up with the sister bit? BRADY: It just came to me. Something I read. HENRY: Holy cow. How am I going to top that? BRADY: You ll think of something. You always do. HENRY: You set the bar pretty high. BRADY: We re the best hall monitors. HENRY: (they hi five) You know it. BRADY: Ready? HENRY: (he bounces up and down like a boxer) Ready. They have now switched positions and roles. There is a pause. HENRY is the easy going slacker. BRADY is the uptight hall monitor. HENRY: (approaching with a wave) Dude! BRADY: (uptight) Hello Henry. Lindsay Price 2017 8