A Day Like No Other

Sybil- a pretty nineteen-year-old college co-ed, shorts and a baby-doll t-shirt. Seated on a dorm room bed downstage right.

Aaron- mid to late twenties, office casual dress. Seated in a coffeehouse at a small round table downstage left.

Keith- mid forties, professional looking. Seated in an immaculate house at the dining room table centerstage right.

Megan-early twenties, disheveled looking, black-eye, jeans and a t-shirt. Seated in a subway car centerstage left.

Ross-early to mid thirties, mechanic uniform. Seated at a bar upstage right.

Lorelei- forty-two, nice pants and cardigan sweater set. Seated on a park bench near a trash can upstage left.

Robert-early twenties, all black outfit, very “artsy” looking. Leaning against the outside door to a hotel room, with a bag in his hand upstage center.

Stage starts out dark, then spotlight on Sybil.


Sybil: I just can’t be pregnant. Not now.

Spot out on Sybil, comes up on Aaron.

Aaron: I lost my job today. Some luck, huh!

Spot out on Aaron, comes up on Keith.

Keith: My wife left me. I didn’t see it coming.

Spot out on Keith, comes up on Megan.

Megan: He swore he wouldn’t hit me again. He said he was sorry.

Spot out on Megan, comes up on Ross

Ross: The bank is gonna foreclose on my house. Life sucks!

Spot out on Ross, comes up on Lorelei.

Lorelei: Advanced inoperable lung cancer. I’m only 42.

Spot out on Lorelei, comes up on Robert

Robert: Today’s the day. I’m going to end it all.

Spot out on Robert, comes up on Sybil.

Sybil: What am I going to do? I’m not ready to be a mother. Jim’s going to think I did this on purpose to trap him. I’m only 19. Do I have to drop out of college? (Looks in Aaron’s direction)Did you know I was the first person in my family to go to college?

Spot out on Sybil, comes up on Aaron.

Aaron: What am I going to do? How am I going to tell Ginny that I was fired? God I hate that word. We just bought the house and the baby’s on the way. It’s a little girl. (Looks in Keith’s direction)This is the first granddaughter on either side.

Spot out on Aaron, comes up on Keith

Keith: What am I going to do? We’ve been married for twenty-one years. Christina says it’s not me; it’s her, whatever that means. How can she do this to me? To our son? (Looks in Megan’s direction)He doesn’t need this now, he’s studying to be a doctor, you know?

Spot out on Keith, comes up on Megan.

Megan: What am I going to do? Troy promised me that this was never going to happen again. He brought me flowers and this necklace. He even broke down and cried, but then last night… (Touches bruised face then looks in Ross’ direction) The only other time I’ve seen him cry was during our wedding vows. It was so sweet.

Spot out on Megan, comes up on Ross.

Ross: What am I gonna do? The bills are piling so high and we really love this place. Ever since Kathy had the twins it’s been almost impossible for us to keep our heads above water. I’ve got two jobs, but it’s still not enough. Kathy wants to go back to work, but daycare would just eat up all of her paycheck. (Looks in Lorelei’s direction)God, I love her so much!

Spot out on Ross, comes up on Lorelei.

Lorelei: What am I going to do? How do you face the end of your life? How do I say good-bye to my husband and my children? Why did I ever pick up that first cigarette? To be cool? Not so cool now, huh? I’ve been so blessed in my life. (Looks in Robert’s direction)Who could ask for a better family?

Spot out on Lorelei, comes up on Robert.

Robert: I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to walk into that room and I’ll make sure I put the “Do not disturb” sign on the door. (Shakes bag.) Then I’ll lay out all of the pills and open up the bottle of Jack and start taking them one-by-one. I’ll close my eyes and never wake up. Won’t that be a sweet release?

Spot out on Robert, comes up on Sybil.

Sybil: I could have an abortion. That would solve everything, but there’s a part of me that really wants this baby. I love Jim and I know he loves me. This is just so the wrong time for this to happen.

Spot up on Aaron.

Aaron: Talk about wrong time to happen. We planned for the baby and we planned for the house, but we did not plan on me losing my job. Unemployment’s a joke and I only have eight weeks of severance. With this economy, I know it will take longer than eight weeks to find a decent job.

Spot up on Keith.

Keith: I’ve got a decent job. We have a nice home, but it wasn’t enough for Christina. She needed more than I could give, I guess. I really don’t know why she left. I thought she was happy.

Spot up on Megan

Megan: We were happy. We were so happy. He never did this while we were dating and then about six months after we were married , the drinking started. He changed when he drank. I wanted to believe him when he said he would stop drinking and swore he would never hit me again. I gave him a second chance.

Spot up on Ross

Ross: That’s what I need is a second chance. If I can just get the bank to give me a second chance, I know that I can scrape together enough money to stop the foreclosure. Kathy’s been so great! I know that Maddie and Michael wear her out, but with me working 14 and 16 hour days, she refuses to let me help out around the house.

Spot up on Lorelei

Lorelei: I hope I’ll still have the energy to help out around the house. I know it will be such a struggle for Tom to cook anything. We joke about how he is the only person on earth that can burn water. Kelly will probably take over the cooking duties and Randy will help his Dad with the laundry and the dishes. It’s funny, I used to dream about getting everyone to help out and now I want to be able to do it all myself.

Spot up on Robert.

Robert: I’ll be all by myself. That’s how it’s supposed to be I guess. They’ll be sorry when I’m gone, because then they won’t have me to use as their whipping boy. They just want to crush the life right out of me. Well, they’re going to get their wish.

Change lighting so that whole stage is lit, with each character having the ambient light appropriate for their setting.

Sybil: I wish I knew what to do. Jim will be here shortly and I have to tell him.

Aaron: You know he may be happy about it. Being pregnant isn’t the worst thing in the world. Unlike losing your job. How do I tell Ginny about that?

Keith: At least your wife is still there to tell. Jobs will come and go, but if you’ve got your spouse beside you and supporting you, it’s not so bad. Try going home to an empty house.

Megan: An empty house sounds good right about now. At least then I’d know Troy wouldn’t be there to hurt me or there begging for forgiveness. I don’t want to go home.

Ross: I don’t know how much longer I’ll have a home to go to. Where are we gonna live? I know we can probably stay with my Mom & Dad for a bit, but that’ll be so hard on them.

Lorelei: Mom & Dad. Oh my God, how are they going to take this? I can’t imagine losing Kelly or Randy. Now they have to face losing their only daughter. Please! I don’t want to die.

Robert: I’m ready to die. I’m ready to get this over with.

All characters look back at Robert. Wait a few beats before Sybil talks.

Sybil: I know it’s not the worst thing in the world that can happen to me. I mean, it’s not like I want to kill myself over it. I’ve always wanted kids, it’s just a little sooner than I thought.

Aaron: Yeah, like you said, I’m not going to jump off any buildings. I mean, eventually I’ll find a job and I do have Ginny and little Madison on the way.

Keith: Suicide is no answer. I’m still relatively young. I may be in pain right now, but it doesn’t mean I want to end it. I can find love again.

Megan: It’s not bad enough for me to consider that option. I know I can’t go back, so I have find the courage to leave. To live.

Ross: Dude! Where would that leave Kathy and the twins? I could never do that to them.

Lorelei: (Stands and faces Robert) The doctors said I have about six months left. I am not going to give up one precious second of my time with my family. I am going to fight until my last breath to live and to hold on to those that I love so much. I would give anything to live longer. Why are you trying so hard to end your life?

Robert: That which is most precious to me was killed and I can not go on.

Megan: Oh, I’m so sorry.

Ross: Yeah, man.

Keith: Was it your spouse?

Sybil: Or your child?

Robert: It was my dream.

Aaron: (incredulous) Your what?!?

Lorelei: What do you mean your dream was killed?

Robert: I am an artist, with the soul of an artist. I created my masterpiece. It was in a show this weekend. The reviews came out today. They said it was horrible and dreadful and that I couldn’t paint if my life depended on it. I looked at it again and could see they were speaking the truth. It was abysmal. They killed my dream and my life did depend on it. So now there is no reason to go on living.

Lorelei: So let me get this straight. You are going to end your life, because a critic gave you a bad review?

Robert: More than one critic. Don’t you see? Without my dream, I am nothing. I am less than nothing.

Lorelei goes over to Robert and slaps him across the face. He just stares at her stunned. The lights go out and then there are spotlights on each characters space, except the parkbench.

Lorelei: You are so stupid Robert! You have the whole rest of your life to find another dream or to perfect the one that you have now, but you are willing to end everything because the critics hurt your feelings. You’re all of what, twenty-two, twenty-three? You think this is the biggest tragedy that you will ever face and it’s insurmountable? How about I trade you my lung cancer for your dead dream? (She turns to face the other characters, slowly she walks over to Ross, a spot follows her, but Robert stays lit also.) Don’t worry about the house Ross. Even if you lose it, you will still have your wife and the twins. You will find a way to get by.

Ross: I know Lorelei. (He kisses her on the cheek and they hug. She walks over to Megan and the spot on Ross goes out and follows Lorelei.)

Megan: Oh Lorelei.

Lorelei: You don’t have to put up with it Megan. Be strong and leave. Save yourself. (The two women hug. Lorelei crosses to Keith, the spot follows her and goes out on Megan.) Keith, I know this is hard to hear, but Christina’s leaving was for the best. She wasn’t happy and if you look, you probably weren’t either. Now you have the chance to find real happiness with someone else.

Keith: Thank you. (Keith grasps Lorelei’s hands and kisses them. She walks over to Aaron. The spot follows her and goes out on Keith.)

Lorelei: You know what I’m going to say, don’t you Aaron?

Aaron: (nodding head) That I’ll get through this, I’ll find another job and I’ve got my family.

Lorelei: (Laughs slightly) See that wasn’t so hard. (Lorelei strokes Aarons face and they hug. She walks over to Sybil, the spot follow her and goes out on Aaron.)

Sybil: (very emotional) Please don’t.

Lorelei: (places her arm around Sybil) Sybil, do you want this baby?

Sybil: I don’t know. I think so.

Lorelei: Then this is a gift. Treasure every second and hold on to every dear memory. (She leans in and kisses Sybil on the forehead and the two women embrace. She turns and walks back to Robert, the spot follows her and goes out on Sybil. She looks at Robert and shakes her head, then walks off stage left. The spot does not follow her, but stays on Robert. He looks dumbstruck and not sure what to do. After a few beats, he walks over to the trash can by the park bench and throws away his bag, then walks off stage left.)



The End