The February People’s Choice Award goes to…
The people have spoken… The February People’s Choice Award goes to Alexis Standridge for her play, 16 TONS, presented as a staged reading at Monday Night PlayGround on February 17th live at Potrero Stage and simulcast via Vimeo Livestream. Congratulations, Alexis!
Courtesy of Alexis, we’re pleased to share the first two pages from the award-winning script. Enjoy!
16 Tons
by
Alexis Standridge
OFFICE MANAGER / MALE EXAMPLE: Man. Is trying to keep everything on schedule /
Extremely cheery and extremely mocking while singing.
OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR / FEMALE EXAMPLE: Woman. Very bored. / Extremely cheery
and extremely mocking while singing.
OFFICE ASSISTANT: Woman. Barely keeping it together with extreme grief and anger.
Crappy office break space. Headache inducing overhead lighting, outdated water cooler, old
looking fridge. MANAGER enters with an old rolling TV and a box of donuts. He flips through
the channels of static and blue screens, before finding the input with the video tape. He arranges
three chairs facing the TV, and places the donuts on the table. ADMINISTRATOR enters.
ADMINISTRATOR
Stan’s?
MANAGER
Uh, no. No. Dunkin’.
ADMINISTRATOR
Seriously? It’s like, what, an extra ten bucks?
MANAGER
More than that, actually, and about three miles further out. So. We get Dunkin’.
ADMINISTRATOR
It just seems lazy given how much time we have to give up for this. I could be not doing things at my desk instead of not doing things in here. Might as well have a good donut. She grabs two donuts.
MANAGER
Okay, corporate said nothing about donuts so there was no allocation for that, this came out of my expense. Beyond that, this isn’t even under my control, this was sent down.
ADMINISTRATOR
So you got donuts because you feel guilty.
MANAGER
What? No. I got donuts because I also thought it was a poor choice not to offer something if we have to be here for two hours-
ADMINISTRATOR
I just feel bad. I mean it’s obviously not a coincidence that we’re doing this her first week back.
MANAGER
Yeah, I mean, it’s not the first week back, she was back a couple days before the funeral.
ADMINISTRATOR
Which one?
MANAGER
Just the one. I think they had to do, um, a combined service.
ADMINISTRATOR
For four people? Shit. That’s messed up. No, no, what’s actually messed up is them asking for proof.
MANAGER
I mean, after the second… They wanted to ensure she wasn’t taking advantage. It’s not very tactful, but given the circumstances… And, you know, she was just made full time so she gets five days per person. So twenty days. Which is a lot. In their eyes. You know, we should probably stop talking-
ASSISTANT enters without either of them noticing.
ADMINISTRATOR
Do you know what happened? Because four family members in a month is just beyond a tragedy. I asked around a bit but no one knew anything, and she’s not telling anyone about it even if asked. But my friend says that happens. She dated this guy who worked for the, uh, he was one of those people that pick up the bodies? What are they called? Anyways, she dated this guy, and he said you’d be surprised how often that happens. That they’ll pick up a body, and then a few days later they’ll go to pickup another body, and it will be from the same family. He says people just kinda hold on for each other, and once others are gone, it’s like there’s nothing to hold onto. So I wonder if it’s that or-
MANAGER
(notices ASSISTANT)
HEY! Come on in!
Silence as ASSISTANT sits.
We were just, um, talking about… A… Movie.
Long pause.
ADMINISTRATOR
There’s donuts.
Join us for the next Monday Night PlayGround on March 17th. For more info, click here!