The October People’s Choice Award goes to…

The people have spoken… The October People’s Choice Award goes to Maury Zeff for his play The Extraordinary, Ordinary Ones, presented as a staged reading at Monday Night PlayGround on October 10th live at the Freight & Salvage and simulcast via Vimeo Livestream. Congratulations, Maury!

Courtesy of Maury we’re pleased to share the first two pages from the award-winning script. Enjoy!

The Extraordinary, Ordinary Ones
by
Maury Zeff

TROUBLEFINGER – Any age – Any gender – 40s or older – Crusty, old spy. Doing this one last mission, but eager to hang up their cloak and dagger and retire to their emu ranch.

SLIPROCK – Any gender – 20s – The younger spy. In awe of the master spy they have been paired with for this, their first mission.

SHAKEFRIES – Any gender – 30s or older. Just your average, ordinary person in the park, minding their own business, apolitically reading The Marxist Workers Daily, not involved in espionage in any way whatsoever. And they love buying a sandwich for a good price using weekly ads.

SETTING: A park bench.

TROUBLEFINGER
The weather has gotten a lot milder since the equinox.

SLIPROCK
It reminds me of the summers I spent in Malta as a child.

TROUBLEFINGER
The Lhasa Apso circles the field not once, but twice, before fetching the ball.

SLIPROCK
The taxidermist keeps an extra pair of spectacles in his breast pocket.

TROUBLEFINGER
So you’re the new guy, huh?

SLIPROCK
The cod swim a thousand deep off Cape Cod in April.

TROUBLEFINGER
I was actually just asking you if you’re the new guy.

SLIPROCK
“So you’re the new guy/gal, huh?” was last month’s pass phrase.

TROUBLEFINGER
Was it? You stay in this business long enough, everything eventually becomes a secret.

SLIPROCK
Yeah, I’m the new guy/gal.

TROUBLEFINGER
Good to meet you, Sliprock.

SLIPROCK
Likewise, Troublefinger.

(TROUBLEFINGER takes the large gift/plush/item from the ground and slips it surreptitiously onto the space between them on the bench. SLIPROCK glances around and then slips the item onto the ground next to them, just as surreptitiously. The item is comically heavy, and both of them should handle it as if it is.)

SLIPROCK
That is one large microfilm.

TROUBLEFINGER
The blueprints for a radiostatic, dual-band, helium-controlled osmogrifier are millions of pages long.

SLIPROCK
How did you get the film out of the embassy without anyone noticing?

TROUBLEFINGER
Prosthetic double hunchback. Completely inconspicuous.

SLIPROCK
Genius.

TROUBLEFINGER
You learn a thing or two in this trade.

SLIPROCK
Well, I should probably get to my drop point.

TROUBLEFINGER
You have time. Stay a while and keep an old spy company.

SLIPROCK
Uh, sure.

Join us for the next Monday Night PlayGround on November 21st! For more info, click here!