Ronald Micci - Addie & Me: Soliloquies and Duets for Young Actors

A Girl's Life Circumference of the World The Blossoms Addie and Me Love's Cousin in the Carolinas Que Sarah Sarah The Color of the Sky Prelude to a Knish The First Hour of Light Two Views: A Crash Course in Life The Flowers of Goodbye Windsor Ghosts (3 teenage sisters + their mother) About the Author How to obtain your FREE printable copy of this book NOTE: Love's Cousin (1m/1f), The Color of the Sky (2f), Prelude to a Knish (1m/1f), and Two Views: A Crash Course in Life (1m/1f) are duets. The other plays, except for Windsor Ghosts, are solo pieces. CHARACTER ROSEMARY, a teenage girl with a matter-of-fact, rough n tumble demeanor ROSEMARY, a spunky teenager, confronts us.

ROSEMARY My name is Rosemary, I'm 14 years old, and I live next to a gas station. I'm quite romantic, I watch TV just like everyone else, and I go to school. Oh, and my best friend Amy lives two blocks down and half a block over. (a slight beat) I don't know why I'm telling you this, it's not exactly profound, but I find it funny the way certain things inform your life -- like that gas station, for instance. Most people who live in the suburbs get to have houses on either side of them, and wisteria blooming in the front yard. Me? I've got gas fumes floating through the air and lug nuts whirring with those heavy guns and hydraulic lifts pumping up and down.

I've got people looking under other people's hoods, and I don't even want to know what's there. (a sweep of the hand) But forget that. Let's imagine it's summer. Weather's nice and warm, and I'm stretching out in the backyard on my lawn chair with the gas fumes casually drifting by, and I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming of far off places, and romance, and thinking I'd like to hang out with Amy, you know, like down at the shore. I'm feeling the power, the warmth, and suddenly clunk! another car pulls in, and there go my dreams.

Enough already. (She takes several paces, clasps her hands) I know what you think, I'm a whiner. But you're wrong. If it wants to rain for a week, fine. The school football team gets bashed, big deal. If the nightly news is filled with horror and tragedy and people tearing at each other's throats, I say knock yourself out.

But I do believe in principle. And when it comes to that gas station and those fumes, I say enough is enough. I deserve the benefit of a little peace. (She thinks for a moment) Now, I think I mentioned my friend Amy. Smart girl. She doesn't let guys get touchy feely, she reads them like a book.

She is cute, and she's basic, by which I mean she keeps her wardrobe simple. She believes in worldly values like going to college so she can one day fulfill her dreams. I may have a little problem with that. Cause, I'm not convinced she realizes yet that life can be difficult and unpredictable. I know this because A) I'm smart, even for someone who lives next to a gas station, and B) my Uncle Richard, who is a self-proclaimed failure, insists I know it. He says that fully ninety-eight percent of all people fail to achieve their dreams.

Now, that's pretty startling. Life suddenly veers one way, your plans are shot, and it's too bad because there's nothing you can do. (throws us a conspiratorial look) But if you're in that lucky two percent, ah, now that's different. You get to wave from your Rolls Royce, you get to say ha! to those people on the commuter bus, looking through gray, sooty windows, staring out at you like death. You get to laugh because you're in the number, and they're not. (a moment) But -- don't misunderstand. (a moment) But -- don't misunderstand.

I am not an advocate of defeatism. I am not an advocate of surrender. I am the bearer of the flame of hope, I am the girl next to the gas station. And I think for the Amys of this world, there are nothing but good things in store. I love that girl just like a sister, and I'm rooting for her -- forget about me, I'm covered with gas fumes and oil -- but I am rooting for her to find fame and fortune, and she has got the right stuff to do it. (clasping hands) I guess what I'm saying is, Amy is a sort of hero to me, and the world's last hope.

No way she's pulling into that gas station in some cheap beat-up ancient model car. No -- she's smart, talented, and if you hand her the baton, she's going to take it across the finish line, never doubt it. I think of her up there on that podium accepting the trophy, being draped in laurel wreaths, bowing gracefully. I know she'll be there... So what I'm saying is, when you think of it, in life we all live next to a gas station. The cars thump in, the cars thump out.

The next car may very well be a BMW or a Mercedes, and you could be the one seated in it. You could be the one looking out. (she affects a mock gaze) Hold on to those dreams, clutch them like a tire jack, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. If it doesn't work for you, you've always got the wisteria blooming in the front yard, and that's a heck of a lot. (She takes a deep breath) My name is Rosemary, I'm 14 years old, and I live next to a gas station. Always remember, in life you've got a choice.

You can go Regular, or Hi-Test. You want my advice, go Hi-Test. With that, I hear the gas pumps calling. Bye. (She shrugs, turns, goes out) END OF PLAY

CHARACTER LEIGH ANN, a high school girl Bring lights up on LEIGH ANN, a teenage girl. (a beat) Given the circumference of the world, with its fat belly spilling over everything, like a bowl of soup run over the sides, the beauty and splendor of eternal hope, and the vastness of being free, I sat pinched at my desk, in the darkened classroom, elbows scrunched together, pencil in hand, horrid little equations dancing in front of me, demanding impossible answers, because it didn't matter if I could figure whether A plus B really equaled C. (a beat) Given the circumference of the world, with its fat belly spilling over everything, like a bowl of soup run over the sides, the beauty and splendor of eternal hope, and the vastness of being free, I sat pinched at my desk, in the darkened classroom, elbows scrunched together, pencil in hand, horrid little equations dancing in front of me, demanding impossible answers, because it didn't matter if I could figure whether A plus B really equaled C.

You must break free, you must break free, the voice within me urged, the sweet voice of my young and yearning heart, you must break free from the test papers, the tiny numbers squiggled on the page, you must break free now and forever, to save yourself, to embrace the vastness of the world, the vastness and joy of all living things, like a gorgeous blanket of bright pastels spread out before you in the light. (coming down, perhaps turning round and round) And I knew I must break free, here and now, free forever from any hope of mathematical certainty, or be stamped out, crushed and ruined, and I wouldn't have that, no, and so I rushed up through the air, leapt in a sudden swirl of light, a sudden spinning swirl like a top flying out the window into the vast spreading light and the fresh air, spreading my arms, flying out into the fields where I could fill my lungs with wonderful, fresh air, where I could yearn again and dream, in a wonderful vast world spinning with light. (taking several steps, then setting herself, mimicking the bird) Given the circumference of the world with its outlying islands, and the vastness of my hopes and dreams, I stretched my arms out birdlike and flew, swept over the entirety of the whole world, swept and swept over rooftops and fields, mountains and shorelines, the wide blue expanse of the seas. Where the air was briny and sharp, briny and sharp and wonderfully free. Over rich spreading forests, over the hopes and aspirations of all the people who yearned to be fresh and bright and free. (pause) Given the circumference of the world and its limitless horizons, I looked back and called to him, Robert, Robert, I called to him, come with me, break free of the dark tyranny, come with me and dance in the light, stretch your arms and abandon yourself, and all the world will be ours, Robert, Robert, come dance with me in the freeing light.