Ouchi - I Am For You

mercutio Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk? tybalt What wouldst thou have with me? mercutio Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and as you shall use me hereafter, drybeat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pitcher by the ears? Make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it be out. tybalt I am for you. They fight. Contents Production History I Am For You was premiered by Concrete Theatre (Edmonton, Alberta) on November 12, 2013, with the following cast and crew: Lainie: Samantha Jeffery Mariam: Patricia Cerra Caddell Morris: Jonathan Purvis Directed by Mieko Ouchi Set, Props, and Lighting Design by Patrick Beagan Costume Design by Mieko Ouchi Sound Design by Dave Clarke Stage Managed by Rachel Rudd Touring Technical Support by Josiah Hiemstra The playwright acknowledges the assistance of the 2013 Banff Playwrights Colonya partnership between The Banff Centre and the Canada Council for the Arts. The playwright also acknowledges the support of the Enbridge playRites Award for an Established Canadian Playwright and the NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival.

Characters Lainie: seventeen, a fighter Mariam: seventeen, a fencer Caddell Morris: twenty-seven, a student teacher, Voice of Benvolio, Voice of Lord Capulet. A high school drama room. The present. I Am For You Two girls appear. Opposite sides of the stage. lainie: I dont know how it starts. mariam: I dont know why it happens. lainie: But sometimes I get this tiny feeling inside. mariam: Its there. mariam: Its there.

All the time. I feel it. both: Judgment. lainie: I hate it when people make assumptions about me. mariam: I hate it. it starts to build. mariam: It grows and grows until I feel like Im going to burst. lainie: And all I can think is. mariam: I know what theyre thinking. lainie: I can see it in their eyes. mariam: But they dont know me. lainie: They dont know me at all. both: And then all it takes... lainie: ... is a look. mariam: ... or a word. lainie: ... or a brush. mariam: ... or a push. lainie: And its on. mariam: Its so on. mariam: Its so on.

They fight. Vicious. Messy. Not a girl fight. caddell appears. Shift. caddell: The funny thing is... caddell: The funny thing is...

I woke up this morning and thought to myself... this is the beginning. The first day of the next stage of my life. I wont lie, its been a hard road getting here... but for the first time in a long time, I can honestly say... truly excited. truly excited.

Standing at the bottom of a mountain looking up, yeah, but ready... I think. I hope. I guess well see. I have my first official coffee meeting with the drama teacher, Mrs. Lee.

She seems excited to have someone with my theatre skills on board for a practicum. The timings perfect. She needs help on their fall production of Romeo and Juliet . We talk plans for rehearsal. Unbelievable. Amazing. Amazing.

Talk about her vision of the play. Fantastic... Then she asks me for one small favour. She asks if I can go supervise the Drama Club after school for a half-hour. They know what theyre supposed to do. Just needs someone in the room to oversee until she gets there.

I say no problem. Easy. Im on top of it. I mean, honestly, how hard can it be to supervise some kids painting some flats, you know, for the walls, for the play? He arrives in the drama room. The girls are in full fight. Stop. Stop.

Stop it! He pulls them apart. They are spitting mad, red-faced, furious. Whats going on here? They go for each other again. Hey! Hey! He manages to separate them. (to lainie ) Dont even think about it. (to mariam ) Stay there.

They all turn. A group of other kids has just arrived. Hey... everyone... come on in... Morris. Morris.

Your new student teacher. Mrs. Lee asked me to get you started on the set. Shes going to be a little late. So, do you want to go down to the storage room and start pulling out the flats? Weve got some painting to do... Everyone, including the girls, goes to leave.

Not you two. They stop. What just happened here? Nothing. I shouldnt even be standing here discussing this. I should be hauling both of you down to the principal. What is going on? lainie is upset.

She stops herself from saying something. What? lainie: (fierce) It doesnt matter. caddell: Talk to me, or were going. Nothing. He looks at mariam , who looks away. Fine. Lets go. Lets go.

He starts for the door. lainie kicks the wall. You have something you want to say? Finally. lainie: You take me down there, Im gonna get kicked out. caddell: Yeah, well maybe missing a class or two isnt such a bad idea. lainie: Not class... mariam snickers. lainie s face turns red. lainie s face turns red.

She almost goes for her again. caddell: (to mariam ) Enough... (to lainie ) What do you mean? mariam: This is stupid. Lets just go lainie: shut up mariam: take us down there. It doesnt matter to me. I was defending myself.

Theyre not going to kick me out of school. lainie: Shut up, Mariam caddell: hey! mariam: Youre new, so you dont know who Lainie is, but this happens all the time. This is how she is. Shes always pushing / people around. Picking fights. mariam: You just picked me because you thought you I was an easy target. / You just thought you could make yourself look good because I wouldnt fight back lainie: / No, I didnt. / You just thought you could make yourself look good because I wouldnt fight back lainie: / No, I didnt.

I punched you because you think youre better than all of us and someone needs to tune you in caddell: I should be taking you down to the Office. Or at least hauling you down to Mrs. Lee. mariam: Thats so unfair! I didnt do anything. lainie: Yes, you did! You shoved me first caddell: enough! lainie: Fine. You know what? Take us down to the principal and get it over with.

I dont care about this stupid play. Or this freaking school. Im done. She heads for the door. caddell: No, youre not. caddell is thinking on his feet. caddell is thinking on his feet.

What if we make a deal? mariam: A deal? lainie: (realizing) Ugh. I know what youre gonna do. caddell: Hey... Lainie... right? You dont even know what Im going to say. lainie: Yes, I do.

Youre gonna make us do something like write a play about how bad it is to fight and make us do it in the cafeteria at lunch or something. So you can put it on your resum. Were not idiots. Weve had student teachers before. caddell: Actually, thats not what I was thinking at all. caddell: I just figured, you want to fight each other, right? So, lets do it. mariam: What? Teachers cant get students to fight. caddell: Sure they can. lainie: What is this? Some sick Hunger Games type thing? caddell: Not at all. lainie: What is this? Some sick Hunger Games type thing? caddell: Not at all.

I was going to ask for some volunteers, but now I dont need to. Heres the deal. You show up Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Here. You spend the day with me. mariam: No... youre right. youre right.

He is gonna make us talk about it. Just not in the cafeteria. How we could handle it differently . Stupid conflict resolution or whatever. caddell: Its up to you. As deals go, its pretty sweet.

You show up. You do your time. Then were cool. The girls look at each other. Reluctantly look back at him. Good. They exit. They exit.

He watches them go. (to himself) First day... Shift. He turns out to us. He addresses Mrs. Mrs. Mrs.

Lee? Can I talk to you? I... no, things went just fine. Pretty... smooth... its just... well there was a bit of a disagreement happening in the room when I got there. well there was a bit of a disagreement happening in the room when I got there.