When You Finally See Us by Kristi Anne McKenzie Isabel- Age: 17. Has to deal with depression, thoughts of suicide, breaking up with first boyfriend. Dominick- Age: 17. Deals with being ditched by his middle school friends when they get accepted and he doesn't, parents' divorce. Karma- Age: 17. Has to deal with her parents getting drunk often, self-hate, trying to be accepted as she is. Julian- Age: 17. Wrongly called gay and harrassed for it, dating and breaking up. (may be played by Boy 3) Timmy- Age: 17. Deals with being uncertain about future, hating his life. Charlotte- Age: 17. Tells her parents about using birth control. (may be played by Girl 4) Chad- Age: 18. Not strong enough to run his own life, needs his dad's approval because his dad is so critical of him. (may be played by Boy 4) Anne-Marie- Age: 18. Has mixed-up ideas, is called a "slut" by many, but remains hopeful. Boy 1/Jeff/grandfather monologue Boy 2/Dave/alcohol monologue Boy 3/Travis/Mr. Simmons Boy 4/Ryan/Freshman Boy Girl 1/Alisa/anorexia monologue Girl 2/Megan/Karma's mom Girl 3/Jen/Isabel's mom (Gloria)/Vietnam monologue Girl 4/Kendra/little sister monologue Jessica (may be played by Anne-Marie) Ben (may be played by Dominick) Opening scene, a montage with the entire cast. Walking back and forth across stage as if to represent the hallway of a high school, a mob. Very crowded, hard to pick out individuals. A cacophony of voices all at the same volume. The following lines are spoken, but are undecipherable. GIRL 3 and BOY 4 at upstage center, ISABEL and KARMA at upstage left, and TIMMY and BOY 2 at upstage right pantomime talking at and getting belongings out of lockers. GIRLS 1 & 2 enter from upstage left and cross to the bench at downstage right. GIRL 1. Dave's having a party at his house this Saturday. (BOY 4 goes to BOY 2) GIRL 2. Are his parents out of town? GIRL 1. Why do you think we're having it there? (JULIAN enters from stage right, goes to TIMMY) BOY 4. Good game last night, Reynolds. BOY 2. Thanks. (BOY 4 exits stage right, ISABEL pulls paper out of backpack, inspects it) JULIAN. We're playing White Wolf tonight, are you coming? (KARMA grabs paper from ISABEL) TIMMY. Yeah. Did you buy enough Mountain Dew? (BOYS 1 & 3 enter from stage right, stop in front of upstage right platform, check out GIRLS 1 & 2) KARMA. How can you have higher than a hundred percent in English? (JULIAN and TIMMY walk stage left, JULIAN exits, TIMMY walks down toward center stage left) ISABEL. I don't know. Extra credit? (DOMINICK enters from stage right, goes to center stage, mimes drinking from a water fountain, GIRL 3 goes down on stage left platform then down to DOMINICK and primps) BOY 3. Hey, I get my letterman's jacket next week. BOY 1. Cool, man. It's about time. (TIMMY trips and stuff falls out of his open backpack, everyone stares at him for a few seconds then continue as before) GIRL 2. I'm not hungry today. (CHAD enters from stage right, goes to downstage center) GIRL 1. Me neither. (ANNE-MARIE and GIRL 4 enter from stage left, go to downstage center) GIRL 3. (Sputtering nervously.) Are you gonna be at the prom committee meeting today after school? DOMINICK. (Oblivious.) I can't. Auditions are today. (DOMINICK goes to TIMMY and helps him clean up, GIRL 3 exits stage right, JULIAN enters from stage left and goes to ISABEL) CHAD. Hey, the Black Widows are having a concert this weekend at Green Tree. It's our first professional gig. Do you think you can make it? (GIRL 4 goes upstage right ) ANNE-MARIE. I'll try. What time is it? CHAD. Eleven-thirty. (CHAD exits stage left, ANNE-MARIE goes upstage right and joins GIRL 4) JULIAN. Isabel, what classes do you have next semester? Do you have chemistry? ISABEL. Are you kidding? I hate science. I'm taking creative writing. And a bunch of requireds. KARMA. (Groaning.) English. (GIRL 3 enters from stage left and goes to bench, frantically searches for something in her backpack) TIMMY. We still have to critique that movie for class. (KARMA, ISABEL and JULIAN slowly exit stage left) DOMINICK. Oh, yeah. Can we do it at your house? TIMMY. I don't know. Let's talk to Andrew. (TIMMY and DOMINICK go to upstage center, stop briefly to pantomime opening locker and getting something out of it, then exit at upstage right. BOYS 1 & 4 enter stage left and go to center stage left) ANNE-MARIE. Hey, it's Wednesday, right? What time does class start on Wednesdays? GIRL 4. Either in five minutes... or in thirty seconds. (ANNE-MARIE and GIRL 4 exit stage left hurriedly) BOY 4. What did you get? BOY 1. 87. How about you? BOY 4. 63. BOY 1. Ouch. Blackout. Lights up on ISABEL, who is sitting on bench, tying gym shoes. GIRLS 1 & 2 walk past her. GIRL 1. That's the one. GIRL 2. How do you know she really is one? GIRL 1. Emily said she watches us when we dress down. GIRL 2 shudders in disgust, both walk away. ISABEL looks up from her shoes, hurt and unbelieving. Blackout. Lights up on CHARLOTTE, who is sitting on the couch. JULIAN walks to the couch and sits opposite of her. JULIAN. (Clears throat.) So I heard you and Jason broke up. CHARLOTTE. Did you hear why? JULIAN. Well, I heard of a few different reasons. CHARLOTTE. He cheated on me. (JULIAN moves towards her and hugs her.) I still can't believe it, I mean... We had something, y'know. And I thought... I thought it was so beautiful, but I was just so stupid. JULIAN. You're not stupid, Char, he was. He had someone beautiful... CHARLOTTE. Are you gonna say that all guys aren't jerks now? JULIAN. Not all of them are. (Eye contact.) Blackout. Lights up on DOMINICK, BOY 1, and BOY 2, who are standing in front of bench. BOY 1. Five pages. Like there's that much to write about it. DOMINICK. Plus that stupid outline. too. BOY 2. Yeah. (Girls 1 &2 walk towards them from upstage left) To Boy 1: You got your car today? BOY 1. Yeah. (notices who Boy 2 is looking at) Hey, Megan, Alisa, want to go out to lunch with us? GIRL 1. I didn't know you drove. BOY 1. Yeah, I have this new... (Etc., fade into pantomime.) BOYS and GIRLS pair up. DOMINICK follows for a second, then realizes he's been excluded. He stops, looks slowly out to the audience and then drops his backpack. Blackout. GLORIA enters from backstage left as the lights come up on the bedroom. ISABEL is in the bed completely covered by the blanket. GLORIA. Isabel, what are you doing in bed? It's only five-thirty. (pulls blanket off of Isabel's head as she speaks) ISABEL. I'm tired. (Rolls over, faces away from GLORIA.) GLORIA. (Pulls out desk chair and sits.) Your counselor called me at work today. ISABEL. Yeah? GLORIA. Why are you doing this to us, Isabel? ISABEL. (Sits up, looks at GLORIA.) What are you talking about? GLORIA. This whole blackmailing thing. Do you actually think that by getting bad grades you'll get to go back to Santiam? You know, you're only hurting yourself. ISABEL. (Incredulous.) Blackmailing you? Didn't you even listen to what he said? GLORIA. We all know you're having trouble adjusting to Harrison-- ISABEL. The girls in my gym class call me a lesbian. (GLORIA can't say anything.) They call me a stoner because I come from Santiam because everyone in Santiam is a stoner. They make fun of the way I dress--in an awful way. They just glare, and they snicker at me. They talk about me but they never say anything to me. GLORIA. Isabel, you've been there for less than three weeks. Give it some time. It's too early to make such negative decisions. ISABEL. Yeah, maybe by next week I'll be blowing up cats. GLORIA. Isabel! See what this negative attitude is doing to you? ISABEL. I have depression, Mom. GLORIA. What you have is a bad attitude. If you only had a positive attitude-- ISABEL. That doesn't help anything. That doesn't change anything. Even if I could smile they'd still call me a dyke. GLORIA. Did this counselor tell you that you were depressed? ISABEL. No. I figured it out on my own. They have books on mental illnesses, you just have to match the right symptoms-- GLORIA. Get out of bed, do your homework, and then unload the dishwasher. (Exits to backstage left.) (ISABEL is frozen for a few seconds, then faces the audience.) ISABEL. There was a time when she believed me. When I was little my father molested me. And when I told her, she immediately filed for divorce and moved out. Because she didn't want him to hurt me anymore. I haven't seen him in ten years. I remember when I was five, I think, and we went to a park. Me, him, my brother, and some social worker guy. I remember that I wouldn't talk to him or even look at him. I'm still frightened by guys with mustaches. I really did research it. Depression. And every other anxiety disorder. Obsessive-compulsive, mania, general anxiety... I knew something was wrong with me but I didn't know what. I even read about eating disorders because I've stopped eating breakfast and lunch. I tell Mom I'm eating breakfast at school but I don't. I just don't feel hungry anymore. How can you not feel hungry? I don't know. And then I go to bed at ten and I can't fall asleep till after midnight and then I wake up again at three and stare at the ceiling till six. I can't focus in class. My thoughts get all blurry and then my head hurts. Like a migraine, except medication doesn't do any good. When it really hurts, I sniff white-out and then the pain goes away and I fall asleep... Lights fade out on last line of monologue. Lights come up on CHAD and JULIAN, who are sitting on the bench eating lunch while CHAD is looking at a guitar magazine. JULIAN. So you haven't told your dad yet? CHAD. I'm not masochistic, Julian. JULIAN. Well, it's not like he has any choice but to accept it... CHAD. Not my dad. He doesn't have to accept anything he doesn't want to. JULIAN. But if you knew he wouldn't approve, why do it? Why do that to him? CHAD. You wouldn't understand, your dad doesn't expect as much from you. JULIAN. So you're never gonna tell him about you and Stesha? CHAD. I might. After I move out, maybe. Blackout. Lights up on BOY 1, who is on the stage left platform. BOY 1. I saw him at the hospital yesterday. He was in intensive care. I was the first one to reach his room, and when I first saw him he was asleep, but he looked like he was going to die. Except for his breaths. They moved his entire body up, and then down, in strong, rigid movements. Then he woke up and I tried to smile at him. He looked so weak and vulnerable. It was hard to be in the same room with him. Only Mom talked to him very much. I just had trouble seeing him like that. With all those tubes attached to his body. He couldn't speak because he was on oxygen. His feet were bare and splattered with yellow stains, and the hospital gown he had on was blue and white with pink squares all over it. And every time he coughed, a bell rang like his heart had stopped beating. Open heart double bypass surgery, plus complications due to an earlier bout with pneumonia. I couldn't talk to him, I could barely speak to him. I mean, my grandpa wasn't the kind to have anybody do anything for him. I remember when I was five, I wanted to go hunting with him really bad, but my mom wouldn't let me, and none of his friends would've wanted me to tag along anyway. So when he got back, he let me watch while he cut up the venison into steaks, and he told me all about the trip. And when I was thirteen, he took me and my fifteen-year-old cousin on our first hunting trip, just the three of us. It was great. He had perfect aim, and he knew all about the trees and the fish, and he had millions of stories from when he was in the Army. He never fought, because he was too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam, but he knew all the survival techniques and taught them to us. He was a great hunter, and he could fix any car or truck or mini-van you put in front of him. And now he's in the hospital and can't even talk. He has to write everything down on a notepad. My dad usually spends fifty to sixty hours a week at work, so grandpa's the one that taught me how to do things. I never thought about him dying. Not until yesterday. Blackout. Lights up on KARMA at center stage left and ISABEL at downstage left, both speaking into telephones. KARMA. I don't know, Courtney and I get along well. ISABEL. Well, she's never been mean to you. She was my friend and then ditched me because she thought I changed. KARMA. Well, Isabel, you kind of have. I mean, even since I've known you. ISABEL . Like nobody else has ever changed. KARMA. I don't think it's that. She just probably liked you the way you were, that's all. ISABEL. But I couldn't stay that way. She could've at least tried to understand. KARMA. Understand what? ISABEL. That... that when certain things happen, people are forced to change. KARMA. Like what? ISABEL. I don't know, I can't describe it. I just know that I hurt so bad on the inside that it's hard not to look that way on the outside. And Courtney just expected to be the exact same person no matter what happened. KARMA. (Consolingly, but deep in thought.) You're not the only who goes through bad things. ISABEL. But everyone else who feels anything like I do­ they all have scars on their wrists. I'm not like them. KARMA. Don't worry about it too much. I'm not like anybody else either. I used to have to shop at all the used stores when I was a kid and my mom used to dress me really strangely. And all the kids at school would make fun of me, just because of the way I dressed. And until I was thirteen, all I wanted was for them to accept me, all I wanted was to dress like them. ISABEL. Yeah... all I wanted when I was a kid was to be like the other kids, too. I was always too smart. I was always in the highest reading and math groups. And they, the teachers, would always run out of things for me to do, 'cause I always finished my work way earlier than all the other kids. So they'd have me correct the other kids' papers, write the vocab words on the board, tutor kids a couple years younger than me. They even sent me to the speech teacher once 'cause they didn't know what else to do with me. KARMA. They're all pricks. We shouldn't have to do anything to be accepted. ISABEL. I don't want to be accepted by them. What's the use in being accepted by people them? They're close-minded and stupid. I just wish they would leave me alone, them and their standards. KARMA. I don't know. I just get sick of being so alone. (Stubbornly.) But I'm not gonna change for them. They're gonna have to change for me. ISABEL. Yeah. I guess that's how I feel about Courtney. Blackout. Lights up on GIRL 1 and BOY 3, who are sitting in chairs at downstage center, GIRL 1 on the stage left side. They are in a car. BOY 3 is the tense father, GIRL 1 is excited and nervous, struggling with the wheel on turns. BOY 3. Slow down, slow down... GIRL 1. I'm not going very fast. BOY 3. You're speeding. GIRL 1. Daddy, I'm only going ten miles an hour. BOY 3. Concentrate... GIRL 1. I think I have this parking lot mastered... (Suddenly has extreme difficulty turning the the wheel, both react to the impact of running over a curb and hitting a fence, GIRL 1 is speechless.) BOY 3. Umm... try to back the car up. (GIRL 1 puts the car in reverse, but nothing happens. Tries again.) BOY 3. It's okay. Everything will be fine. (Gets out of car and inspects it.) GIRL 1. To self: How could I do that? How could I be so stupid? (As she gets out of car to inspect damage, too.) BOY 3. (Gestures to two dents, then notices the rearview mirror) Hmm. This is a bit bent. (Tries to bend rearview mirror back, it breaks off, falls, he picks it up.) Well. (Looks at the mirror in his hand, forcefully smiling.) Hey, at least it was a fence, and not another car. GIRL 1 sighs. Blackout. Lights up on KARMA, who is on the center platform, putting on a pair of shoes. Her mother is sprawled on the couch, barefoot and wrapped in a bathrobe, with empty beer bottles on the floor next to her. End table is placed next to couch, phone on top. KARMA. Mom! It's seven-twenty-five! (Puts on backpack ) KARMA. Mom? (Moves down to couch, notices her mom is asleep, and drops her bag next to it, goes to her mom and starts to shake her awake.) KARMA. Mom, we have to leave in five minutes! Wake up! MOM. Mmm. I'm awake. I'm getting up. (Sits up.) You go brush your teeth. I'll put on a pair of shoes. KARMA. All right. Don't fall asleep. (Runs to stage left platform, pantomimes brushing her teeth hurriedly. MOM falls asleep again. KARMA runs back.) KARMA. Mom! MOM. Leave me alone. (Rolls over.) (KARMA sighs furiously, picks up phone, dials number.) KARMA. Hello, Mrs. Dawson? This is Karma, from down the street. Are you giving Lacey a ride to school today? Yeah. Yeah, I can meet you at the corner. Sure. Thanks. (Picks up her stuff and starts to leave.) MOM. You goin' buy me bourbon? KARMA. Bye, Mom. I'm going to school. MOM. (Murmuring.) Get me a glass of whisky. KARMA exits offstage left. Blackout. Lights up on GIRL 2, GIRL 3, and JESSICA, who are center stage, dressed for a slumber party, with magazines and a telephone nearby. GIRL 2. Oh, he is so cute. JESSICA. I know. GIRL 3. Oh, did I tell you? I saw Miranda at the mall the other day. GIRL 2. Miranda Randall? I haven't seen her for ages. JESSICA. How is she? GIRL 3. Fine, as far as I could tell. JESSICA. I haven't seen her since middle school. GIRL 2. What ever happened with her? GIRL 3. Well, you remember when Rebecca Johnson became friends with our group? GIRL 2. Not really. I just moved here that year. JESSICA. Well, Rebecca had a big head. After she made a few friends out of our group, she decided she was too good for us and ditched everyone but Miranda and Stacey. She said we were holding her back from being popular. GIRL 2. She's still not that popular. JESSICA. Yeah, but anyway, that's when we stopped being friends with Miranda and Stacey. GIRL 2. Stacey's gotten really popular. JESSICA. Yeah, but have you seen what she's done to herself? She's bleached her hair so blonde it's almost white and she goes tanning all the time so her skin is absolutely brown, I swear. And you've heard the rumors about her, haven't you? GIRL 2. About her sleeping with Todd Marcus and Dave Reynolds and all those guys? JESSICA. Yeah. And she gets drunk all the time, too. GIRL 3. (Hesitantly.) There's something else about Miranda. JESSICA. What? GIRL 3. She's pregnant. GIRL 2. Miranda? JESSICA. Are you sure? GIRL 3. Yeah. She was wearing this striped shirt and her belly was bulging and it sort of hung over her pants. GIRL 2. Gosh. She had never even been on a date when I knew her. JESSICA. And whenever the guys in math class would tell perverted jokes she always blushed and looked away. GIRL 2. Didn't she, like, always go to church and stuff? GIRL 3. Yeah. We used to go to church camp together every summer. JESSICA. Well, it's not like if you go to church that you're, like, morally perfect. GIRL 3. No, it's just that it's her. I mean, she was talking about how she has a job at this shop and that she had dropped out of school and was going to get her GED. Miranda. It's like, if it can happen to her... GIRL 2. Yeah. JESSICA. Well, hey, let's not make this a cryfest. I rented three Brad Pitt movies for tonight. Let's watch them. GIRL 3. All right. Blackout. Lights up on GIRL 1, who is sitting on the couch. GIRL 1. I just don't get hungry. That's all. No one believes me. They tell me that I convince myself that I'm not hungry. I know people are trying to help me, but I don't need any help. I don't have a problem. My parents practically force me to eat. I can't stand it. They keep telling me that I'm too skinny, and that I need to eat more. Do you know how fat I would be if I ate more? I already regret anything I eat. I had some frozen yogurt at school the other day and I felt like puking. Food just makes me so sick. My friends don't help me any. Sarah told me the other day that guys like curvy girls, and that curvy doesn't mean fat, but how come in stores there's a "petite" section and a "curvy" section? I've seen the girls in the "curvy" section. They're really fat. I could never get that fat. I'm fat enough as it is. I need to lose about ten pounds. 85 is about right for my height. It doesn't gross me out. Not any more. I like it... it keeps me under control. Blackout. Lights up on TIMMY and DOMINICK who are sitting on the bench, looking at comic booksand drinking out of 2-liters. BOYS 1-3 & GIRLS 1 & 2 approach from stage right and start to pass them. DOMINICK. Hey, Jason. Hey, Scott. (GIRLS giggle as the group keeps going. BOY 2 glances back quickly but stays with the group. DOMINICK takes a drink, looking after them.) TIMMY. Are you friends with them? DOMINICK. Used to be. TIMMY. They're preps. Forget 'em. DOMINICK. Yeah. Blackout. Lights up on GIRL 1, GIRL 4, and MR. SIMMONS, who are at downstage center. GIRLS wear athletic clothing and carry basketball bags. MR. SIMMONS carries a ring of keys in a hand. GIRL 4. (Yelling towards offstage left.) Bye, Jenny! Bye, Kerry! See ya tomorrow! MR. SIMMONS. There aren't any guys left down here. They're all warming up up in the gym. (Mimes unlocking a door and crossing the room.) Girls, I'll just lock these two doors here. (Points at the two doors.) GIRL 1. Thank you, Mr. Simmons. (GIRLS set down bags on the bench.) GIRL 4. Thanks, Mr. Simmons. (MR. SIMMONS exits towards offstage left.) GIRL 1. (Re-doing her ponytail.) Do you realize we're the only ones staying to watch the freshman guys' game? GIRL 4. (Pulling off shoes, then shirt.) I don't know about you, but I'm not planning on watching the game. GIRL 1. Jenny said something about a test in Loughlin's English class. GIRL 4. That would explain it. (GIRL 4 moves to check stage right door. As soon as her hand touches the handle, she spins around to the sound of the opposite door being opened by FRESHMAN BOY. He and GIRL 4 make eye contact, gasp, and he shuts the door as GIRL 4 dives for a shower stall upstage right of bench. GIRL 4 and GIRL 1 begin laughing hysterically, falling to the floor. FRESHMAN BOY reenters door.) FRESHMAN BOY. Is this the girls' or the boys' locker room? GIRL 4. Girls'! (FRESHMAN BOY leaves terrified. During the following dialogue, GIRL 4 puts on a clean shirt, pants over her shorts, and shoes; GIRL 1 does similar.) GIRL 1. Oh, my gosh! GIRL 4. Do you think he'll recognize me? GIRL 1. Not if you're wearing a shirt. (Laughing.) I thought we were supposed to watch the freshman guys, not let them watch us. GIRL 4. Ew... (Throwing stuff into bag.) Come on, let's go watch the game. GIRL 1. Just a sec. (Tosses stuff into bag.) Both go to door, crack up, and exit laughing. Blackout. In darkness, the following lines are heard immediately following sound of door slamming: GIRL 4. I can't put up with it anymore, Thomas! BOY 2. Put up with what? GIRL 4. Put up with you! (Then lights go up on GIRL 2 and DOMINICK, on the center platform. DOMINICK sits on the bed, anxious. GIRL 2, his little sister, is confused and curious.) GIRL 2. Dominick? When are they gonna stop yelling? DOMINICK. I guess when their voices wear out. GIRL 2. Why are they so angry? Did one of them do something bad? DOMINICK. I guess so. I don't know what. GIRL 2. Was it something I did? DOMINICK. No, Tracy. If they were mad at you, well, then they'd yell at you. Not at each other. GIRL 2. I don't like it when they fight. (Sits next to him.) DOMINICK. Me neither. (Hugs her.) GIRL 2. (Lays down on bed.) Will you let me know when it's over? DOMINICK. Yeah. Blackout. Lights up on CHARLOTTE, who is sitting on the bed on the center platform. CHARLOTTE. My parents didn't have a problem with it. Of course my dad doesn't believe that Julian and I are really having sex. He's in denial. My mom just says I'd better not do it in her house. Like we'd do it at my house. Natalie and Thomas are always home, and you know kids, if they can't see you, they assume that you're doing something that they want to do, but you're not telling them. I don't see why people make such a big deal about it. All you have to do is go to the doctor's office and say that you're irregular and-voila- you've got yourself a prescription for birth control pills. That's what I said at first. Of course, now, it's been a year since my original prescription, so I let my parents know about me being active. And they didn't kill me, or kick me out. Actually, my mom didn't act that surprised. How much studying can you do when your hardest class is Japanese I, especially when your boyfriend is taking German, and not even until the next year? Besides, she's too busy driving Natalie to ballet class and sewing her little leotard-based costumes with sequins and feathers all over them. Or taking Thomas to soccer or tee ball or wrestling or swim lessons. It varies by the season. And I only see dad for a few hours in the evening, so even if he did have some kind of resentment towards me, he doesn't have a lot of time to show it. Why wouldn't they want me to be on the pill? It gives them one less thing to worry about. Lights up on GIRL 2 and DOMINICK, who are on the center platform, leaning against and listening through an imaginary door, and on BOY 2 who is standing downstage left of couch and GIRL 4 who is upstage right of couch. BOY 2 holds a cardboard box in his hands, GIRL 4 clutches a throw pillow to her stomach. BOY 2. So that's it? You're not gonna say good-bye? You're not gonna wish me luck? GIRL 4. (Crying.) Please. Will you just leave? Please? BOY 2. All right. Well... I guess this is it, huh? Hmm. (Walks towards stage right behind couch, stops, turns and faces her.) Can I call Tuesday to talk to the kids? GIRL 4. Yeah. Yeah, sure. BOY 2. Bye, Shelley. (GIRL 4 can only bite her fist and blink back the tears.) GIRL 2. To Dominick: Is it over? DOMINICK. It's over. Blackout. Compendium scene. Actors playing the "good" guys are on the platforms. BOY 1 stands at downstage right and GIRL 1 at downstage right, each lit with bright, clear lights. They play the "bad" guys. Actors on the platforms are under dimmer lights. GIRL 3. Ignorance. Well, that's what I think. TIMMY. I think people fear what they don't understand... and people make fun of what they fear and don't understand. It's that simple. It might be stupid, but it's simple... JULIAN. From a psychological point of view, people are taught even as kids that being "girly" if you're a boy is wrong, and people say gays act "girly," so being called gay at an older age is a definite put down. CHARLOTTE. I get so angry when I'm walking in the halls and I hear "that's so gay" or "he's a effin' homo." It's amazing that people can be so ignorant. BOY 1. Don't act like a fag. BOY 2. My opinion is that gays or lesbians or anyone has the right to do whatever in their lives. But they have to understand that some people are just too damn stupid to realize that they are actually offending or harming someone's feelings... ISABEL. I was taught that you shouldn't hate people, even if they do things you don't approve of. Even if those things gross you out. Other people are always going to be doing things that you don't approve of. GIRL 1. That's so gay. KARMA. I think it's just people's own insecurities that make them feel that anyone else's way of life is wrong. BOY 3. It's a mentality you grow up with... ANNE-MARIE. I personally don't think that there is ever gonna be a time where every person is ok with homosexuality. It's just something that they have to deal with. GIRL 1. Oh, come on, you know he's a fag. You can tell by looking. BOY 4. They call you a "fag" if you like music, or if you act, or if you like to draw, or if you're good at computers, or sometimes just because they don't know who you are. I guess they figure that the more they call other guys "fags," the less people will think that they're a fag themselves. ISABEL. It hurts to be wrongly accused. BOY 1. They are so sick. BOY 2. The rumor got around that my cousin was bi and a couple of straight guys caught up with him after school, duct-taped his arms and legs behind him, and took turns kicking him and punching him all over his body. It's still difficult for him to discuss his sexuality with people who aren't his closest friends. GIRL 4. Homophobes are really just in denial of being gay themselves or they're just trying to be cool. GIRL 1. She's definitely a lesbian. Have you ever seen her with a guy? JULIAN. From recognition of ignorance comes insight. CHARLOTTE. Maybe we need idiots stating their two-dimentional beliefs to recognize cultural misunderstandings. If they just kept their mouths shut, how could we know that there was a problem? BOY 1. Those guys in Wyoming knew what they were doing. All fags should be killed. GIRL 2. Sometimes I just want to ask them, "What did they, as an entire group, ever do to you?" DOMINICK. I don't feel totally comfortable around gay people... but we all have to live with other's decisions about their own sexuality. GIRL 3. Ignoring something doesn't make it better. BOY 1. Stupid homos. TIMMY. If you just shut yourself off from it and think that maybe they'll stop doing it- GIRL 4. They might stop doing it- KARMA. But maybe if you say something- ANNE-MARIE. Then who knows, maybe they'll realize that they're acting like small-minded fools- BOY 2. And stop bashing people. ISABEL. I don't agree with the lifestyle. CHARLOTTE. But if we're all created equal- DOMINICK. Then why don't we treat people that way? Blackout. End of Act I. read Act II