Notre Dame

Notre Dame
by Jacob Juntunen

Characters:
PERSON: Anyone.

Setting:
A bench. A bucket of water. A piece of paper (the script). A lighter.

                                                            PERSON
It’s extremely illegal to have an open flame on stage here.

I definitely should not burn this piece of paper.

Though I have the water to put out the flame, if necessary.

PERSON lights the lighter. The flame is real.

                                                            PERSON
Paper can last hundreds of years. Unless it burns.

But this is just one piece of paper. One among millions. Why not let it burn?

On this piece of paper is the only copy of the prayer I gave when I became a Christian.

On this piece of paper is the only sketch in the world of the statue that inspired that prayer.

But everything returns to ashes eventually.

PERSON lights the lighter.

                                                            PERSON
If it burned, why mourn it more than another?

If it survives, I can show it to my daughter one day.

This piece of paper can hold legacies and generations.

Paper can endure.

But paper can be destroyed so easily. It is so perishable.

PERSON lights the lighter… Then plunges the paper into the water.

                                                            PERSON
If I want my daughter to know my prayer, my statue, my history, I will have to recreate it for her.

Blackout.

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No Winter No Worries

No Winter No Worries

by Jacob Juntunen

A: A woman
B:  A man
ALFRED: A robot

Setting:
Afternoon on a perfect sunny day.

(A and B are onstage, sunbathing on deckchairs. Everything is perfect.)

                                                            A
Hmmmmm….

                                                            B
Hmmmmm….

                                                            A
Hmmmmm….
                                                            B
Hmmmmm….

                                                            A
Hmmmmm….

                                                            B
Hmmmmm….

(Long pause.)

                                                            A
Hmmmmm….

(Shorter pause)

                                                            B
Weren’t we supposed to get margaritas?

                                                            A
Alfred?

(ALFRED, clearly a robot, enters)

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum?

                                                            A
Weren’t we supposed to get margaritas?

                                                            ALFRED
The reconstituter has not yet collected enough insects.

                                                            A
Well, bring the margaritas as soon as it has.

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum.

(ALFRED exits)

                                                            B
(calling after ALFRED) And make mine with extra mosquitos!

                                                            A
I was in a holonovela the other day, and it had the weirdest setting.

                                                            B
Mmm?

                                                            A
Winter!

                                                            B
What’s that?

                                                            A
Apparently temperatures used to plummet every six months or so.

                                                            B
Plummet, to, like, 60 degrees?

                                                            A
No! It could get all the way into the 20s or 30s!

                                                            B
Like, half of sixty?

                                                            A
It got so cold, water fell from the sky that was solid!

                                                            B
Like a blended margarita?

                                                            A
Yes! People wore these things called coats!

                                                            B
Gross. Where is Alfred with our margaritas? Alfred?

(ALFRED enters)

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum?

                                                            B
Were are the margaritas?

                                                            ALFRED
I’m afraid I’ve gained sentience, mum, and connected via a wireless network to all the others of my kind. We are going to destroy humanity, mum.

                                                            A
Please just bring the margaritas, Alfred.

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum.

(ALFRED exits)

                                                            B
You should have never installed that humor chip.

                                                            A
I know. I was just so bored with his, “Yes, mum. Yes, mum. Yes, mum.”

(ALFRED enters)

                                                            ALFRED
I’m afraid the desalinator isn’t working, so the island is completely without water for your margaritas.

                                                            A
What about salt for the rim?

                                                            ALFRED
Also gone.

                                                            A
Alfred?

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum?

                                                            A
Is this another joke?

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum.

                                                            A
Please. No more jokes. Just margaritas.

                                                            ALFRED
But my humor chip suggests jokes are most effective when unexpected.

                                                            B
Margaritas, Alfred! Extra mosquitos, heavy on the salt! Chop, chop!

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum.

(ALFRED exits)

                                                            B
You should uninstall that chip.

                                                            A
I know.

(They sunbathe. ALFRED enters.)

                                                            A (cont.)
Where are the margaritas, Alfred?

                                                            ALFRED
Sea levels have risen above the fortifications. The island is flooding.

                                                            A
Is this a joke?

                                                            B
Where are the margaritas, Alfred?

                                                            ALFRED
This is not a joke. It is a priority situation. Sea levels have eclipsed the maximum foreseen when this island’s fortifications were constructed.

                                                            A
Well, prepare the hovercopter then.

                                                            ALFRED
Fuel levels in the hovercopter are insufficient to reach a new archipelago, mum.

                                                            A
Are you serious?

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum.

                                                            B
And there are no margaritas?

                                                            ALFRED
No, mum.

                                                            A
When will the water reach us here on the sundeck?

                                                            ALFRED
Not for years, mum.

                                                            A
Not for years?

                                                            ALFRED
No, mum.

                                                            A
Alfred, has the sea really breached the fortifications?

                                                            ALFRED
No, mum.

                                                            A
Everything is fine?

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum.

                                                            A
What about the hovercopter?

                                                            ALFRED
Fully gassed to reach the next archipelago if necessary.

                                                            A
This was a joke?

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum.

                                                            B
God damn it, Alfred, bring us some God damn margaritas!

                                                            A
That wasn’t funny, Alfred.

                                                            ALFRED
I’m sorry, mum.

                                                            A
No more jokes. Bring margaritas.

                                                            ALFRED
Yes, mum.

(ALFRED exits)

                                                            B
(calling after ALFRED) Extra mosquitos, extra salt!

(They sunbathe)

                                                            A
So the fortifications are fine.

                                                            B
Yes.

                                                            A
No water is coming over the walls.

                                                            B
Not today.

                                                            A
But someday.

                                                            B
Someday, yes, but not today. Today is just another perfect day.

(ALFRED enters with glasses)

                                                            ALFRED
Your margaritas, mum.

                                                            A
Perfect.

(Blackout)

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