Length: 80 minutes
Casting: 4+ W / 6+ M
In Orington, everything is good good good.
SYNOPSIS: In Orington, Men go to Football Rehearsal and Women go to Crying Practice. In Orington, everyone drinks coffee. No one hates. No one loves. Amy is content serving coffee in her husband’s diner. Timothy is thinking about getting married – maybe next week. And Albert, he’s the star of the football team – the glue that holds everything together. This is the way things are done. Just don’t go out into the woods. Yessir, everything in Orington is good, good, good. And then one day, a stranger comes to town, and people begin to change. Chaos takes hold of the town as hidden desires are revealed and acted upon, as the weirdness emerges, and the social order comes roaring back to assert itself.
This play is appropriate for teens and adults.
WHY THIS PLAY: The 1950s are alive and well in the suburbs, and Orington is a strange, satyrical version of the familiar.
Read the play on the New Play Exchange or contact BriandanielOglesby(at)gmail.com
SAMPLE
LATER THAT DAY. LAKE SEPSIS. [projection]
(In a small rowboat in the middle of Orington’s Lake Sepsis. On a dock in another part of the lake is COLIN, who is fishing. TIMOTHY is gallantly rowing JESSICA, who twirls a parasol. JESSICA is a teacher, and you can tell this just by looking at her.)
JESSICA
It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon when Timothy asks me to go with him to Lake Sepsis. The waters seem to shimmer and glisten. It’s a man-made lake. He hands me a parasol. And he rows me out to the middle of the middle of the lake.
TIMOTHY
I like this spot. Hey, Colin.
(He waves to COLIN. COLIN waves back.)
JESSICA
What’s that smell? You smell that?
TIMOTHY
I’m going to feed some ducks.
(TIMOTHY throws bread into the water.)
JESSICA
There aren’t any ducks.
TIMOTHY
Then I’m feeding fish.
JESSICA
It’s not healthy to feed ducks, you know.
TIMOTHY
Women and their diets.
JESSICA
This isn’t about carbohydrates. I read that ducks become complacent. Then they never leave. They never fly south or north or, well, elsewhere. They eat gobs of unhealthy bread, rot out their insides, and then they foul the place up. Their waste begets teeming colonies of microbes, and eventually, it makes them all sick.
TIMOTHY
They could hire someone to clean it.
JESSICA
The ducks?
TIMOTHY
There’s gotta be some science that can fix it. Ingenuity. Chlorine!
JESSICA
That won’t hurt the ducks?
TIMOTHY
They’re just ducks.
JESSICA
They can still get hurt.
TIMOTHY
Then I guess it’s a good thing there aren’t any here.
JESSICA
I suppose you’re right.
A moment.
It’s peaceful. Or awkward.
TIMOTHY
So, Jessica.
JESSICA
Present.
TIMOTHY
You probably want to know why I am rowing you about on this small fishing boat.
JESSICA
We’re not going fishing, are we?
We don’t have any poles.
TIMOTHY
In Orington, for every man, there’s a woman.
I suspect that you could be one for me.
JESSICA
Really?
TIMOTHY
I made this for you.
JESSICA
Oh!
(TIMOTHY puts up a presentation. Like a business presentation.)
TIMOTHY
This is your current income.
JESSICA
Wait what? How did you find that out?
TIMOTHY
It’s 70% of what I make.
And this is my income.
And these are how things would work out if we were married.
JESSICA
I’m sorry. Married?
TIMOTHY
One mortgage instead of two.
Substantial savings on heating and air conditioning and cable television.
We can buy cheese and soda in bulk.
This is why people get married.
We are both eligible human beings of breeding age. We should seriously consider doing so.
JESSICA
All of that makes sense.
TIMOTHY
Please stand up.
(JESSICA uneasily stands up.)
TIMOTHY
Don’t fall.
JESSICA
Trying not to.
(TIMOTHY bends to his knees.)
TIMOTHY
Jessica. Will you marry me?
JESSICA
I suppose we should.
Okay.
TIMOTHY
Great. Great great great.
So, how does Wednesday work for you?
JESSICA
That’s when I watch television.
TIMOTHY
How about Thursday, then?
JESSICA
That should work. I have a staff meeting on Friday, so let’s say 7:00.
TIMOTHY
7:30 will be better. I have racquetball after work.
JESSICA
7:30.
We should head back.
Thank you for the rowboat ride. It was nice and I didn’t vomit this time.
(We hear something in the distance: a “whoop-whoop-whoop”)
Is that – Albert Finley running? What’s he doing?
TIMOTHY
I don’t know. So, Thursday, 7:30?
JESSICA
Thursday, yes.
TIMOTHY
This is great!
(There’s an awkward kiss or maybe handshake.
They return to shore.)
Briandaniel Oglesby 