After finishing, wondering if this
should change to more of a Choreplay?
Life Savers NE, a one acter
Cast
T Ted
M Melissa
J Josh
Ted is an ultra straight white man. Melissa is an extra feminine woman. John is a button-down but definitely black man. He and Melissa are “seeing each other”.
They are all sitting around a table.
They are the three crew members of Crew #1 of Life Savers Northeast or LSNE.
There’s a big poster on the back wall with LSNE and a blown up photo of a newborn.
As the scene begins, their heads are all bowed in silent prayer. Maybe 15 to 30 seconds to set the tone.
M (looking up) So how do we explain what happened, How do we frame this
to LS Headquarters.
T (rubbing chin) Maybe if we review this and-
J Let’s remember our job was a rescue, and-
T (obviously (starts to arise then reconsiders) Josh the Judgmental. Look,
irritated we have a learning experience which, if we frame it right, we
can share-
M (slams right palm on desk) Learning experiences were all those
many times when we didn’t overturn Roe, didn’t make war on
Wade, and all those innocent babies- (stops, in tears)
J (hold her hand for five seconds) Aren’t we all on the same
team, the same belief system.
We are a team, a crew. We are united by-(after pause, blows on
hands) Why don’t we start again, around the room. Ted,
Melissa, me. And no finger pointing, yelling, and no blaming.
(He then motions for everyone to hold hands)
“As Jesus would have us be, Amen.” (all three say Amen.)
(all unclasp)
part 2 of scene 1
T To review then. We were assigned to travel to this state to
return this woman to our state and prevent her
committing the murder of her unborn child which, sadly, is
still legal in this state of Pennsylvania, at least until-
M This would have been our fifth rescue in Philadelphia and-
J And they all went well.
M Even when the “rescued” didn’t always want to be rescued,
thought they knewwhat they were doing, thought their
needs were omnipotent and not the those of the-
J Remember, we are never here to judge, only to serve.
T (stands up) Yes, we are not “the bringers of light”. (sits
down) and we must never think we are, not delude
ourselves. We are agents of the Law, both biblical and
corporal. Nothing else, nothing more.
J (taps desk) Yes, we are needful to remember that.
T So, we apprehended her and informed the local, non-God
fearing, authorities. They agreed, grudgingly, that we,
indeed, had both the proper papers and jurisdictional
authorities.
M So, of course, when she threatened to kill herself and the
soon-to-be child-
J Because, she said, the father was her father-
M We’ve heard that before-
T Doesn’t matter if it’s true. We have a mission (stands up)
A calling. Not just a job. (sits down)
M Where do you think she got that knife?
J Where do desperate people get any tools they think
that they need? More to the question, how could we
have prevented this, changed the outcome or-
M (stands up) We did call 911 as soon as-
T And they almost seemed satisfied, as though-(gets up,
paces) they took their own sweet time, (sits down)-
almost as though-And by the time-and by the time-
(gets up, paces again) I’m still not sure- that they
tried-with urgency-to save the child-
Let’s return to the start. Can’t we just testify, in
truth- (cell phone rings) Excuse me, it’s, well
you know who it is. Be. Back. After.
(Ted leaves. Stage left.)
Part 3 scene 1
M Now we can talk. You saw her bending over.
Why didn’t you-
J Do what? Ask her what she was doing-
M (stridently) Rather than just staring, as though in
stone, like you’d just seen Medusa, as though in
as though you’d never seek a butt- (chopped-off)
like hers before!
J You may think that
if you choose
to think that.
I’m not sure what I was thinking then,
but it was not
her butt!
One might have wondered how she became in this
condition that she knew-that she thought- that it
required-
M Is that really all-
J Melissa, you’re being extremely accusatory
tonight. Don’t you trust me or do you not want
to trust me.
Maybe it requires too much faith to believe
someone could love-
At this point, Ted strides through the door, trying
with all his hardness, not to slam it.
M (glad for the interruption)
What did they say and-
T That was my best friend and best wife.
Other than that, I would of taken the call in here,
on speaker phone (pauses and takes a deep
breath)
Well, you both know, because I’ve probably beat
your ears about it, that we were trying to move to
a more Christian neighbor-well in an area where
we found a church and felt the spirit, found a
church and felt the spirit.
M Found a church and felt the spirit?
T That we weren’t just sitting there (stands up)
but when Brother Todd spoke, it was almost
like a sermon from the mountaintop.
M Was it the way he spoke, the feeling in his
testimony, the rivers in his words. You said…
it felt real.
T Yes, I remember I told you, I know you have a
place where you receive comfort and I would
never (pauses) but Julie and I…we never did..
we didn’t …and… now…well
J But the call?
T Julie was asked by her next-door neighbor,
as wives always ask, what her husband did,
that he traveled so, that it seemed a secret,
that she couldn‘t just say-
M Maybe that does sound suspicious, Mafia
suspicious, when my parents live in the
southern part of a city called Philadelphia-
J Maybe, but surely you had thought out-
T We should of. Knowing some people
(gets up and walks around the table)
even some of our own people (stops)
feel our “rescue” efforts are going too far,
that we are not being God-like
J So what did Julia-
T Julia gave out to say-intimated, that I
might be CIA or like that. But the
neighbour goes on to say, she’s watched a lot
of TV drama, that the CIA always gives
their operatives cover stories, good ones,
M So how will you diffuse this, I think-
T I think we hacve to be hones. We haven’t
crossed all the eyes or dotted all the teas, so if-
M But I know Julie so wanted-
J (louder) Sometimes, we have to listen when
the Lord speaks in whispers.
(stands up and puts an arm around Ted’s
shoulder)
Maybe the church is the right one but-
T Maybe I need to rethink an adjacent
neighbourhood.
J Don’t you have a friend in real estate,
Phil somebody-
T Shapiro. Not a christian but a good man.
M So now can we please return to what
happened and what-
J I hate to be basic but this, unfortunately,
is one of those LOP situations, where we’re
trying to put lipstick on a pig.
It was a bad situation. We maybe didn’t
listen well enough. Didn’t hear her pain
and tears enough, her pain and fears
enough. Didn’t reach out well enough-
T But we did tell her what we all know,
that we would help her to have the child
and then, and only then, should she decide
whether to give up or keep a child-
I do not know how a woman can give up a
child but-
That we would help her either way.
M Maybe all the listening, all the speaking,
all the words-
T (stands up, louder)
What are you saying! That we can’t speak
Gospel truth to power.?!
M That some people still feel they have the
right to life termination, that it’s not
murder if it’s still as it is then, it isn’t as
if-
J (stand up)
(low voice)
It may be generations until enough
people feel the mercy of God’s love
and know! And know! This child
murder is wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
No less wrong than the murdered
whose killers are on death row!
No less wrong than murdering
the murderers. No less wrong.
(sits down and begins weeping)
Fading our to dark
Scene 4
all three are mouthing words as the scene opens but we cannot hear them.
Gradually a light from outside comes on. There’s a knock on the door and
Ted gets up to answer. There are empty coffee cups and other signs that
they’ve been up all night, discussing and praying. M and J only in this scene.
M I don’t feel like breakfast.
I don’t feel like I deserve to
ever eat again, when-
J (clasps her hand)
First of all, we are the first in what
we are doing. We are not following in
a troden path, on a known way.
Our Apostles know this. Knows
there were few of us willing
(unclasps her hand and stands up)
Did they berate us. Did they
pound us with negatives.
No, they understood, they
understood.
Ted returns with 3 breakfast sandwiches and three coffees. The coffees may be
sipped but noone should open the sandwiches.
T Melissa, I don’t know what Josh
was saying, but he was probably
right. We were not thrown under
the bus, hung out to dry, whatever
blame words, you, we want to use.
“Unavoidable tragedy” will be our
wordings.
Let me say this before anyone.
We are not Modern Day
Slavecatchers! We are not doing
the Devil’s work!
The Abortionists, they are doing
the Devil’s work!
(slower) We are doing, or we
trying to do the Lord’s work-
M But are we really. Some days, some
nights, I know I really do believe.
But-
J (slowly and steadily)
We are being tested. We are being
tested on a road of fire, in a forest
of ice, in a city of blood-
We will come out of this.
The three stand up and encircle each other by their arms.
T What do our Apostles always say.
We are the first and, as such, we
are being challenged.
What happens next depends not
on anyone but us-
The three are still around each other, but they put their arms down.
M And we must be strong!
Women and men of iron!
Unbroken circles.
All We are the first!
Surely not the last!
Knock on the door
T goes to the door.
Turns to the others.
Fox News. They want to know what happened.
M Let them in!
We need to save souls with
the truth.
End of first rough draft.
robertthesmall 