"More" Deborah Rennard C/O Joel Isaacson, 546 Fifth Ave, 20th Fl NY, NY 10036 [email protected] 646 460-5409 "MORE" LIGHTS UP on a woman, Mila, early to mid-40's. She begins to sing the song "MORE". As she does, lights come up on a handsome well-dressed couple in their mid-to-late 20's. Mila watches as they dance to the music. MILA "More than the greatest love the world has known, This is the love I give to you alone, Suddenly there is the sound of a deafening explosion. A man's voice shouts to be heard. MAN'S VOICE #1 Sir, we're under attack! Another man shouts back. MAN'S VOICE #2 Fire! Full power astern! Mila continues to sing. It is unclear if she hears the voices or the explosion. MILA "More than the simple words I try to say, I only live to love you more each day", Mila talks directly to the audience. MILA That was my father's favorite song. He wooed my mother with that song. The sound of more explosions. MILA A blonde hair, blue-eyed, 26 year old with movie star good looks and a cherry red T-Bird, who drove all the way from Ohio to California and met my mother, who was, ironically, also from Ohio. MAN'S VOICE #2 Maintain fazer fire! We need more power! 2. MAN'S VOICE #1 We haven't got it! MILA She was smitten at first sight. She never could resist a handsome man in a convertible. WOMAN'S VOICE Sir, we're picking up speed! Warp 5, Warp 6! MILA (singing) "More than you'll ever know my arms long to hold your soul"- She wanted to get married - to get married and to have babies so fast, she didn't see, until too late in her first pregnancy, that my father's favorite pastime was other women. WOMAN'S VOICE Severe casualties reported on decks 3 and 4! MILA (singing) "My life will be in your keeping, waking, sleeping, laughing, weeping", Of course, it wasn't his only pastime, he also enjoyed gambling and drinking. MAN'S VOICE #1 The deflector shields are at full power, Sir. They can't take much more of this! MILA (singing) "Longer than always is a long long time, but far beyond forever you'll be mine", So she raced head-on into the impossible task of marriage and trying to build a family, with a man who was incapable of either. MAN'S VOICE #2 Scotty, what's going on down there? Scotty? Scotty! MILA (singing) "I know I've never lived before, And my heart is very sure, No one else could love you more. I know I've never lived before, And my heart is very sure, No one else could love you more". The song ends, the couple finishes the dance. Lights out on them. MILA I spent my whole childhood waiting for my life to look like re-runs of my favorite tv show, "Father Knows Best". 3. A 1950'S FATHER AND MOTHER APPEAR AND ACT OUT AN IDYLLIC FAMILY SCENE. MILA I wanted to be Kitten in the worst way - to have my father come home every evening, wearing a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase, pick me up in his arms and ask about my day at school - my mom in a pretty frock, holding a plate of freshly baked cookies. THE 1950'S DAD CHANGES INTO A STAR TREK UNIFORM AND NOW RESEMBLES "CAPTAIN KIRK", the MOM DONS A "SPOCK" WIG AND EARS. MILA But lately, my life has started to look more like an episode of "Star Trek". You know, in those moments between wake and sleep. And not just a single episode, a series of them. Which is strange, because I've never liked "Star Trek". In fact, I hate it. I think Spock is spooky - those pointed ears and that creepy haircut. It's weird, I hear my father shouting, "Give it more power, Scotty!" And my mom responding in some strange language. Whole arguments are happening and I have no idea what they mean. My father wasn't a bad person. He just had no business ever being a husband or a father. And I don't think he understood that he was my whole world - THE YOUNG FATHER, AS CAPTAIN KIRK, PUTS MILA ON HIS KNEE. THE YOUNG MOTHER, AS SPOCK, STANDS TO THE SIDE. MILA And that when at the age of five, he put me on his knee and told me that he and my mom were divorcing, that world collapsed. FIVE YEAR OLD MILA CRUMBLES INTO TEARS AND RUNS OFF. MILA Now, I seem to be just lying around waiting to be "beamed up". And I have no idea what that means. Lights out. 4. ACT I SCENE 1 HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY An elderly man lies in bed in a coma, hooked up to all sorts of machines. Mila enters and regards him for a moment before speaking. MILA You look like shit. Christ, I need a cigarette. You look like you do too, by the way. She looks over at the door. MILA How many puffs you figure I can get in before security drags me out of here? They probably have huge smoke detectors that go off at the first whiff. I wonder if the windows open. She crosses to the window and tries it. MILA Wow, they do. Funny, them not having locks on the windows four floors up. Guess they're not too concerned with you coma patients leaping out and exposing them to all kinds of lawsuits. (beat) Fuck it. She pulls out a cigarette and lights up. She takes a few puffs, carefully exhaling the smoke out of the window. MILA Man, I needed that. So, you gonna die on me? Cause that would really suck. I mean, it's one thing for somebody to not visit or call, but to go and die on that person, that's something else. Especially since the second somebody is the main reason the first somebody is so monumentally fucked up. Mila hears someone at the door. MILA Shit. 5. Mila tosses the cigarette out the window and shuts it, just as ARACELY, a Guatemalan physical therapist, enters. ARACELY I'm sorry. I thought he was alone. MILA It's okay. I'm his daughter, Mila. ARACELY Nice to meet you, Mila. I'm Aracely. I do the physical therapy with your father. I can come back later if - MILA No, no. It's fine. ARACELY Are you sure? MILA We weren't doing anything important. Just "b/sing" as he likes to say. We can finish later. It's not like he's going anywhere, right? Mila laughs, Aracely doesn't. MILA So, uh, you know, go ahead, do whatever you have to do. Would you like me to help or - ARACELY No, we're good. Thank you. Aracely approaches the bed, and smells the cigarette smoke in the air. She looks as if she might say something, but then changes her mind. ARACELY Ok, Bob, you remember our routine? She pulls the covers down and begins manipulating his arms and legs, doing some simple stretches. She continues throughout the following dialogue. MILA Can he hear you? 6. ARACELY Sometimes they can. MILA These...uh, comas, do people ever come out of them? ARACELY Sometimes. MILA When? I mean, how long are they usually - ARACELY It depends on what caused it, and the patients condition. You should ask the doctor. MILA I left him a message. Do you think he'll be stopping by today? ARACELY He usually comes in the late afternoon. What is he like? MILA I'm sorry? ARACELY Your father. MILA Oh. ARACELY I like to get to know my patients. MILA Well...he is, was, very sociable. He likes people. And I think they liked him. ARACELY Yes? MILA He's a good story teller. ARACELY He has a kind face. MILA He was very handsome as a young man. You can't tell to look at him now, but he was very good looking. He could have been a movie star. 7. ARACELY Really? MILA Oh, yeah. (beat) I haven't seen him in ten years. ARACELY That's a long time. MILA I think...sometimes we have our best relationships with people when we don't see or speak to them, you know? Aracely looks like she definitely does not know. MILA I didn't intend to...I was dealing with some stuff and somehow ten years just... ARACELY It's okay, you don't have to explain. MILA When was the last time you saw your father? ARACELY He died three years ago. MILA I'm sorry. Were you close? ARACELY No, I was living here. MILA I mean, were you and he, did the two of you have a close relationship? ARACELY Oh, yes. I grew up in a small village in Guatemala, there were no jobs, so my father went to El Salvador to work in a factory. He would come home every few months to see my mother and brothers and sisters and I. When he came home, it was like a holiday, we would stay up late into the night, cooking, and playing music, and dancing. It was so lovely. MILA How many siblings do you have? ARACELY 12. 8. MILA 12? ARACELY How many do you have? MILA One, a sister. Actually, I have, had, a brother too, but he disappeared at 15.