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Handful of Dust

(An empty theatre, mostly dark. The door...

Overview

Show Type
Play
Age Guidance
Thirteen Plus (PG-13)
Characters
Genders
  • Female: 0
  • Male: 2
Playing Age
Young Adult
Style
Comedic
Length
Medium
Time Period
Contemporary
Time/Place
A long-abandoned theatre in a small town
Act/Scene
Act 1

Context

Text

(An empty theatre, mostly dark. The door is ajar, enough to admit a beam of sunlight. Heavy, thudding silence for several beats. Then the sound of running feet and screaming from outside the theatre, people in panic. Jumbled words. More screams.)

(JONAS appears from backstage. He stretches, yawns, scratches his head. Glances toward the theatre door. Squints. Suddenly he runs at it and slams it, cutting off the sunlight. Presses his back against it as if to keep it from flying open. He wars with himself, trying not to let the panic show. After a beat he relaxes, moves away from the door, dusts his hands with satisfaction. Thinks for a beat. Pulls out an empty bottle of hand sanitzer. Holds it up to examine it.)

(SEAN enters from backstage.)

SEAN Did you break the door?

JONAS Probably not.

SEAN Better not have.

JONAS They can’t get in.

(SEAN makes a dericisve sound. Crosses to the door. Listens. A sudden scream from outside causes him to jump back.)

SEAN Jesus!

JONAS They’re right outside.

SEAN (indicating the bottle) Is there anything left in there?

JONAS Nah. Wouldn’t do us much good anyway, would it?

SEAN Not now.

(moves around the theatre uneasily)

It’s so dark in here.

JONAS You wanna go out there?

SEAN Kinda.

JONAS Be my guest.

SEAN You said we have to stick together!

JONAS (smirking) Yeah.

SEAN And now you don’t want to. Is that it?

(JONAS moves toward him. Touches his face. They look at each other. JONAS moves away. Looks at the bottle of hand sanitizer. Chucks it into the darkness of the theatre’s seats. Sighs.)

Hey, look at this way. At least we can’t get it … we’re not, you know, susceptible.

JONAS But they are. They’re dropping like flies.

(Another scream from outside. A gunshot.)

And it isn’t just the virus.

(Another gunshot. JONAS grins.)

Get it?

SEAN Animals.

JONAS They’ve always been animals.

SEAN That’s not incredibly super fair.

JONAS Yeah, I’m not interested in fair. I’ve never really been interested in fair.

(He disappears backstage.)

SEAN How much longer do you want to stay here?

(louder)

HOW MUCH LONGER DO YOU WANT TO STAY HERE?

(Loud sounds from backstage. JONAS is moving something heavy around back there.)

Great.

(SEAN crosses to the door. Listens. Quiet now. He relaxes. JONAS appears suddenly with a shovel and a pick.)

Holy cr#p!

JONAS I told you. We have big decisions to make.

SEAN I … know.

JONAS We can’t stay here forever. Not even with all this lovely darkness.

SEAN Are you … sure?

JONAS I sound pretty sure, don’t I.

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