New Plays IV

Plan-B Theatre Company, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, has developed and produced unique and socially conscious theatre since 1991.

Plan-B champions the work of local playwrights.

ADAM & STEVE AND THE EMPTY SEA is the first play Plan-B has premiered by Matthew Greene.

ERIC(A) is the seventh play in six seasons (and first solo play) Plan-B has premiered by our resident playwright Matthew Ivan Bennett. It was funded in part by an ArtWorks grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

SUFFRAGE is the third play in four seasons Plan-B has premiered by Jenifer Nii.

And TERMS OF USE is included to represent the forty-five ten-minute plays Plan-B has premiered as part of our annual SLAM event, where we create, rehearse and perform five ten-minute plays in 24 hours. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of SLAM in 2013, we staged a Best of SLAM and TERMS OF USE is the best of the best.

Jerry Rapier

Producing Director

Plan-B Theatre Company

ADAM & STEVE AND THE EMPTY SEA

By Matthew Greene

ADAM & STEVE AND THE EMPTY SEA received its world premiere at Plan-B Theatre Company February 28-March 10, 2013. Performed by Topher Rasmussen (Adam) and Logan Tarantino (Steve), directed by Jason Bowcutt, stage managed by Jennifer Freed, designed by Cheryl Ann Cluff (sound), Phillip R. Lowe (Costumes), Jesse Portillo (lighting), Jerry Rapier (props), Randy Rasmussen (set).

CHARACTERS

ADAM: Ages 8-21, openly Mormon.

STEVE: Ages 8-21, openly gay.

PLACE

The base of a tree near their childhood homes in Northern California.

TIME

1995-2009

JULY 11, 1995

(Lights up on a large hospitable tree, the type of haven little boys dream of. Sunlight though the branches. STEVE, age eight, is standing under the tree with his eyes closed, counting.)

STEVE: Ninety-three, ninety-four, ninety-five, ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-niiiine . . . One hundred! Ready or not!

(STEVE runs off, passing ADAM, age twenty, but not noticing him. Adam is dressed in a white shirt, tie, and Mormon missionary nametag. He dictates the words of a letter.)

ADAM: Summer comes in the other half of the year but it still makes me remember. I don’t think it’s fair we have to come of age so young. If I could try again I might just get it right this time.

(STEVE, age twenty, dictates the words of his own letter.)

STEVE: Sometimes a skinned knee or a partly cloudy day will catch me off guard. And I’ll think if I run fast enough I might just beat you there this time.

ADAM: I imagine a world where I can come back home and find everything just how it should be. My family around the dinner table, my future wife smiling at me from across a crowded room . . . And my best friend, underneath that tree. I'm getting pretty good at believing in things. Until then, though, take care.

STEVE: Your friend . . .

ADAM: Adam.

STEVE: Steve. (STEVE, now age eight, runs and tags ADAM. ADAM, now age eight, joins Steve.) Got you!

ADAM: (Shouting.) Olly olly oxen / free!

STEVE: Too late!

ADAM: You said you were gonna go west.

STEVE: Yeah, the rocks are west.

ADAM: Nuh uh, the street’s west. You said Africa / was west!

STEVE: Africa's that way. (Points, then demonstrates.) California’s here, Africa’s all the way / over there.

ADAM: Okay, fine.

STEVE: I’ll just be the navigator. I have a perfect sense of direction, look. Spin me. (STEVE closes his eyes and points in front of him. ADAM regards STEVE for a moment, shakes his head, and begins counting.)

ADAM: One, two, three, four, five / six, seven . . .

STEVE: I'm sick of hiding.

ADAM: Then you count, I'll hide.

STEVE: You're just mad I know where Africa's at.

ADAM: It's not even in Africa, stupid. It's too hot there.

STEVE: Really.

ADAM: I said it was a garden. Plants can’t grow when it’s hot.

STEVE: What about the lions?

ADAM: I said tigers.

STEVE: Ohhh, tigers. That’s India, and that's . . . (Points.) . . . this way. Unless you’re making it up.

ADAM: No way! It's where it all started.

STEVE: How come they couldn’t stay?

ADAM: God wouldn’t let them. They had to grow up.

STEVE: And they really could ride on top of the tigers?

ADAM: If you don't believe me then just don't come.

STEVE: Swear on your grandma's dead body.

ADAM: You'll see when we find it.

STEVE: If it was you and me there we never would’ve left.

ADAM: Are you gonna count?

STEVE: You already did. (STEVE quickly tags base, grinning.) And I already won.

ADAM: That's cheating.

STEVE: You didn't tag me. (Taunting.) You didn't tag me, you didn't tag me . . . (ADAM begins chasing STEVE, who backs away from him.)

ADAM: I'm still gonna get you anyways . . . Steve!

(Steve laughs and runs away. Adam chases after. Laughter continues as they exit.)

MARCH 11, 2006

(ADAM & STEVE race onstage, age seventeen, Adam in the lead. They collapse on the ground, breathless and grinning.)

ADAM: Yes! Ha!

STEVE: Ugh, my knee.

ADAM: Yeah, uh huh . . . The knee again.

STEVE: Listen, you won, I give you that.

ADAM: Don’t blame the knee.

STEVE: I need to save my strength for Saturday morning.

ADAM: And you let me win.

STEVE: No no, you beat me, Adam. Save that for a rainy day.

ADAM: Jerk.

STEVE: I just gotta be careful, you know, for / Saturday.

ADAM: Saturday. I know.

STEVE: I mean, what if I don’t qualify?

ADAM: Then you don’t go to State, I guess.

STEVE: (Beat.) Let’s try that again. What if I don’t qualify?

ADAM: (Rolls his eyes.) Steve, don’t be crazy, of course you’re gonna qualify, those guys won’t know what hit them . . . Etcetera.

STEVE: Am I detecting some attitude?

ADAM: I’m still pissed at you.

STEVE: What, because I got you in trouble?

ADAM: You don’t know how . . . big a deal my mom’s gonna make out of all that.

STEVE: It’s just a dance.

ADAM: It’s never just anything.

STEVE: Whatever.

ADAM: I’m serious, it’s like all of a sudden my . . . eternal salvation depends on what stupid girl I take to a stupid dance in a stupid dress where my mom might be able to see her stupid boobs!

STEVE: That seems like a bit much.

ADAM: You’re right. Thou shalt not take Katie’s boobs in vain.

STEVE: What if you just told your mom you’re going with a nice Mormon girl?

ADAM: I don’t like lying to her. She says it aggravates her condition.

STEVE: Yeah, I don’t think it / actually does.

ADAM: Neither do I. It’s one of her little tricks.

STEVE: Didn’t she let David go to Prom? With that chick with the forehead.

ADAM: Like anything was gonna happen with her.

STEVE: Wait, your dad wasn’t Mormon and she married him.

ADAM: Ask her how she feels about that whole experience.

STEVE: And who says you can’t just do it?

ADAM: Who says, you mean / other than . . .

STEVE: I mean, aside from your mom, and the rest of the people at church . . .

ADAM: And God.

STEVE: God really cares who your Prom date is?

ADAM: Yes. Apparently. This sucks. (A beat. ADAM looks around.) I’m ready to go again. Let’s see if it really was a fluke.

STEVE: Hold on.

ADAM: I’m rested. You’re not rested?

STEVE: You won, alright? (STEVE leans back on the ground, tired.) I thought maybe we could talk or something.

ADAM: Are you sure you’ve got the energy for that?

STEVE: Screw you.

ADAM: You wish. Okay, here’s how we fix this. I just tell my mom we're going stag. You didn’t even ask a girl unless I really missed something.

STEVE: I’m going to Travis Walker’s party.

ADAM: No you’re not.

STEVE: Oh, I’m not?

ADAM: You said you would go to the dance.

STEVE: But then you were going with Katie, and seeing as how I didn’t really care about Prom in the / first place.

ADAM: Come on.

STEVE: And I’m gonna be swamped training for State / and all that.

ADAM: If you qualify.

STEVE: Which I will. Listen, I went to Prom last year and it really wasn’t / that great.

ADAM: (Sarcastic.) Did you go last year? Because you hadn’t mentioned it.

STEVE: Geez, this is why I got you a date.

ADAM: What?

STEVE: I mean, I made sure you were set up with a date before I told Travis I’d be / at the party . . .

ADAM: That’s why Katie asked me?

STEVE: Okay, not that it matters . . .

ADAM: I’m an idiot.

STEVE: I’m sorry for helping, okay? I didn’t mean to get you in trouble with your mom and God and everybody. I didn’t realize it was that big a deal.

ADAM: Everything is that big a deal. You should be used to it by now.

STEVE: Why don’t you come to the party with me?

ADAM: (Laughs.) Travis Walker’s party? I don’t think so.

STEVE: It’ll be fun.

ADAM: Not for guys like us.

STEVE: Guys like what?

ADAM: Is anyone else from the team going?

STEVE: I don’t care. And yes, actually, several.

ADAM: I guess they'll be the only guys there who aren't in leather pants.

STEVE: (Wary.) Alright.

ADAM: (Loving his own joke.) One of those parties where the donkey isn’t the only one getting a tail pinned on him. (Laughs.) What.

STEVE: You’re being an asshole.

ADAM: You don’t know about Travis?

STEVE: What about him?

ADAM: Wow. Mr. Popular is out of the loop. Mr. Prom King, / Mr. Track Star.

STEVE: I'm not the Prom King.

ADAM: Not until Saturday.

STEVE: Come to the party, you can see how retarded all of that shit is.

ADAM: Like my mom would ever go for that.

STEVE: She’s not invited, and neither is your pastor or the rest of the church people / or God.

ADAM: Seriously? A rave at some gay dude’s house with strippers and . . . Everclear?

STEVE: (Laughs.) Everclear? Rave? You just might have a good time, you know.

ADAM: Sure, but just because I might want to doesn’t / mean I’m gonna do it.

STEVE: (Overlapping.) Doesn’t mean you’re gonna do it, yeah. You know, all I hear is you want to. This is like the, what-do-you-call . . . like those monks whipping themselves on the back, you remember that shit?

ADAM: It’s nothing like that.

STEVE: I’m sure denying yourself any sort of happiness feels really good.

ADAM: Well, I can't just go along with every impulse my body tells / me to do.

STEVE: Holy shit, is that what the rest of us have been doing? (Adam rolls his eyes. Steve gathers his courage.) Why does it matter if he's gay? Travis. To your mom or whoever.

ADAM: (Shrugs.) I donno. I guess the church isn't really big into gay people. Or no, not the . . . people, but just . . . gayness in general. It’s unnatural, all that.

STEVE: You think it’s unnatural?

ADAM: They say it’s / not natural.

STEVE: You, though. Does it matter to you if Travis is gay?

ADAM: Travis is a dick.

STEVE: But, / I’m saying . . .

ADAM: Which is appropriate, I guess. (Laughs.)

STEVE: Adam. Is that what you believe?

ADAM: I guess, it’s . . . not how God created us.

STEVE: Maybe it’s how he created Travis.

ADAM: (Patronizing.) Sure.

STEVE: You don't think . . .

ADAM: That's a pretty nice excuse, don't you think?

STEVE: And there's, what, there's no way he could be right?

ADAM: Not if he's doing something wrong. Look, these kinds of conversations never end well / with us.

STEVE: So okay, God never makes any exceptions?

ADAM: For Travis Walker?