Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Monologue Mania Day #531 Nothing New (for Where's My Thank You Note!) by Janet S. Tiger July 28, 2015

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                                                                    first year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 13, 2015
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Monologue Mania Day #531   Nothing New by Janet S. Tiger  July 28, 2015

              Please forgive if this piece is piecemeal - the computer was acting funny (the blue screen f horror!) and some lines have disappeared.  Am trying to put them back in - should have it all fixed by tomorrow.   In all these 530 monologues, never had this happen before, but since I sometimes cut it close, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Thank you all for your patience!
   
                                             Nothing New

                           (for the one-act Where's My Thank You Note - Day # 404)                        
                         (Not really) A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved                                                                                              tigerteam1@gmail.com


            (Jeffrey is in his early 20s, but looks older and in bad shape due to the surroundings - and the fact he is a combination of hung-over and high, and has been for a long time.  He takes the pen in hand, then shakes his head, pulls his hair and stands)

JEFFREY - I can't do it!  Grandma I love you, but I can't do it!  Whaddaya want from me?  I don't wanna write a thank you!  Or anything!  I can tell you thank you, thank you very much, thank you for giving me the money and for finding out I wasn't dead....and thank you for being the greatest grandma in the world, but I can't write you a thank you!

GRANDMOTHER-  And why, pray tell, not?

JEFFREY-  Because.......because.....

GRANDMOTHER -  That's hardly eloquent, and most certainly not clear! I have not come all this distance to hear you be unable to explain yourself in way!

JEFFREY -  We were gonna be the next great band......

GRANDMOTHER - I see...

JEFFREY -  And we got....into stuff......

GRANDMOTHER - (Dark)  That I can certainly see...

JEFFREY -  I thought it could help me write, but I was wrong... and now, I can't write anything....because it's all been done....every song I think of....it's been written.....and when I try to do something new...something that's original, and people will like.....I hear another song just like it on the radio.....in my head.....I can't tell what new and what's old......because there's nothing new.....

        (He sits dejected)

GRANDMOTHER -  Pardon me while I get my violin......Do I understand you correctly?  Are you telling me all the expensive schooling that you have received was worth....nothing?

JEFFREY -  Yeah....

GRANDMOTHER-  Poppycock!  ooh, I love that word!  I don't care if it's 1000 years old, I still giggle when I hear it, let alone say it......look at me, young man.....

          (She goes over and takes his face in her hands, gazing into his eyes  He is embarrassed but she will not give in)

GRANDMOTHER -  All those boarding school years of shirts and ties and tests .....and your parents insisting that you loved it.....and you missed the most important lesson .....a lesson that is one I have to teach you...no, teaching is not the word.....a lesson you must still learn......you say there is nothing new.  I have heard this before throughout my whole life......how it couldn't be possible to have a worse time than World War I, and then, along came number II, appropriately named for those whose minds reside firmly in the gutter......and each new school of art or music...or writing.....no way for something to supplant the popular, until of course, there is something new....or recycled......and the people who say nothing is new are doomed to be always two steps behind those who shine a light on the new......because the truth is..... there is nothing new.  We are born, we live, we laugh a little, we cry a lot, and then we die.......nothing new.....Except......

        (She sighs and he takes her hands)

GRANDMOTHER -  Except you, my dear boy.  You are new.  In all the amazing history of this incredible universe, there has never EVER been...another you!  You are unique, with no equal....and from what I understand of those shows on television, even clones are not the same!  You were born to be new!..... with the ability to do anything......maybe not everything, but any one thing.....and it just possible could change the world.....when I was a girl, a man on the moon was from a song.......what world will you dream, my dear Jeffrey?  (Annoyed)  How could you say there is nothing new.... when in your very DNA could be the idea that creates a company that employs a million people.......or perhaps you could go into politics and be the first honest politician.....now that would be new!

           (She holds him, as if he were a baby)

Or perhaps......in you, in all this pain, is the very song that brings peace to this troubled world......

           (He pulls back, looks at her)

JEFFREY -  You still believe I could do that?

GRANDMOTHER -  Of course I do!

JEFFREY -  (Really touched)  Thank you....

GRANDMOTHER - But you will never do ANYTHING unless you actually....DO IT!  START IT!  WORK ON IT!  FINISH IT!

           (He jumps back as if he was hit, then laughs)

GRANDMOTHER -  And you will never, ever do any of those things until you......

GRANDMOTHER /JEFFREY - (Together)  WRITE THE THANK YOU!

           (They hug and laugh, lights down, end of scene)

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Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315
www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8