first year - Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 12, 2015 second year - Feb. 13, 2015 - Feb. 12, 2016 third year - Feb. 13, 2016 - today! *********
I've continued with a monologue a day until the spirit moves me to stop, so if you have any ideas for a monologue you want me to write, please let me know at tigerteam1@gmail.com.
I've continued with a monologue a day until the spirit moves me to stop, so if you have any ideas for a monologue you want me to write, please let me know at tigerteam1@gmail.com.
If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues- for a list of the titles and blurbs from each day, click here There are now over 990!
Get more great award-winning monologues - MonologueZone.com
Get more great award-winning monologues - MonologueZone.com
If you'd like to write your own monologues, I happen to have a book for that -
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this site. Wishing you much success!
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monologue Mania Day #999 Upside Down by Janet S. Tiger (c) Nov. 7, 2016
Upside Down (scene 1)
(Not) A monologue by Janet S. Tiger © all rights reserved
tigerteam1@gmail.com
(An older woman enters with a small blanket and pillow, which she places on the floor, smiling, this is the MOTHER)
MOTHER - There, I found your bed, and I know you'll be very happy, Betsy....you always loved a nice warm bed!
(She neatens the blanket and smooths the pillow as a younger woman enters. This is ELIZABETH)
ELIZABETH - (Calm, but it's not easy) Mom? Is this the bed you're making for little Betsy?
MOTHER- Of course it is! Where would she sleep? She needs to have a place to sleep!
ELIZABETH - Mom, I have a place to sleep, in my home, with Danny and the boys......
MOTHER - Well, that may very well be true, but little Betsy needs her own bed....
ELIZABETH - It's not a bed, Mom, it's a blanket and pillow on the floor.....
MOTHER - Picky, picky, picky.....when did you get to be such a picky girl?
ELIZABETH - Okay, I knew your birthday was going to put some stress on you , but you seemed to do ok, I mean, with all the people....
MOTHER - It was a lovely party, dear! You did yourself proud! Everyone came.....Annie, and Ben, and Brandy....it was wonderful to see her after so many years!
ELIZABETH - (A little relieved) That's good Mom, you remembered who was here.....
MOTHER - It was the best party ever! Way better than last year!
ELIZABETH - That's true, you were in the hospital last year, with that broken arm, and that was no picnic...
MOTHER - Oh, the broken arm, I fell out of that tree and did it hurt! Momma ran and got Daddy from the kitchen and they drove me to the hospital! Oh, what a day!
ELIZABETH - (Sighs) No, Mom...... I'm talking about ....never mind....
MOTHER - Everyone wrote on my cast! All the kids in school and in Sunday school, too! I could barely see the cast with all the writing!
(Starting to look in a closet)
MOTHER - I think I saved that cast somewhere.....
(She starts to wobble and Elizabeth comes over to her and guides her to a chair)
ELIZABETH - Maybe you should look....another time.
MOTHER - You're so right, I have to save some energy to make dinner for Betsy and Susie......
ELIZABETH - (A little afraid to ask) Mom, do you remember it was your birthday today?
MOTHER - (Indignant) How silly! Of course I do! I blew out the candles, didn't I?
ELIZABETH - Yes, you did, and a very good job of it, too! (Quieter) And which birthday was it?
MOTHER - (Thinking) Twenty!
ELIZABETH - I wouldn't be here if you were only twenty.....
MOTHER - (Thinking hard, brightening) Twenty-one? That sounds right!
ELIZABETH - (Gentle) Then I would be one year old.....
MOTHER - And I have just the bed for you.....
(She indicates the floor with the blanket)
MOTHER - And after a nice nap for the two of us, we can go out and feed the horses.....
ELIZABETH - Oh, Mom, please don't.....
MOTHER - (Horrified) Betsy! We have to feed the horses or they will die! You know that!
ELIZABETH - (Sad) Know....what do I know....
MOTHER - From when you were little, that's the first thing you do on a farm.....feed the animals! And especially the horses.....they are our prize animals! Oh, how could you be so cruel...come right now and we can do it together....
(She goes to the door and Elizabeth stops her)
ELIZABETH - (Upset) Mom, there are no horses...
MOTHER - (Almost crying) Don't say that! That's a lie! You say I'm losing my mind, but I know about horses! And you need to feed them!
ELIZABETH - .Not anymore......not since the fire last year, where you broke your arm and almost died trying to save them.....but you couldn't and now.......everything is different......
(The mother rubs at her eyes as if trying to see the truth)
MOTHER - I'm very confused.....
ELIZABETH - Mom...I know it's tough, but we think...that's all of us...that maybe..., you can't really live alone anymore....and I think, you know it, too.....
(Her mother takes a deep breath)
MOTHER - All right, if that's what everyone is talking about behind my back.....I'll agree, but first, we have to ask your father......
(Elizabeth shakes her head, as her mother looks around)
MOTHER - Jack? Please come here now! Your children are trying to kick us out of this house!
(Elizabeth puts an arm around her, and her mother slumps, grasping at the blanket on the floor)
MOTHER - . I'm never going to find him because.... your father is....dead....You are right, I am crazy..
ELIZABETH - Mom, you're not crazy, you're just......(searches for the right words) ....getting older....and.....
MOTHER - And losing my mind....or my marbles, or my grasp on reality....or just plain losing it....whatever name you have for it....probably a name I've forgotten like all the other names....I am upside down, the world is upside down as if I am looking through the wrong end of the telescope and I am getting smaller by the minute......Elizabeth?
ELIZABETH - Yes, Mom....
MOTHER - Can you explain something to me? Something I just can't understand?
ELIZABETH - I'll do my best....
MOTHER - And you always do......(thinks then very slowly) You know I love horses.....I have since I was a little girl! They are so......(searches for the world)....beautiful....no,.....magnificent! They have a strength, a majesty that is like looking at .....at the wind come to earth! When they move, and start to gallop, and you hold on for your life and the joy is like riding on a gust!....and then they slow, and you bring them back, slowly, to calm them.....to turn the cyclone into the breeze, and then brushing them down to smooth out the brambles caught in their hair......as their breathing turns quiet, and they are now eating sugar from your hand....the tamed storm.....that we can touch and journey on for just brief moments, but while we do, we are no longer on this earth!.........So.....why is it, when a horse is no longer able to stand.....we don't force that horse to lie in a stall in its own filth, we very kindlyput that horse, that horse we love, out of its misery?
ELIZABETH - (Horrified) Mom, you're not a horse!
MOTHER - But that's not an answer....
ELIZABETH - How about if we....just take a little nap here.....
(She hugs her mother and the mother nods)
ELIZABETH - I am tired, it was a busy day. Birthdays always are......how old are you today, Betsy?
(As Elizabeth takes the blanket and puts it over her mother, she smooths the hair and gives a kiss on the cheek)
ELIZABETH - Old enough......
(Lights down, end of scene)
----------------------------------------------------------
Janet S. Tiger 858-736-6315 CaregiversAnon.org
JanetSTigerMonologueMania.blogspot.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
--------------------------------------------------------------
* Note: A few words about 'free' - all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty
