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pancakebob — A Pretense of Identity (Original)
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Published: 2019-09-11 12:48:13 +0000 UTC; Views: 93; Favourites: 0; Downloads: 0
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A Pretense of Identity
A Play
By
Casey Robertson
Casey I. L. Robertson
Marianne J. Taylor
Creative Writing
04/13/2019
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Alani: Female of about high school age. Small, short, wears glasses. Relatively shy.
Inala: Someone who looks a lot like Alani. Does NOT wear glasses, though. Is extremely outgoing. Always wears the same clothes as Alani as well.
Victoria: Female of about high school age. Very nice. Fairly popular but doesn’t let it go to her head. Everyone but her mum calls her ‘Tori’.
Wren: Female of about high school age. Has a gaming addiction.
BEGIN:
Lights up, the curtain is closed. Alani is stage right sitting on some form of bed facing stage left. Inala is on stage left where everything is mirrored.
ALANI and INALA
(BOTH with vacant facial expressions)
(in synchronization) Why do you do this to me?
ALANI
Everything I protect, you expose.
INALA
Everything I build, you allow to decay.
ALANI and INALA
(BOTH turn towards the audience)
(in synchronization) Choose one of us, and one of us alone. We cannot both exist.
Lights down. ALANI and INALA both move their beds offstage. Curtain opens on a school hallway. WREN is sitting stage up-right with earbuds in her ears, intently playing on a handheld gaming system.
INALA bursts on from stage left, skids to a halt in front of WREN, and crouches down in front of her.
INALA
Wren.
…
Wren.
…
(yanks out one of WREN’s earbuds)
(in an extremely loud whisper) WRENNNNNNNNN…
WREN
(looks up with a bit of a scowl)
What do you want, Alani?
INALA
I told you to call me Inala. It sounds SO much cooler!
WREN
That is literally just your name spelled backward.
INALA
I know, but you gotta admit it’s cool.
WREN
Whatever you say. Is there something you needed to ask me? These guys are killing my titan over here and my team isn’t doing shit.
INALA
Yeah. Wanna go see Endgame tomorrow?
WREN
Well duh. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t ask me sooner. We had our Infinity War tickets weeks in advance.
INALA
Yeah, well… I just kinda wasn’t feeling very social lately!
(VICTORIA walks on from stage left)
INALA
TORIIIIIII! Tori, Tori, Tori, Tori, Tori, Tori…
VICTORIA
Oh! Hi Alani! You’re in a chipper mood today!
INALA
I’m turning things upside down, including my name! You can call me I n a l a now. (whispers the name loudly and slowly)
VICTORIA
Umm… Okay!
So… did you need something? You don’t usually talk to me.
N-not that I have a problem with it! It’s a good change!
INALA
I thought so too! So anyway, me and Wren are going to see the movie tomorrow. Wanna come?
VICTORIA
Umm… what movie?
WREN
You know… The movie. The single biggest cinematic event to grace our generation.
VICTORIA
Oh… that one. Well, to be honest, I haven’t really kept up. Last one I saw was… Iron Man, I think? That was a little while ago, wasn’t it?
WREN
(pulls INALA down to her level)
Spotlight on WREN and INALA. All other lights down.
What in the Lord's good Christian Minecraft server do you think you’re doing?
INALA
I’m branching out. If you wanna sit here with a stick up your butt, that’s fine with me.
WREN
Do you not want me to come along, then?
It’s not like I’ve been your moviegoing buddy for, I don’t know, seven years or anything.
INALA
Eight years. And I do want you to come along. But we can’t spend our entire lives never talking to anyone but each other. Tori might be a normie, but she’s really nice. If you want to be a more social person, there’s no better place to start.
VICTORIA
(jokingly) And what are you two conspiring about?
(Lights up again.)
WREN
None of your fucking business-
INALA
(cutting WREN off) JUST resolving a little friendly dispute! We’d be happy to bring you up to speed!
VICTORIA
In that case, I’d be glad to come with!
INALA
(to WREN through clenched teeth) See how easy that was?
WREN
(stands up and exits stage right)
It’d also be pretty easy to jump off a bridge but that doesn’t mean you should do it.
INALA
Wren! Don’t you think-
Lights down. Spotlight on INALA. ALANI enters stage left. Spotlight on ALANI. All others exit the stage. The two face each other. If they aren’t already, they move in front of the curtain line. The curtain closes.
ALANI
Why do you do this to me?
INALA
This is what you wanted. Every time you saw the social butterflies chatting, you wanted to be a part of it. Every year in the musical, you watched as the popular kids banded together to pull some crazy stunt during the last performance.
It looked like such fun, didn’t it?
ALANI
Well… yeah.
INALA
Then just let me manage things from now on. We’ll be there in no time at all.
ALANI
And what about Wren?
INALA
If she’d rather stay miserable, then I say we just let her.
ALANI
(furious) Do you really think I’d let you undo years of friendship just like that!?
INALA exits.
Lights up. Curtain opens.
WREN
I know, right! I can’t believe they killed him off either! And in an after-credits sequence, too!
ALANI
Who’s dying, now!?
WREN
Captain America… you know? Isn’t that who you were talking about?
ALANI
Oh, yeah.
VICTORIA
Hey guys, so sorry I took so long in there. There was a massive line and when it was my turn this old lady came in so I was like “no, you go ahead. Really, I can wait” and then she took forever but it was all fine with me as long as I didn’t upset either of you…
I didn’t upset either of you, did I?
ALANI
Eh, it’s no biggie. Just gave us more time to theorize the movie, you know?
VICTORIA
No, sorry to say I really don’t. It’s like a whole other world I don’t really understand… Why did that guy turn into a giant green monster?
ALANI
Um… because he was angry.
WREN
Kind of like you’re making us.
VICTORIA
(awkwardly) Oh, sorry! I bet that’s probably common knowledge. Hey, at least the guy with the ax was hot, right?
ALANI
Meh… I’ve always been more into Loki. Thor’s all looks and charm. I like complicated, intelligent characters better.
VICTORIA
Well, we’re all entitled to our own opinions. See you guys next Monday.
(exits stage right)
WREN
Ha! I knew you’d come around! What was all that you were going on about yesterday, anyway?
ALANI
What do you mean?
WREN
Tori’s nice, but everyone knows she’s never scored higher than 80% on an exam, and that was with me helping her study. If you want somebody to keep a Snap streak with you, she’s your gal. If you want a deep, intelligent conversation… Ehhhhh, not so much.
ALANI
I suppose I was trying to give her a shot. Everyone deserves at least that much, right?
WREN
And you did. You gave her a shot. But I hope you see why I sit in my corner all the time. It takes a good head to play Assault at my level. In-game, I don’t have to worry about people like that.
ALANI
I suppose…
WREN
Hey, shoot me a message when you get home. I have a quest to play in a party.
(exits stage right)
Lights down. Spotlight on ALANI. INALA enters stage left. Another spotlight on INALA. All others exit the stage. The two face each other. If they aren’t already, they move in front of the curtain line. The curtain closes.
INALA
Why do you do this to me?
ALANI
That’s who I am. I can’t change that, and neither can you.
INALA
Then why did you create me?
ALANI
Because… Because I thought I could!
I really did!
I wanted to be social!
I wanted to have more than one friend!
I wanted to feel like I was living my life instead of just repeating the same routine over and over without hardly speaking.
INALA
And you still can.
But perhaps I’m too big a step.
Once you’ve decided who you want to be, then start pushing toward it.
Maybe someday you’ll truly be Inala. Maybe you’ll find that social life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Or maybe you’ll find that it’s just the thing you’ve been missing.
But for now, you are enough.
Now go send that message. Wren needs her party member.
ALANI
But what about Tori? Is it true what-
INALA
School is a game like any other. Some people just never cared to get good at it. Try to see the intelligence in everyone.
ALANI
I will. Next time I see her I will.
Lights up. Curtains open.
WREN’s voice can be heard over a computer.
WREN
I was talking to our assassin. I need you to stay here and defend the tower. Let Susano chase her down. It’s about all he’s good for anyway.
Hey, Alani. You sure your head’s in the game?
ALANI
Yes, Wren. I believe it is. I just don’t know if it ever was before.
