| 3-05 DESTINY TURNS ON THE RADIO Written by: Winnie Holzman Directed by: Ken Collins A. Flirting scene The cast is in rehearsal. Tad, as Orlando, brushes his hand against Grace’s cheek. She starts giggling. Mr. Dimitri realizes the time and dismisses the cast for the day. The cast leaves but Grace stays behind to talk to Mr. Dimitri. August sits on a chair on the stage, closing up his bag. Grace is standing. G: (huge smile) I’m sorry I laughed. I just…he was practically…never mind. A: (curious smile) Practically what? G: Nothing. I don’t actually mind. A: Mind what? G: That he keeps…you know…FLIRTING with me! (August reacts) G: Now you look shocked or something. A: (looks to the side to grab his thermos) Well…I wake up looking shocked, or something. Ignore it. G: Oh, okay. A: (stands up in front of Grace) I have heard of…flirting. G: I just don’t want you to think that I don’t take this seriously. A: Giggling is permitted…in Shakespeare. (starts walking away) G: It is? A: (August walks down stage steps) No flirting though. G: Well, tell Tad. He’s the one who keeps -- (she stops mid-sentence when she sees Mr. Dimitri’s teasing smile) Oh. B. Grace is angry with Tad at rehearsal Grace is wearing a tailored, buttoned lavender shirt. Next to her is a girl with a scarf on her head who stands wordlessly. Filling out the triangle onstage is Tad. (Shakespeare dialogue may not be exact.) Offstage Mr. Dimitri is wearing a light blue shirt and a black tie. “Okay, Orlando kneels…before her,” Mr. Dimitri walks smiling toward the stage. Jessie and other students in the audience giggle. Mr. Dimitri turns toward them and snaps his fingers while Tad kneels before Grace. Grace pulls her pendant over her head. “And Rosalinde,” Mr. Dimitri prompts. Grace looks away from the audience and toward Tad. “Um, gentleman, wear this for me. One out of suits which fortune could give more but that her hand lacks means.” Grace mechanically sticks her arm out and lets the heavy charm fall while she holds the top of the chain. Tad looks hesitantly at the pendant, then at Grace. “Oh, you’re just, you’re going to hand me the necklace?” He touches the pendant. Grace responds, “Why not?” and lets go of the chain. Tad says to her “Well, last time you—" He turns his head toward Mr. Dimitri who is looking down and turning a page of the script. “Do you remember? She, she like slipped it over my head or something.” Mr. Dimitri looks up for just a moment. Grace turns her palms over with irritation. “What difference does it make?” she asks Mr. Dimitri. Mr. Dimitri looks up, nudges his script to the side, puts his head near his chin but says nothing. Getting no intercession Tad turns his head back toward Grace. “Look, I just, I thought it was cool.” Grace then ends her long, frustrated look at Mr. Dimitri and turns toward Tad, indignantly reaching to take the necklace back from Tad’s outstretched hands. He asks, “So are you?” Grace glares back at him like she could eat him for lunch and spit him out. “Am I what?” “Are, are you going to do it that way?” Tad peeps. Grace snaps back “I don’t know! I’ll do it how I do it!” Tad looks unsuccessfully at the scarfed girl for help. Mr. Dimitri breaks in, “Let’s take a break.” Grace shifts her eyes toward him, turns, drops the pendant, and storms off. Tad stands up while Mr. Dimitri frowns and drops his pencil on the script. Grace bursts through a door titled “Stage” and walks outside. She hears the door open and turns away to lean on the railing, fiddling with her water bottle. Mr. Dimitri comes outside and gives a half-smile at seeing Grace. He walks beside her and looks at her while she looks away. “Just use it. Whatever you’re feeling, just use it in the scene.” He leans his arms on the railing, almost brushing her. Grace still doesn’t turn toward him but her eyes show she’s listening. “Okay? And do whatever you want with that necklace. Just, just try not to hurt him.” He heads toward the door, opening it, then adds “Much.” Dimitri enters the theatre with a half-smile. Grace doesn’t move, but reacts, sighing. C. Heart Like A Wheel Mr. Dimitri is in the theater, walking around with records in one hand. “What happened to ‘Heart Like a Wheel?’,” he says aloud. He puts a stack of records down and picks up another stack. Grace enters the theater. “Mr. Dimitri?”, she asks, but Mr. Dimitri’s back is turned. “Just saw it here…”. He looks through them, then puts the stack down, “somewhere.” Grace starts, “I’m thinking about quitting.” Mr. Dimitri stops looking through a new stack of records. Grace continues, “I mean, I think I may have to…” Mr. Dimitri shoves the stack to the side and turns around. Grace finishes, “Quit. Well, ‘cause it’s really a lot of time, you know, for something that isn’t classwork.” Grace says this while walking to the stage, looking up at Mr. Dimitri a couple of times. Mr. Dimitri turns away toward the stage, his brow furrowed, and starts looking at more records. “Yeah.” Grace starts walking away from the stage. “And also I wasn’t…” She stops and points, “Is that it?” Dimitri asks, “Where?” He walks to the table she’s pointing to. “Oh, yes.” He picks up an album with Linda Ronstadt on the cover. “Yeah, huh.” He smiles and takes the record over to the stage. “You weren’t what?”, he asks. Grace answers, “I wasn’t FEELING anything.” Mr. Dimitri blows dust off the record and turns to listen. “You said use what you’re feeling. I wasn’t feeling anything.” Mr. Dimitri says, “Oh. Well…” He holds his hand up. “Okay.” Dimitri then puts ‘Heart Like a Wheel’ on the record player. Grace continues, “And it just seems like it’s not working. I mean, Tad and I don’t seem to have any chemistry…or ANYTHING.” “Chemistry?”, Mr. Dimitri asks, placing the needle on the record. “Yeah, where…you know.” The music starts and Mr. Dimitri interrupts Grace to say, “Just, just listen to this.” Grace finishes, “Where it seems like you belong with someone…or something.” Linda Ronstadt’s voice begins, both melancholy and soaring. “To close Act I,” Mr. Dimitri says. “What do you think?” Grace listens. She answers, “I think,” her voice trembles slightly, “I think you should give the part to…” Mr. Dimitri asks, “To?” Grace says, “To whoever you decide to give it to,” and starts walking away. “Hey!” Grace stops, turning around. Mr. Dimitri tells her, “I’ve already done that! I think…you are PERFECT for this.” He smiles and laughs in a “can’t-you-see-that?”-way. Grace smiles. Tears form in her eyes. Mr. Dimitri looks at her and turns the music up. Grace hops up on the stage to sit, wiping away a tear. “Why do you like such weird music?”, she asks. Mr. Dimitri says, “Exactly what are you implying? Are you implying that I’m weird?” He smiles. Grace laughs. “Careful,” Mr. Dimitri mockingly warns, “Don't let that guard down.” He walks away from the stage. “Then where will we be?” Mr. Dimitri picks up a chair and sets it down in front of him. Grace begins to take her backpack off, then hesitates. “Do you mind if I just stay and listen to this for awhile?” The song continues. “Please,” Mr. Dimitri gently gestures. Grace takes off her backpack and pulls up her legs to sit Indian-style. Dimitri sits and asks, “What’s that around your neck? Is that a seashell?” Grace touches her necklace. “Yeah.” “It’s lovely,” August says. Grace looks at his record and smiles. August leans back in his chair, rocking. “I like this…this music. It’s, it’s all broken in, you know, like an old…chair. You can just curl up in it, rock.” Grace smiles, and looks down to the side. Home |
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