Promises Not Kept © 2013
A Play in One Act by A. Craig Newman
Writer's notes: I wrote this one for a theater run by some close friends of mine. It's based on a situation that I know a little too much about, unfortunately. It's this kind of writing that many writers don't like to do because we're exposing to the world some deep, personal pain or flaw. But it's also this kind of work that makes writing good therapy. I hope you enjoy it. ACN
CAST
Marie: Wife. Bipolar. Experienced with therapy visits with her doctor.
Al: Husband. Clinically Depressed. New to psychoanalysis.
Dr. Nightingale: Seasoned therapist who is well acquainted with Marie and her hang ups.
Dr. Johnson: Seasoned therapist who is meeting Alvin for the first time.
Susan: Dr. Johnson's receptionist
Jane: Dr. Nightingale's receptionist
Time:Present day
Setting: There are two chairs in the middle of the stage, back to back, where the couple will sit during their sessions. Stage left and stage right are two chairs where the therapists will sit. The chairs should sit far enough up stage to have room downstage for the characters to "interact". Farther up stage are two desks, one for each therapist. The set up should be symmetrical, the stage right given to Johnson's office and the stage left given to Nightingale.
LIGHTS UP. JOHNSON and NIGHTINGALE are sitting behind their desks, reviewing files. The intercom buzzes and JOHNSON responds
JOHNSON: Yes?
SUSAN: (O.S) Your 3 o'clock is here, Dr. Johnson.
JOHNSON: Yes. Thank you, Susan. Please send him in.
JOHNSON stands to greet ALVIN. ALVIN comes in, and shakes hands with JOHNSON.
JOHNSON: Alvin, hello, pleased to meet you.
ALVIN: Call me Al, please.
JOHNSON: As you wish, Al. Thank you for coming to speak with me today.
JOHNSON gestures to the available seat. ALVIN sits, but is obviously uncomfortable.
ALVIN: No problem.
JOHNSON and ALVIN fall into an awkward silence. ALVIN is waiting for JOHNSON to speak. JOHNSON is waiting him out.
The intercom on NIGHTINGALE's desk buzzes. NIGHTINGALE answers
NIGHTINGALE: Yes?
JANE: (O.S.) Your next appointment is here, Dr. Nightingale.
NIGHTINGALE: Thank you, Jane. Please send Ms. Carmichael in.
NIGHTINGALE stands to greet MARIE.
NIGHTINGALE: Hello, Marie, how are you?
MARIE:I'm fine, Pat, thank you very much.
MARIE and NIGHTINGALE sit.
MARIE: (rapidly) So, what do you want to do today? I've been doing the deep breathing exercises you recommended. They've really been helping me calm down when I get worked up or feel tense. I haven't kept up too well on those positive reinforcement exercises. You said to do them every day but -
NIGHTINGALE: Marie?
MARIE: Yes?
NIGHTINGALE: How about you just sit for a moment?
MARIE: Sit and do what?
NIGHTINGALE: Sit and do nothing. You're always ready to charge into one discussion or exercise or another. Try to just sit for a moment before charging anywhere.
MARIE: (Tries some stiff postures to find the best for sitting.) Sit? I can sit. How do I do this? Just sit? Like this? Am I doing it right?
NIGHTINGALE: Marie, how would you sit if you were at home?
MARIE: (picks a ramrod posture on the edge of the chair) Like this.
NIGHTINGALE: Ok, how would you sit if you were watching a movie?
MARIE: (Moves back in the chair. Still stiff) Like this.
NIGHTINGALE: What if it were porn?
MARIE blushes and laughs. Without thinking about it, MARIE immediately relaxes into the chair in a natural posture.
NIGHTINGALE: THAT'S how I want you to sit.
MARIE: Ok, now what?
NIGHTINGALE: Now, I want you to close your eyes and breathe deeply.
MARIE obeys.
NIGHTINGALE: Now, I want you to ask yourself why you're not taking your medication.
ALVIN: Are we going to DO something, doctor?
JOHNSON: Who says we're not doing something already?
ALVIN: You weren't saying anything.
JOHNSON: Neither were you.
ALVIN: Yeah, but I'm not supposed to talk all session. You're the doctor, not me.
JOHNSON: Actually, this is your session. If you want to talk about why you're here, why you should be here, what you hope to get from being here, other places you'd like to be instead of being here, the latest sports or nothing at all, that's all up to you. You talk, or don't talk, as you feel comfortable and see fit, and I'll go with you.
ALVIN: What kind of technique is that?
JOHNSON: The kind that works.
ALVIN: How will I know if it's worked?
JOHNSON: You won't feel like you need to be here.
ALVIN: I don't need to be here now.
JOHNSON: Maybe you don't. But you feel like you do. Otherwise, you would have never come. I think your feelings are correct. Depression can be a killer.
MARIE: How do you know I'm not taking my meds?
NIGHTINGALE: I've had enough bipolar patients to tell when someone stops taking their mood stabilizer and goes manic.
MARIE/AL (together): You're wrong. I'm fine. I don't really need to be here.
JOHNSON/NIGHTINGALE (together): Would your spouse agree?
MARIE: Why ruin a perfectly good conversation by bringing him up?
ALVIN: Marie is too busy running the world to know if anything is wrong with me.
MARIE: All Al seems to notice is when it's time to take a nap. Which seems to be all the time lately.
JOHNSON: Marie doesn't pay attention to you?
NIGHTINGALE: Al is still being aloof?
ALVIN: I'm not a baby. I don't need attention. But it would be nice to not be an afterthought.
MARIE: Aloof would be an improvement. That man wants to lock himself in his room or watch television all day. He seems to have lost all motivation.
JOHNSON: Have you told her this?
NIGHTINGALE: Have you talked to him about his behavior?
MARIE/AL (together): I can't.
ALVIN: She doesn't listen to me at all.
MARIE: I'd have to catch him between naps during a commercial when he hasn't been drinking. That gives me all of about 10 seconds a day to get through to him.
JOHNSON: She's never listened to your concerns?
ALVIN starts to fidget. This is a very uncomfortable conversation for him. ALVIN pulls a cigarette out.
JOHNSON: You can't smoke that in here.
ALVIN: (apologetic) I know. I just...ugh.
JOHNSON: I understand. It helps relax you. Al, I frequently see patients who show signs of depression that is rooted in their failing marriages. Do you think I'm going to find that here?
ALVIN's fidgeting continues. He would jump out of his skin if he could.
MARIE: That's not the guy I knew, Pat. He's not the man I married.
NIGHTINGALE: You've been married 10 years. Are you the same you were 10 years ago?
ALVIN springs to his feet and throws away his cigarette.
ALVIN: I don't know what you'll find, doc. I just need to feel better. If I miss any more work, I'll get canned for sure. Do you mind if I move? I think better on my feet.
JOHNSON: Whatever makes you most comfortable, Mr. Carmichael.
ALVIN walks downstage. He puts his face in his hands as he thinks. The difficulty of this challenge is weighing on him.
ALVIN: So you want me to talk about her?
JOHNSON: I want you talk about whatever you feel is important and needs to be discussed. Your remedy will be somewhere in there.
MARIE: I don't think I've changed that much, Pat.
NIGHTINGALE: No? How about an exercise?
MARIE: Sure.
NIGHTINGALE takes MARIE downstage, towards ALVIN's level.
NIGHTINGALE: Look at yourself in the mirror.
MARIE turns to face ALVIN. ALVIN turns to face MARIE. They slowly walk towards each other, each staying on their half of the stage, stopping at the invisible office walls.
ALVIN: This is one beautiful view you've got, doc.
NIGHTINGALE: What do you see?
MARIE: Failure and disappointment.
NIGHTINGALE: Was that there 10 years ago?
MARIE/AL (together): Ten years ago, we were going to conquer the world together.
ALVIN: You should have seen her, doc. She was this fiery dynamo. She made me feel powerful. Like I could do anything. I wanted to do things with her, just to see that fire.
MARIE: Al was always had the strongest, warmest arms. When everything seemed cold and dark, I'd look for him to hug me. Nothing was bad when I was with him.
ALVIN: She's the one that got me interested in politics. I couldn't care who was president, much less vote. But I'm walking through the college quad and I hear this woman talking about the need for young adults to vote and the effect we could have on the world. I stopped to listen. She was so passionate, like nothing else could be anywhere near as important. She was so beautiful. I had to try to meet her.
MARIE: I was in college and on a dozen different groups and committees. I was more interested in my social work than my school work. I had given a speech about something at a rally. Voting, I think. At the end, I got the sign up lists for all the groups involved. "Alvin Carmichael" appeared on every list.
ALVIN: I didn't know what group she ran, so I joined all of them. (walks to JOHNSON. Begins to talk with him like he's an old friend) So, I'm at the Democratic Youth meeting and I'm helping build the background for the next rally.
MARIE: I checked and he did attend every meeting of every one of those groups. Told me later that he was absent from his classes for a week to make all of them and score a chance to talk to me. As it was I saw him first.
SPOTLIGHT on ALVIN and MARIE. JOHNSON and NIGHTINGALE become hidden in the shadows.
MARIE: (Addressing ALVIN) Alvin? Alvin Carmichael.
ALVIN turns to MARIE
ALVIN: Yes, that's me.
MARIE: I'd say you're a hard man to find, but I think I have your schedule for the next month right here.
ALVIN: I'm sure you do, ma'am.
MARIE: "Ma'am"? You don't talk like a college boy.
ALVIN: That's because boys never learn to talk to girls. College men know there is no shame in showing courtesy to a college woman.
MARIE: And do college men sign up for twenty two groups, including the Black Student Union, Jews for Jesus, the Chinese Christian Fellowship, and Islamic America, just to meet a college woman?
ALVIN: If she's a quality woman, he'd do more than that.
MARIE: Mr. Carmichael, I'm flattered, but I don't have time for dating games.
ALVIN: Then no games, just go out with me-
MARIE: Mr. Carmichael-
ALVIN: Once. Go out with me once. Give me one chance to show you.
MARIE: Show me what?
ALVIN: Hopefully, show you a time so good, you'll consent to letting me plan a second date.
MARIE: I'm busy. I don't have time for this, Mr. Carmichael.
ALVIN (points to his schedule in her hand) Ok. If you change your mind, you know where I'll be and when.
LIGHTS UP on entire stage.
ALVIN:(turns back to JOHNSON) I knew I had done it. She didn't know what to make of me. A smart beautiful woman like that needed a challenge.
MARIE: (walking back to NIGHTINGALE) He was so confident. So sure of himself. He had an answer for everything. Let's say that I left intrigued.
JOHNSON: You didn't ask her out right away?
ALVIN grows more animated and relaxed as he makes his way back to his chair. The early days of their relationship is a memory that makes him happy.
ALVIN: No, not after a move like that. I put the bait out there and she had swallowed it and the hook. I let her make the next move.
MARIE: I wanted to see if he was full of crap or not. You know, see if he would follow through.
ALVIN; I dropped most of the groups, but kept the ones she was in – Democratic Youth, Intervarsity, and Future Business Leaders. Every meeting, I was there. Every week. For a month. I had to tell my professors that I suddenly had cancer on a tumor in an abscess on scar tissue in my inner ear which was causing me to lose balance and that's why I couldn't be in class. I don't know if anything like that even exists. They didn't know what to make of that excuse either, so they gave me some leeway.
MARIE: He was at every meeting I attended. Every single one of them.
NIGHTINGALE: That's called "stalking".
ALVIN: She waited a month. A whole stinking month of rallies and speeches and plans to take over the world with democracy or faith or money or something. I treated the whole thing like I was hunting deer. This doe did not want to be caught. Until she just walked up to the hunter.
SPOTLIGHT on ALVIN and MARIE
MARIE: (walks up to ALVIN still seated) Alvin Carmichael, what are you doing here?
ALVIN: (looks around in genuine confusion)Voting on...umm...praying for....buying....wait, where am I?
MARIE: Exactly the point. You don't belong here. Please go away.
ALVIN: Please go out with me.
MARIE: No, I just want you to leave.
ALVIN: I'll stop coming to every meeting of every group if you go out with me once. And I'm not talking about you saying you'll do it and then not showing. Once we have our date and you answer my question, I'll leave you be, if that's what you want.
MARIE: What question?
ALVIN: The question that every man has about every woman he's ever dated.
MARIE: I'm certainly not having sex with you.
ALVIN: That's not the question, but thanks for clarifying your stance.
MARIE: Then what is the question?
ALVIN: (a sly smile on his face) You'll have to go out with me to find out.
MARIE: You're serious. You are actually serious about all this.
ALVIN: Hey, it's all up to you. Either you go out with me and my inner ear issue was just a smudge on the x-ray and I'm actually ok, or you don't and I continue to languish in the emotional turmoil brought on by physical therapy.
(When MARIE goes to answer, ALVIN goes into theatrics)
Don't say no, Marie. Please. Please save me from this affliction. It's horrible. But if you save me, I get to return to class and resume my life as a happy grad student.
MARIE: All this just to go out with me?
ALVIN: You should see what I'm willing to do to get your phone number.
MARIE: (pulls out a pen and starts writing her number in his hand) God, no. Please stop. Here's my number. Meet me this Saturday at the Student Center. 8 o'clock
ALVIN pulls out his cellphone and dials the number immediately. MARIE's phone rings.
MARIE: You don't trust me?
ALVIN: Just wanted to make sure you didn't write 1-800-DUCK-OFF or something like that. And now, you have my number.
MARIE: I suggest you go prepare for your affliction to suddenly heal itself.
ALVIN: I'm starting to feel better already.
MARIE goes to respond and ALVIN cuts her off.
ALVIN: But that can change in an instant. (Picks up his coat) You have a lovely night, Ms. Marie.
MARIE: Stevens. Marie Stevens.
ALVIN dons a baseball cap which he tips to her.
ALVIN: Goodnight, Ms. Stevens.
ALVIN walks upstage. MARIE moves back towards NIGHTINGALE's office. LIGHTS UP
MARIE: Everything he did and said was smooth. With anyone else, I would say it was staged. With him, I saw – or at least hoped to see – that it was genuine.
ALVIN: I was pretending to be Denzel Washington. There's no way in hell I could have been that smooth on my own.
JOHNSON: So you lied to her about who you really were on the inside?
NIGHTINGALE: You were impressed with him.
MARIE/AL (together): Only at first.
ALVIN: When we had the date, I couldn't hold up the charade. Especially during the interview.
JOHNSON: Interview?
ALVIN: More like a data exchange.
MARIE: When I started asking about things that were important to me, he lost some of that suave attitude.
NIGHTINGALE: Like what topics?
ALVIN: I'm pro-choice. She's pro-life.
MARIE: I'm a Democrat. His family votes Republican.
ALVIN: She's a Christian. I'm agnostic.
MARIE: He likes the Eagles. I bleed Cowboy blue and silver.
ALVIN: It was like talking to a curious 6 year-old kid sometimes. She just kept hammering me with question after question.
MARIE: I disagreed with most of his answers, but that wasn't the point.
NIGHTINGALE: Then what was the point?
MARIE: I wanted to find out if he had a reason for what he believed, or if he was just a lemming. Then, he said the sweetest thing.
ALVIN: She grilled me for most of dinner. Then, when we're walking home, she turned on a dime and softened. It was like she couldn't keep her façade up either.
JOHNSON: What do you think it was that changed her attitude?
ALVIN: She asked me about my mom.
SPOTLIGHT on ALVIN and MARIE.
ALVIN: Why do you want to know about my mom?
MARIE: My father used to tell me that you can judge a man by how he treats his mother.
ALVIN: I might lie to you just to get you to like me.
MARIE: You might. But you won't.
ALVIN: How do you know?
MARIE: Don't change the topic.
ALVIN: My mother is strong-willed and difficult, but I know she loves me. She makes a point of saying it every day. She always seems a bit off balance, like her world is constantly tilting. I think she compensates by always staying in motion. When I am alone or with my dad, I rest. When I am with mom, I am at work.
MARIE: (A moment of silence while Marie weighs his answer) Your mother sounds a lot like me.
ALVIN: I see her in your eyes.
MARIE: (vulnerable and guarded) Are you conning me, Mr. Carmichael?
ALVIN: (Weighs his answer carefully.) I'm not a con artist or some sort of player. I don't toy with hearts.
MARIE considers his answer, before closing in for a kiss. It's a heartfelt first kiss that leaves them both a bit breathless. They hold each other as they talk.
ALVIN: Thank you. What was that for?
MARIE: To let you know I'm interested.
ALVIN: Then you've answered The Question.
MARIE: What is that question?
ALVIN: "Will she go out with me again?"
LIGHTS UP on stage. ALVIN and MARIE stay in the embrace looking lovingly at each other.
JOHNSON: Sounds like quite the first date.
NIGHTINGALE: A beautiful moment.
MARIE/AL (together): It was perfect.
ALVIN and MARIE break the embrace and go to their respective seats
ALVIN: We had a lot of beautiful moments at first.
MARIE: It was a great start.
ALVIN: In spite of my attendance stunt, we both graduated.
MARIE: After school ended, we dated pretty seriously.
ALVIN: Got engaged and married a year later.
MARIE: Got the house in the suburbs complete with a white picket fence.
JOHNSON: Did you want that life?
ALVIN: I loved every moment of it. But I was always afraid that it wasn't what Marie wanted.
NIGHTINGALE: Was that situation challenging enough for you?
MARIE: Al was every bit as stimulating in marriage as he was when we were dating.
ALVIN: We used to have these "discussions", often about the sexes.
MARIE: Al had a way of knowing when I needed a good debate. His ideas about gender roles was a bit old-fashioned for my tastes.
ALVIN: These were only discussions in the academic sense.
MARIE: In truth, the daughter of a feminist and the son of an overtime-loving mechanic were not going to chitchat about gender roles as they would about the best color to paint the house.
ALVIN: These were talks only on the surface. Deep down, they were battles of will.
MARIE: I remember one talk that was sparked by the news that some close friends were in the middle of a nasty divorce and could not agree on custody arrangements for their son.
SPOTLIGHT ALVIN and MARIE
ALVIN: Well, the boy needs to be able to see his father. How else is he going to learn to be a man?
MARIE: She'll teach him of course.
ALVIN: A woman can't teach a boy to be a proper man. It takes a man to make a man.
MARIE: Oh really? What makes a man?
ALVIN: (The simple question sounds like Greek.) Huh? What?
MARIE: (Smells blood and goes in for the kill.) What makes a man? What does a male human have to go through to suddenly become a man? Or is there some magical, mystical quality that can only be bestowed upon the boy-child by his male role model, which, by the way, many boys are not lucky enough to have?
ALVIN: (Knows he's beat and switches tactics)We can do without the sarcasm and run-on sentences.
MARIE: Don't do that! You always go to semantics when you're losing an argument. Where is your head at?
ALVIN: You ended in a preposition.
MARIE: Stop it! I'm serious!
ALVIN: I'm serious, too. Good grammar is important.
MARIE: Not as important as this ass-whipping I'm about to lay on you.
ALVIN: Must you always resort to violence?
ALVIN and MARIE playfully fight/wrestle which ends in a kiss.
LIGHTS UP on stage. ALVIN and MARIE return to their chairs, still laughing.
JOHNSON: That's a beautiful memory.
ALVIN: (laughter faded. Grim now) That was...that was it. We don't seem to have any more good times in us.
NIGHTINGALE: So, why are you and Al so miserable now?
MARIE: It started when he lost his job.
ALVIN: I was laid off about a year ago. One month, I was on top. The next, my job vanished and I was left wondering what happened.
SPOTLIGHTS on ALVIN and MARIE. ALVIN sits with his head in his hands, knee deep in depression. MARIE stands nearby, rubbing his back, trying to soothe him.
ALVIN: I'm so sorry.
MARIE: It's not your fault, honey.
ALVIN: I don't know why I can't find a job.
MARIE: As long you're still trying, you'll find one sooner or later.
ALVIN: Sooner or later? It's already later! Sooner passed about a month ago.
MARIE: Baby, look. If you stick with it, you'll get a job. It may take time. I can't tell you how long it will take, but you can do it. In the meantime, my job and your unemployment will keep us afloat.
ALVIN: And when the unemployment runs out?
MARIE: We will figure it out when and if it happens.
ALVIN: No matter what I do...
MARIE: Just keep doing what you can.
ALVIN: Why won't the phone ring?
MARIE: Baby-
ALVIN: Marie, just stop. Just...Just stop.
MARIE: Alvin-
ALVIN: I need a nap.
ALVIN walks out of spotlight.
LIGHTS UP on entire stage.
ALVIN: Things aren't going to get any better.
JOHNSON: Al, do you really believe that?
There is a silent moment as ALVIN seems to consider answering. He doesn't.
NIGHTINGALE: Was this before the affair?
MARIE: Do we have to discuss this?
NIGHTINGALE: Don't you think you've avoided it enough?
MARIE: I don't know. Let's avoid it one more month and see what happens.
NIGHTINGALE: What has happened so far is that you've stopped making progress. You try to find the remedy in exercises and fads, but there's only one place you can go to really help yourself. What do you think?
MARIE waits for a silent moment as she considers answering. She doesn't. The stage is silent as ALVIN and MARIE have been challenged to face things they have been avoiding. They both look stressed.
JOHNSON: I can't answer that for you or make you answer. You're the only one that can take this next step. And it starts with answering the question. Do you really think things won't get better?
ALVIN: After the affair, I don't think I want things to get better. I just want it all to end. If I get hit by a bus, why does it matter?
NIGHTINGALE: Marie-
MARIE: (clip, firm, even rude) Shut up.
JOHNSON: Do you think it would matter to Marie?
ALVIN: She has fire for her job and her causes. She has fire for Chris. She doesn't have shit for me.
MARIE: He hasn't hugged me in months. He feels cold. Like he's dead already and he just doesn't know it.
NIGHTINGALE: Is that an excuse?
MARIE: (snaps) I don't need to make an excuse for anything. I did what I did and that's it. (calmer) But that was what I was feeling when the affair began. Like I was married to a dead man.
ALVIN: I've lost my chance to matter to Marie. I can tell when she's thinking about Chris. It's the only time she smiles.
JOHNSON: Who is Chris?
MARIE: I met Chris at work. I was programming on the 35th floor; Chris ran letters and packages around the office. I didn't pay anyone from the mail room any mind. Then, one day, Valentine's Day, Chris delivers a card to me. It was sweet. Romantic. Clear about who it was from. None of this “Secret Admirer” garbage. I knew it was from Chris. Then, the letters started. Never emails – work computers and prying eyes and all that. Handwritten, personal letters. I kept them in my work bag and read them over and over again on the bus home. That's where Al found them.
SPOTLIGHT ALVIN and Marie. MARIE stays seated as ALVIN approaches her, visibly upset.
ALVIN: Who the hell is Chris?
MARIE: (Surprised, but not as confused as she pretends) Who?
ALVIN: Don't give me that “Who?” crap. You know exactly who I'm talking about. Who. Is. Chris?
MARIE: I don't know who- (you're talking about.)
ALVIN throws the ripped letters in her face.
MARIE: What's this?
ALVIN: The letters! From your bag! From your lover!
MARIE: You went in my bag?
ALVIN: Is that worse than you cheating on me?
MARIE: These are torn!
ALVIN: Ripped to shreds.
MARIE: (Devastated) You bastard. These had nothing to do with you.
ALVIN: You're my wife!
MARIE: How am I supposed to know that? You haven't come near me in months.
ALVIN: I'm going through something- (you don't understand.)
MARIE: Yeah, and you're dragging me through it too!
ALVIN: Trying to make me feel bad about catching you in a lie?
MARIE: Oh, you want truth? The truth is that Chris works in the mailroom, Chris wrote these letters to me, and she's the best lover I've had in years.
Long pause. MARIE may not have realized what she just let slip. ALVIN certainly hasn't missed it.
ALVIN: Umm.....”she”?
MARIE: (Realizing the cat is completely out of the bag) Yes. She. Her name is Christine, she's beautiful, she's soft, and she loves me.
ALVIN: (Completely taken aback) This is insane. I don't believe you.
MARIE: You better start believing because it's true.
ALVIN: Why would you cheat on me? And with another woman?
MARIE: Why shouldn't I? My husband has gone from being one of the most motivated people I've ever known – the man who joined two dozen groups just to meet me – to a shiftless, lazy lump on the couch.
ALVIN: I've been trying to find – (a job, but it's hard!)
MARIE: You haven't tried to find anything but the remote in months. You don't even fake it any more.
ALVIN: That doesn't explain why you're suddenly a lesbian.
MARIE: I'm not a lesbian, you idiot. But she showed interest in me. She made me feel like a woman. She made me feel sexy and wanted and desirable and HOT! I can't remember the last time you've made me feel any of that. She showed an interest and I said "what the hell? Why not?"
ALVIN: Why a woman?
MARIE: It could have been a talking dog and I still would have considered it. That's what happens when you feel neglected.
ALVIN: So, this all comes back to being my fault. Not to you breaking your marriage vows. Not to you lying to me about where you go nights and weekends. Not to you committing an abomination in God's eyes.
MARIE: You're an atheist!
ALVIN: I'm agnostic! There's a difference!
MARIE: Who freakin' cares? You don't believe in the God, so don't give me this abomination crap!
ALVIN: NO! You're NOT going to turn this around on me! I didn't make you go hump another woman. Or grind her. Or rub...or...or..Whatever it is you do with another woman. I didn't make you go do that. You did it because you're a whore.
MARIE: (Crushed by his last statement) I'm a whore? Well, I'd rather be her whore than you're wife.
Long pause. Now, her statement crushes him.
LIGHTS UP. MARIE and ALVIN return to their chairs.
NIGHTINGALE: Did anyone move out?
MARIE: No. That was a couple months ago. Haven't talked to each other much since.
ALVIN: After that, I found a psychiatrist to help me treat my depression with medication. He's the one that recommended you for talk therapy.
JOHNSON: Which brings us to where we are today, I suppose.
MARIE: Actually, Al has started to show signs of life. Getting meds and seeing a doctor and what not. In the meantime, we keep going through the motions.
NIGHTINGALE: Marriage isn't about motions.
JOHNSON: Where do you want to go from here?
ALVIN: (Thinks for a long moment, unsure how to answer.) Where can I go? My work life is in the toilet, my marriage is sinking, and some days, it's all I can do to not swallow a handful of pills with my beer. Where can I go but down?
JOHNSON: You could choose to go up, too.
MARIE: I can't breath life into this marriage alone.
NIGHTINGALE: But you can't save it while you have sex with another woman. Every time you do it, it's another nail in the coffin. If that's what you want, then fine, keep doing it. If you hope to fix things, you have to start with dropping Christine.
ALVIN: How the hell can I do that?
JOHNSON: I know we just met, Al, but I'm already sick of the "oh poor me" crap. If you want to have a pity party, you picked the wrong doctor to visit. Either you're the master of your fate, or you're allowing life's twists and turns smack you around. You're at the helm or you're adrift at sea. You can't be one and bitch about not being the other.
ALVIN: (Looks at Johnson stunned for a long moment.) Wow. You're kind of a jerk.
JOHNSON: Are you here for a Yes-Man ego stroking or to get help?
MARIE: But I love Christine.
NIGHTINGALE: OK, but what do you feel for Al?
MARIE: I don't know.
NIGHTINGALE: Why don't you know? Because you've let a woman get into your head?
MARIE: She's not just some woman. She's my soulmate.
NIGHTINGALE: Oh, give me a break. If your husband showed you any attention, you wouldn't have looked her way twice. It's time you've owned up to your part in this train wreck. You allowed yourself to wander.
ALVIN: So how do I get this help? What do I do first?
JOHNSON: You've started already by coming here. Now, take the next step. You're fighting a battle with depression. The meds help, but they don't cure the problem. You have to understand depression.
ALVIN: Doesn't depression just mean that I'm sad a lot?
JOHNSON: Only if you also believe that a broken leg means you have a little trouble walking.
ALVIN: What the hell does that mean?
JOHNSON: The sadness is a symptom, the degree of the sadness is the problem. What you allow it to do to you is the problem. What you've allowed it to do to your marriage is the problem.
ALVIN: Allowed- (it to do to my marriage?)
JOHNSON: Yes, allowed. You've sat back and you've let your depression run rough shod through your life. Either start fighting back or we have nothing to do here.
MARIE: I didn't allow anything – (of the sort!)
NIGHTINGALE: So, Christine forced herself on you?
MARIE: No, not at all but – (that doesn't mean)
NIGHTINGALE: It DOES mean that you let it happen. You could have walked away. Instead, you walked into it. Alvin didn't make you have an affair. He may have made it easy, but he didn't make you have it.
ALVIN: So how do I fight back?
JOHNSON: You need to know what depression is. There's a theory that depression is "anger turned inward against the self."
ALVIN: So, what does that mean for me?
JOHNSON: If you want to beat this thing, you need to release the anger.
ALVIN: What anger? I'm not angry- (at anyone)
JOHNSON: You've been angry at the world for a year now, ever since you've lost your job.
ALVIN: What the- (hell are you talking about?)
JOHNSON: If you had never lost your job, you assume you would be happy now. But the fact is that you did. You're job vanished, no one hired you, you don't feel like a man, and all that pisses you off. And your woman is in the arms of another woman and that hurts your pride AND pisses you off.
MARIE/ALVIN (together): (Both jumping out of their chairs and to their feet) HEY! I have every right to feel the way I feel!
NIGHTINGALE/JOHNSON (together): This is not about rights! It's about saving your marriage!
MARIE and ALVIN wither under the responses. MARIE starts to weep. ALVIN is just stunned. They both sit down again.
MARIE/ALVIN (together): So what should I do?
NIGHTINGALE/JOHNSON (together): Learn to forgive and let go.
ALVIN: She cheated on me and hasn't even said she's sorry yet. And I'm supposed to forgive her?
MARIE: That bastard crawls in his shell and ignores me for a year. And I'm supposed to forgive him?
NIGHTINGALE/JOHNSON (together): No. You need to forgive yourself.
JOHNSON: Losing your job was depressing. It's an awful thing to have happen. But you reacted by going so far inside yourself, you couldn't see how badly you neglected your wife. To the point that she goes to another woman.
NIGHTINGALE: You cheated on him. You had your reasons, fine. Still, you cheated. Maybe it was a cry for help. Maybe it was a stab at alleviating your pain. Maybe it was a hope for happiness. But you did what you did. It was your choice and you made it.
JOHNSON: If you don't forgive yourself for your part of the failure, you'll never get past this point. You'll be stuck. And no dosage of any medication is going to fix that.
NIGHTINGALE: You need to face what you did and not try to dodge it or explain it away. And you need to forgive yourself for it. This is probably the most important exercise you're going to get.
ALVIN: I don't know how to do this.
MARIE: What do I do?
JOHNSON: Pretend you're talking to yourself.
NIGHTINGALE: Close your eyes.
ALVIN and MARIE sit back in their chairs and get ready to give this exercise a try.
JOHNSON: Picture a version of yourself standing in front of you. The version that crawls inside, hides in a bottle, and watches TV incessantly.
SPOTLIGHT on ALVIN and JOHNSON
JOHNSON: Can you see him?
ALVIN: Yes.
JOHNSON: Then talk to him.
SPOTLIGHT FADES on JOHNSON.
ALVIN: Alvin, you've messed up. Stop being so damn sad all the time.
JOHNSON (O.S.): Forgive him, don't chastise him. He needs your forgiveness now.
ALVIN: You're sad. And it's ok to be that way. You have a reason to be sad.
JOHNSON (O.S): Good. Continue.
ALVIN: You're hiding from your wife and from your life and from your responsibilities. I understand why you're doing that, but it's not right.
JOHNSON (O.S.): Alvin...
ALVIN: (to JOHNSON) No, I'm good. (to himself) It's not right at all. But you can't help all of it. You're stuck, as the doc said. You were sad, but you'll be ok. It's ok to be sad.
JOHNSON (O.S.): Good job. That's a good start.
SPOTLIGHT FADES on ALVIN.
SPOTLIGHTS on MARIE and NIGHTINGALE
NIGHTINGALE: You need to see yourself as the woman who had the affair. See her for what she is, warts and all. That's the Marie that needs to be forgiven.
SPOTLIGHT FADES on NIGHTINGALE
MARIE: Marie... (to NIGHTINGALE) I can't do this. I didn't do anything wrong.
NIGHTINGALE (O.S.): What about breaking your marriage vows? You made a promise before God and family that you didn't keep. Was that wrong?
MARIE (struggling to mean what she's saying) Marie, what you did was wrong. You made a promise to Alvin you didn't keep. (more genuine) You made a promise before God you that you broke. That was wrong, regardless of the reason.
NIGHTINGALE: That's a good start, Marie.
MARIE: (now being honest with herself) You hurt Alvin. If you wanted to be with someone else, you should have left him first. Instead, you cheated. That was wrong.
NIGHTINGALE: She needs your forgiveness, Marie.
MARIE: Marie (struggling to find the right words). I forgive you for cheating on your husband. I forgive you for failing him, and yourself, and everyone. What you did was wrong. You had your reasons, but you were still wrong. And I forgive you for that.
NIGHTINGALE: Good. That's a good start.
SPOTLIGHTS on NIGHTINGALE, MARIE, ALVIN, and JOHNSON.
JOHNSON: Now, you need to decide if you can forgive Marie.
ALVIN: She hasn't apologized.
JOHNSON: So what?
ALVIN: Look- (Doc)
JOHNSON: If you hold on to your anger and pain, you'll do one of two things. You'll blow your stack at some point and take it out on Marie in some physically or emotionally violent way, or you'll turn that anger inwards and hurt yourself more and still hurt Marie by continuing your depression.
NIGHTINGALE: Now, do you think you can forgive him?
MARIE (reflex): No. He hasn't asked for it.
NIGHTINGALE: Who cares? Forgiveness isn't for the transgressor, it's for the transgressed. You've been wronged and it hurts and it makes you angry. If you don't let that go, there will always be a limit of how far you can progress.
MARIE and ALVIN are both weighing this next step in silence.
ALVIN: What do I do?
MARIE: How do I do this?
JOHNSON: Ok. Let's try something.
NIGHTINGALE: Stand up.
JOHNSON: You faced me to talk to yourself. Try turning around to talk to her.
ALVIN: That makes no sense.
JOHNSON: Try it. Go to the window. She's somewhere out in the world and you want to absolve her. Look out there, see her, and talk to her.
NIGHTINGALE: Try to visualize Alvin standing here with you. Can you do that?
MARIE: I don't...I mean I can't....No. I just...
NIGHTINGALE: Ok, try this. Go back to the mirror. When you look and see yourself, try to imagine him with you.
MARIE and ALVIN follow instructions, move downstage, and face each other.
NIGHTINGALE/JOHNSON; Whenever you're ready...
SPOTLIGHTS on MARIE and ALVIN. They stand in silence, each struggling with the exercise, but neither backing away.
ALVIN: I'm sorry. I should have been there for you. Because I was so...detached...you did something many would consider unthinkable.
MARIE: I'm sorry. I should have been there for you. You were lost in some emotions and I was not the help I should have been. I wanted to be, but I wasn't.
ALVIN: I let you down. I want you to know that I'm sorry.
MARIE: I let you down. I'm sorry.
ALVIN: And I forgive you.
MARIE: And I forgive you.
Both ALVIN and MARIE begin to cry. This moment weighs heavily on them both. They hug.
ALVIN: I love you.
MARIE: I love you.
ALVIN and MARIE stay in the embrace. They don't want to let the moment go, even if it is only in their minds. After a long moment, they break the embrace and step away from each other.
LIGHTS UP on the stage.
JOHNSON: That was good, Alvin.
NIGHTINGALE: Good work, Marie. Best exercise yet.
JOHNSON: Do you think you could do that in person?
ALVIN: (wiping tears away) I don't know. I think.
NIGHTINGALE: The hard part will be looking at the real Alvin and doing the same.
MARIE: (uncommitted, distant) OK.
NIGHTINGALE: Do you think you will?
MARIE: I don't know.
NIGHTINGALE: We'll have to stop here, Marie.
MARIE: OK.
NIGHTINGALE: I think you've shown some remarkable progress today.
MARIE: Thanks.
NIGHTINGALE: Schedule the next appointment with the receptionist if you haven't already.
MARIE: Yeah. Will do.
MARIE gathers her things and leaves the office. Dr. NIGHTINGALE goes back to the desk and writes some notes.
JOHNSON: Our time is up for today, Alvin. This has been a very impressive session. You seem like you're really ready to make a change.
ALVIN: Yeah. I am. I think I am. I hope I am.
JOHNSON: That's where it all begins. Do you want to meet again, next week, same time?
ALVIN: Yeah, that works for me.
ALVIN and JOHNSON shake hands. ALVIN leaves the office (walks off stage). Dr. JOHNSON goes back to the desk and writes some notes.
MARIE, wearing a coat, appears at the front of the stage. She's standing outside the offices and seems to be waiting for someone. After a moment of waiting, she pulls her cellphone out of her pocket and dials.
MARIE: Hey, it's me....Yeah, I'm out now....it was a pretty good one.... Just standing here waiting. I haven't been here long.... OK, I'll see you later..... I love you, too.
After a few more moments, ALVIN walks to the front of the stage, meeting MARIE in the middle. They are visibly uncomfortable and unsure what to say or do now.
ALVIN: Hey.
MARIE: Hey.
They awkwardly kiss hello.
ALVIN: You haven't been waiting long, have you?
MARIE: Nah, just got here.
ALVIN: How was your session?
MARIE: It was a pretty good one. How was yours?
ALVIN: OK, I guess....intense.
MARIE: Oh? Is that bad?
ALVIN: No. I'm just not used to it. Don't know if I can handle this for every session, ya know?
MARIE: You won't. Some sessions may be downright boring in comparison.
ALVIN: Yeah...ok.
ALVIN and MARIE stand in silence for a few moments, each trying to work up the courage to say what they said in their sessions. MARIE turns to him and seems about ready to talk, but he cuts her off.
ALVIN: Marie...um...I...uh...I need to say something.
MARIE: (Curious) Yes?
ALVIN: I'm s...s...so, um, so... no... I mean. I f....f...for.....forget what I wanted to say. It must not have been that important. You look good in that outfit.
MARIE: (disappointed) Oh...ok...thanks.
MARIE received a text message. She digs out her phone and reads it. MARIE smiles like she does when she thinks of Chris.
MARIE: Ok, you ready to go?
ALVIN saw the smile and makes the connection that Chris contacted her recently.
ALVIN (disappointed. Depressed again) Yeah. Let's go.
MARIE and ALVIN exit.
JOHNSON presses a button on the phone to get SUSAN.
JOHNSON: Susan, can you get her on the phone, please?
SUSAN: Yes, Dr. Johnson.
For a moment, as the connection is made, there is a brief silence. Then DR. NIGHTINGALE's intercom buzzes. DR. NIGHTINGALE responds.
NIGHTINGALE: Yes?
JANE: Dr. Johnson is on Line 2.
NIGHTINGALE: Thanks, Jane. (Presses a button and picks up the phone. ) Hello?
JOHNSON: Hey, hon.
NIGHTINGALE: Hey, sweetie. How was your day?
JOHNSON: A couple rough sessions, but mostly positive. You?
NIGHTINGALE: To be honest, I could use a drink, a smoke, and a steak.
JOHNSON: WOAH! The trifecta?
NIGHTINGALE: You know it.
JOHNSON: Ok, I prescribe a Gin and Tonic and a Marlboro at the Pub.
NIGHTINGALE: We can't do that. What about- (your wife)?
JOHNSON: Out of town. I want to see you.
NIGHTINGALE: You know she's going to find out one day. What are you going to do then?
JOHNSON: Handle that train wreck when it happens.
NIGHTINGALE: Is that the advice you would take from a patient.
JOHNSON: I want to see you, Pat.
NIGHTINGALE: I want to see you too.
JOHNSON: Then, meet me at the Pub. Our usual table.
NIGHTINGALE: Stories like ours always end in disaster. You know that.
JOHNSON: Always? Really? Are you sure?
NIGHTINGALE: Ok, not always....but often.
JOHNSON: If you don't want to – (meet me tonight, that's fine.)
NIGHTINGALE: I'll see you at the Pub. At our table.
JOHNSON: See you there?
NIGHTINGALE: See you there.
JOHNSON: Do you love me?
NIGHTINGALE: I love what you do to me, baby.
JOHNSON: (smiling) I'll take that. Good bye.
NIGHTINGALE: Good bye.
JOHNSON and NIGHTINGALE quickly finish writing and pack their satchels. Before leaving, they stand on the spots where Marie and Alvin stood to apologize to each other. SPOTLIGHTS on JOHNSON and NIGHTINGALE. They look at each other. They both close their eyes for a long moment. They both smile and turn to leave, stepping out of the spotlight.
SPOTLIGHTS shine for a long moment, before fading to black.
THE END
Marie: Wife. Bipolar. Experienced with therapy visits with her doctor.
Al: Husband. Clinically Depressed. New to psychoanalysis.
Dr. Nightingale: Seasoned therapist who is well acquainted with Marie and her hang ups.
Dr. Johnson: Seasoned therapist who is meeting Alvin for the first time.
Susan: Dr. Johnson's receptionist
Jane: Dr. Nightingale's receptionist
Time:Present day
Setting: There are two chairs in the middle of the stage, back to back, where the couple will sit during their sessions. Stage left and stage right are two chairs where the therapists will sit. The chairs should sit far enough up stage to have room downstage for the characters to "interact". Farther up stage are two desks, one for each therapist. The set up should be symmetrical, the stage right given to Johnson's office and the stage left given to Nightingale.
LIGHTS UP. JOHNSON and NIGHTINGALE are sitting behind their desks, reviewing files. The intercom buzzes and JOHNSON responds
JOHNSON: Yes?
SUSAN: (O.S) Your 3 o'clock is here, Dr. Johnson.
JOHNSON: Yes. Thank you, Susan. Please send him in.
JOHNSON stands to greet ALVIN. ALVIN comes in, and shakes hands with JOHNSON.
JOHNSON: Alvin, hello, pleased to meet you.
ALVIN: Call me Al, please.
JOHNSON: As you wish, Al. Thank you for coming to speak with me today.
JOHNSON gestures to the available seat. ALVIN sits, but is obviously uncomfortable.
ALVIN: No problem.
JOHNSON and ALVIN fall into an awkward silence. ALVIN is waiting for JOHNSON to speak. JOHNSON is waiting him out.
The intercom on NIGHTINGALE's desk buzzes. NIGHTINGALE answers
NIGHTINGALE: Yes?
JANE: (O.S.) Your next appointment is here, Dr. Nightingale.
NIGHTINGALE: Thank you, Jane. Please send Ms. Carmichael in.
NIGHTINGALE stands to greet MARIE.
NIGHTINGALE: Hello, Marie, how are you?
MARIE:I'm fine, Pat, thank you very much.
MARIE and NIGHTINGALE sit.
MARIE: (rapidly) So, what do you want to do today? I've been doing the deep breathing exercises you recommended. They've really been helping me calm down when I get worked up or feel tense. I haven't kept up too well on those positive reinforcement exercises. You said to do them every day but -
NIGHTINGALE: Marie?
MARIE: Yes?
NIGHTINGALE: How about you just sit for a moment?
MARIE: Sit and do what?
NIGHTINGALE: Sit and do nothing. You're always ready to charge into one discussion or exercise or another. Try to just sit for a moment before charging anywhere.
MARIE: (Tries some stiff postures to find the best for sitting.) Sit? I can sit. How do I do this? Just sit? Like this? Am I doing it right?
NIGHTINGALE: Marie, how would you sit if you were at home?
MARIE: (picks a ramrod posture on the edge of the chair) Like this.
NIGHTINGALE: Ok, how would you sit if you were watching a movie?
MARIE: (Moves back in the chair. Still stiff) Like this.
NIGHTINGALE: What if it were porn?
MARIE blushes and laughs. Without thinking about it, MARIE immediately relaxes into the chair in a natural posture.
NIGHTINGALE: THAT'S how I want you to sit.
MARIE: Ok, now what?
NIGHTINGALE: Now, I want you to close your eyes and breathe deeply.
MARIE obeys.
NIGHTINGALE: Now, I want you to ask yourself why you're not taking your medication.
ALVIN: Are we going to DO something, doctor?
JOHNSON: Who says we're not doing something already?
ALVIN: You weren't saying anything.
JOHNSON: Neither were you.
ALVIN: Yeah, but I'm not supposed to talk all session. You're the doctor, not me.
JOHNSON: Actually, this is your session. If you want to talk about why you're here, why you should be here, what you hope to get from being here, other places you'd like to be instead of being here, the latest sports or nothing at all, that's all up to you. You talk, or don't talk, as you feel comfortable and see fit, and I'll go with you.
ALVIN: What kind of technique is that?
JOHNSON: The kind that works.
ALVIN: How will I know if it's worked?
JOHNSON: You won't feel like you need to be here.
ALVIN: I don't need to be here now.
JOHNSON: Maybe you don't. But you feel like you do. Otherwise, you would have never come. I think your feelings are correct. Depression can be a killer.
MARIE: How do you know I'm not taking my meds?
NIGHTINGALE: I've had enough bipolar patients to tell when someone stops taking their mood stabilizer and goes manic.
MARIE/AL (together): You're wrong. I'm fine. I don't really need to be here.
JOHNSON/NIGHTINGALE (together): Would your spouse agree?
MARIE: Why ruin a perfectly good conversation by bringing him up?
ALVIN: Marie is too busy running the world to know if anything is wrong with me.
MARIE: All Al seems to notice is when it's time to take a nap. Which seems to be all the time lately.
JOHNSON: Marie doesn't pay attention to you?
NIGHTINGALE: Al is still being aloof?
ALVIN: I'm not a baby. I don't need attention. But it would be nice to not be an afterthought.
MARIE: Aloof would be an improvement. That man wants to lock himself in his room or watch television all day. He seems to have lost all motivation.
JOHNSON: Have you told her this?
NIGHTINGALE: Have you talked to him about his behavior?
MARIE/AL (together): I can't.
ALVIN: She doesn't listen to me at all.
MARIE: I'd have to catch him between naps during a commercial when he hasn't been drinking. That gives me all of about 10 seconds a day to get through to him.
JOHNSON: She's never listened to your concerns?
ALVIN starts to fidget. This is a very uncomfortable conversation for him. ALVIN pulls a cigarette out.
JOHNSON: You can't smoke that in here.
ALVIN: (apologetic) I know. I just...ugh.
JOHNSON: I understand. It helps relax you. Al, I frequently see patients who show signs of depression that is rooted in their failing marriages. Do you think I'm going to find that here?
ALVIN's fidgeting continues. He would jump out of his skin if he could.
MARIE: That's not the guy I knew, Pat. He's not the man I married.
NIGHTINGALE: You've been married 10 years. Are you the same you were 10 years ago?
ALVIN springs to his feet and throws away his cigarette.
ALVIN: I don't know what you'll find, doc. I just need to feel better. If I miss any more work, I'll get canned for sure. Do you mind if I move? I think better on my feet.
JOHNSON: Whatever makes you most comfortable, Mr. Carmichael.
ALVIN walks downstage. He puts his face in his hands as he thinks. The difficulty of this challenge is weighing on him.
ALVIN: So you want me to talk about her?
JOHNSON: I want you talk about whatever you feel is important and needs to be discussed. Your remedy will be somewhere in there.
MARIE: I don't think I've changed that much, Pat.
NIGHTINGALE: No? How about an exercise?
MARIE: Sure.
NIGHTINGALE takes MARIE downstage, towards ALVIN's level.
NIGHTINGALE: Look at yourself in the mirror.
MARIE turns to face ALVIN. ALVIN turns to face MARIE. They slowly walk towards each other, each staying on their half of the stage, stopping at the invisible office walls.
ALVIN: This is one beautiful view you've got, doc.
NIGHTINGALE: What do you see?
MARIE: Failure and disappointment.
NIGHTINGALE: Was that there 10 years ago?
MARIE/AL (together): Ten years ago, we were going to conquer the world together.
ALVIN: You should have seen her, doc. She was this fiery dynamo. She made me feel powerful. Like I could do anything. I wanted to do things with her, just to see that fire.
MARIE: Al was always had the strongest, warmest arms. When everything seemed cold and dark, I'd look for him to hug me. Nothing was bad when I was with him.
ALVIN: She's the one that got me interested in politics. I couldn't care who was president, much less vote. But I'm walking through the college quad and I hear this woman talking about the need for young adults to vote and the effect we could have on the world. I stopped to listen. She was so passionate, like nothing else could be anywhere near as important. She was so beautiful. I had to try to meet her.
MARIE: I was in college and on a dozen different groups and committees. I was more interested in my social work than my school work. I had given a speech about something at a rally. Voting, I think. At the end, I got the sign up lists for all the groups involved. "Alvin Carmichael" appeared on every list.
ALVIN: I didn't know what group she ran, so I joined all of them. (walks to JOHNSON. Begins to talk with him like he's an old friend) So, I'm at the Democratic Youth meeting and I'm helping build the background for the next rally.
MARIE: I checked and he did attend every meeting of every one of those groups. Told me later that he was absent from his classes for a week to make all of them and score a chance to talk to me. As it was I saw him first.
SPOTLIGHT on ALVIN and MARIE. JOHNSON and NIGHTINGALE become hidden in the shadows.
MARIE: (Addressing ALVIN) Alvin? Alvin Carmichael.
ALVIN turns to MARIE
ALVIN: Yes, that's me.
MARIE: I'd say you're a hard man to find, but I think I have your schedule for the next month right here.
ALVIN: I'm sure you do, ma'am.
MARIE: "Ma'am"? You don't talk like a college boy.
ALVIN: That's because boys never learn to talk to girls. College men know there is no shame in showing courtesy to a college woman.
MARIE: And do college men sign up for twenty two groups, including the Black Student Union, Jews for Jesus, the Chinese Christian Fellowship, and Islamic America, just to meet a college woman?
ALVIN: If she's a quality woman, he'd do more than that.
MARIE: Mr. Carmichael, I'm flattered, but I don't have time for dating games.
ALVIN: Then no games, just go out with me-
MARIE: Mr. Carmichael-
ALVIN: Once. Go out with me once. Give me one chance to show you.
MARIE: Show me what?
ALVIN: Hopefully, show you a time so good, you'll consent to letting me plan a second date.
MARIE: I'm busy. I don't have time for this, Mr. Carmichael.
ALVIN (points to his schedule in her hand) Ok. If you change your mind, you know where I'll be and when.
LIGHTS UP on entire stage.
ALVIN:(turns back to JOHNSON) I knew I had done it. She didn't know what to make of me. A smart beautiful woman like that needed a challenge.
MARIE: (walking back to NIGHTINGALE) He was so confident. So sure of himself. He had an answer for everything. Let's say that I left intrigued.
JOHNSON: You didn't ask her out right away?
ALVIN grows more animated and relaxed as he makes his way back to his chair. The early days of their relationship is a memory that makes him happy.
ALVIN: No, not after a move like that. I put the bait out there and she had swallowed it and the hook. I let her make the next move.
MARIE: I wanted to see if he was full of crap or not. You know, see if he would follow through.
ALVIN; I dropped most of the groups, but kept the ones she was in – Democratic Youth, Intervarsity, and Future Business Leaders. Every meeting, I was there. Every week. For a month. I had to tell my professors that I suddenly had cancer on a tumor in an abscess on scar tissue in my inner ear which was causing me to lose balance and that's why I couldn't be in class. I don't know if anything like that even exists. They didn't know what to make of that excuse either, so they gave me some leeway.
MARIE: He was at every meeting I attended. Every single one of them.
NIGHTINGALE: That's called "stalking".
ALVIN: She waited a month. A whole stinking month of rallies and speeches and plans to take over the world with democracy or faith or money or something. I treated the whole thing like I was hunting deer. This doe did not want to be caught. Until she just walked up to the hunter.
SPOTLIGHT on ALVIN and MARIE
MARIE: (walks up to ALVIN still seated) Alvin Carmichael, what are you doing here?
ALVIN: (looks around in genuine confusion)Voting on...umm...praying for....buying....wait, where am I?
MARIE: Exactly the point. You don't belong here. Please go away.
ALVIN: Please go out with me.
MARIE: No, I just want you to leave.
ALVIN: I'll stop coming to every meeting of every group if you go out with me once. And I'm not talking about you saying you'll do it and then not showing. Once we have our date and you answer my question, I'll leave you be, if that's what you want.
MARIE: What question?
ALVIN: The question that every man has about every woman he's ever dated.
MARIE: I'm certainly not having sex with you.
ALVIN: That's not the question, but thanks for clarifying your stance.
MARIE: Then what is the question?
ALVIN: (a sly smile on his face) You'll have to go out with me to find out.
MARIE: You're serious. You are actually serious about all this.
ALVIN: Hey, it's all up to you. Either you go out with me and my inner ear issue was just a smudge on the x-ray and I'm actually ok, or you don't and I continue to languish in the emotional turmoil brought on by physical therapy.
(When MARIE goes to answer, ALVIN goes into theatrics)
Don't say no, Marie. Please. Please save me from this affliction. It's horrible. But if you save me, I get to return to class and resume my life as a happy grad student.
MARIE: All this just to go out with me?
ALVIN: You should see what I'm willing to do to get your phone number.
MARIE: (pulls out a pen and starts writing her number in his hand) God, no. Please stop. Here's my number. Meet me this Saturday at the Student Center. 8 o'clock
ALVIN pulls out his cellphone and dials the number immediately. MARIE's phone rings.
MARIE: You don't trust me?
ALVIN: Just wanted to make sure you didn't write 1-800-DUCK-OFF or something like that. And now, you have my number.
MARIE: I suggest you go prepare for your affliction to suddenly heal itself.
ALVIN: I'm starting to feel better already.
MARIE goes to respond and ALVIN cuts her off.
ALVIN: But that can change in an instant. (Picks up his coat) You have a lovely night, Ms. Marie.
MARIE: Stevens. Marie Stevens.
ALVIN dons a baseball cap which he tips to her.
ALVIN: Goodnight, Ms. Stevens.
ALVIN walks upstage. MARIE moves back towards NIGHTINGALE's office. LIGHTS UP
MARIE: Everything he did and said was smooth. With anyone else, I would say it was staged. With him, I saw – or at least hoped to see – that it was genuine.
ALVIN: I was pretending to be Denzel Washington. There's no way in hell I could have been that smooth on my own.
JOHNSON: So you lied to her about who you really were on the inside?
NIGHTINGALE: You were impressed with him.
MARIE/AL (together): Only at first.
ALVIN: When we had the date, I couldn't hold up the charade. Especially during the interview.
JOHNSON: Interview?
ALVIN: More like a data exchange.
MARIE: When I started asking about things that were important to me, he lost some of that suave attitude.
NIGHTINGALE: Like what topics?
ALVIN: I'm pro-choice. She's pro-life.
MARIE: I'm a Democrat. His family votes Republican.
ALVIN: She's a Christian. I'm agnostic.
MARIE: He likes the Eagles. I bleed Cowboy blue and silver.
ALVIN: It was like talking to a curious 6 year-old kid sometimes. She just kept hammering me with question after question.
MARIE: I disagreed with most of his answers, but that wasn't the point.
NIGHTINGALE: Then what was the point?
MARIE: I wanted to find out if he had a reason for what he believed, or if he was just a lemming. Then, he said the sweetest thing.
ALVIN: She grilled me for most of dinner. Then, when we're walking home, she turned on a dime and softened. It was like she couldn't keep her façade up either.
JOHNSON: What do you think it was that changed her attitude?
ALVIN: She asked me about my mom.
SPOTLIGHT on ALVIN and MARIE.
ALVIN: Why do you want to know about my mom?
MARIE: My father used to tell me that you can judge a man by how he treats his mother.
ALVIN: I might lie to you just to get you to like me.
MARIE: You might. But you won't.
ALVIN: How do you know?
MARIE: Don't change the topic.
ALVIN: My mother is strong-willed and difficult, but I know she loves me. She makes a point of saying it every day. She always seems a bit off balance, like her world is constantly tilting. I think she compensates by always staying in motion. When I am alone or with my dad, I rest. When I am with mom, I am at work.
MARIE: (A moment of silence while Marie weighs his answer) Your mother sounds a lot like me.
ALVIN: I see her in your eyes.
MARIE: (vulnerable and guarded) Are you conning me, Mr. Carmichael?
ALVIN: (Weighs his answer carefully.) I'm not a con artist or some sort of player. I don't toy with hearts.
MARIE considers his answer, before closing in for a kiss. It's a heartfelt first kiss that leaves them both a bit breathless. They hold each other as they talk.
ALVIN: Thank you. What was that for?
MARIE: To let you know I'm interested.
ALVIN: Then you've answered The Question.
MARIE: What is that question?
ALVIN: "Will she go out with me again?"
LIGHTS UP on stage. ALVIN and MARIE stay in the embrace looking lovingly at each other.
JOHNSON: Sounds like quite the first date.
NIGHTINGALE: A beautiful moment.
MARIE/AL (together): It was perfect.
ALVIN and MARIE break the embrace and go to their respective seats
ALVIN: We had a lot of beautiful moments at first.
MARIE: It was a great start.
ALVIN: In spite of my attendance stunt, we both graduated.
MARIE: After school ended, we dated pretty seriously.
ALVIN: Got engaged and married a year later.
MARIE: Got the house in the suburbs complete with a white picket fence.
JOHNSON: Did you want that life?
ALVIN: I loved every moment of it. But I was always afraid that it wasn't what Marie wanted.
NIGHTINGALE: Was that situation challenging enough for you?
MARIE: Al was every bit as stimulating in marriage as he was when we were dating.
ALVIN: We used to have these "discussions", often about the sexes.
MARIE: Al had a way of knowing when I needed a good debate. His ideas about gender roles was a bit old-fashioned for my tastes.
ALVIN: These were only discussions in the academic sense.
MARIE: In truth, the daughter of a feminist and the son of an overtime-loving mechanic were not going to chitchat about gender roles as they would about the best color to paint the house.
ALVIN: These were talks only on the surface. Deep down, they were battles of will.
MARIE: I remember one talk that was sparked by the news that some close friends were in the middle of a nasty divorce and could not agree on custody arrangements for their son.
SPOTLIGHT ALVIN and MARIE
ALVIN: Well, the boy needs to be able to see his father. How else is he going to learn to be a man?
MARIE: She'll teach him of course.
ALVIN: A woman can't teach a boy to be a proper man. It takes a man to make a man.
MARIE: Oh really? What makes a man?
ALVIN: (The simple question sounds like Greek.) Huh? What?
MARIE: (Smells blood and goes in for the kill.) What makes a man? What does a male human have to go through to suddenly become a man? Or is there some magical, mystical quality that can only be bestowed upon the boy-child by his male role model, which, by the way, many boys are not lucky enough to have?
ALVIN: (Knows he's beat and switches tactics)We can do without the sarcasm and run-on sentences.
MARIE: Don't do that! You always go to semantics when you're losing an argument. Where is your head at?
ALVIN: You ended in a preposition.
MARIE: Stop it! I'm serious!
ALVIN: I'm serious, too. Good grammar is important.
MARIE: Not as important as this ass-whipping I'm about to lay on you.
ALVIN: Must you always resort to violence?
ALVIN and MARIE playfully fight/wrestle which ends in a kiss.
LIGHTS UP on stage. ALVIN and MARIE return to their chairs, still laughing.
JOHNSON: That's a beautiful memory.
ALVIN: (laughter faded. Grim now) That was...that was it. We don't seem to have any more good times in us.
NIGHTINGALE: So, why are you and Al so miserable now?
MARIE: It started when he lost his job.
ALVIN: I was laid off about a year ago. One month, I was on top. The next, my job vanished and I was left wondering what happened.
SPOTLIGHTS on ALVIN and MARIE. ALVIN sits with his head in his hands, knee deep in depression. MARIE stands nearby, rubbing his back, trying to soothe him.
ALVIN: I'm so sorry.
MARIE: It's not your fault, honey.
ALVIN: I don't know why I can't find a job.
MARIE: As long you're still trying, you'll find one sooner or later.
ALVIN: Sooner or later? It's already later! Sooner passed about a month ago.
MARIE: Baby, look. If you stick with it, you'll get a job. It may take time. I can't tell you how long it will take, but you can do it. In the meantime, my job and your unemployment will keep us afloat.
ALVIN: And when the unemployment runs out?
MARIE: We will figure it out when and if it happens.
ALVIN: No matter what I do...
MARIE: Just keep doing what you can.
ALVIN: Why won't the phone ring?
MARIE: Baby-
ALVIN: Marie, just stop. Just...Just stop.
MARIE: Alvin-
ALVIN: I need a nap.
ALVIN walks out of spotlight.
LIGHTS UP on entire stage.
ALVIN: Things aren't going to get any better.
JOHNSON: Al, do you really believe that?
There is a silent moment as ALVIN seems to consider answering. He doesn't.
NIGHTINGALE: Was this before the affair?
MARIE: Do we have to discuss this?
NIGHTINGALE: Don't you think you've avoided it enough?
MARIE: I don't know. Let's avoid it one more month and see what happens.
NIGHTINGALE: What has happened so far is that you've stopped making progress. You try to find the remedy in exercises and fads, but there's only one place you can go to really help yourself. What do you think?
MARIE waits for a silent moment as she considers answering. She doesn't. The stage is silent as ALVIN and MARIE have been challenged to face things they have been avoiding. They both look stressed.
JOHNSON: I can't answer that for you or make you answer. You're the only one that can take this next step. And it starts with answering the question. Do you really think things won't get better?
ALVIN: After the affair, I don't think I want things to get better. I just want it all to end. If I get hit by a bus, why does it matter?
NIGHTINGALE: Marie-
MARIE: (clip, firm, even rude) Shut up.
JOHNSON: Do you think it would matter to Marie?
ALVIN: She has fire for her job and her causes. She has fire for Chris. She doesn't have shit for me.
MARIE: He hasn't hugged me in months. He feels cold. Like he's dead already and he just doesn't know it.
NIGHTINGALE: Is that an excuse?
MARIE: (snaps) I don't need to make an excuse for anything. I did what I did and that's it. (calmer) But that was what I was feeling when the affair began. Like I was married to a dead man.
ALVIN: I've lost my chance to matter to Marie. I can tell when she's thinking about Chris. It's the only time she smiles.
JOHNSON: Who is Chris?
MARIE: I met Chris at work. I was programming on the 35th floor; Chris ran letters and packages around the office. I didn't pay anyone from the mail room any mind. Then, one day, Valentine's Day, Chris delivers a card to me. It was sweet. Romantic. Clear about who it was from. None of this “Secret Admirer” garbage. I knew it was from Chris. Then, the letters started. Never emails – work computers and prying eyes and all that. Handwritten, personal letters. I kept them in my work bag and read them over and over again on the bus home. That's where Al found them.
SPOTLIGHT ALVIN and Marie. MARIE stays seated as ALVIN approaches her, visibly upset.
ALVIN: Who the hell is Chris?
MARIE: (Surprised, but not as confused as she pretends) Who?
ALVIN: Don't give me that “Who?” crap. You know exactly who I'm talking about. Who. Is. Chris?
MARIE: I don't know who- (you're talking about.)
ALVIN throws the ripped letters in her face.
MARIE: What's this?
ALVIN: The letters! From your bag! From your lover!
MARIE: You went in my bag?
ALVIN: Is that worse than you cheating on me?
MARIE: These are torn!
ALVIN: Ripped to shreds.
MARIE: (Devastated) You bastard. These had nothing to do with you.
ALVIN: You're my wife!
MARIE: How am I supposed to know that? You haven't come near me in months.
ALVIN: I'm going through something- (you don't understand.)
MARIE: Yeah, and you're dragging me through it too!
ALVIN: Trying to make me feel bad about catching you in a lie?
MARIE: Oh, you want truth? The truth is that Chris works in the mailroom, Chris wrote these letters to me, and she's the best lover I've had in years.
Long pause. MARIE may not have realized what she just let slip. ALVIN certainly hasn't missed it.
ALVIN: Umm.....”she”?
MARIE: (Realizing the cat is completely out of the bag) Yes. She. Her name is Christine, she's beautiful, she's soft, and she loves me.
ALVIN: (Completely taken aback) This is insane. I don't believe you.
MARIE: You better start believing because it's true.
ALVIN: Why would you cheat on me? And with another woman?
MARIE: Why shouldn't I? My husband has gone from being one of the most motivated people I've ever known – the man who joined two dozen groups just to meet me – to a shiftless, lazy lump on the couch.
ALVIN: I've been trying to find – (a job, but it's hard!)
MARIE: You haven't tried to find anything but the remote in months. You don't even fake it any more.
ALVIN: That doesn't explain why you're suddenly a lesbian.
MARIE: I'm not a lesbian, you idiot. But she showed interest in me. She made me feel like a woman. She made me feel sexy and wanted and desirable and HOT! I can't remember the last time you've made me feel any of that. She showed an interest and I said "what the hell? Why not?"
ALVIN: Why a woman?
MARIE: It could have been a talking dog and I still would have considered it. That's what happens when you feel neglected.
ALVIN: So, this all comes back to being my fault. Not to you breaking your marriage vows. Not to you lying to me about where you go nights and weekends. Not to you committing an abomination in God's eyes.
MARIE: You're an atheist!
ALVIN: I'm agnostic! There's a difference!
MARIE: Who freakin' cares? You don't believe in the God, so don't give me this abomination crap!
ALVIN: NO! You're NOT going to turn this around on me! I didn't make you go hump another woman. Or grind her. Or rub...or...or..Whatever it is you do with another woman. I didn't make you go do that. You did it because you're a whore.
MARIE: (Crushed by his last statement) I'm a whore? Well, I'd rather be her whore than you're wife.
Long pause. Now, her statement crushes him.
LIGHTS UP. MARIE and ALVIN return to their chairs.
NIGHTINGALE: Did anyone move out?
MARIE: No. That was a couple months ago. Haven't talked to each other much since.
ALVIN: After that, I found a psychiatrist to help me treat my depression with medication. He's the one that recommended you for talk therapy.
JOHNSON: Which brings us to where we are today, I suppose.
MARIE: Actually, Al has started to show signs of life. Getting meds and seeing a doctor and what not. In the meantime, we keep going through the motions.
NIGHTINGALE: Marriage isn't about motions.
JOHNSON: Where do you want to go from here?
ALVIN: (Thinks for a long moment, unsure how to answer.) Where can I go? My work life is in the toilet, my marriage is sinking, and some days, it's all I can do to not swallow a handful of pills with my beer. Where can I go but down?
JOHNSON: You could choose to go up, too.
MARIE: I can't breath life into this marriage alone.
NIGHTINGALE: But you can't save it while you have sex with another woman. Every time you do it, it's another nail in the coffin. If that's what you want, then fine, keep doing it. If you hope to fix things, you have to start with dropping Christine.
ALVIN: How the hell can I do that?
JOHNSON: I know we just met, Al, but I'm already sick of the "oh poor me" crap. If you want to have a pity party, you picked the wrong doctor to visit. Either you're the master of your fate, or you're allowing life's twists and turns smack you around. You're at the helm or you're adrift at sea. You can't be one and bitch about not being the other.
ALVIN: (Looks at Johnson stunned for a long moment.) Wow. You're kind of a jerk.
JOHNSON: Are you here for a Yes-Man ego stroking or to get help?
MARIE: But I love Christine.
NIGHTINGALE: OK, but what do you feel for Al?
MARIE: I don't know.
NIGHTINGALE: Why don't you know? Because you've let a woman get into your head?
MARIE: She's not just some woman. She's my soulmate.
NIGHTINGALE: Oh, give me a break. If your husband showed you any attention, you wouldn't have looked her way twice. It's time you've owned up to your part in this train wreck. You allowed yourself to wander.
ALVIN: So how do I get this help? What do I do first?
JOHNSON: You've started already by coming here. Now, take the next step. You're fighting a battle with depression. The meds help, but they don't cure the problem. You have to understand depression.
ALVIN: Doesn't depression just mean that I'm sad a lot?
JOHNSON: Only if you also believe that a broken leg means you have a little trouble walking.
ALVIN: What the hell does that mean?
JOHNSON: The sadness is a symptom, the degree of the sadness is the problem. What you allow it to do to you is the problem. What you've allowed it to do to your marriage is the problem.
ALVIN: Allowed- (it to do to my marriage?)
JOHNSON: Yes, allowed. You've sat back and you've let your depression run rough shod through your life. Either start fighting back or we have nothing to do here.
MARIE: I didn't allow anything – (of the sort!)
NIGHTINGALE: So, Christine forced herself on you?
MARIE: No, not at all but – (that doesn't mean)
NIGHTINGALE: It DOES mean that you let it happen. You could have walked away. Instead, you walked into it. Alvin didn't make you have an affair. He may have made it easy, but he didn't make you have it.
ALVIN: So how do I fight back?
JOHNSON: You need to know what depression is. There's a theory that depression is "anger turned inward against the self."
ALVIN: So, what does that mean for me?
JOHNSON: If you want to beat this thing, you need to release the anger.
ALVIN: What anger? I'm not angry- (at anyone)
JOHNSON: You've been angry at the world for a year now, ever since you've lost your job.
ALVIN: What the- (hell are you talking about?)
JOHNSON: If you had never lost your job, you assume you would be happy now. But the fact is that you did. You're job vanished, no one hired you, you don't feel like a man, and all that pisses you off. And your woman is in the arms of another woman and that hurts your pride AND pisses you off.
MARIE/ALVIN (together): (Both jumping out of their chairs and to their feet) HEY! I have every right to feel the way I feel!
NIGHTINGALE/JOHNSON (together): This is not about rights! It's about saving your marriage!
MARIE and ALVIN wither under the responses. MARIE starts to weep. ALVIN is just stunned. They both sit down again.
MARIE/ALVIN (together): So what should I do?
NIGHTINGALE/JOHNSON (together): Learn to forgive and let go.
ALVIN: She cheated on me and hasn't even said she's sorry yet. And I'm supposed to forgive her?
MARIE: That bastard crawls in his shell and ignores me for a year. And I'm supposed to forgive him?
NIGHTINGALE/JOHNSON (together): No. You need to forgive yourself.
JOHNSON: Losing your job was depressing. It's an awful thing to have happen. But you reacted by going so far inside yourself, you couldn't see how badly you neglected your wife. To the point that she goes to another woman.
NIGHTINGALE: You cheated on him. You had your reasons, fine. Still, you cheated. Maybe it was a cry for help. Maybe it was a stab at alleviating your pain. Maybe it was a hope for happiness. But you did what you did. It was your choice and you made it.
JOHNSON: If you don't forgive yourself for your part of the failure, you'll never get past this point. You'll be stuck. And no dosage of any medication is going to fix that.
NIGHTINGALE: You need to face what you did and not try to dodge it or explain it away. And you need to forgive yourself for it. This is probably the most important exercise you're going to get.
ALVIN: I don't know how to do this.
MARIE: What do I do?
JOHNSON: Pretend you're talking to yourself.
NIGHTINGALE: Close your eyes.
ALVIN and MARIE sit back in their chairs and get ready to give this exercise a try.
JOHNSON: Picture a version of yourself standing in front of you. The version that crawls inside, hides in a bottle, and watches TV incessantly.
SPOTLIGHT on ALVIN and JOHNSON
JOHNSON: Can you see him?
ALVIN: Yes.
JOHNSON: Then talk to him.
SPOTLIGHT FADES on JOHNSON.
ALVIN: Alvin, you've messed up. Stop being so damn sad all the time.
JOHNSON (O.S.): Forgive him, don't chastise him. He needs your forgiveness now.
ALVIN: You're sad. And it's ok to be that way. You have a reason to be sad.
JOHNSON (O.S): Good. Continue.
ALVIN: You're hiding from your wife and from your life and from your responsibilities. I understand why you're doing that, but it's not right.
JOHNSON (O.S.): Alvin...
ALVIN: (to JOHNSON) No, I'm good. (to himself) It's not right at all. But you can't help all of it. You're stuck, as the doc said. You were sad, but you'll be ok. It's ok to be sad.
JOHNSON (O.S.): Good job. That's a good start.
SPOTLIGHT FADES on ALVIN.
SPOTLIGHTS on MARIE and NIGHTINGALE
NIGHTINGALE: You need to see yourself as the woman who had the affair. See her for what she is, warts and all. That's the Marie that needs to be forgiven.
SPOTLIGHT FADES on NIGHTINGALE
MARIE: Marie... (to NIGHTINGALE) I can't do this. I didn't do anything wrong.
NIGHTINGALE (O.S.): What about breaking your marriage vows? You made a promise before God and family that you didn't keep. Was that wrong?
MARIE (struggling to mean what she's saying) Marie, what you did was wrong. You made a promise to Alvin you didn't keep. (more genuine) You made a promise before God you that you broke. That was wrong, regardless of the reason.
NIGHTINGALE: That's a good start, Marie.
MARIE: (now being honest with herself) You hurt Alvin. If you wanted to be with someone else, you should have left him first. Instead, you cheated. That was wrong.
NIGHTINGALE: She needs your forgiveness, Marie.
MARIE: Marie (struggling to find the right words). I forgive you for cheating on your husband. I forgive you for failing him, and yourself, and everyone. What you did was wrong. You had your reasons, but you were still wrong. And I forgive you for that.
NIGHTINGALE: Good. That's a good start.
SPOTLIGHTS on NIGHTINGALE, MARIE, ALVIN, and JOHNSON.
JOHNSON: Now, you need to decide if you can forgive Marie.
ALVIN: She hasn't apologized.
JOHNSON: So what?
ALVIN: Look- (Doc)
JOHNSON: If you hold on to your anger and pain, you'll do one of two things. You'll blow your stack at some point and take it out on Marie in some physically or emotionally violent way, or you'll turn that anger inwards and hurt yourself more and still hurt Marie by continuing your depression.
NIGHTINGALE: Now, do you think you can forgive him?
MARIE (reflex): No. He hasn't asked for it.
NIGHTINGALE: Who cares? Forgiveness isn't for the transgressor, it's for the transgressed. You've been wronged and it hurts and it makes you angry. If you don't let that go, there will always be a limit of how far you can progress.
MARIE and ALVIN are both weighing this next step in silence.
ALVIN: What do I do?
MARIE: How do I do this?
JOHNSON: Ok. Let's try something.
NIGHTINGALE: Stand up.
JOHNSON: You faced me to talk to yourself. Try turning around to talk to her.
ALVIN: That makes no sense.
JOHNSON: Try it. Go to the window. She's somewhere out in the world and you want to absolve her. Look out there, see her, and talk to her.
NIGHTINGALE: Try to visualize Alvin standing here with you. Can you do that?
MARIE: I don't...I mean I can't....No. I just...
NIGHTINGALE: Ok, try this. Go back to the mirror. When you look and see yourself, try to imagine him with you.
MARIE and ALVIN follow instructions, move downstage, and face each other.
NIGHTINGALE/JOHNSON; Whenever you're ready...
SPOTLIGHTS on MARIE and ALVIN. They stand in silence, each struggling with the exercise, but neither backing away.
ALVIN: I'm sorry. I should have been there for you. Because I was so...detached...you did something many would consider unthinkable.
MARIE: I'm sorry. I should have been there for you. You were lost in some emotions and I was not the help I should have been. I wanted to be, but I wasn't.
ALVIN: I let you down. I want you to know that I'm sorry.
MARIE: I let you down. I'm sorry.
ALVIN: And I forgive you.
MARIE: And I forgive you.
Both ALVIN and MARIE begin to cry. This moment weighs heavily on them both. They hug.
ALVIN: I love you.
MARIE: I love you.
ALVIN and MARIE stay in the embrace. They don't want to let the moment go, even if it is only in their minds. After a long moment, they break the embrace and step away from each other.
LIGHTS UP on the stage.
JOHNSON: That was good, Alvin.
NIGHTINGALE: Good work, Marie. Best exercise yet.
JOHNSON: Do you think you could do that in person?
ALVIN: (wiping tears away) I don't know. I think.
NIGHTINGALE: The hard part will be looking at the real Alvin and doing the same.
MARIE: (uncommitted, distant) OK.
NIGHTINGALE: Do you think you will?
MARIE: I don't know.
NIGHTINGALE: We'll have to stop here, Marie.
MARIE: OK.
NIGHTINGALE: I think you've shown some remarkable progress today.
MARIE: Thanks.
NIGHTINGALE: Schedule the next appointment with the receptionist if you haven't already.
MARIE: Yeah. Will do.
MARIE gathers her things and leaves the office. Dr. NIGHTINGALE goes back to the desk and writes some notes.
JOHNSON: Our time is up for today, Alvin. This has been a very impressive session. You seem like you're really ready to make a change.
ALVIN: Yeah. I am. I think I am. I hope I am.
JOHNSON: That's where it all begins. Do you want to meet again, next week, same time?
ALVIN: Yeah, that works for me.
ALVIN and JOHNSON shake hands. ALVIN leaves the office (walks off stage). Dr. JOHNSON goes back to the desk and writes some notes.
MARIE, wearing a coat, appears at the front of the stage. She's standing outside the offices and seems to be waiting for someone. After a moment of waiting, she pulls her cellphone out of her pocket and dials.
MARIE: Hey, it's me....Yeah, I'm out now....it was a pretty good one.... Just standing here waiting. I haven't been here long.... OK, I'll see you later..... I love you, too.
After a few more moments, ALVIN walks to the front of the stage, meeting MARIE in the middle. They are visibly uncomfortable and unsure what to say or do now.
ALVIN: Hey.
MARIE: Hey.
They awkwardly kiss hello.
ALVIN: You haven't been waiting long, have you?
MARIE: Nah, just got here.
ALVIN: How was your session?
MARIE: It was a pretty good one. How was yours?
ALVIN: OK, I guess....intense.
MARIE: Oh? Is that bad?
ALVIN: No. I'm just not used to it. Don't know if I can handle this for every session, ya know?
MARIE: You won't. Some sessions may be downright boring in comparison.
ALVIN: Yeah...ok.
ALVIN and MARIE stand in silence for a few moments, each trying to work up the courage to say what they said in their sessions. MARIE turns to him and seems about ready to talk, but he cuts her off.
ALVIN: Marie...um...I...uh...I need to say something.
MARIE: (Curious) Yes?
ALVIN: I'm s...s...so, um, so... no... I mean. I f....f...for.....forget what I wanted to say. It must not have been that important. You look good in that outfit.
MARIE: (disappointed) Oh...ok...thanks.
MARIE received a text message. She digs out her phone and reads it. MARIE smiles like she does when she thinks of Chris.
MARIE: Ok, you ready to go?
ALVIN saw the smile and makes the connection that Chris contacted her recently.
ALVIN (disappointed. Depressed again) Yeah. Let's go.
MARIE and ALVIN exit.
JOHNSON presses a button on the phone to get SUSAN.
JOHNSON: Susan, can you get her on the phone, please?
SUSAN: Yes, Dr. Johnson.
For a moment, as the connection is made, there is a brief silence. Then DR. NIGHTINGALE's intercom buzzes. DR. NIGHTINGALE responds.
NIGHTINGALE: Yes?
JANE: Dr. Johnson is on Line 2.
NIGHTINGALE: Thanks, Jane. (Presses a button and picks up the phone. ) Hello?
JOHNSON: Hey, hon.
NIGHTINGALE: Hey, sweetie. How was your day?
JOHNSON: A couple rough sessions, but mostly positive. You?
NIGHTINGALE: To be honest, I could use a drink, a smoke, and a steak.
JOHNSON: WOAH! The trifecta?
NIGHTINGALE: You know it.
JOHNSON: Ok, I prescribe a Gin and Tonic and a Marlboro at the Pub.
NIGHTINGALE: We can't do that. What about- (your wife)?
JOHNSON: Out of town. I want to see you.
NIGHTINGALE: You know she's going to find out one day. What are you going to do then?
JOHNSON: Handle that train wreck when it happens.
NIGHTINGALE: Is that the advice you would take from a patient.
JOHNSON: I want to see you, Pat.
NIGHTINGALE: I want to see you too.
JOHNSON: Then, meet me at the Pub. Our usual table.
NIGHTINGALE: Stories like ours always end in disaster. You know that.
JOHNSON: Always? Really? Are you sure?
NIGHTINGALE: Ok, not always....but often.
JOHNSON: If you don't want to – (meet me tonight, that's fine.)
NIGHTINGALE: I'll see you at the Pub. At our table.
JOHNSON: See you there?
NIGHTINGALE: See you there.
JOHNSON: Do you love me?
NIGHTINGALE: I love what you do to me, baby.
JOHNSON: (smiling) I'll take that. Good bye.
NIGHTINGALE: Good bye.
JOHNSON and NIGHTINGALE quickly finish writing and pack their satchels. Before leaving, they stand on the spots where Marie and Alvin stood to apologize to each other. SPOTLIGHTS on JOHNSON and NIGHTINGALE. They look at each other. They both close their eyes for a long moment. They both smile and turn to leave, stepping out of the spotlight.
SPOTLIGHTS shine for a long moment, before fading to black.
THE END
