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DRAMA COMPANIONwritten by

ROSE ASPINALL

Four stand-alone vignettes. Use one or all four scenes to suit your production.

Scene 1: The Men Who Stand in Harm’s Way – 2 m, 1f. World War II vets reunite after many years. They talk about their service to our country and how it changed them. In-cludes a small part for a wife.

Scene 2: My Story – A monologue, 1f. The daughter of immigrants speaks about the challenges and joys of shaping a new life in America.

Scene 3: Just an Everyday Hero – 4 m or f. Reader’s theatre piece for 4 that celebrates and honors our first responders.

Scene 4: Sign Here for Freedom – A monologue, 1m. An older man reflects on his early school years and how a teacher’s love for his adopted country changed him.

indivisibleo n e n a t i o n u n d e r g o d

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SCENE 1THE MEN WHO STAND IN HARM’S WAY

(Begins after page 31)

CAST:Richard Collins; 60-70 yrs. WWII vetHoward Nelson: Richard’s friend, 60-70 yrs. WWII vetJune Collins: Richard’s wife, 60-70 yrs.

SETTING: The living room of Richard Collins. The time frame is the 1970’s.

Two older men, brothers in battle from WWII have found each other and reunited. To set the tone, spend a little time looking into home décor for that time period. Popular colors of the day were bright green, turquoise, sunshine yellow, orange and brown. White was also popular and used in furniture as well as in backgrounds, Other popular styles of the day were shag carpets, modern wall décor and paneling.

As the scene opens, Richard is in his living room pacing. He is waiting for Howard to arrive. His wife, June enters and attempts to calm him.

The doorbell rings. After so many years, the meeting is an emotional one. The two men spend the after-noon together recounting their wartime experiences.

June: (patting his arm) Richard, Richard, sit down. He won’t come any faster if you wear a hole in the carpet.

Richard: (stopping and leveling his gaze at her) June, how many years have we been married?

June: (matter of fact, faces him, fusses with his sweater, brushing away imaginary dirt, rebut-toning and/or straightening it.) I know, I know. I only hope he’ll arrive while there’s still some thread left in my carpet! Now, there. You look fine. I’ll go to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee.

(Starts to exit. Richard resumes his pacing and the doorbell rings.)

Richard: Ahh, that’ll be him!

(He rushes to the door.)

Richard: Howie?

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They embrace momentairily, let go of each other and (in a poignant moment) taking a step back, they salute each other. June hanging back, stands across the room with her hand over her mouth.

Richard: (breaking the silence) Well, well, don’t just stand there. Come in, come in.

Howard: Red, you haven’t changed a bit!

Richard: (playful) Red? Haven’t had anyone call me that in years. (Running his hand over his head) Not so red anymore I guess. Not much of it left either. Where’s that beautful wife of yours. Did she finally wise up and find someone else?

Howard: Nah, she’s a smart lady, knows a prize when she’s got one. (He turns to address find June and motions for her to come forward) June, Howie’s here!

June: (Warmly, stepping forward, extending her hand) Howard, what a pleasure to finally meet you.

Howard: Just Howie, Ma’am, just Howie. (addressing Richard) Red, you lucky son of a gun! I al-ways wondered how you rated anyway?

Richard: I tried to tell you all you needed was a little more charm! And you? Did you finally find someone to put up with you?

Howard: I did. (pause) I lost her three years ago to cancer.

Richard: (stricken) Oh! Dreadfully sorry, Howie.

Howard: It’s okay. We had a lot of good years together. More than I deserved. Good lady—she saw me through a lot of tough stuff.

Richard: (glancing at June meaningfully) Yeah, I understand.

(a moment of awkward silence)

June: Well, how about if I go make some coffee for you boys. Then, I’ll let you two alone. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

Richard: (gratefully) Thanks June.

She smiles, squeezes his arm and exits.

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Richard: (gesturing to the living room area) C’mon, take a load off, Howie. I still can’t believe we actually managed to find you. I thought you’d died, buddy. It’s been what? Forty-five years?

Howard: Forty-five, yup. ‘Bout right. You stay in touch with Eddie or Bill?

Richard: Nah, guess after we got back, I didn’t see much point anymore. Got busy with making a new life, ya know.

Howard: Yeah, I know.

(More silence)

Howard: Nineteen years old and green as grass back then.

Richard: (Laughing) We sure were, weren’t we?

Howard: Remember when we met?

Richard: Sure do—just a month or so before we got deployed.

Howard: It was all I could do just to hang on everyday. All I could think about was making it to furlough.

Richard: (Small chuckle) Yeah, June and I tied the knot right before I left for training. Two weeks of bliss and then off to who knows what! (shaking his head with the memories) Oh, I was homesick! And no money to get back home before we shipped out! (a beat) June sold the car.

Howard: She sold the car?

Richard: She sure did. She sold the car and sent me the money to come back home. (pause, mo-mentarily shaking head at the distant memory.) It was worth every penny, Howie. I’m tellin’ you. I think it saved me. I didn’t see her for fifteen months after that. When I came back I was a dad.

Howard: Different days back then.

Richard: Sure was. Now...they call us “the greatest generation” but I sure never felt heroic or spe-cial. Just did what I thought I should do.

Howard: (nodding in agreement) Yeah.

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Richard: I came back but I wasn’t the same man anymore! I’d changed. June had changed. I left behind a girl and I came back to a woman and a mother. She’d started working at the factory. The baby didn’t know me. Heck, it was hard for me to remember who I was, so I just moved on and tried to forget. Tried to start over again.

Howard: Yeah, I didn’t really talk about the war with anyone. Couldn’t find a way to put it into words, I guess. It seemed easier to forget about it.

Richard: You know my father fought in World War I, my son ended up in Vietnam—three tours of duty as a fighter pilot. Never have liked war, but I guess my family has lived through a lot of it anyway.

Howard: In spite of everything, I’ve always been thankful that I served. Thankful to have made it home too. We lost a lot of good men and boys over there. (Pause, then shakes himself) Anyway, (clearing throat, then immediately a more cheerful voice) I brought a surprise with me. I spent some time tracking down some old pictures of the guys. You remem-ber that ping pong tournament at the barracks?

Richard: Ha! Yes, I won the Betty Grable poster!

Howard: You stole the Betty Grable poster!

Richard: Did not! Won it fair and square!

Howard: I seem to recall it differently, Red!

Richard: (Clapping him on the back) Well now, Howie, I believe June has fixed us up a nice fresh pie and a fresh pot of coffee. Maybe we should take this discussion into the kitchen.

Howard: Do you mean to bribe me with your wife’s pie?

Richard: Well, it can’t hurt. She makes a mean pie.

Howard: Apple?

Richard: What else?

Howard: Alright, let’s go, but I aim to correct your faulty memory, pie or no pie!

(They get up, continue to talk and make their way into the kitchen.)

Richard: You know, we could settle this.

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Howard: How’s that?

Richard: There’s a pool table down at the VA.

Howard: Are you proposing a rematch?

Richard: Maybe...whaddaya say?

Howard: I say let’s talk about it over the pie.

Exit

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SCENE 2MY STORY

(Begins after page 42)If you would like to expand or personalize this scene, consider including other immigrant’s personal sto-ries. Ask 2 or 3 people to prepare some remarks ahead of time to share. If you are projecting names and birth cities make up a screen for each person speaking.

Open this scene by projecting the title “My Story” and character’s name and birth city on the screen:Julia H.Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Actor entersJulia: I’m Julia. I’m the daughter of Hungarian immigrants. I grew up in Johnstown, Pennsyl-

vania with my parents, my two brothers and my four sisters. I am proud of my parents. They were hard working people. After arriving in the United States, Dad worked the coal mines and my mother cleaned houses for any family who would hire her. I’m proud of my heritage and I’m proud to be an American too. Unlike others less fortunate, I was blessed to have been born here.

My mother came to America as a teenager. She was one of the 22 million immigrants who entered the country through Ellis Island and the Port of New York between 1892 and 1924. She spoke to me of her seasickness over the course of the voyage and the fact that she was all alone. When she arrived she immediately sought work as a housekeeper. She worked hard and long days.

My Dad would tell me stories about when he was a young boy growing up in Hungary. His parents left him, so he was raised by his grandparents. They never had much to eat. As soon as he was old enough to work, he got a job so he could help his grandparents out. When my grandparents died, my Father was a young man alone and Budapest at that time wasn’t a good place to be. It was a time of great political upheaval and being forced to join the Communist party was a real possibility. He had to consider leaving his homeland.

My Father had dreams of more schooling. He was mathematician but when he arrived here, he had to take whatever work he could find. In Johnstown men went to work in the coal mines. He never hid from his duties even though life was hard. He did whatever it took to feed his family.

My parents left Hungary because they wanted to raise a family in religious freedom, in a land of opportunity. As far back as I can remember, English and Slovak were both spoken equally in my home. Learning a new language and a new culture was very dif-ficult for them, but in spite of everything, they were glad to be here. I’m not sure that my mother ever saw her family again.

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I often think about how much courage it took them to leave everything behind and start a new life. I know it was hard. Sometimes they felt like underdogs but they always said they wouldn’t have traded their experiences. They gave me a better life. I’ll always be grateful for that.

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SCENE 3JUST AN EVERYDAY HERO

(Begins after page 49)This is the perfect opportunity to highlight the first responders of your congregation or community. Con-sider projecting their picture along with their name and vocation while this is being performed.

The dialogue should be seamless. Actors 1-3 are narrators. In much of the script they complete each other’s sentences.

Actor 4 represents a first responder. His/her stand can be set a apart a small distance from the stands of the narrators. This will create a visual to help the audience differentiate that character. Readers should be very familiar with the text in order to allow interaction. (You may choose to substitute the word “community” for brotherhood if you desire.)

Actor 1: Greater love has no one than this.

Actor 2: Than what?

Actor 3: That he lay down his life for his friends.

(Pause)

Actor 1: You are

Actor 3: a brotherhood (community) of heroes.

Actor 4: (shaking head) I’m just doing my job.

Actor 1: You are

Actor 3: a brotherhood (community) of courage.

Actor 4: What if my own children were in there?

Actor 1: You are

Actor 3: a brotherhood (community) of service.

Actor 4: Anyone would do the same.

Actor 2: And this gift that you give

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Actor 3: is etched on our hearts.

Actor 1: You humbly deny

Actor 2: countless acts of bravery,

Actor 4: When their world is crumbling they want to know— no, they need to know, is every-thing going to be alright?

Actor 3: of life laid down.

Actor 4: I see them searching my face for answers.

Actor 1: Day in

Actor 2: and day out.

Actor 3: Laid down.

Actor 1: When sleep is interrupted.

Actor 3: Laid down.

Actor 2: When life is threatened.

Actor 3: Laid down.

Actor 2: Amid ashes.

Actor 3: Laid down.

Actor 1: When others run away,

Actor 2: you run into danger.

Actor 4: (slowly, deliberately) It’s my job.

Actor 3: You are strong

Actor 1: when flames rage.

Actor 2: You are brave

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Actor 3: when fears paralyze.

Actor 1: You comfort

Actor 3: in the face of tears and pain.

Actor 1: And when life threatens to unravel

Actor 2: you are the hands and feet of God.

Actor 3: For greater love has no one than this.

Actor 1: Thank you

Actor 2: Thank you

Actor 3: Thank you

Actors: 1-3: For doing what you do.

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SCENE 4SIGN HERE FOR FREEDOM

(Begins after page 62)A man – age, late 60’s or older

The setting is flexible, however, keep it simple. You may choose to open the scene in a couple of different ways; As the lights come up, he can be seated in a worn, comfortable chair, an afghan draped across the back or perhaps he is seated at an old kitchen table writing. His tone should be warm, simple, honest and direct. He’s just “tellin’ his story.”

I have this story...when I was a boy—just thirteen years old, I had this history teacher, Mr. Sotola. Me? I was just a kid trying to get through a history class. Thirteen years old and I knew everything there was to know. You know how it is. But Mr. Sotola, he loved history. We all knew it. It wasn’t just all facts and dates to him. History was a story. It was his story, his family’s story. I didn’t realize it then, but Mr. Sotola, he didn’t look at America the same way I did. I took America for granted but for Mr. Sotola, living in America had saved his family.

We were in class one day working our way through the Declaration of Independence—all that flowery language about depots and revolution. A couple of us were being a little bit rowdy and in general not paying attention. After awhile Mr. Sotola, he got real quiet. It took a few minutes, but we finally noticed that he was just standing there, not saying anything. We all got kinda sheepish and looked at each other and got quieted down. We figured we were in big trouble. But he just looked at us with a steady gaze and said, “Gentlemen, you’re young and you don’t have much of your own history under your belts yet. But you will, and when you do it’ll change you, but until then I want you to know something and it’s this: if you don’t know from where you’ve come, you won’t know who you are and you won’t know where you should go. I want you to trust me when I tell you that it matters.”

Then he got kinda choked up. He stood up real straight and tall and suddenly he was John Adams talk-ing and today—today was the day that they signed that Declaration of Independence. (he stands, clears his throat, his tone changes as he begins to recite)

“Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence. But there’s a Divinity that shapes our ends…Why, then, should we defer the Declaration?...You and I, indeed, may rue it. We may not live to see the time when this Declaration shall be made good. We may die; die Colonists, die slaves, die, it may be, igno-miniously and on the scaffold.

Be it so. Be it so. If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready…. But while I do live, let me have a country, or at least the hope of a coun-try, and that a free country. But whatever may be our fate, be assured…that this Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood, but it will stand and it will richly compensate for both.

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