GIRLS NIGHT
ACT I
SCENE I
SETTING
Living room set up in a theatre style; one side of the room has easy chairs on a higher level and an L-Shaped green sofa on the floor in front of the raised level. The furniture is all facing the opposite wall where a large oak entertainment center sits with a big screen TV sits. On the right hand side there is a fire place with a fire burning bright. Littered across the floor in front of the TV are several DVD’s. Strewn across the floor by the sofa are bags and bags of an assortment of candy. On a little table next to the sofa are three boxes of pizza, four liters of pop, and paper plates. There are four women in the scene; a mother and her three daughters. An outsider can tell that they are related, not by how they look but how they act with each other. They are all sitting on the green sofa; Beth is sitting off to the side by herself, Mom is sitting more in the middle of all the girls, April and Amber are sitting very close to each other with their arms linked together. They are all chatting with one another.
TIME
Ten thirty p.m. Winter of 2007.
CHARACTERS
MOM: is about 5’4” with very short, poofy light red hair. She has a face built to smile, a very motherly, caring look on her face-with twinkling blue eyes. Her hands are rough; she is a working woman who knows the importance of hard work. She is overweight wearing a button up shirt with floral print on it and matching pants.
BETH: The oldest daughter, she is twenty four years of age. She is 5’2”, overweight, and her clothes don’t match or fit right. Her hair is chin length, a mousy brown color, she did nothing with it but brushed it, and it is greasy. She has a very round face covered in pimples, and she has bright purple round glasses.
APRIL: The second oldest daughter, she is twenty three. She is the tallest out of the girls reaching at a height of 5’7”. She has short dirty blonde hair with bangs. She is lounging on the sofa in matching cute sweats, and she has a slight bulge on her stomach because she is pregnant. She has light make-up on an ashen face-ashen because she has a very aggressive virus that could become cancerous.
AMBER: The baby girl of the family she is only eighteen. She has medium length auburn hair with side swept bangs; she took the time to style her hair. Height wise she falls in between Beth and her mom at 5’3”. Her make-up is well done, and she has wire rimmed glasses. She is kind of pudgy; her weight isn’t as noticeable as Beth’s because Amber dresses stylishly.
APRIL: (Reaches up to scratch her nose, and then pulls her blanket more snuggly around herself.) I’m so glad you thought of this Amber; a girl’s night is exactly what we need.
AMBER: (Tucks the blanket more securely around where April can’t reach) Of course- I’ve missed you girlies. We haven’t even seen each other let alone had a girls night in ages. April, you really are gorgeous you know that? (AMBER whispers in APRILS ear so that no one else will hear) You are the prettiest out of us you know that don’t you?
APRIL: (blushes and shakes her head) That’s sweet of you Ambs.
MOM: (looks around at each of her daughters and sighs in happiness. She isn’t aware of APRIL and AMBERS whispered conversation.) Well I’m just glad all three of you are here, I don’t care what you girls want to do, as long as we’re together.
BETH: What are we gonna do? (She looks slightly perplexed thinking they might ask her for an idea.)
AMBER: Oh, I’ve got lots of ideas of what to do! (She starts to tap her fingers as she lists different ideas.) We can do make-over’s-silly or glamorous-we’ll have to take pictures of course. We can do our nails, there are lots of chick flicks we’ve wanted to watch, we can play games, and we can always talk. There are so many things we can do! I’m excited for tonight. (Amber finishes this with a huge grin on her face.)
APRIL: Did you get the candy necklaces though?
AMBER: Of course I got them. (She rifles through three sacks before she finds what she is looking for. She grabs the candy necklaces and hands one out to everyone.) Did you really think I would forget? April, you and I always have to have candy necklaces on our girls night-its tradition.
APRIL: (Takes the necklace and puts it on quickly) Well I just had to check.
BETH: (Takes the candy necklace and puts it on, just because APRIL and AMBER are.) I don’t remember why you guys like these things so much, they don’t even taste that great.
MOM: (Looks at the necklace and hands it back to AMBER) Give it to one of your younger brothers. I don’t really like them.
AMBER: (Takes the necklace back from MOM and puts it back in one of the sacks filled with candy) Beth, we don’t eat them silly, we shoot them at people and each other. (AMBER turns to talk to APRIL) We have a lot of good memories with these. (She says this with a glint in her eye and a very mischievous smile on her face.)
APRIL: (She starts to laugh, and has a huge grin on her face as she turns to reply AMBER) I know we do! That’s why I wanted to make sure you got them. Remember the time we were driving down Main Street and we shot them at people on the sidewalk? WE never managed to actually hit someone, but it was still fun to try.
MOM: (Looks mildly indignant and speaks in a rebuking tone.) I can’t believe you girls did that. What if you would have hit someone, what would you have done then?
BETH: (Leans forward and speaks before APRIL and AMBER can say anything.) How do you shoot people with the candy necklace?
AMBER: (Unlinks her arm from APRIL’S and turns her body so she is facing BETH more.) It’s really easy, all you do is bite the circle candy in half, you eat the part you bite off; then with the rest you keep it on the string as best as you can. Put it behind your teeth, then push it out with the string. (She demonstrates what she is saying so that BETH will understand better.) It’s simple.
APRIL: (Touches AMBER’s arm as she begins speaking) Now that we have our candy necklaces, can we eat the pizza and watch a movie?
MOM: (Reaches over to get the boxes of pizza and the paper plates on top of the boxes.) Excellent idea, I’m hungry. What movie do you want to watch first? (APRIL and AMBER look at each other and at the exact same time say “Connie and Carla!” then giggle uncontrollably. BETH rolls her eyes and digs into her pizza.)
AMBER: (Gets up to put the movie in, and fills up two glasses of pop for her and APRIL. Crosses the room to go sit back down by APRIL.) The guys in this movie are way good at make-up; it’s a great inspiration to do some silly make-up later. (She turns to look at BETH) Hey, maybe tonight I can show you how to do a few simple things so that you can do your own make-up. Whaddya think?
BETH: (shrugs her shoulders and keeps chewing until she can swallow.) Maybe. Is all that she will say, and she says it in a very noncommittal way. (MOM gives AMBER a look that says, be patient and nice- AMBER just nods her head to say ok.)
The movie starts and the women all snuggle in to get very comfortable. APRIL leans her head on AMBERS shoulder. BETH finished a whole pizza by herself so she crosses the room to throw away the empty pizza box. MOM listens to see if any of her other children or if her husband calls her. Once she is satisfied that she isn’t needed anywhere else, and that APRIL is comfortable then she gives the TV her whole attention. The lights dim out for a moment; come back on, time has passed and the movie is over.
ACT I
SCENE II
The credits from the movie are playing on the TV. Half of the pop is gone; there are wrappers from candy all over on the floor and sitting by the garbage can from attempts to throw the wrappers in. Beth has fallen asleep- she wasn’t very interested in the movie. Mom is chuckling because it was the first time she had seen the movie. April and Amber are still snuggled up together. Connie and Carla is “their” movie which made tonight even more special to them that they were able to watch it together.
AMBER: (Stretches and pats her stomach.) Oh my land. I absolutely love that movie. I can totally see you and me doing something like that April! My poor stomach though, I ate so much junk food!
APRIL: (Looks up so that she can see AMBERS face, and APRIL does a full body stretch to loosen up.) I know, I can totally see us doing something crazy like that, we’d just do it better! We really need to take a road trip sometime!
MOM: (Takes a drink of Diet Pepsi and picks crumbs off of her shirt and pants.) Isn’t that going to be a little difficult now that you are married, pregnant, and might have cervical cancer April? Amber has college now too, I don’t think it’d be very advisable if you two tried to plan a road trip now. You both are starting out on your new lives, it might be too stressful if you try to plan something like that.
BETH: (slowly blinks her eyes open, takes a huge yawn and raises her head off of the sofa to look around.) Is the movie over? What are we talking about?
AMBER: (quickly replies with a hasty look at APRIL and MOM) The movie just got over and we were just talking about if we should do makeovers tonight or do them tomorrow when we can have the make-up on all day. Personally, I think it’d be way fun if we did it tomorrow and got dressed up and went shopping or something. What do you guys think?
MOM: (gives AMBER a grateful look for not thinking so quickly) I think that is a great idea Amber and I think we are all very tired tonight anyways. Tomorrow sounds like the perfect time to get all dolled up.
APRIL: So are we all going to bed right now then?
BETH: Well I’m pretty tired from work, so if I could go to bed before 1:00 A.M. then that would be great for me. (BETH looks at her watch as she is speaking to APRIL.)
MOM: (Checks her watch as well.) I don’t care what you and Amber do April, but Beth and I are going to go to bed. You guys can stay up, but you two had better be happy tomorrow. I don’t want to spend the day with two cranky girls alright?
APRIL: (makes a movement with her hand in a dismissal kind of way.) Of course we’ll be happy, Amber is our own little ray of sunshine, and there are lots to be happy about. Tomorrow will be lots of fun, don’t worry about it Mom.
AMBER: (Tries to stifle a yawn, but it doesn’t work and AMBER yawns anyways.) I wish I could stay up late with ya sis, but I’m pretty wiped out. The drive up here from college kind of takes it out of me; and I’ve been staying up late the last few days as well. I think it’d be smarter if I went to bed now too.
APRIL: But you’re my Baby Girl, you gotta stay with me Ambs.
AMBER: I wish I could, but I really am wiped out, and I think that Tom is up waiting for you anyways. I’m sure he could use the sleep as well. . .
MOM: (Stands up to get ready to go to bed.) Don’t worry April, there will be time to watch the movies tomorrow. I really think it’d be healthier for you to get some sleep. With all that your body is going through you need the sleep more than the rest of us do. You need to get over your sickness, and you need to take care of your baby.
AMBER: (Stands up and starts to clean up all of the wrappers on the floor.) Mom is right Ril-Ril. There is plenty of time tomorrow.
BETH: (Gets up and starts to walk out of the room.) Well I don’t care what you guys decide to do, I’m exhausted. I’m going to bed. Good night and sweet dreams everybody. (There is a chorus of “goodnights” as AMBER, APRIL, and MOM say goodnight back to Beth.)
APRIL: (Puts her hand out so that AMBER can help pull her up into a standing position.) Alright, alright. I can see when I’m outnumbered. We’ll just do it all tomorrow then. Amber, could you just help me up the stairs so that I can get ready for bed?
AMBER:(Pulls APRIL into a standing position and steadies her when she is standing. AMBER doesn’t take her hand off of APRILS arm. They slowly make their way to the doorway where the stairs are.) Of course I’ll help you, you silly girl-you didn’t even need to ask.
There are random candy wrappers on the sofa and carpet, the pizza is all gone, and there is hardly any pop left. Several blankets are tumbled into a tangled mess. As they leave the living room the lights dim and their voices fade into nothingness.
