B-Sides: Track ElevenA Stage Play by Kevin Scene Eleven of Eleven. "A twenty-seven year old despondent writer and a sixteen year old musician form a profound attachment to each other through their love of David Bowie."
TRACK ELEVEN [Josh is standing on the
stage with the lights on him. More lights come up to reveal Sarah standing in
the room with him.] JOSH Sarah, we need to talk. SARAH What is it? JOSH I just got off the phone with Clive’s father. SARAH No. JOSH He’s gone, Sarah. SARAH Don’t say that. JOSH He’s dead. SARAH What happened? JOSH He was in a hotel room in Moscow, and the…the
maid found him in the tub. He had… SARAH Don’t… [She sits down. Wiping the
beginnings of tears from her eyes.] [Pause] JOSH Did you find the check he left you? SARAH Yeah. JOSH How much was on it? SARAH Thirty. JOSH Thousand? SARAH Yeah. JOSH I had no idea he was sitting on that kind of
money. SARAH Neither did I. JOSH I knew this would happen. SARAH We both did, we tried to help him. JOSH I know. I know that. It’s just…Jesus Christ,
what an a*****e. [Pause] SARAH How was his father doing? JOSH He seemed pretty calm. Considering… [Pause] SARAH What happens now? JOSH He’s gonna have to fly up to identify the
body. SARAH So it could not be him, right? They could be
mistaken, it could be someone else- JOSH It’s him. SARAH So, does his father fly back down with his
body? We never get to see him again? JOSH Actually, I talked to him about it, and we
both agreed that he should be cremated and brought back here. SARAH For what? JOSH Clive always wanted…he always wanted, if he
died, to have the urn with his ashes in it tied to a brick and tossed over the
side of the Golden Gate. He said he wanted all his family and friends to,
whenever they see that bridge, to think of him. SARAH He would say something like that. JOSH Right? Always the writer. Everything was
f*****g poetry to him and he…he never… [Josh’s composure breaks and he bursts into
sobs] I couldn’t…I couldn’t save him, Sarah. I
tried to save him…and I couldn’t. [Sarah
gets up to comfort Josh.] SARAH You did everything you could. You know you
did. He made his choice; we have to respect that. JOSH I hate him so much. SARAH Clive wouldn’t want us getting upset over
him, especially not you. You were his best friend. He loved you. Okay? JOSH Okay. SARAH He’s in a better place right now. He was
having such a hard time, but now…he’s not hurting anymore. He’s free. [Josh composes himself again.] JOSH You’re right. SARAH So what do we do now? JOSH I’ll start calling people who knew him in
college. They should probably know. People he worked with also. I’ll just say
that he passed, not that he… SARAH What about Mayya? JOSH F**k, I completely forgot. Jesus, I don’t
think I have the heart to tell her. SARAH I’ll go with you. JOSH You don’t have to. SARAH No, I should go. She should know what
happened. [The lights fade on them and
go up on Mayya, sitting downstage playing Josh’s brother’s acoustic guitar. She
plays Bowie’s Rock’n’Roll Suicide. Tears stream down her cheeks.] MAYYA “Time takes a
cigarette, puts it in your mouth You pull on
your finger, then another finger, then your cigarette The
wall-to-wall is calling, it lingers, then you forget Oh, oh, oh,
oh, you’re a rock’n’roll suicide” [As Mayya plays the song,
the lights come on upstage to reveal a man, sitting at a table by himself,
nursing a drink, with his head in his hands. Clive slowly walks in. He pulls a
photograph out of his back pocket then looks at the man. He approaches the
table and sits opposite him. Out of his jacket pocket, Clive produces a folder
and hands it to the man. Suspiciously, the man takes the folder. He peers into
it and looks back at Clive in shock. Clive leans in to inform the man about the
contents of the folder.] “You’re too
old to lose it, too young to choose it And the clocks
wait so patiently on your song You walk past
a café but you don’t eat when you’ve lived too long Oh, no, no,
no, you’re a rock’n’roll suicide” [The man quickly gets up and
hurries out offstage. Clive sits back in the chair for a moment, then gets up
and slowly exits the stage as well, glancing back at Mayya for a second, then
leaving. The lights fade upstage.] “Chev brakes
are snarling as you stumble across the road [The man from the bar
appears in the stage left door and looks at Mayya in disbelief. She finishes
the song] “Oh, no, love,
you’re not alone” [Sensing the man’s presence,
Mayya slowly turns around to face him.] MAN FROM BAR Mayya? MAYYA Dad? [Mayya sets the guitar down
and runs to her father. Her father picks her up and twirls her around and
kisses her on the cheek. He kneels beside his daughter and gently brushes her
hair, speaking to her silently. The lights fade on them.] [The lights come up on the
opposite side with Josh sitting at a table drinking a beer by himself. Sarah
walks in holding a beer and sits down with him.] JOSH Seriously, I could have bought you one. It’s
no big deal. SARAH Don’t worry about it. You can pay for the
next round if you’re so eager to be gentlemanly. JOSH I am, so I will. SARAH This bar kinda sucks. JOSH Hey, watch it. A lot of great conversations
have been made at this fine hall of beers and liquors. It’s a haven, if you
will, for all that is right in the world. A beacon of hope. Plus, on Tuesdays
they have like three dollar Guinness’s. SARAH I like it. JOSH This place brings back a lot of memories for
me. It was the first bar I never got ID’d in. It was the bar we frequented in
my college days. I even broke up a fight between two guys, right over there, a
couple years ago. A bar fight! How badass is that? It’s good to have a place
that you can back to. A place that no matter how much you change, it always
stays the same. [Josh takes his phone out of
his pocket and checks it.] SARAH Who’s texting you? JOSH Mayya. SARAH How’s she doing? JOSH She’s good. Loving Russia; I don’t know how
though with all the f*****g snow. SARAH You just say that cus you’ve never been out
of California. JOSH No, I haven’t. And I don’t need to; it’s the
cradle of civilization. Who would ever want to leave a place like this? SARAH What did she have to say? JOSH The newspaper in the town she’s living in
published an article about her. She’s become quite the popular musician in her
homeland. SARAH Good for her. JOSH Je lui souhaite la meilleure des chances. SARAH Did your girlfriend teach you that? JOSH Yes, she did.
[Pause] SARAH It’s been a year. JOSH Let’s make a toast. SARAH To what? JOSH To Clive…and rolling down hills. [Spotlight on Mayya as she
plugs her guitar into an amp, and sets up her art stands around her.] SARAH What? JOSH When we were in college, we had gotten wasted
at Chinatown park and we were walking back to the dorms and Clive thought it
was a good idea to try and get to Market Street by lying on his back and
rolling down the hills. SARAH Oh god. JOSH And I tried to convince him that it probably
wasn’t the best idea but he kept telling me, “No, man, it’s what Hemingway
would do if he was in this situation.” And I was like, “I’m pretty sure
Hemingway would just walk down like a normal person.” And this went on for
about half an hour until he finally caved in and walked down the hill
regularly. SARAH Sounds like Clive. He was always a little bit
crazy. JOSH No, he was a f*****g rock star. [Lights fade on them as
Mayya begins to play Ziggy Stardust.] MAYYA “Ziggy played
guitar Jamming good
with weird and gilly and the Spiders from Mars He played it
left hand but made it too far Became the
special man, then we were Ziggy’s band Ziggy really
sang Screwed up
eyes and screwed down hairdo like some cat from Japan He could lick
‘em by smiling, he could leave ‘em to hang They came on
so loaded man, well-hung and snow-white tan “So where were
the spiders while the fly tried to break our balls Just the beer
light to guide us So we bitched
about his fans and should we crush his sweet hands?” [From stage right, Clive enters
and stops in his tracks by the sight of Mayya. He watches her play.] “Ziggy played
for time, jiving us that we were voodoo The kids were
just crass, he was the nazz With god given
a*s He took it all
too far, but boy could he play guitar Making love with
his ego, Ziggy sucked up into his mind Like a leper
messiah When the kids
had killed the man I had to break up the band” [Clive gives her a big round of applause as Mayya finishes. Mayya begins to tune and fiddle with her guitar and looks over at Clive.] MAYYA Thank you. CLIVE That was amazing. MAYYA You like Bowie? CLIVE I f*****g love him. [points to his shirt.] Obviously. [pointing to the art stands.] You selling artwork? MAYYA Yeah, its five dollars for a painting and you
get a free song as well. Your choice. CLIVE What songs do you know? MAYYA A lot of Bowie, he’s my favorite. And uh…Pink
Floyd. Zeppelin. Creedence. Classic stuff, you know? CLIVE Right on. [Pause] Well, you know what? I’m completely spent on
cash right now, but if I had five dollars I would certainly buy a painting off
of you. MAYYA That’s okay. [Pause] What’s your name? CLIVE It’s Clive. MAYYA I’m Mayya. [They shake hands.] CLIVE Well…it’s nice to meet you, Mayya. [The lights fade.] END OF PLAY © 2013 KevinAuthor's Note
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Added on April 19, 2013 Last Updated on April 19, 2013 Tags: Play, Theatre, Drama, David Bowie, Music Author
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