Miss You Like Hell

By Quiara Alegría Hudes and Erin McKeown

“This is a fresh take on the American road story, filled with people and ideas we rarely get to see onstage…It offers two seriously rich roles for women, each with important things worth singing about…Miss You Like Hell is a powerful example of what musicals do best: explore the unprotected border where individual needs and social issues intermix.” —Jesse Green, New York Times

A troubled teenager and her estranged mother—an undocumented Mexican immigrant on the verge of deportation—embark on a road trip and strive to mend their frayed relationship along the way. Combined with the musical talent of Erin McKeown, Hudes artfully crafts a story of the barriers and the bonds of family, while also addressing the complexities of immigration in today’s America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Release date: Nov 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781559369039

Quiara Alegría Hudes

Quiara Alegría Hudes is the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Water by the Spoonful and the author of a memoir, My Broken Language. She wrote the book for the Tony-winning Broadway musical In the Heights and later adapted it for the screen. Her notable essays include 'High Tide of Heartbreak' in American Theatre magazine and 'Corey Couldn't Take It Anymore' in The Cut. As a prison reform activist, Hudes and her cousin founded Emancipated Stories, a platform where people behind bars can share one page of their life story with the world. She lives with her family in New York but frequently returns to her native Philly.

Book preview

Scene 1

LIONESS (PROLOGUE)

The band rocks out.

ENSEMBLE:

MMM AH, MMM AH

MMM AH, MMM AH

MMM AH, MMM AH

MMM AH, MMM AH

YOU CAN DO THIS, YOU CAN DO THIS

YOU CAN DO THIS, YOU CAN DO THIS

YOU CAN DO THIS, YOU CAN DO THIS

YOU CAN DO THIS, YOU CAN DO THIS

(Into:)

Scene 2

Night. Beatriz prays.

LIONESS (PRAYER)

BEATRIZ:

I AM A LIONESS

I AM A WARRIOR

I AM A LIONESS

I AM A WARRIOR

I AM THE BEAST WHO ATE ITS FOOT OUT THE TRAP

IT’S A BATTLE IT’S NATURAL TO FIGHT YOUR WAY BACK

ONE MILE AT A TIME CLOSER TO GRACE

SHE IS ON THE HORIZON, HER FACE

BE WITH ME ANCESTORS

BE WITH ME WITCHY WITCHES

I CALL UPON THE FEMININE DIVINE

YO, BACK ME UP BITCHES

(Texting) Are you awake? Yoo hoo. Look out your window.

(Olivia appears in a window, above.)

OLIVIA: Beatriz?

BEATRIZ: ¡Mi hija sagrada, que belleza!

OLIVIA: Why are you in Philly?

BEATRIZ: Baja, come down!

OLIVIA: It’s four in the morning.

BEATRIZ: I drove by for a visit, hija.

OLIVIA: From California?

BEATRIZ: I miss you like hell, my bones hurt, Olivia, because you’re not at my side.

OLIVIA: Does Dad know you’re here?

BEATRIZ: Do not wake him, ¿me oyes? Get your butt out here, where’s my hug?

(Olivia disappears back inside. A moment later she emerges onto the sidewalk, unkempt in ratty black pj’s.)

OLIVIA: Hi.

BEATRIZ: Que dios te bendiga, que dios te cuide, que dios te ampare. (A barrage of kisses) Cariño, I don’t bite. (Sniffing) Gracias a dios, you still smell like a teenager.

OLIVIA: What is this?

BEATRIZ: I used to change your poopy diapers and think I was in a rose garden.

OLIVIA: It’s been four years.

BEATRIZ: They ripped you from my arms …

OLIVIA: Ancient history, Beatriz.

BEATRIZ: Seven days, hija. You and me, on the road, in my truck, windows rolled down. One week with my Shakespeare–Patti Smith–Pablo Neruda of a daughter. If you would do me the honor.

OLIVIA: It’s like I’m being flattered and kidnapped all at once.

BEATRIZ: A woman can’t kidnap her own child. The universe doesn’t work that way.

OLIVIA: The legal system does. This is weird, Beatriz. Come after school. We’ll grab slices and get caught up.

BEATRIZ: I am caught up. You think you’re some literary castaway. You love James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg and thinly veiled suicide threats. Lift up your shirt.

OLIVIA: Excuse me?

BEATRIZ: Is it still there? Show me your belly. I saw that blog of yours. Last week? You sharpied should I jump off the Ben Franklin Bridge on your stomach?

OLIVIA: My blog is anonymous.

BEATRIZ: I found it very quickly. Thank god one person responded no. I called your father, asked if he’d send you to California. She has school. This isn’t the plan. So I got in my truck and drove like a bat out of hell. Does he