I Am For You

By Mieko Ouchi

Fighting words . . .

Lainie and Mariam have it out for each other, so it’s no surprise when they finally come to violent blows in the middle of their high school’s drama room. That’s when Caddell Morris, an ex-professional actor and newly minted student teacher, steps in. By teaching the girls the art of stage combat, he hopes to help them understand more about the roots and costs of violence. But when he convinces the drama teacher to let them play Mercutio and Tybalt in their school production of Romeo and Juliet, swords, words, and egos battle and clash. Can they find a way to work together?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Release date: Oct 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781770915138

Mieko Ouchi

Mieko is a playwright, actor, and director working in theatre, film, and television. Her plays, which include The Red Priest (Eight Ways To Say Goodbye), The Blue Light, The Dada Play, Nisei Blue, and I Am For You have been nominated for several awards, including the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama and the City of Edmonton Book Prize. Mieko has also been the recipient of both the Carol Bolt Award and the Enbridge playRites Award for an Established Canadian Playwright. Her plays have been produced across Canada and the US and are translated into French, Russian, Czech, Greek, and Japanese. Mieko is co-founder and current Artistic Director of Concrete Theatre, a nationally recognized twenty-six-year-old TYA touring company. She is currently working on several new projects for young people, families and adults: The Silver Arrow, Burning Mom, Consent, and Mariam with Amena Shehab. She lives and works in Edmonton.

Book preview

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mercutio

Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?

tybalt

What wouldst thou have with me?

mercutio

Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine

lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and as you

shall use me hereafter, drybeat the rest of the

eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pitcher

by the ears? Make haste, lest mine be about your

ears ere it be out.

tybalt

I am for you.

They fight.

Contents

Production History

Characters

I Am For You

Acknowledgements

About The Author

Production History

I Am For You was premiered by Concrete Theatre (Edmonton, Alberta) on November 12, 2013, with the following cast and crew:

Lainie: Samantha Jeffery

Mariam: Patricia Cerra

Caddell Morris: Jonathan Purvis

Directed by Mieko Ouchi

Set, Props, and Lighting Design by Patrick Beagan

Costume Design by Mieko Ouchi

Sound Design by Dave Clarke

Stage Managed by Rachel Rudd

Touring Technical Support by Josiah Hiemstra

The playwright acknowledges the assistance of the 2013 Banff Playwrights Colony—a partnership between The Banff Centre and the Canada Council for the Arts.

The playwright also acknowledges the support of the Enbridge playRites Award for an Established Canadian Playwright and the NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival.

Characters

Lainie: seventeen, a fighter

Mariam: seventeen, a fencer

Caddell Morris: twenty-seven, a student teacher, Voice of Benvolio, Voice of Lord Capulet.

A high school drama room. The present.

I Am For You

Two girls appear. Opposite sides of the stage. They look out at the audience.

lainie:

I don’t know how it starts.

mariam:

I don’t know why it happens.

lainie:

But sometimes I get this tiny feeling inside.

mariam:

It’s there. All the time. I feel it.

both:

Judgment.

lainie:

I hate it when people make assumptions about me.

mariam:

I hate it.

lainie:

When that happens, that tiny feeling . . . it starts to build.

mariam:

It grows and grows until I feel like I’m going to burst.

lainie:

And all I can think is.

mariam:

I know what they’re thinking.

lainie:

I can see it in their eyes.

mariam:

But they don’t know me.

lainie:

They don’t know me at all.

both:

And then all it takes . . .

lainie: 

. . . is a look.

mariam: 

. . . or a word.

lainie: 

. . . or a brush.

mariam: 

. . . or a push.

lainie:

And it’s on.

mariam:

It’s so on.

They fight. Vicious. Messy. Not a girl fight.

caddell

appears. Instantly, the fight freezes.

Shift.

caddell:

The funny thing is . . . I woke up this morning and thought to myself . . . this is the beginning. The first day of the next stage of my life. I won’t lie, it’s been a hard road getting here . . . but for the first time in a long time, I can honestly say . . . I feel . . . truly excited. Standing at the bottom of a mountain looking up, yeah, but ready . . . I think. I hope. I guess we’ll see.

I have my first official coffee meeting with the drama teacher, Mrs. Lee. She seems excited to have someone with my theatre skills on board for a practicum. The timing’s perfect. She needs help on their fall production of Romeo and Juliet. We talk plans for rehearsal. Unbelievable. Talk through some workshops I can lead with the cast and some of her classes. Amazing. Talk about her vision of the play. Fantastic . . .

Then she asks me for one small favour.

She asks if I can go supervise the Drama Club after school for a half-hour. They know what they’re supposed to do. Just needs someone in the room to oversee until she gets there. I say no problem. Easy. I’m on top of it.

I mean, honestly, how hard can it be to supervise some kids painting some flats,