Change My Medication: 10 One-Act Plays

By Ky Rogers

In this collection of sensational one-act plays, acclaimed playwright and filmmaker Ky Rogers explores themes of regret, loss, and death. Ranging from the humorous to the horrific, the selections include "The Cat and the Viper", a meditation on art and violence; "To See", a story about a woman recently bl

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kyle Rogers
• Release date: Jun 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9798986539218

Book preview

The Cat and the Viper

CHARACTERS

LIRA – an artist of some renown, 30s

SCOTT – a man simmering with violence, 30s

SETTING

Lira’s studio.

A spacious studio. A blank canvas rests on an easel center stage. A large tarp is spread across the floor, covered in paint. Paint cans, brushes, palettes, more canvases, and the like are scattered around the room, almost at random.

LIRA, dressed in a splattered smock, stands back and stares at the blank canvas. After a moment of thought, she picks up a palette, dumps some paint on it, and begins to create. Throughout most of the rest of the play, she uses various abstract expressionist techniques—pouring and dripping paint, using her fingers and hands, etc.

There’s a loud, angry knock at the door.

LIRA: It’s open.

SCOTT enters.

SCOTT: … Hi.

LIRA: I’m busy.

SCOTT: I want to talk.

LIRA: I’m busy.

SCOTT: It’s been, what, a week?

LIRA: About that.

SCOTT: I don’t know what came over me.

LIRA: I said I’m busy.

SCOTT: I can see. Is that what they pay you for? Smears and drips of paint?

LIRA: That doesn’t sound like an apology.

SCOTT: I’m sorry.

LIRA: For?

SCOTT: I didn’t mean to insult your… your work.

LIRA: It sounded like…

SCOTT: What?

LIRA: Nothing.

SCOTT: It’s been rough.

LIRA: Oh?

SCOTT: It’s been rough.

LIRA: Things haven’t been great for me either.

SCOTT: It’s been worse for me.

LIRA: Oh?

SCOTT: I should’ve told you. I should’ve told you last week. What I’m about to tell you. I didn’t want to. I don’t want to. I know I shouldn’t hide it. I know that. But this is… I don’t know. I’m in a bad place.

LIRA: What are you talking about?

SCOTT: They… I got fired. Yeah. And I don’t know what I’m going to do.

LIRA: Get another job.

SCOTT: What?

LIRA: You should get another job.

SCOTT: Oh. Right. I just don’t know what.

LIRA: McDonald’s is always hiring. Isn’t that what you always tell me?

SCOTT: Sure, but I don’t… I need a real job.

LIRA: Okay. Find one.

SCOTT: It’s tough out there.

LIRA: Why?

SCOTT: Why is it tough out there?

LIRA: Why did you get fired?

SCOTT: I, um… I’ve been having trouble concentrating, and they… they said my work performance has… has dropped.

LIRA: Did they tell you beforehand?

SCOTT: No.

LIRA: I mean—did they give you a warning? Something like, Do better, or we’ll fire you.

SCOTT: Oh. Yeah.

LIRA: If they didn’t...

SCOTT: They did. They gave me this page that had all the times I’d been talked to about my performance.

LIRA: How many times did they talk to you?

SCOTT: Four.

LIRA: Four? You didn’t think you should do something different after the first three?

SCOTT: I got fired, I’m tired, it’s been hell, and I don’t want to talk about it. Can we not talk about it?

LIRA: You didn’t tell me...

SCOTT: I’m in a bad place, Lira.

LIRA: I can see that.

SCOTT: No. It’s, uh… everything is falling apart for me. Everything.

LIRA: Everything?

SCOTT: My job, my… you. I have the worst luck.

LIRA: Luck. Funny.

SCOTT: And then when my dad died…

LIRA: Is that relevant?

SCOTT: Of course it’s relevant.

LIRA: Okay.

SCOTT: Okay. You see? Bad things just keep happening to me.

LIRA: Bad things happen to everyone.

SCOTT: But not all at once. Not like this.

LIRA: And it’s just luck.

SCOTT: Bad luck.

LIRA: Nothing you could’ve done.

SCOTT: Well...

LIRA: Were you embarrassed?

SCOTT: No. About what?

LIRA: About losing your job.

SCOTT: No.

LIRA: Is that why you didn’t tell me?

SCOTT: I didn’t want to make you worry.

LIRA: Ah. Better to just surprise me.

SCOTT: You know where we’re at. Who knows if we’ll make rent next month? I didn’t want to make you worry.

LIRA: I’ll make rent.

SCOTT: I don’t know if we... what does that mean?

LIRA: It means I’ll make rent.

SCOTT: You don’t make that much.

LIRA: I make enough.

SCOTT: You sure about that?

LIRA: Enough to cover the studio.

SCOTT: Which you’ll probably have to get rid of.

LIRA: No. That won’t happen.

SCOTT: So we can keep the apartment.

LIRA: Why would I want to keep the apartment?

SCOTT: So we have a place to live.

LIRA: Why do you keep saying we?

SCOTT: Come on. You’re not serious, right?

LIRA: I think I am.

SCOTT: Come on. You don’t mean that.

LIRA: I think we should just leave with what we came in with, don’t you? Save money on lawyers. Keep it simple. I’ll get my things, you keep the apartment—if you can afford it…

SCOTT: You’re punishing me.

LIRA: You think it’s an empty threat?

SCOTT: You love me.

LIRA: I love you.

SCOTT: So you’re not leaving.

LIRA: I’m leaving.

SCOTT: Come on.

LIRA: It’s over.

SCOTT: Come on. Don’t say that.

LIRA: It seems to me that people generally change for the better for the first twenty or so years of their life—that is, they progressively become better and better. Twenty-five years at the most. But once someone’s in their twenties, their late twenties, they stop. Adults never change for the better. Adults only change for the worse.

SCOTT: Not true at all.

LIRA: True.

SCOTT: You’re generalizing.

LIRA: It’s a generalization, sure, but as far as generalizations go...

SCOTT: You’re wrong.

LIRA: I think I’m in love with who you were; not who you are now.

SCOTT: I haven’t changed. I was just in a bad situation.

LIRA: Everyone gets into bad situations. That doesn’t mean they change.

SCOTT: Why don’t you sleep at the apartment tonight and we can have dinner and talk everything over?

LIRA: I’m not sleeping under the same roof as you ever again.

SCOTT: Come on.

LIRA: You really don’t believe me, do you?

SCOTT: No.

LIRA: See that envelope over there? Open it.

SCOTT goes to a desk where a large envelope rests, stuffed with a large pile of papers. He pulls the papers out and starts to read.

SCOTT: … What is this?

LIRA: I think you know.

SCOTT: What is it?

LIRA: It’s a contract.

SCOTT: To do what?

LIRA: To end another contract.

SCOTT: Another...

LIRA: They’re divorce papers. I was hoping we could avoid lawyers as much as possible. Which makes sense for you, considering you’re unemployed.

SCOTT: No.

LIRA: No?

SCOTT: We’re not getting divorced. Come on.

LIRA: We can do it the cheap way, or we can do it the expensive way.

SCOTT tears the divorce papers up.

LIRA: I have another copy. Technically, as many copies as I want. Since he emailed it to me.

SCOTT: He?

LIRA: The attorney. I paid for the contract.

SCOTT: You paid for this?

LIRA: Don’t worry; it was out of my own account.

SCOTT: I can’t believe you wasted your money on this.

LIRA: Not a waste.

SCOTT: Did you know?

LIRA: Know what?

SCOTT: That I got fired?

LIRA: No.

SCOTT: No?

LIRA: No.

SCOTT: No way. I don’t believe you. It was just a tap.

LIRA: A tap? What are you talking about?

SCOTT: I wasn’t even trying to hit you. I was trying to hit the wall.

LIRA: The wall.

SCOTT: Yeah. I just… I was angry and I missed.

LIRA: You missed the wall.

SCOTT: Yeah.

LIRA: I was nowhere near the wall.

SCOTT: You know what I mean.

LIRA: What do you mean?

SCOTT: I was punching air. Punching beside you.

LIRA: So you missed the air?

SCOTT: You’re taking me out of context.

LIRA: I’m just trying to understand.

SCOTT: It was one time.

LIRA: I’ve had to put pounds of extra makeup on for almost two weeks. I look like a teenager who got her first makeup kit. And that’s still better than showing off the bruise.

SCOTT: You didn’t get bruised.

LIRA: Oh?

SCOTT: I mean, maybe a little. But it was an accident. Come on.

LIRA: It’s over.

SCOTT: It was an accident.

LIRA: Can you step back?

SCOTT: Do you have to be painting while I’m trying to talk to you?

LIRA: I was painting first. You’re the one interrupting me.

SCOTT: It’s our marriage, for Christ’s sake. Not some dribbles on a canvas.

LIRA: Dribbles on a canvas…

SCOTT: Yeah. What, you think that’s important? You think anyone cares about that?

LIRA: I care about it.

SCOTT: It doesn’t mean anything. It’s nothing.

LIRA: It’s not nothing.

SCOTT: Okay. Tell me what it is.

LIRA: What the painting is?

SCOTT: Yeah. What’s it a painting of? A