Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft.
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PROJECT TEAM ZOOM CALL, JUNE 2020
By Mark Perry
KEVIN, a white guy, sits on a
stool SR. He has a cup of coffee
and seems fidgety, maybe a bit
miffed. He checks his phone a
couple of times, maybe goes
through social media feed. There
are two others stools, empty for
the moment, one CS and one SL.
JOSH, a Black man, enters and
sits on the SL stool. KEVIN
notices when he enters, but it
takes a moment before he speaks
to him. This is the stage
equivalent of entering a Zoom
call.
KEVIN
Hey Josh, how are you doing?
JOSH
Hey.
KEVIN
You're not early for once.
JOSH
Uh huh.
KEVIN
You know how we usually show up early, have our talks, shoot
the breeze before Mariana joins.
JOSH
Right.
KEVIN
I thought today would be a great day...
(holding up coffee)
Got my Dunkin goin!--donuts are long gone, but then you
weren't here, so I was like... oh, okay.
JOSH nods.
KEVIN
Cause I've been thinking about you and how you're doing right
now, you know?
JOSH
Hold on.
He holds up a "profile" picture of
himself in front of his face. It
has a Black Lives Matter theme.
KEVIN
Oh okay, no problem. You need a minute, you take it.
(sips coffee)
Got the new profile image, I see.
(drums fingers, waits)
Are you there? Did you like get up and go to the bathroom?
No response from JOSH.
KEVIN
Technically, this is your work time, buddy.
(laughs)
Get to your desk. Work, work, work.
(makes the sound of a whip)
Just kidding. I realize that might have sounded a little off.
But are you there?
JOSH
(still holding picture)
I'm just texting Mariana to see where she is.
KEVIN
Yeah she's usually right on time, right on the button. Has
she responded? Wait, was she going in to the office today? I
wouldn't go down there if you paid me double. Do you know?
JOSH
(purposefully even)
I don't know.
KEVIN
Hey, are you purposely staying with video off? I mean, I get
nervous that, you know, people are, like, giving me the
finger off camera.
(laughs)
JOSH
I'm not giving you the finger.
KEVIN
Yeah yeah, I know, but is everything all right?
JOSH puts down the photo (i.e.,
comes back on video).
JOSH
Is everything all right? No. But I also don't want to talk
about it.
KEVIN
Whoa. Hey Josh, I'm your friend. Whatever it is, you can tell
me. We need to talk about these things, especially with
everything going on right now, we need to share the burden,
don't let ourselves get isolated, depressed, whatever. Takes
a village, right?
JOSH
All due respect, Kevin, this is work. I'm here to communicate
how things are going with our project and... we'll leave it
at that.
KEVIN
Wow. Okay.
(nods)
But I just want to make sure you're not thinking of me just
as, like a... "work colleague", but like a friend, cause I
consider you a friend, a good friend. I tell other people my
friend at work, Josh, so you don't see me like that?
JOSH
I'm not saying that, Kevin. I'm saying this is work, and
right now I need to concentrate on work.
KEVIN
Oh okay. Gotcha. Yeah I gotcha.
JOSH
And still no word from our team leader.
KEVIN
Come to think of it, I'm almost positive she went down there.
Stupid idea, stupid.
(shakes his head)
JOSH
Why is it stupid?
KEVIN
Have you not been watching the news?
JOSH
So you mean the protests?
KEVIN
Well, protests are one thing, but I don't know if you've seen
the pictures, the footage, but it's mayhem down there.
JOSH
I didn't need to see footage, I was down there myself.
KEVIN
On purpose?
(laughs)
JOSH
Yes.
KEVIN
Oh okay. Right on, then. What was it like?
JOSH
You really want to know?
KEVIN
Yeah. I mean, it looked pretty scary.
JOSH
It was beautiful.
KEVIN
Really!! How?
JOSH
All these people, locked together like one, standing up
together.
KEVIN
You must have been there before it all went down, cause they
were burning that place up, breaking windows, looting,
carrying--I saw a women carrying a thing of diapers this big--
(gestures with his hands)
THIS BIG! She knows she's on camera.
JOSH
And that's what they want you to see.
KEVIN
Who? The woman, you mean?
JOSH
Look, I'm going to go. If Mariana shows up, send me a text.
KEVIN
Wait wait wait. Josh, what's going on here, man? We're buds.
I don't know how in the world this became so tense. Is it a
racial thing? Is everything about race now, because I'm like
the least racist person I know, and I know myself--my heart's
like this for people...
(expansive gesture)
Different colors, like the whole rainbow. I'm the guy who
cries at those peace and love commercials during the Super
Bowl. You remember me?
JOSH
(deadpan expression)
Kevin, it is not my job to explain to you the moment we are
living in.
A beat.
KEVIN
So it's like... not personal? It's the larger moment, so
we're good...
JOSH
(deadpan starting to crack)
I'm going to leave the meeting now because it is not my
job...
KEVIN
No, this seems like it's personal, and we gotta work this
out, man. I'm going to be going off the walls otherwise!
JOSH
I'm making you the host... and I'm leaving now.
KEVIN
No don't...
JOSH "leaves", meaning he turns
around on his stool, facing away.
KEVIN
Josh! Come on, man. He actually left.
A beat. He then starts texting,
speaking aloud his texts.
KEVIN
"Man, I'm going to wait here until you come back." Send.
"That's how dedicated I am"... Delete delete. "I am dedicated
to... us."
(to himself)
That sound gay? I don't care, I don't care. Send.
(waits)
"Delivered." Come on... come on, read it. Just open it, cause
I know you've read it.
Footsteps.
KEVIN
Okay here you are.
MARIANA enters hurriedly. She is
South American, but speaks perfect
English really fast. Her mouth is
moving as she sits on the stool C.
MARIANA
Sorry sorry sorry!
KEVIN
(surprised it's not Josh)
Oh Mariana.
MARIANA
(still talking)
I have been dealing with cranky internet all day. Do you have
this wind there?
KEVIN
Uh, breeze, maybe...
MARIANA
(still talking)
Well I'm out here on top of a hill in the country--we came up
to the mountains to get away, and it's been beautiful,
stunning, peaceful, but today is just so windy, and I'm
watching this internet cable--the one that winds down the
long driveway, and it's just swaying in the wind, and I've
been having this ongoing tussle with the company, but they're
not picking up, trying to push me online, but HEY, how am I
supposed to get to you online if my internet is down, and we
have terrible cell reception here, I literally have to walk
to the end of the drive to get one bar--ONE BAR, if it's
sunny. Anyway, where's Josh? Oh my goodness, I had no idea it
was this late. Did he leave?
KEVIN
Yeah.
MARIANA
Really? It's only 10 minutes....
KEVIN
Yeah I don't think it... He said to text him when you came.
MARIANA
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ooooooh-oh-okay.
(mimicking the prolonged
delay of a bad connection on
Zoom)
KEVIN
Mariana, you there?
MARIANA
Yes.
KEVIN
Okay, so I'll text him.
(texting)
"Mariana is here." And send. So he should come on in just a
second.
MARIANA
Grea---
(turns around, indicating
she's dropped off)
KEVIN
Mariana? Oh crap. He's gonna think...
JOSH turns, indicating reentering
the call.
JOSH
You gotta be kidding me.
KEVIN
No no no, it's not what you think!
JOSH
Not what I think. What do you think, I'm stupid?
KEVIN
Mariana was just here. She has bad internet.
JOSH
See, this is the thing Black folks are up to here with!
KEVIN
I can prove it to you. This is being recorded...
JOSH
(over the top of KEVIN)
You all will do anything to get what you want, including
lying to my face, then expect me not to believe my own eyes,
gaslighting me!
KEVIN
We can play back the video, really.
JOSH
Even if it were true, how can I believe you if there's just
no trust there!
KEVIN
What do you want me to say? I'm not lying. You don't trust
me?
JOSH
You just need to stop talking right now.
KEVIN
You can't tell me to stop talking. I'm a person. I get to
talk. It's part of the license that comes with having a
mouth. I may not be very smart, or say smart things, but I do
get to speak.. Much as I want.
He's trying to be funny, to get
JOSH to crack. JOSH exhales
heavily.
KEVIN
Honest to God, she was here, and she could be back any
minute. If she comes back, and I tell her you came, then you
left again, she's going to think that's pretty... I don't
know, it's not a good look for the project leader.
JOSH
You're still talking.
KEVIN
Like I said...
JOSH
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
(clicks some items)
"Reclaim host." And mute Kevin...
KEVIN
Seriousl---
(he's muted)
JOSH
(still clicking)
Disabling your mute control. And this way, we will wait for
Mariana.
KEVIN is still talking soundlessly,
trying to coax JOSH to unmute him.
JOSH
Kevin, here's the deal: If Mariana was here, I suspect she'll
come back on in a few minutes and we can continue our work
meeting. Otherwise, I'm going to keep you muted--I see you
talking, I see you trying to click 'unmute', but it's not
going to work. This is a work meeting--that's what I have the
psychic energy for today, not to explain how the effort to
dismantle white supremacy is undermined by the continual
ignorance of uninformed... people. Okay?
He exhales to compose himself.
The sound of chat notifications
begins, as KEVIN is now seen miming
typing on a keyboard.
JOSH
I see you have moved to the chat function. I'm not going to
read what you're writing. No I'm not.
KEVIN keeps gesturing for him to
read what he's writing.
JOSH
Kevin, Kevin, you don't get it. I'm no longer talking and I'm
no longer listening. The time for us to have that
conversation is gone. We have worked together for ten years,
and you have never showed a sincere interest in addressing
institutionalized racism. Like just about every other white
person I know, probably every one of them in the world, you
would avoid the subject until it knocked down your door,
raped your wife and children, and burned the place to the
ground. That's when the shell of self-absorption of white
America will finally be cracked. Mind you, I'm not advocating
that kind of reciprocal treatment, I was raised better than
that. But I do know that for today, I am done talking.
Silence. KEVIN is still as well.
The sound of a text on JOSH's
phone.
JOSH
So I have just received a text. Because it might be from
Mariana, I will check. If it's from you...
(checks)
It is from you.
(reads)
And it says: "Is this because of the thing I posted yesterday
on Facebook?"
A beat. JOSH smiles, nods.
JOSH
Yeah. Yeah, Kevin, it is.
(keeps nodding)
So maybe you're not as oblivious as we thought. Which I don't
know if that's better or worse.
Silence. Then a second text.
JOSH
(looks at it)
You're sorry.
(nods)
Yeah.
This is not an acceptance of the
apology.
MARIANA turns around, reentering
the video chat.
MARIANA
Hello hello hello.... Okay, so I have no idea how long the
wind is going to die down for, but maybe we can get right to
business--I'm guessing you guys had time to catch up. Well
I'm loving it up here in the Blue Ridge--we bought one of
those cabins you always see on the postcards they send with
the promise of "Lakefront Property!"--you figure a place to
go when the zombies come, and well, it seemed like the time,
well, not that we have zombies roaming the streets, but
hey... It's beautiful up here, loving it, loving it, except
for the internet, so let's get to it... Wow, so you guys are
quiet. I interrupted something. But let's get to it. I know
things are really heavy now, but the show must go on, right?
Lights fade.
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Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft.