MAKE A FRIEND, FIND A FRIEND
The Characters: Stephen) and Katy
In this scene, Stephen gets help from a "real friend" for the first time, which changes his life
forever.
(Stephen and Katy, coming from outside, enter room.)
STEPHEN: Lucky I had the key, otherwise we would never have gotten in.
KATY: (Looking around.) Are these your books?
STEPHEN: Yep.
KATY: (Reading.) "The Alien Planet" – I have a book like that. Mine is called "On Alien Stars."
In mine, they land on a star, where the people don't have any eyes.
STEPHEN: So how can they see?
KATY: By electricity, or something like that.
STEPHEN: On my planet the inhabitants are giant spiders who can speak.
KATY: Spiders? That's spinning something! You know, we can play and pretend we're on an
unknown star.
STEPHEN: Yeah! We fly there.
KATY: (Jumps on a chair and down.) Why? We're already there.
STEPHEN: (Does as she does. But it does not satisfy him. His play fantasies lie in another
direction.) No, we've got to have a spaceship. This here is our spaceship, o.k.? I am the
captain and you...
KATY: How come you're the captain?
STEPHEN: Who else?
KATY: Me.
STEPHEN: Impossible. The captain is always a man.
KATY: In that case I am the woman captain.
STEPHEN: (Almost helpless.) And me?
KATY: O.k. You're the captain.
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STEPHEN: Take your seat. Fire the motors! Countdown: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one – go! (They produce starting sounds. Once they're beyond them Katy
assumes they have landed. She gets out and looks amazed around the alien star. In the
meantime, Stephen continues the game he is accustomed to play with Fantasy Figure.)
STEPHEN: Computer log: December 13, 2037. Hey, Katy, first we've got to land.
KATY: Oh yes, land. (She resumes her seat.)
STEPHEN: After a flight of three years, we are approaching an unknown planet in the galaxy
Beta/2/Y. Coordinates, please! Please, the coordinates! (Katy, who has no idea what is
meant by coordinates, brings two caps or two pillows, or something similar.)
STEPHEN: (Whispering to her.) No, you have to give me numbers.
KATY: I get it. Seven, nine, twenty-eight, fourteen, eleven, three, hundred ninety-two, four,
three, eighteen...
STEPHEN: That's enough.
KATY: ...twenty, eight...
STEPHEN: Hold it. Prepare for landing.
KATY: Ready for landing.
STEPHEN: We're landing.
(They act out a hard impact landing.)
STEPHEN: We managed to get the old crate down all right, didn't we? – Got to test the planet's
atmosphere.
KATY: (Raises a finger, licks it.) Atmosphere clean.
STEPHEN: Clean? Then we don't need spacesuits. (Katy has already descended. Now she is in
charge of the game and she plays it according to her kind of inventiveness. The following
game should have a quality other than that of Stephen's with his Fantasy Figure. In her
version, Katy changes the environment into an imaginary planet. In contrast to Stephen's
fantasy games, which always made use of many objects (backpack as oxygen tank,
goldfish bowl as helmet, playing cards, etc.) she succeeds in creating an alien world
entirely by the power of her imagination. Stephen is hesitant at first, but gradually he
becomes more excited and absorbed.)
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KATY: (Full of wonder.) Take a look at that, Steve! Red grass! (He looks down while she looks
up. Her grass is at least ten feet tall. She works her way through the grass as he follows
her hesitantly and clumsily.)
KATY: And the little trees.
(Stephen looks up at the trees. But Katy has squatted down in order to pluck the trees. She hands
him a bouquet which he stares at amazed. Katy continues her trek through the grass.)
KATY: Steve! Hey, I'm growing, I'm getting taller. Can you still see me, Steve?
STEPHEN: (Squatting very low and looking straight up.) Hello, Katy!
KATY: Hi, Steve! (She shouts as though way up high.) Come up here, then you'll grow too. I
can already look over the grass.
STEPHEN: (Follows her and grows too.) Me, too.
KATY: Back there are the mountains. Come on up, here we can look over the mountains. (They
climb on an armchair or chair [or something similar] and look at the mountains,
overcome.)
STEPHEN: Beautiful. Katy, hey, Katy, something is pulling me down.
KATY: Hold on. (She holds him by his hand as he is lying on the table looking down.)
STEPHEN: A pit! You saved me!
KATY: (Lies next to him, looking down.) How deep is it, do you think? (In pantomime they drop
a stone, then listen to the sound of the stone falling. It takes a long time until it hits
bottom.)
KATY: Wow, is that ever deep!
STEPHEN: And wide too. (He looks into the distance.) (They look together into the infinite
abyss.)
KATY: You think one could get across?
STEPHEN: Never.
KATY: We could fly...
STEPHEN: With the space ship?
KATY: No. I mean, really.
(Stephen raises Katy to his shoulders, stands on the table, his arms spread. He has a moment of
doubt.)
STEPHEN: Do you think it'll work?
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KATY: If you trust yourself!
STEPHEN: (Determined.) Let's go!
(Both have spread their arms wide and simulate the slow turning of bird's wings. Their
concentration is intense, their breathing keeps time. The sound of their breathing turns
gently into the sound of wind [produced from a tape], so gently that it is impossible to say
whether it originates from the two or from the tape, or whether we only imagine it,
because the intimation of flying is so effective. From the first "beating of the wings" the
lights begin to dim until the stage is entirely dark. Music.)
Make A Friend, Find A Friend
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