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Please note that all dialogue is under United States
Copyright protection.
Learning Curves
A comedy in two acts by Allyson Currin
2 men, 2 women, unit set
Synopsis:
Emma has a problem – a secret affair with her department chair,
a budding flirtation with a student and a dissertation on Taming
of the Shrew that just won’t cooperate. But when Shakespeare’s
Kate pops out of the text with unwanted advise about Emma’s
love life, this comedy takes a side-splitting turn, and Emma nose-dives
into the muddy and frightening world of true love. In this scene,
the completely smitten student Jay confronts Emma for the first time:
JAY
…
and that’s why I really wanted your feedback. I mean, you’re –
Here was my concept. A man. A young man. A man, say, roughly my age. He’s
torn, see he doesn’t know where to turn. He feels – I dunno – lost.
He’s not sure whether he’s bright, gifted. Brilliant even. Or a
serial killer in the making.
EMMA
Mmm…
JAY
That happens a lot with smart guys. They do weird stuff like play
Necrofiend or DeathGrip IV and they watch too much t.v., see,
and not even good t.v.,
but really bad t.v. And that warps their brains, see, because they spend
too much
time in front of Star Trek marathons when they should be out getting beer
buddies and rushing a frat. Or fratting a rush. Or whatever it
is you’re supposed
to do with that Greek stuff.
I digress.
This super-intelligent guy is drifting in a sea of humanity. Kind of. And
he has this fundamental desire to – I dunno – rise above the masses.
Which are teeming all around him like some kind of soup of human…
But he doesn’t know how to distinguish himself – like, not a CLUE – so
he makes this fatal flaw.
He has a fatal flaw. You taught us all about the fatal –
EMMA
Yeah.
JAY
So he turns to this woman he sees as power, as establishment, as
the epitome of soulfulness and spirit, too – see, she’s kind of a mix. And that’s
his…
(Long pause) That’s kind of what I was going for.
EMMA
But if you had to say in a nutshell what it was about –
JAY
It’s about – ummm – falling in love.
EMMA
Falling in love.
JAY
Unless that’s trite!
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