CAST OF CHARACTERS:
LEAH: the main character, a 17-year-old girl
ARYA: Leah's best friend
MICA: girl texting 1
ALEX: girl texting 2
SIRI: girl texting 3
GIANA: girl texting 4
MS. KURR: teacher
NURSE ROSE: nurse
DREW: robot doctor
ALAINA: volleyball girl
Scene
Leah's bedroom.
Time
The future, year 3000.
ACT 1
SCENE 1
SETTING: LEAH is sitting on her bed, talking to ARYA via hologram projector. You can see ARYA standing as a hologram. LEAH has an earpiece. Thunder is sounding in the distance.
LEAH: Hi, Arya! How's it going?
(Muffled sounds coming from hologram projector)
Oh my gosh! Yes! It was SOOOO boring.
(More muffled sounds)
Well, duh.
(Short muffled sound, laughter)
I mean it. It was so stupid. Like, yeah. To the tenth power. Third degree. Nobody was like even there!
(Muffled sound)
It's okay. I never expected anyone to--
(Electric buzzing noise, line cut. ARYA hologram disappears.)
What the--?
(LEAH kicks the hologram projector)
Stupid machine!
(LEAH tries to replug it. It doesn't work.)
(Sighs) It'll probably be back up in a few minutes.
(LEAH checks her watch)
OHHHHH GREEAAT! Now I'm going to be late for school!
(LEAH puts on backpack and leaves, slamming the door behind her. EXIT LEAH)
(End of Act 1, Scene 1)
ACT 1
SCENE 2
SETTING: LEAH's English classroom
(ENTER LEAH. LEAH rushes into the classroom.)
MS. KURR: Just in time!
LEAH: (Looks around.) WAIT. Why is there like only five people here?
MS. KURR: Didn't you hear about the power outage? People are trying to get batteries for themselves until the outage is over but Markgreen is out!
LEAH: WHAT? Markgreen never runs out of stuff!
MS. KURR: (Gently) Well, I guess you can sit down now.
(LEAH sits down in her seat. ARYA flashes her an apologetic look. MS. KURR drones on and on. LEAH falls asleep.)
(End of Act 1, Scene 2)
ACT 1
SCENE 3
SETTING: School hallway
LEAH: That was so boring! I'm so glad it's break.
ARYA: I know, right? Our holograms need electricity! The battery already ran out! They charge so fast when the outlets work, but we've been using them since forever. We have nothing to do! She just gave us busy work.
LEAH: I hate busy work.
ARYA: Be right back. Gotta go get my own hologram gen. At least I charged it recently.
LEAH: Good idea.
(EXIT ARYA. CAMERA zooms in on MICA, ALEX, SIRI, and GIANA, who all have holograph generators and headsets. LEAH is looking at them.)
SIRI: It's too bad we can't put our holographs on private mode. It takes up too much energy.
ALEX: It's so surprising that this outage is lasting so long.
GIANA: There's like nothing to do! Our holograph gens are going to run out soon.
(SIRI, ALEX, MICA, and GIANA continue air typing on their holograms)
MICA: We are SO SOCIAL. We're texting each other even though we're literally standing two inches apart.
(Continued typing)
LEAH: (Shakes head) So bored.
(End of Act 1, Scene 3)
ACT 1
SCENE 4
SETTING: Outside of school campus- LEAH is in volleyball uniform.
LEAH: Bye Alaina! Good game!
ALAINA: Good game. See you tomorrow!
(LEAH exits. LEAH walks to her house by herself. LEAH arrives and walks inside the house.)
LEAH: Man! It's dark in here. Creepy. (shivers)
You know, I'm just going to talk to myself to keep me company.
So. Let's go make dinner! Where's the pressure cooker?
OH NO! I forgot! It needs to be plugged in to work and there's no electricity! (Holds up the useless plug, then drops it and sighs)
There really is nothing to do.
I'm just going to take a nap on the couch.
(Trips over something and falls onto the sharp corner of a shelf. AHHH! LEAH squeals. Her forehead is slightly bloody.)
HELP! ANYONE?
Where's that stupid hologram phone? Oh right. It's dead.
HELP!!!!
(Stumbles outside)
I NEED A TAXI!
Anyone? Please? (almost trips again) AHHH! It hurts! WHY AM I SEEING DOUBLE VISION?
If only I could call Uber. Dang it. Wait. Taxi cars are electric and if they have no battery than they could…. (Groans) Why does your hologram gen die when you need it?
HELP!!!!!!
Ph right! I think the hospital is five blocks away. I can make it. It's somewhere around the corner. I need the Map app.
(stumbles around the blocks aimlessly for a couple of minutes)
Ah! I think it's there! That's it! Why is the hospital so dark?
Oh. Power outage. This is insane. My head hurts so much. I don't think it's fatal. Right?!?!
(RUNS inside)
NURSE ROSE: How can I help you?
LEAH: (points to head weakly) Help.
NURSE ROSE: I can't see that, dear. The light's gone. Do you need a band-aid?
LEAH: Please get a robot doctor to me!
NURSE ROSE: Oh dear. I'm sorry! The computer system is down and I can't assign you a robot. Plus all of them have run out of battery except for Drew. And it's hard to operate in the dark. Perhaps you can talk to Drew?
DREW: (In a monotone voice) How-can-I-help-you?
LEAH: stop the bleeding? I don't know! Heal it! Work your magic? My cousin went here once when she broke her arm and you fixed it in like a day!
DREW: Battery low. Battery low.
(electronic fizzing, cut. Silence. DREW's robot screen died.)
LEAH: NOOO! I NEED HELP!
NURSE ROSE: I wish I could help but I need to look up how to stop the bleeding and that data is on the hologram gen.
LEAH: Can I be transported to another hospital that can help me?
NURSE ROSE: I'm afraid not. The cars in our parking lot have died just now and the other hospitals are having the same situation. I wish I could comfort you.
LEAH: I wish you could too! I'm dying. Can't you operate on me?
NURSE ROSE: Don't be preposterous! Everyone knows that only robots know how to heal wounds. I could make a serious mistake.
LEAH: I don't care.
NURSE ROSE: That would be too risky.
LEAH: (collapses)
(END of ACT 1)