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Hi folks! I'm starting this thread for all the aspiring playwrights or screenwriters out there. So feel free to post your stuff.
I'm starting off by posting a one-act play I just wrote:
Is the World Flat?
A One-Act Play
By Uday Gunjikar
(Scene: Christopher Columbus addresses the “Flat Earth Society” in 15th Century Genoa, Italy)
Columbus: . . . And so, as you can see, my mathematical calculations and scientific observations clearly and indisputably prove that the earth is a sphere. Any questions?
(Onlooker in front row raises his hand)
Columbus: Yes?
1st Onlooker: But what does it all mean?
Columbus: Well, in layman’s terms, it means, simply, that the world is round.
1st Onlooker: The world is round??!! That’s ridiculous! Are you trying to tell us that the world we live on is round?
Columbus: As a matter of fact, yes.
1st Onlooker: What? Like a ball?
Columbus: Yes.
(Everybody laughs. Another onlooker from the back row speaks up.)
2nd Onlooker: But that’s totally absurd! I mean, look around you. Does the world even look like it’s round? Look at the ground. Does it look like a sphere? I mean, common knowledge clearly demonstrates—the facts clearly demonstrate—that the world is as flat as a pancake. How could it be otherwise?
Columbus: But my mathematical calculations and scientific measurements clearly prove otherwise.
2nd Onlooker: Is that so? Are you trying to tell us that some obscure mathematical calculations (quiet snickering and muffled laugher) and scientific measurements are more reliable than the collective opinions of all of us? I mean, we are the “Flat Earth Society”—our very existence is based on asserting the obvious, indisputable fact that the world is flat. And you come here with your mathematical calculations suggesting otherwise?
Columbus: In a word, yes.
(Another onlooker pipes up from the middle of the crowd).
3rd Onlooker: Let’s have a quick show of hands, shall we? Who believes that the earth is flat?
(Everybody raises their hand except Columbus)
3rd Onlooker: So you see, Signor Columbus? The consensus is clearly overwhelmingly opposed to you. What do you say to the fact that you are in a minority of one? To the fact that the entire population of the known world clearly knows, for a fact, that the earth is flat, whereas all you have to present us with are some whacko, way-out mathematical calculations and scientific measurements to try and prove otherwise? I mean, who’s going to believe something as ridiculous, as absurd as that?
(Another onlooker pipes up)
4th Onlooker: Tell us, Signor Columbus, how do you explain the fact that no one agrees with anything you say?
Columbus: It’s very simple. The truth is that all of you have been deceived by the enormous size of the earth and the result that the curvature of the earth is so small as to be almost invisible to the naked eye. To say nothing of the earth’s uneven terrain—hills, valleys, and so forth. However, if one takes the time and trouble to make a few careful observations, the curvature of the earth becomes indisputably apparent. A few simple experiments can prove this.
4th Onlooker: Look, I won’t even pretend to understand any of this gobbledegook you just said. All I’m saying is, “When are you going to quit making a public fool of yourself and simply fall in line with the rest of us, who know for a fact that the earth is flat?” I mean, all you have to offer us are some way-out calculations and stuff. How convincing is that?
(Another onlooker speaks up)
5th Onlooker: Just how comfortable is it being in a minority of one, Signor Columbus? When you pretty much have the whole world against you while all you have to offer are some mathematical calculations that no one understands, you have to wonder whether maybe you are being just a tad schizophrenic and out of touch with reality, wouldn’t you say?
1st Onlooker: Yeah, and besides all that, we, the Board of Directors of the “Flat Earth Society,” personally have a great deal of money invested in continuing the proposition that the world is flat. So if you refuse to fall in line and accept what we tell you, we will feel compelled to relentlessly hound you and mercilessly persecute you until you cave in to our demands!
(At this point, the room erupts with jeers and cries of consent to the 1st onlooker’s words. A few audience members begin chanting the anthem of the “Flat Earth Society”:
“The world is flat,
As we all know,
And that is that!
So get on with the show!”)
Columbus: Oh yeah? So you expect me to fall in line with the rest of you so that I can proudly claim to be as deluded, ignorant and flat-out mistaken as the members of the "Flat Earth Society," while all along I happen to know better? Not likely! You see, there’s a little ocean voyage that I plan to take to prove you all wrong! Just you wait and see!
(The crowd continues to boo and jeer as Columbus makes his exit.)
Chorus: . . . And the rest, as they say, is history!
THE END
I'm starting off by posting a one-act play I just wrote:
Is the World Flat?
A One-Act Play
By Uday Gunjikar
(Scene: Christopher Columbus addresses the “Flat Earth Society” in 15th Century Genoa, Italy)
Columbus: . . . And so, as you can see, my mathematical calculations and scientific observations clearly and indisputably prove that the earth is a sphere. Any questions?
(Onlooker in front row raises his hand)
Columbus: Yes?
1st Onlooker: But what does it all mean?
Columbus: Well, in layman’s terms, it means, simply, that the world is round.
1st Onlooker: The world is round??!! That’s ridiculous! Are you trying to tell us that the world we live on is round?
Columbus: As a matter of fact, yes.
1st Onlooker: What? Like a ball?
Columbus: Yes.
(Everybody laughs. Another onlooker from the back row speaks up.)
2nd Onlooker: But that’s totally absurd! I mean, look around you. Does the world even look like it’s round? Look at the ground. Does it look like a sphere? I mean, common knowledge clearly demonstrates—the facts clearly demonstrate—that the world is as flat as a pancake. How could it be otherwise?
Columbus: But my mathematical calculations and scientific measurements clearly prove otherwise.
2nd Onlooker: Is that so? Are you trying to tell us that some obscure mathematical calculations (quiet snickering and muffled laugher) and scientific measurements are more reliable than the collective opinions of all of us? I mean, we are the “Flat Earth Society”—our very existence is based on asserting the obvious, indisputable fact that the world is flat. And you come here with your mathematical calculations suggesting otherwise?
Columbus: In a word, yes.
(Another onlooker pipes up from the middle of the crowd).
3rd Onlooker: Let’s have a quick show of hands, shall we? Who believes that the earth is flat?
(Everybody raises their hand except Columbus)
3rd Onlooker: So you see, Signor Columbus? The consensus is clearly overwhelmingly opposed to you. What do you say to the fact that you are in a minority of one? To the fact that the entire population of the known world clearly knows, for a fact, that the earth is flat, whereas all you have to present us with are some whacko, way-out mathematical calculations and scientific measurements to try and prove otherwise? I mean, who’s going to believe something as ridiculous, as absurd as that?
(Another onlooker pipes up)
4th Onlooker: Tell us, Signor Columbus, how do you explain the fact that no one agrees with anything you say?
Columbus: It’s very simple. The truth is that all of you have been deceived by the enormous size of the earth and the result that the curvature of the earth is so small as to be almost invisible to the naked eye. To say nothing of the earth’s uneven terrain—hills, valleys, and so forth. However, if one takes the time and trouble to make a few careful observations, the curvature of the earth becomes indisputably apparent. A few simple experiments can prove this.
4th Onlooker: Look, I won’t even pretend to understand any of this gobbledegook you just said. All I’m saying is, “When are you going to quit making a public fool of yourself and simply fall in line with the rest of us, who know for a fact that the earth is flat?” I mean, all you have to offer us are some way-out calculations and stuff. How convincing is that?
(Another onlooker speaks up)
5th Onlooker: Just how comfortable is it being in a minority of one, Signor Columbus? When you pretty much have the whole world against you while all you have to offer are some mathematical calculations that no one understands, you have to wonder whether maybe you are being just a tad schizophrenic and out of touch with reality, wouldn’t you say?
1st Onlooker: Yeah, and besides all that, we, the Board of Directors of the “Flat Earth Society,” personally have a great deal of money invested in continuing the proposition that the world is flat. So if you refuse to fall in line and accept what we tell you, we will feel compelled to relentlessly hound you and mercilessly persecute you until you cave in to our demands!
(At this point, the room erupts with jeers and cries of consent to the 1st onlooker’s words. A few audience members begin chanting the anthem of the “Flat Earth Society”:
“The world is flat,
As we all know,
And that is that!
So get on with the show!”)
Columbus: Oh yeah? So you expect me to fall in line with the rest of you so that I can proudly claim to be as deluded, ignorant and flat-out mistaken as the members of the "Flat Earth Society," while all along I happen to know better? Not likely! You see, there’s a little ocean voyage that I plan to take to prove you all wrong! Just you wait and see!
(The crowd continues to boo and jeer as Columbus makes his exit.)
Chorus: . . . And the rest, as they say, is history!
THE END
Last edited by Django; 06-14-03 at 01:33 PM.
yeah, right!) even though the facts clearly suggest otherwise.
