Finished One Act

Here it is...YAY!!


Joy and Sorrow

Chastity- a young girl who thinks she is in love with a man who doesn’t love her back.
Todd- The object of the girl’s affection
Joy- A figure in white, representing joy in life.
Sorrow- A cloaked figure, representing sorrow in life.

Joy and Sorrow are sitting on a bed in a plain, feminine-looking bedroom.
Joy: Really, Sorrow, lighten up a bit!

Sorrow: Easy for you to say, when you can blind the world with just your smile (breaks into sobs).

Joy: Not this again…you know that I can’t help it. Those whitening strips really had
an effect. (laughs)

Sorrow: And all I can do is cry, cry, cry. (snivels)

Joy: Not if you dry your eyes. (holds out a handkerchief)

Sorrow: And then I’d moan and groan and cry some more. I’m pathetic, Joy, really (quietly crying).

Joy: Turn that frown upside-down! She’s coming soon and you want to make a good impression.

Sorrow: Do I really? She’ll just be looking for melancholy company, anyway. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? Let her take another swig from the self-loathing bottle?

Joy: Well I’m going to make a good impression, anyway. How’s my dress?

Sorrow: Pristine, as always (snivels).

Joy: How’s my hair?

Sorrow: Sparkling with the light of a thousand suns, nothing new (begins to cry).

Joy: My smile? (Smiles widely)

Sorrow: (sobbing) You’re perfect, perfect!! I’ll never even come close. She’s going to think I’m despicable, I know it.

Joy: Don’t say that, Sorrow. Chastity has no idea what to think right now.

Sorrow: O woe is me! Once she sees you, she’ll know what to think.

Joy: We both know that this is an important time for her, and it’s our job to stay in this together, all right? We’re the Blues Brothers, on a mission from God! We’re the perfect balance, can’t have one without the other! Right? Am I right? (laughs heartily)

Sorrow: If you say so. It’s just that, every other time we’ve come she always picks you. And then I have to face the pain of rejection, again and again. It’s almost too much; I want her all to myself, sometimes.

Joy: Remember when her daddy died when she was ten? You had her for a good two years, and I only got to come around during the holidays.

Sorrow: Of course I remember. She looked good in mourning. Like a little heartbroken angel.

Joy: Well she’s eighteen now. Not so little anymore! (laughs)

Sorrow: No, not so little. And in love! (spits out the word, and begins to cry again)

Joy: Yes, in love! (laughs, gets up and skips around the room) Isn’t it marvelous?

Sorrow: Love, marvelous? Love? Love is the reason so many of these humans turn away from you and come to me.

Joy: (stops mid-skip) …Oh, you’re right. (shrugs and smiles) But it’s worth it, just to feel love for a second! To get those butterflies in your stomach, to never want to leave his arms, to look at him and see your world reflected in his eyes! It’s the most beautiful feeling in the world!

Sorrow: (muttering) Easy for you to say, you don’t see them when they’ve fallen, when they’re begging me to take the pain away, when they start to realize that he took a part of them when he left, and that he’s never coming back. You don’t see them when love tears them apart.

(from offstage you can hear giggling and talking)

Joy: They’re here!

Sorrow: Oh, blessed day, the two doomed lovers have arrived.

(enter Chastity and Todd, holding hands, Chastity is gazing at Todd adoringly. They cannot see or hear Joy and Sorrow)

Chastity: Can you imagine? Six months today. Todd, I had such a wonderful time with you this evening.

Todd: Well, yeah, me too Chastity. But I really need to talk to you.

Chastity: Wait just a second! I have a surprise. Close your eyes, now.

(Todd closes his eyes and Chastity quickly runs to the bed, lifts up her pillow, and picks up a shell necklace. She comes over to Todd)

Chastity: Okay, open your eyes! (Todd opens them and Chastity holds out the necklace) It’s my dad’s old shell necklace; he was always superstitious. He’d wear this when he was in the hospital; he thought it would protect him from the cancer.

Todd: Chastity, I can’t take this.

Chastity: Todd, I love you.

Sorrow: Oh, no.

Joy: Oh, yes!

(pause)

Todd: Chastity…I just can’t take it. I’m sorry.

Chastity: But I want you to have it, Todd. I’m in love with you. You make me laugh, and smile…you make me happy! I know it’s only been six months, but I’ve never been happier in my life!

Joy: See, Sorrow, this is why I love love!

Todd: How do I say this? (pause) I had a good time with you, Chastity. But I’m not ready for this. I mean, I’m not ready for a commitment. We’re only eighteen. You’ll be going off to a college that’s halfway across the country. I’ll be here.

Chastity: (almost pleading) We’ve talked about this, Todd. We can make it work.

Todd: No, we can’t. It won’t work. I’ve kept this together for too long, and we won’t work anymore. I have to go now, Chastity.

Sorrow: See, Joy, this is why I despise love.

Chastity: (clutching the necklace, looking at Todd’s retreating figure) No, no, no. (Sits on the bed with head in hands and begins to cry)

Joy: Cheer up, buttercup!

Sorrow: Joy, this is no time to give your little motivational speeches! Can’t you tell she’s heartbroken?

Joy: Chastity, think about it! Remember the moments you shared together!

Chastity: (looking up) Todd always took me to the park, and we’d walk for hours until the moon came out and we could see the stars. And our first date…

Joy: He took you ice-skating and you held hands,

Chastity: but I told him it didn’t count because we were both wearing gloves.

Sorrow: Don’t encourage her, Joy. Chastity, think about the first big fight.

Chastity: He never wanted to lose an argument. I told him that I believed in God. He wasn’t very religious.

Sorrow: And so he told you that your God was fake. Remember?

Joy: But he apologized! And you only got closer after that. It’s about embracing differences, about loving against the odds! Wasn’t that first kiss magical?

Chastity: He was too shy to just kiss me, so he asked first. I took him to visit my dad’s grave; it wasn’t very romantic, but it was important to me.

Joy: And his lips erased Sorrow from your mind.

Sorrow: But I came back, Joy. I always come back. Chastity, don’t forget the time you caught him cheating.

Chastity: Well, he wasn’t really cheating, but he started talking to Sarah. And they kissed. He told me they kissed.

Sorrow: That’s what love gives you. Jealousy. Betrayal.

Joy: But it also gives you thousands of moments of pure bliss!

Sorrow: Do you really think the Joy can take away the Sorrow? Do you really think the good times can take away the bad?

Chastity: I was lost without Daddy. He was gone, no matter how much fun we had together. And now Todd is gone, too. (gets up from the bed, and throws the shell necklace across the room)

Sorrow: And it’s only so long before everything you love leaves you.

Joy: But to live and to love, that’s all that matters! It makes no difference if you lose everything; you still have the memories!

Chastity: But he’s gone, he’s gone. They’re all gone. What do I have now? My memories? That’s a joke. (laughs bitterly)

Joy: Chastity, that’s not how you should be laughing.

Chastity: Six months, wasted.

Sorrow: Love isn’t real.

Joy: Love is everything!

Chastity: What was I thinking? That he loved me back? Who could love me?

Sorrow: I could love you, Chastity.

Joy: I do love you, Chastity!

Chastity: I am unlovable. (goes over to pick up the shell necklace and acts as though she’s going to break it)

Sorrow: I could love you, I could love you. Come to me. (Sorrow reaches out to Chastity and holds her in his arms. Chastity begins to sob)

Joy: She can’t be yours forever, Sorrow. Eventually she’ll come back to me. She’s just thinking irrationally right now. (Joy reaches out to touch Chastity’s hair, picks up the shell necklace and walks out of the room)

Sorrow: No more Joy. Nothing left to live for. Chastity, I can’t see you hurt again. I don’t want to see you crying anymore. Joy can’t know how much it hurts, to only be with you in the worst times. To never see you laugh, to never see you smile. I don’t want you to hurt anymore. I want to take the pain away. I want to bathe you in Sorrow until you can’t feel anything.

Chastity: I don’t want to hurt anymore. (Chastity lays down on the bed and Sorrow picks up a pillow)

Sorrow: I want you forever. Forget about Joy. The pain will only last for a minute longer. You can sleep in your memories.
(Sorrow smothers the girl with her pillow; fade to black)