Shrapnel Wounds A 2 act play

[Wraith]

I wanted to post up a little preview of what Ive been able to re-write. This is obviously far too short, but its basically where Im headed with this. I was hoping to get some feedback on the concept, the characters, and maybe suggestions of what others might like to see in it, or would rather not see in it.












Shrapnel Wounds

A two act play

Written by

Tabbicat






















Shrapnel Wounds


Cast List

Mitzi Hawkins
Pablo Gonzales
Francis LeClerc
Joseph Goldstein
Riley Glenn
Harmony Caswell
George Sandford
Bobbi Hendricks
Amel Kahlmal

Enemy Soldier
Medic 1
Medic 2




















Shrapnel Wounds

Set List

Interiors
Bomb Shelter

Exteriors
Street Corner





























Shrapnel Wounds

Teaser

Gradual Lighting Increase:

1. Ext. Street corner

It’s a street corner in a large city. Its mid summer, hot and humid. There’s a beggar (George Sandford) sitting on the curb, he is dirty, hungry looking, and holds a sign that simply says “Please, help” Next to him are two middle-aged ladies (Harmony Caswell and Riley Glenn) talking while they wait for a cab or other means of transportation. One has part of a sandwich, which she is tearing bits off and tossing to the birds, never even looking at George sitting just a few feet from her. The other lady is looking up at the sky.

The lady eating the sandwich finally tosses most of it away in a trash can, seeing George looking at the sandwich, she turns away and looks up into the sky where her friend is pointing.

Harmony Caswell
What do you suppose those are?

Riley Glenn
I'm not sure, they seem to be going up into the sky though.

Harmony Caswell
I wonder what it could mean?

Riley Glenn
Hmmm, I will ask my husband tonight, if the asshole can make it home before my TV show is on. Lets go, that dirty bum is looking at us.

Lights fade to dark:

[Wraith]

2. Int. Bomb Shelter:

Light fades back in

Silence for the first few seconds

Bombs are heard mutely, dull thuds, not unlike sandbags dropping on the floor There’s a muted air raid siren in the distance, barely audible, but clear enough to leave no doubt that this is really something horrible. Over a radio is the reports of mass casualties, that the battle lines are falling and that the body count looks to be in the millions. Then static, and a larger heavier thud, then both the air raid siren and the radio go dead.

The shelter is a fifteen by thirty foot block wall structure with two five foot long benches along the back. There is an air inlet with a screen, which we assume leads to some kind of filter. The door looks solid, like a door on a submarine. There’s a red light over it that’s flashing for some reason. Inside the room are seven people. They are all dirty, covered in white powder, like the New Yorkers on 9-11. They are all looking shocked and afraid.

Almost as one, they begin to become animated again. We see Harmony and Riley from the teaser scene. They are near the door, looking out a tiny window next to the door.
Behind them are three men (Pablo Gonzales, Joseph Goldstein and Francis LeClerc) sitting next to a woman (Mitzi Hawking). She is not awake. The men are holding her in a sitting position on the closer bench. On the other bench is George from the teaser. He is sitting next to a younger man (Amel Kahlmal). On the floor, sitting away from the others is a young girl (Bobbi Hendricks).

Joseph
I think the worst is past.

Harmony
How would you know?
Joseph
I have been through this before.

George
Where?

Joseph
I lived on Earth, in Israel, during the third world war.

George
You’re a Jew? (Said surprised, with a bit of respect)

Harmony
Well, at least we know who to blame. (She turns and looks at Joseph) You just had to bring your war to Solomon. Damn kikes.

George
I'm sure this man had nothing to do with this.

Joseph
Let her talk, she would feel the same way regardless of what is said.

Amel
There is a saying, it takes two to fight. Peace cannot be made with the wolf, if the wolf is hungry.

Joseph
Shalom.

Amel
And to you.

Francis
We should at least clean up and get comfortable, it looks as though we will be here a while. The red radiation light is on.


Bobbi
Is that what that is?

A thud is heard, quite loudly, quite clearly. The lights go out.

3. Int Bomb Shelter

The lights are not fully back on, but they flicker a few times. There is some smoke, we see all of them in basically the same places. They have cleaned up since we last saw them.

Francis
That one was right on top of us. It’s a wonder this shelter held.

Bobbi
I'm scared. (crying as she hugs her knees)

Amel
I think right now prayer would be a good thing.

Joseph
No, you cannot pray yet. (Getting up he is taking off his jacket. He walks over to where Amel is preparing to kneel. He kneels down next to Amel)

Amel
I wish nothing but peace between us. The war does not exist in here.

Joseph
This war has never existed in my heart. (He takes off a serape like cover and hands it to Amel) You should have a prayer rug.

Amel
Would that a Jew give his own clothing, that a Muslim might have a prayer rug. If only our leaders could be so understanding.


Bobbi
May I pray with you?  

Joseph
You are Muslim?

Bobbi
No, I'm Christian.

Amel
I am delighted to see a Christian, a Jew and a Muslim kneel side by side in prayer. If ever Allah, or God, were to look down in favor, I am thinking it surely must be now.

Riley
There’s someone out there… they are coming HERE!

We hear pounding on the door not long after. Inside the shelter, the survivors all look to one another. Then as one they look up at the radiation warning light.

George
We need to let them in!

Harmony
Fuck them, they can die! We open that door and we get radiation!

Riley
They look like soldiers, I think they are our guys!

George
Stand back then, I will open the door, I will risk the radiation.

Harmony
Why not, if he dies it wont really matter now will it.

The group move to the back of the shelter. George opens the door and two army medics drag a third soldier into the shelter. While the two Army medics wear desert cammies, the third man is wearing just green fatigues. He is wearing a different uniform, and is obviously not from the same army.
Once inside they pull some supplies from their medical bags. While one is checking on the man they brought in, the other one, a female medic looks over at the still unconscious Mitzi. She walks over, sitting beside her and runs her hand over the girls cheek.

[Wraith]

Female Medic
Oh my God, oh God no. (She checks her pulse and after some tense moments seems to relax. The other medics radio relays some semi garbled message.

Male Medic
We have to get going. There’s a collapsed shelter two blocks over.

They leave, both looking up at the flashing radiation light. They stop a moment before going out the door, looking at each other then at the light again. Then they leave.

Riley
They brought in an enemy soldier!

Harmony
Well, I'm not going to help him.

Amel
We must. It is only right.

Harmony
To hell with him, its those fucking sand niggers that brought this here! They should all die, ever last one of them!




Joseph
No, the war does not exist in here. It is hate and prejudice that caused this, not a single man. Not this man. He is just a soldier, he is only doing what he must to protect his own loved ones.

Harmony
You rag heads are all the same. We should have just nuked you all back on Earth when we had the chance!

Francis
Quite, all of you, the girl is coming around.

The girl who has been unconscious the whole time wakes slowly. She looks around at the people in the shelter, obviously bewildered.

Mitzi
What happened?

Francis
We saw you fall, when the bomb hit. We picked you up and carried you here.

Mitzi
I was with a soldier, did you see what happened to them?

Pablo
I think they were not there when we got there.

Francis
That’s true, we got there after they had ran off.

Amel
Maybe when those medics return, we can ask them

Joseph
They wont be returning. They will die from the radiation.

Bobbi
But they went anyways.

George
Of course, that’s what heroes do. They answer the call.

Harmony
What the hell would you know about heroes?

George
I once knew a hero.

Francis
Please, tell us about him, I think a story about a hero would do us some good.

George
I knew of a man named George. He was a young Sergeant in the Alliance War. George was stationed on Kasby Island, near Henderson Air Field. He was there the night of the last Jihadists Revolution attack.

Amel
Yes, he was wasn’t he. He was a machine gunner. He was a proud man.

George
(Nodding at Amel, smiling to him) Yes, once he was.

Bobbi
So what did he do? I've never heard of him.

Amel
He did great things.

George
He did what he believed was right. You see, the Islamic forces were attacking the colony there after the local governor had taken their land from them for colonization. The Islamic colony was on top of prime farm land. Well, the appointed governor decided that the Alliance colony deserved the majority of that land, but he wouldn’t even try negotiating with the Muslims. He just told them to leave their land or else.

[Wraith]

Bobbi
But why?

Amel
Because he had lost family to the war on Earth. He was full of anger and hate, and therefore, his judgment was not fair.

Harmony
Sounds like the sand niggers got what they asked for. Id call it justice.

Amel
Would you if the people he sentenced to starve were your brothers and sister? How about your sons and daughters, your babies. Would you perhaps watch your mother and father die?

Harmony
They should have thought about that before they started World War Three!

Joseph
It takes two to fight.

Riley
There’s a laugh, the Jew is taking the rag heads side.

Francis
Enough of this. Please, tell us about George.

George
Well, he saw that the armies of both sides were getting ready to start killing each other. They had talked themselves into a fight, and he just couldn’t stand there and just let all those people die.

Bobbi
Well, he was only one man, what could he do?

Amel
Well, I can tell you what he did. (Looking George in the eyes) He waited till the leaders of both sides walked out to negotiate one last time, then he gunned them down. When the soldiers on both sides saw this, they froze. But George didn’t. He walked over to the dead leaders and he picked up both of their flags, and he held them up together.

Bobbi
I don’t get it….

George
There was peace. The only ones that were determined to fight were dead. The new leadership of both sides were eager to have peace, and they did.

Amel
Because of the greatest man I've ever seen.

Francis
You were there as well?

Amel
Yes. My father died there that day. Killed because he would not allow us to have peace. I never got the chance to thank that machine gunner. He killed my father, but he allowed me, and my brother and sister and mother and grand family to live. Surely, had we had war, they would have died too.

George
I'm sure he knows. I'm sure he too had family there he wished to protect.

Amel
Perhaps, but something tells me that his life did not go as well for him because he chose to be a hero.

George
The families lived, regardless, that is all that matters.

Harmony
Sounds like we could use a few more Georges around here.

Amel
Perhaps we already have one.

Mitzi
Hey, were did this come from? (Holding a note)

Riley
The medic that looked you over must have put it on you.

Mitzi starts crying. She curls up in a ball and seems inconsolable.

Bobbi
Miss, are you ok?

Mitzi
No, they are dead!

Francis
She must have lost her soldier.

Harmony
I'm sure he died nobly.

Riley
Yea, like a man! I'm sure he was a hero.
Bobbi
At least he died fighting.

Mitzi
Please, just shut up!

The lights dim again, just a bit and the radiation light flickers.
The lights dim to dark.

End of Act 1

[Wraith]

Shrapnel Wounds

Act 2

3. Int Bomb Shelter

The lights gradually come back on. We see the characters have moved. The wounded enemy soldier is now laying next to the second bench. Amel is praying over him, as is Joseph. Bobbi is sitting on the first bench next to Mitzi. George is sitting on the floor, his back to the wall, beside the door. Standing by him is Francis. Harmony and Riley are sitting on the other end of the first bench. Pablo is standing at the door looking out the window.

Amel
He is fading, his soul is now in the hands of Allah.

Joseph
May God be forgiving and merciful on his soul.

Amel
I thank you for your kindness my Hebrew friend.

Harmony
Would you two get a room? You sound like fucking queers!

Pablo
And what if they were? So what?

Harmony
Faggots are sick, they deserve to die.

Mitzi
You really need to shut up now.

Riley
Oh, the cry baby speaks.

Bobbi
Miss, I really think you need to shut up.

Riley
Whatever…

Francis
The sun is going down, it looks like we are going to be spending the night together. We should start making arrangements.

Harmony
Well the sand niggers there can cuddle up in the back of the shelter.

Mitzi
You SO need to shut up bitch.

Bobbi
Hey, I lost my mom and dad, you can lay beside me, I could use a friend.

Mitzi
Thanks, but I cant sleep.

Bobbi
Look, the soldiers out there, the grunts, they got the best protection of anyone. I'm sure your boy friend is fine.

Mitzi
No, SHE isn’t. She was just here, and medics don’t wear armor. She went out there, and she is dead, and she made sure not to wake me before she left. She knew I would either go with her, or she wouldn’t have the strength to leave if I begged her to stay.

George
Oh Christ.

Amel
It seems this shelter has had more than one George in here today.

Harmony
That army medic was your… lover?

Mitzi
My wife. We were married in secret.

Harmony
I didn’t think they allowed your kind to be in the army.

Pablo
I am thinking, miss…. You speak with a lot of hatred for someone who just an hour ago was praising that same medic as a hero.

Harmony
I uh….

Francis kneels down to the dying soldier and begins CPR.
Amel looks startled, but George puts his hand on the mans shoulder and Amel nods his understanding, that George would not allow Francis to hurt him. After a few minutes, Francis checks the soldiers vitals and nods that he will be ok for a while longer.

Riley
Why are you trying to save the assholes life? He might be the one that killed your wife or family.

Francis
He is still human. He does not deserve to die because he was sent here. Would you want them to just let your loved ones die, just because they called you enemy?

Amel
When we are cold, we do not open the window.

Harmony
Oh great, more of Allah’s fortune cookie wisdom?

[Wraith]

Bobbi
I understand, it means we cannot have peace if we act out of hate.

Joseph
There is hope yet, for the next generation.

George
Perhaps the day will come when there will be no more need for Georges.

Mitzi
I thank Allah, and God for them. Regardless of what some people think, they bring love and hope into the world. They touch the lives of so many, and we are in a better place with every moment they are with us.

Pablo
I agree. And I am thinking that this world is less than it once was now that we have lost one of the truly great medics of all time. I honor your wife with my soul. I promise to tell of her sacrifice and her courage. She will not be forgotten, I swear it.

Bobbi
I swear it too. I will stand by you and him, and anyone else who honors her.

Riley
I'm sorry. Really, I am. I am ashamed of myself, and I promise I will make sure she is honored.

George
How would you make sure?

Riley
My husband is the governor of this planet. Harmony, my friend here, is the wife of Secretary of War Michael Caswell.

Joseph
I am Joseph Goldstein, I am the rabbi of the synagogue that this shelter is built under.

Amel
My name is Amel. I am a professor of history at the University.

Pablo
I am Pablo Gonzales I am a merchant ship first officer. I am honored to be with such distinguished citizens.

Mitzi
My names Mitzi, I am the wife of Corporal Andrea Hawkins.

Francis
I am Francis LeClerc. I am a reporter for the Terran Weekly Standard. I promise you, this story WILL be told.

Riley
My names Riley…. (Turning to George who hasn’t said a word)
And who are you?

Amel
He…. Is George…. The hero.

Bobbi
THE George… from the story?

Amel
Yes, I recognized him when I first saw him.

George
Yes… I am George.

Bobbi
Hi sir, I'm Bobbi.

George
I am honored. Its good kids like you that give me hope.

Harmony
You’re a hero? What the hell are you doing begging in the street?

George
Ask your husband, ask him about me.

Harmony
He would never…. He’s a good man, not at all like….

George
Like what… like me?

Harmony
That’s not what I was going to say…

Riley
Bullshit Harmony, that’s exactly what you said about him earlier.

Harmony
Riley, you back stabbing little whore! How dare you embarrass me like that!

Riley
I'm ashamed for us both, because I felt the same way. And I said those same hateful things about gays, and Jews and Muslims… but I'm only now hearing it for the first time, and I don’t much like how it sounds.

Harmony
What the fuck does that mean?

Riley
It means, you really need to shut up now.

Harmony
Go to hell.

It gets quiet for a minute. The light shining through the window grows darker, and the lights dim, relaying that this is night time.

Amel and Francis are leaning on an elbow watching the soldier, to make sure he does not die. Joseph is laying against the wall by the door holding Bobbi’s head on his leg. Riley had moved over to sit beside Mitzi. George is inspecting the air vent. Pablo is sleeping on the second bench. Harmony is now in the far corner by herself.

[CaptainTux]

It is very strong and establishes the characters well.  I look forward to seeing how they change and develop in the attitudes while in the "foxhole" together.  Honestly, the set requirements are simpkle and sound effects are easy to layer on our sound board...I think you have something good here.

[zankoku]

I agree CT. Wraith has a great play here. Sort of reminds me of JB by Archibald Macleash (Forgive the spelling, it has been a few years) and a little bot of a film I saw think it was Lifeboat. (After the sinking of a ship in WWII).

You are right. Stage requirements are simple. If this was done in the round, it would be even more dramatic as you would only need the benches, lights sound and maybe a little dust falling on the audience in conjunction with the sound of bombs. Would suck teh audience right into the action.

Great job Wraith

Jim