Kate Act II Flashcards
Bird sound
KATE: (Taken aback by the crowd.) Well, this is quite a
party you got going on in here…I thought you were
supposed to be rehearsing?
DUNCAN: I will not be treated like this. I was Lear!!
KATE: Okay, now everyone, Quiet! Well, I guess this didn’t
exactly work now, did it?
BRAYDEN: Not exactly.
KATE: All right, then, so what are we going to do here?
Huh? You’re all going to have to get along with each other
or there isn’t going to be a play.
DUNCAN: If I may…
KATE: (With control.) No, you may not. Now, look, what you
do on your own time is your business, but when you’re in
my theatre, you’re on my time and you play by my rules.
Okay?
KATE: (Cont’d.) I do expect more from them, but under the
circumstances, I’m forced to be understanding. But, you. I
really expected more from you. You’re the one who
wanted to do this. So, what’s the problem?
BRAYDEN: Look, the way you busted our chops just now…if
anyone’s gonna make this work, I got a feeling it’d be you.
(KATE is hesitant.) Plus, you’re kind of scary.
KATE: Huh?
BRAYDEN: Isn’t there some way you can do this?
KATE: Me!? No
BRAYDEN: (Big charming smile.) Why not? You do
everything else around here.
KATE: Because…because
BRAYDEN: C’mon, Kate. Don’t you care about the play?
KATE: Of course I do. (Thinks.) If I do this, will you take it
seriously?
BRAYDEN: Absolutely
KATE: (Somewhat skeptical.) I mean it, now. This is serious.
No blowing it off. No screwing around. No quitting!
BRAYDEN: Yep.
KATE: And you’ll do it my way? No questions asked?
BRAYDEN: (Cont’d.) I am being totally serious, Kate.
(Pause.) Hey, I know I’m a good actor. But I’m not that
good. (With charm.) Yet.
KATE: (Decisive.) Okay. I’ll help you. We’ll start right now.
Go home and read your script.
BRAYDEN: The whole thing?
KATE: The whole thing. Front to back. Twice.
BRAYDEN: Um. Okay.
KATE: Once you’ve done that, then we can get down to the
hard work.
BRAYDEN: Thanks, Kate. You won’t regret this.
KATE: I already do.
BRAYDEN: Farewell, then. Parting is such…um…sweet
stuff.
KATE: Well? What are you waiting for? Go home and read
your scripts! Front to back! Twice.
BRAYDEN/RUDY: (Off.) Will make us all fine actors yet!
KATE: Boy, he’s looks wrecked. I thought he said he was in
shape.
RUDY: He’s all yours, Kate.
KATE: Great. Thanks for your help, guys. Same time
tomorrow night?
RUDY: Ya know, I could stick around, Kate, if you think you
still needed me
KATE: Thanks, but I think we’ll be okay
RUDY: Oh. Okay. Sure. See ya tomorrow, then. Bye,
Brayden.
KATE: Okay. So you read your script? (BRAYDEN nods.)
Twice? (BRAYDEN nods.) Good. What can you tell me
about Romeo and Juliet?
BRAYDEN: Well, it’s about this guy, Romeo, from Corona…
KATE: Verona.
BRAYDEN: Uh, right. And, um, his folks are fighting with the
folks of Juliet, but he doesn’t know Juliet at this point,
because he’s all uptight about this other chick, but then he
sees her at a party and then…
KATE: Nope. Stop, stop, stop. You’re just telling me what’s
happened. I want to know if you know what it’s about.
BRAYDEN: Oh. (Looks down at his script for a long time.)
KATE: Anything. Give me anything at all.
BRAYDEN: Give me a sec, will you! (HE flips through his
pages while KATE stares intensely.) You’re making me
nervous! Stop looking at me!!
KATE: Stop looking at you?
BRAYDEN: Yeah. Turn around or something! (KATE
complies and turns. BRAYDEN reads, thinks and then
finally answers.) Passion
KATE: Passion?
BRAYDEN: (Cont’d.) No?
KATE: (Negating his “no.”) No
BRAYDEN: (Misunderstanding.) No?
KATE: No, I mean, no. That’s good. That’s really good.
BRAYDEN: (Thinks for a moment.) Could you turn around again, ‘cause I can’t think with you…
KATE: (Turning.) Oh. Sure, sure.
BRAYDEN: Oh, good, for a minute there I thought I was way off base.
KATE: (Pleased.) No, you’re on. You’re definitely on base.
So, how would you relate that to your character?
BRAYDEN: (Showing more confidence.) Well…I think
everything is really, really important to him. Kind of like my soap. You know, The Flame Within.
KATE: Uh. In what way?
BRAYDEN: Connecting?
KATE: Yeah. Connecting with the material. Connecting with
your cast. Connecting with your audience.
BRAYDEN: So I was right?
KATE: It’s not really a question of “right” or “wrong.” You
made a choice. And it connected you to the material.
That’s kind of what theatre’s all about.
BRAYDEN: Well, it’s like all the characters on the soap, the
things they do are really, really important to them. They
want everything at a super intense level. Like a hundred
and ten percent. So if they hate something, they really
hate it, and if they love something, well, you know.
(Pause.) I think Romeo is like that.
KATE: (Turns back around. Impressed.) Well, I’m not sure if
Will Shakespeare would appreciate being compared to
daytime drama, but I’ll take it.
BRAYDEN: Huh. I never thought of it that way.
KATE: (Triumphant.) Shall we try a little of the script?
BRAYDEN: Yes, ma’am.
KATE: Okay. Romeo’s entrance…page three
KATE: (Cont’d.) You’ll need your script.
BRAYDEN: No, I’m good.
KATE: Brayden. Hold your script.
BRAYDEN: I was on a soap for eight months. If there’s one
thing I know how to do, it’s memorize lines.
KATE: Yes, but this is Shakespeare
BRAYDEN: “Is the day so young?”
KATE: (Faster.) “But new struck nine.”
BRAYDEN: I know that, Kate. And with all due respect, if I
can trust you with your stuff, you can trust me with mine.
KATE: (Looks to BRAYDEN and then to her script. Testing
him.) “Good morrow, cousin.”
BRAYDEN: “Ay me! Sad hours seem long.”
KATE: (Kate looks further into the scene.) “I aim’d so near!”
BRAYDEN: “A right good mark!”
KATE: (A little competitive.) “Forget to think of her.”
BRAYDEN: “O, teach me how I should forget to think. He,
that is strucken blind, cannot forget The precious treasure
of his eyesight lost.” (BRAYDEN looks at HER, prepared
and serious.)
KATE: (Smiling.) Okay. Romeo’s entrance. Page three…
RUDY: Um, so Kate? I was thinking about what you
said…about how this play has a…what do you call it…a
recurring theme about unrequited love. So I looked up
unrequited love at the library and it says the definition of
unrequited love is, like, the total adoration and respect of a
lover for a beautiful, intelligent and unattainable object
where, like, the lover welcomes his misery for it inspires
him to greatness.
KATE: Wow, Rudy, that is really profound.
RUDY: So, um, do you think it’s true? That misery inspires
greatness?
KATE: Well, I suppose it’s possible.
RUDY: Ya think so? I mean, like, I didn’t write it or anything,
but I’m glad you liked it.
KATE: I do. It’s beautiful
SID: Let us remember that Juliet is your daughter, so no
more wandering hands, all right? All right. Kate, where did
we leave off?
KATE: Act Two, Scene Two
SID: (Suddenly serious.) All right, people, let’s get back to
work. We’ve got three days until we put this thing up and
put it up we shall! From where we left off. Act Three,
Scene One! Gentlemen… (No one moves.) Act Three,
Scene One!!
KATE: Sid, do you realize what you just did?
SID: What?
KATE: You just fired one of your actors
SID: Yes, and…?
KATE: Well, I hate to be obvious, but how are you going to
do Romeo and Juliet without Mercutio?
SID: No worries.
KATE: Am I speaking to the same Sidney Nelson Reilly who
freaked out about his pen not two minutes ago?
SID: Yes. (Pause.) Your point being?
KATE: Well, you’re awfully calm about all this.
SID: Actors are easily replaceable.
KATE: (Small laugh.) Yes, but this is Shakespeare, Sid. And
we open next week.
SID: Yes, yes, yes, I know. We open next week. (Takes a
quick glance around the room, thinks, and then, to KATE.)
You do it.
KATE: What? Me? No, no way!
AUDREY: Oh, that’s perfect! You already know the script
KATE: No, no, no. Now, wait, Sid. I am not an actor
RUDY: Sure you are!
KATE: No, I’m not! Now, c’mon, there has gotta be someone
else more qualified!
SID: Kate. Look around you. You are doing it.
KATE: What about Rudy?
SID: Rudy is already playing nine parts
KATE: I know. Lloyd!
ALL: He’s just supposed to be the usher!!
KATE: All right, now wait, I know, I got it. What if I just cut
Mercutio out of the script? There are too many characters
in this play anyway!
WAYNE: Somebody’s gotta kill me!
KATE: (To BRAYDEN.) Help me out here. This is a bad
idea, right?
BRAYDEN: No, I think it’s a terrific idea.
KATE: (Hyperventilating.) Oh, no! Oh, help! Oh, me!
SID: (Shaking HER.) Kate, listen to me. Listen. What is the
stage manager’s job? To solve problems. And what we
have right now is a problem that you need to solve.
KATE: Sid, I can’t. I can’t! I really, really, can’t!
RUDY: C’mon, Kate. We’re family. And you can’t let your
family down.
KATE: Yes I can!!
SID: No, you cannot! Now I don’t want to hear another word about it. You are doing this part and that is that! Let’s go, people. We have a lot of rehearsing to do!
KATE: (Looks at the encouraged faces around her.) Right.
Right. Rehearsing. Lots of rehearsing. Lots and lots of
rehearsing. Much rehearsing. Right. Um…Sid? Can we
speak?
SID: (A little impatient.) Well, what is it? Speak up.
KATE: (With growing urgency.) Sid, forgive me. But, I’m
getting a sense that you don’t fully appreciate the situation
that we have here. See, what I really need you to
understand is that I cannot do this! I’ve been in that light booth for years, watching their
faces, seeing the enrichment of their souls as only a
Sidney Nelson Reilly production can do! The power of this event
could potentially change these people’s lives and I…I can’t
take it!!! I can’t! It’s too much! I can’t handle that kind of
personal responsibility!!
GIGI: (Impatient.) Please. Actress! Stand still, won’t you?
KATE: I think I have a hive. Audrey, do I have a hive? I think
I have a hive. Do I? Do I have a hive? (SHE shows her
neck to AUDREY.)
AUDREY: (Trying to be kind.) Um…well…
AUDREY: (Trying to be kind.) Um…well…
RUDY: Yeah, it’s not the end of the world, Kate.
KATE: Yes it is. Leprosy is the first sign of the apocalypse!
RUDY: Hey, Kate, you know what helps me when I’m
nervous? I think about my tongue. You know, how big and
weird and flat it is. And when you’re all like, wow, this big,
weird, flat thing is actually in my mouth, you completely
forget that you’re nervous.
KATE: (Pause.) That really just doesn’t help me at all.
CAROL: (To KATE.) Kate, dear. Now, I know exactly what
you’re going through and I have a very simple solution.
(Pause.) You just have to process.
KATE: (Quietly.) Go away
WAYNE: (Strained.) Oh, sure.
KATE: (Popping up.) Oh, no, Rudy! The lights! What about
the lights!
RUDY: It’s no problem, Kate. Sid said he would leave them
up the entire show. So you don’t have to worry about it!
KATE: (Whimpering.) Oh. Oh, good. Good.
BRAYDEN: I don’t get it. You run this place. You do the
work of, like, five people. You know everything about this
show backwards and forwards. I’d think you’d be the last
person in the world to get stage fright.
KATE: (Lying down on the ground.) No, see, no, no. No! It’s
not stage fright. I’m ill. I’m very, very ill. In fact, I think I
may need medical attention. Nurse! Nurse!
BRAYDEN: (To VI.) I think I better handle this. (To KATE.)
C’mon, Kate, you’re not sick.
KATE: (Coughs weakly.) Yes, yes, I am.
BRAYDEN: (Pause. BRAYDEN gets an idea.) “Oh,
gentlemen, my very friend has got his mortal hurt; Brave
Mercutio is dead!”
KATE: (Weak.) Very funny.
BRAYDEN: “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude,
to boist’rous; and it pricks like a thorn!”
KATE: Wha?
BRAYDEN: Make a choice, Kate. That’s what theatre’s all
about. (Intensely serious.) “Is love a tender thing? It is too
rough, Too rude, to boist’rous; and it pricks like a thorn!”
(Then, intensely.) “Is love a tender thing?! It is too rough!
Too rude! to boist’rous! And it pricks like a thorn!!”
KATE: (Blinks and then snaps into “Mercutio.”) “If love be
rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for the
pricking and you beat love down.”
