THE SPINS - a play in one act

Scene One

CHARACTERS

LYNN – 27-year-old female, dark hair, depressed

DREAM LYNN – 20-something female, Lynn when she is dreaming, blonde

GUITARIST – male, late 20s to early 30s

MELISSA – 27-year-old female, Lynn's best friend from high school, business woman

RILEY – late 20s male, Lynn's older brother

KEENAN – late 20s male, Lynn's ex-boyfriend

Notes from the playwright:

In this play, there are essentially two worlds (the dream world and reality) that exist on the same plane and eventually merge together.

For the instrumental musical pieces, music may be used, or local musicians may compose their own pieces to use for a production. While there is only one guitarist on stage (the Guitarist), there may be other musicians (a second guitar, bass player, percussionist, etc.) off-stage to provide additional instrumentation if preferred.

Scene One.

(Lights up on LYNN's apartment)

(There is a bedroom/living area, a kitchen, and a small patio. There's a piano in her bedroom, and there are several empty liquor bottles sitting on it.)

(LYNN, a 27-year-old with dark hair, sits on her bed. She looks awful, like she hasn't left the house in a week, and she's drinking vodka straight out of the bottle.)

(RILEY, Lynn's older brother, KEENAN, Lynn's ex-boyfriend, and MELISSA, Lynn's best friend are all onstage, out of the light.)

LYNN

I've got the spins, man. It's bad. But in my dreams, I can still hear you playing. (A guitar starts playing from off-stage.) In my dreams, I'm not myself. (DREAM LYNN enters. She's blonde. She looks very happy. She's almost dancing.) But I still have the spins. (DREAM LYNN starts spinning around.) It gets worse and worse and worse until the whole world is spinning...it feels like I'm drowning. Is this how you felt? In the Mississippi River? I can't breathe, and it's like I'm burning from inside of my lungs. And then this overwhelming fear seeps in...and I get all of these flashes...

(Lights up on RILEY)

RILEY

You can't have any secrets with the piano...

(Lights up on MELISSA)

MELISSA

I'm just...exactly where I want to be.

(Lights up on KEENAN)

KEENAN

Living with her is like being in prison.

LYNN

I can see them so clearly...(DREAM LYNN stops spinning and looks at KEENAN, RILEY, and MELISSA) They're inches away from me, but I can't touch them. For a second, I feel like I can breathe again...the world stops spinning...and then, out of nowhere. It's over. (Lights off of RILEY, KEENAN, and MELISSA. They exit. The guitar stops.) I'm dead. Just like that. I can't hear anything, I can't see anything. It's just black. (GUITARIST, a man in his late 20s, enters and picks up DREAM LYNN as if she is an object.) And then someone touches me. I try to open my eyes, half expecting to see some kind of god...But I can't open my eyes. I'm suddenly in your arms. And then I hear it...

(It looks as though DREAM LYNN is now the guitar and GUITARIST is playing her, they're almost dancing together. The guitar music plays again.)

LYNN (continued)