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[NOTE: This scene is in two parts. You may present it without a break-- but you should show that time has passed somehow.] The Kidz Klub by Kevin M Reese © Copyright 2002, Kevin M Reese. All Rights Reserved. For a printable PDF version of this script, CLICK HERE Characters: Beth (F) - shy,
she talks to herself a lot --Scene A-- Scene opens with Beth sitting inside the Clubhouse, playing a game boy. She looks around wondering where everyone else is. Checks to see if her watch is still running– it is. She looks around again, uncomfortably. She sets her game boy down and rises. She’s obviously not at ease here. BETH: It’s after four. Ok, where is everybody. It’s 4:02 and nobody is here. Except me. Except good ol’ Beth. Except good ol’ Beth– who is talking to herself again! Man! I’m gonna get you, Eugene. (Mimicking him) ‘Sure, come on over,’ he said. ‘We have a cool clubhouse and a really neat bunch of kids,’ he said. ‘And we’re all in the fifth grade,’ he said. (Looking around) Well– the clubhouse IS pretty cool. ‘But where are all the cool kids?’ I asked! (Thinks of what to do) I knew I shouldn’t have come. I HATE this. (Trying to convince herself) They’re just kids. Like me. (Didn’t work) I’m out of here– Just as she reaches the door we hear a knock from the other side. Beth jumps out of her skin. Silence. Another knocking, this time a little bolder. Beth isn’t sure what to do. Beth: Ok, this is just too weird. Here I am alone in some clubhouse and somebody’s knocking on the door. Surely, anybody who was supposed to be there would know that the door isn’t locked and would just come in. Maybe they’ll just go away. EUGENE: (from outside the door) Somebody in there? BETH: Or maybe they’ll hear me TALKING to myself! Why do I do that!?!? EUGENE: Hello? (No answer) Hello?? (Not sure what to do, Beth goes and sits again) Beth? BETH: Yes– I mean, NO! It’s not Beth– I mean it IS Beth, but I’m not– (gives up) Who is it? EUGENE: It’s me, Eugene. (Pause, then sarcastically:) Can you open the door? BETH: Is your hand broken? Open it yourself. EUGENE: No, my hand isn’t broken– but the door’s stuck. Can you please help me open it? BETH: Well, I guess that explains why he didn’t just come in.... (opens the door) It wasn’t stuck when I came in– it was wide open. Where have you been? EUGENE: Sorry I’m late. I meant to get here before you– (looks around) Where is everybody? BETH: I don’t know. I was the only one here. EUGENE: Hmm. (looking at watch) Oh, well, that explains it. It’s still early. BETH: Early? Eugene, you said 4:00 and it’s almost 10 after. EUGENE: That’s early for THEM. I’m usually here on time and they usually come– (looking at watch) three... two... one... (and he turns to the door ) Ta-Daaaaa! The door bursts open and Sami, Rusty, and Lizzie enter, laughing. Beth jumps out of her skin! BETH: Whoa! (Hides behind Eugene) SAMI: That sounds so awesome! RUSTY: Oh, yeah. You should try it sometime, Sami. It’s not that hard. Really. SAMI: No way. I’d break my neck. RUSTY: Nahhh! Lizzie? LIZZIE: No way! I’d break a nail! Sami and Rusty laugh good-naturedly at Lizzie. They stop and notice Eugene and Beth. Rusty: Oh, sorry, dude. Looks like we’re interrupting a Kodak moment. Realizing she looks silly, Beth comes from behind Eugene. LIZZIE: Hi, Eugene. Rusty was telling us about all the stuff he did on his summer vacation. He always has the best vacations! He went Mountain climbing– SAMI: Surfing– LIZZIE: Hang gliding– SAMI: Parasailing– LIZZIE: SCUBA diving– EUGENE: Whoa! Is there anything he DIDN’T do? RUSTY: Hey, you can do a lot in California. I LOVE going back there for visits. (picking up the game boy) What I didn’t do was sit around playing video games. Look at this– the only exercise you get is your fingers! How can you do this to yourself, Eugene? Keep playing this and you’ll end up all alone and out of shape. EUGENE: Uh– RUSTY: You need something that’ll get your heart going! You should try Extreme Sports. BETH: (taking her game boy from Rusty) Excuse me. Embarrassed, Beth heads for the door. RUSTY: Huh– ? LIZZIE: Rusty! RUSTY: I didn’t know! I thought it was– EUGENE: Wait, Beth, don’t go. Rusty was only kidding. Even more embarrassed, Beth tries to open the door, but it’s stuck. She tries a couple times. SAMI: Yeah, Rusty suffers from that foot-in-mouth disease! BETH: Oh great, now the door’s stuck! (She looks around at the others staring at her) And I’m talking to myself again! (To the others) Yes, I talk to myself– get over it. She tries one more time and it opens. There’s an awkward moment where she’s deciding whether to leave or not. She finally decides to leave but trips on the door. BETH: Oh that was just great! (Shuts the door) SAMI: That was Beth? EUGENE: That was Beth. SAMI: Way to go, Rusty. LIZZIE: That was pretty rude. RUSTY: I didn’t know! I thought the game boy was Eugene’s. I was just making a joke. EUGENE: Come on, let’s go see if we can catch her. We finally get someone new in our club and you scare her away. SAMI: Let’s go. LIZZIE: Come on, Mr. Extreme Sports. SAMI: Mr. Extremely Rude, you mean. RUSTY: Hey, I heard that. They all exit to look for Beth. – End of Scene A –
The Kids Klub --Scene B-- Scene up on an empty Clubhouse. They’ve been gone about 30 seconds. Suddenly the door opens and everyone but Beth enters. RUSTY: Man, she’s fast. How did we miss her? SAMI: She just left. How could we not find her? LIZZIE: Well, the easiest way to find her would have been to not make her leave to begin with! EUGENE: Was that a sentence? LIZZIE: You know what I mean! SAMI: Way to go, Rusty! RUSTY: Hey, I said I was sorry. I don’t know what else I can do. EUGENE: She’s really shy, guys. When I see her at school, I’ll try to get her to come back. SAMI: What should we do now? LIZZIE: I don’t know. RUSTY: Got me. SAMI: Is it almost time to leave? LIZZIE: Well, we know what Rusty did over his “extreme” summer break– what did the rest of you do? Sami? SAMI: I went to three camps! RUSTY: Three? Whoa! Cool! SAMI: A church camp, a basketball camp, and a Young Space camp. EUGENE: Space camp? No way! SAMI: Yeah way! My dad knows the guy who runs it. I guess they used to be in the Air Force together. It was pretty fun– but my favorite one was the basketball camp. You’ll never guess who was there. RUSTY: Who? (Sarcastically) Michael Jordan? (Everyone laughs) SAMI: Yes! EUGENE: What? RUSTY: No way! SAMI: Yeah. I’m not kidding! It was so awesome! He was in town for some charity benefit for the Ronald McDonald House. I guess he found out there was a basketball camp going on so he asked if he could stopped by. RUSTY: Did he play? Did you get to watch him play? SAMI: Sort of. He gave us some tips on dribbling. It was cool! LIZZIE: Sounds like it. RUSTY: Man! SAMI: I want to be a professional basketball player when I grow up now more than ever. (To Lizzie and Eugene) What did you guys do? Can you beat that? LIZZIE: Well, we went to Washington D.C. for a week. EUGENE: Yeah, it was great. We saw the White House, the Capital Building, the Smithsonian, the Washington Monument– LIZZIE: The National Ballet Theatre, we saw a show by Shakespeare in the Park– we even got to see the Ford Theatre. That’s where President Abraham Lincoln was killed. EUGENE: Lizzie got to see all the dancing and theatre places she wanted and I got to see all the museums and historical landmarks. It was the best of both worlds. LIZZIE: Yeah, it was our first vacation since the wedding. Mom and – (stops and thinks) You know, that’s still weird. I’m not used to calling your dad “Dad” yet. EUGENE: I know. They’ve been married almost 6 months now and it’s a little weird for me to call your mom “Mom” too. LIZZIE: We’ll get used to it. EUGENE: Yeah. SAMI: Are you getting used to having a brother and a sister. You guys were “only children” before your parents married. Lizzie and Eugene look at each other. LIZZIE: Yeah. EUGENE: (unsure) Yeah. LIZZIE: What’s that supposed to mean? EUGENE: Nothing. I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that– well, you know– when it was just me and Dad– it was just us guys– and now.... RUSTY: Invasion of the step-sister! EUGENE: Yeah. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be though. LIZZIE: (sarcasm) Well, thanks! SAMI: What– did you think they’d move in and paint your house pink? EUGENE: Well– yeah, something like that. LIZZIE: Oh, brother! EUGENE: Oh, sister! (Everyone laughs) Oh, hey! I just thought of where Beth might have gone. She said once that she likes to go to Rice Park after school to feed the ducks. Her Dad picks her up there. LIZZIE: Well, let’s go over and invite her to come back next week. SAMI: We’ll all go. (To Rusty) Maybe you’d better not speak. RUSTY: Ha, ha. EUGENE: Come on, guys. They open the door and Beth practically falls in. She’s been there the whole time trying to get the courage to come in. EUGENE: Beth! BETH: (awkwardly) Hi. EUGENE: You came back! BETH: Yeah. Well, actually, I never left. SAMI: What? LIZZIE: You’ve been out there the whole time? RUSTY: We didn’t see you. BETH: When you came out, I – I hid behind a tree. EUGENE: Why did you hide? We were looking for you. BETH: I know– that’s why I hid. (Trying to find the words) I don’t– um, it’s hard for me– RUSTY: Hey, Beth– I’m Rusty. Remember me? I’m the one with the big mouth. (they laugh, even Beth) BETH: Hi. RUSTY: I’m sorry I was a jerk. I meant to tease Eugene– not you. Let’s start over. LIZZIE: Yeah, come on in. SAMI: Yeah. BETH: (looks the group over, decides to take a chance) Ok. EUGENE: Great! LIZZIE: Were you standing outside the door trying to get the courage to come in? BETH: Yeah. Weird, huh? LIZZIE: No, not really. SAMI: Now, Rusty– HE’S weird! RUSTY: Hey! (They all laugh) LIZZIE: Welcome to our club, Beth. RUSTY: Yeah. SAMI: Yeah, nice to have you here. BETH: Thanks. This isn’t so bad. RUSTY: Yeah. We’re pretty OK once you get to know us. (Everyone laughs again) EUGENE: It’s almost time to go home. We were going to stop by Rice Park to look for you. Want to go over there and feed the ducks? BETH: Sure! RUSTY: Cool! Hey Beth. BETH: Yeah? RUSTY: Thanks for coming back. (Beth smiles) They head out the door. SAMI: We had ducks at my church camp. We used to feed them leftover popcorn! EUGENE: Popcorn? Ducks don’t eat popcorn. SAMI: These did. It was great..... (They’re out) – The End – Instructions for Use:
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