Rising
March 2nd, 2021
Starring: Audrey (female, late 20’s), Price (male, late 20’s)
A hotel room balcony, Los Angeles. It has a solid view overlooking downtown. Audrey (jean shorts and a t-shirt) sits in a deck chair, strumming her acoustic guitar. A minute later, Price (jeans and a sweater) opens the sliding door and joins her, stuffing his phone into his pocket.
PRICE
Jonah’s not getting out.
The snow—it’s backlogged, so they’re pushing flights to tomorrow. But even if he leaves first thing he’s not getting here till mid-afternoon.
AUDREY
Yeah
That’s...
PRICE
He feels horrible.
I feel horrible. For him, us—it’s just—the timing’s so shitty all around!
AUDREY
Murphy’s Law.
PRICE
Murphy. What a dick.
…
…
AUDREY
We should drop him.
PRICE
Murphy?
AUDREY
Jonah.
...
PRICE
What…?
We—we can’t drop Jonah. We need Jonah.
AUDREY
What part of Jonah do we need?
PRICE
Him. The him part.
AUDREY
All we need is a drummer. A drummer who can do what Jonah does, which is play the drums slightly above average.
PRICE
Jonah is better than above average—
AUDREY
Even if he’s slightly above slightly above average. He doesn’t write our songs, he doesn’t sing.
When people buy a ticket for our concerts, are they coming to see Jonah? Are they paying to hear his 6 out of 10 drumming?
PRICE
Okay yeah but...he’s a founder. He’s been there since day one, he’s a third of the band.
AUDREY
He’s not here now.
PRICE
Because his flight got delayed by a blizzard! The guy just had to bury his Uncle, give him a break!
AUDREY
This is our break! We are rising. And if we want to rise higher, we have to drop dead weight.
...
Just watch. In three weeks, when “Chrysanthemum Anthem” hits top ten on billboard, you’re gonna be thanking me for half the cut, not a third. Because we did the work. Not Mr. He bangs the drums, us.
PRICE
He stays. Or I quit.
AUDREY
Great. Quit. I’ll go out there tonight full-acoustic and prove I’m the one with all the talent.
…
…
AUDREY
Am I sensing a change of heart?
Price answers with defeated body language. Audrey puts down the guitar and gets up.
AUDREY
You love to see it.
PRICE
Where are you going?
AUDREY
Rite-Aid. California makes me crave cigs.
PRICE
We need a drummer in four hours.
AUDREY
So call the label. Tell them we need a slightly above average drummer in LA county for the weekend. There are a billion, one will work.
PRICE
And if Jonah calls?
AUDREY
What if?
PRICE
What do I tell him?
AUDREY
The truth.
He’ll get it. People tend to know when they’re useless.
Audrey leaves for her cigarettes. Looking out onto the sunny LA skyline, Price wipes a forming bead of sweat with his sweater sleeve.