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Monologue: DREAMER
[DREAMER is sleeping at a school desk. Suddenly, she starts and looks up, bewildered.]
DREAMER: AAAAAAH! Oh. Hello, Miss Korsky. [she pauses.] Why am I sleeping? [pause.] No, no. Science is important to me. The grade, at least. That’s all that matters, isn’t it? [pause. Then she laughs.] Oh, you sure crack me up, Miss Korsky. Did you think I was as dumb as all that? No. I know I need this grade, and I know I don’t need the rest of it. [pause.] Why would I say that? You see, Miss Korsky, students over the years have developed a remarkable ability to learn things that their teachers don’t teach them. It seems impossible, doesn’t it? Well, not anymore. And somewhere along the way, all of them learned your biggest secret. No one will remember this, Miss Korsky. No one will remember this Science. No one will remember me, or you, or Newton or Mendeleyev or any of it. That’s the secret. You can Google it. [slightly longer, almost awkward pause.] Also, it so happens that this class isn’t important to my career path at all. [pause.] What am I doing with my life? Oh, that’s a good one. I have no idea. All I know is, if it’s anything like your class, I want no part of it. [pause.] You know what I want to be when I grow up? Free. Open-minded. Happy. Can you major in that? [pause.] That’s what I thought. They’re awfully obscure careers nowadays. [pause. She becomes introspective.] Do you know, Miss Korsky, sometimes I wonder if I might have split personality disorder? It’s my brain, you see. It’s in two halves, and they’re always fighting. [she taps her head.] Very loud in here. [pause.] And when I’m in your class, it’s my left brain, screaming ‘BECOME A DOCTOR, YOU USELESS SACK OF DREAMS!’ But I don’t like that side. I like the right side. You know what the right side wants to be? [pause. She is completely zoned into her speech.] It wants to be an actor, Miss Korsky. A star! It would be very difficult, but... that’s just what the left side says. And that’s what you say. Difficult, difficult, just like me. Am I being difficult, Miss Korsky? I’m sorry. It is the difficult ones that get remembered, you know. [she pauses, returning to earth.] You know what I do when I’m in your class, Miss Korsky? I sit here and listen to my brain tell me I’m doomed. I’m never going to get a job or go anywhere, and the job I want is almost impossible for even the best! [she pauses, winded.] But you wanted to know why I’m sleeping, and here’s why- it’s when I dream that the right side whispers, ‘Not impossible. Almost.’
[she looks around for a bit, frustrated, then puts her head back down on her arms and begins to sleep.]
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