Highlighted Writers of January- Second Place Winner
137 PEACH STREET
Characters
Prudence, the middle child, with siblings being Constance and Dorian
Constance, the youngest child of siblings Dorian and Prudence
Wesley, the old uncle of Dorian, Prudence and Constance
Dorian, Older brother of siblings Prudence and Constance
Alice, the (dead) mom to Dorian, Constance and Prudence, and sister to Wesley Charles, a visitor who does not fit in with the strange aura of the house,
Mother, (the same actor as Alice) Constance’s mother
Setting: A large mansion, located at a high peak, isolated from the rest of the town. The house has, five bedrooms, a living room, a lodge, a kitchen, one very large dining room, three bathrooms, and endless gold and red wallpaper that looks antique but doesn't seem to fit any time period. Frames of family portraits line the walls. The dining room table stretches across the stage slightly off center. The chairs around the table are all uniquely different, like they weren’t bought in a set, but all brought from different parts of the house. Plates, forks, butter knives, and napkins surrounding the table in front of each seat. The table holds two small teapots, sugar, a saucer filled with milk and biscuits in the middle. Far stage left, there is a small table that holds a tray of six tea cups.
A choreographed dance number opens the play with ominous and bass heavy music. It should create a creepy aura around the meal that's about to take place, it is supposed to be unsettling. WESLEY, DORIAN, and ALICE (dancing) separately find their way towards the table where the teacups are, and each poison one cup. They are not aware that the others are also poisoning a cup, and the audience has no idea whose cup they are poisoning. This dance number will end with the characters in their respective seats around the dinner table (except for ALICE, who exits). The music stops.
PRUDENCE grabs the tray and brings it over to her family.
PRUDENCE
Careful, it is very hot.
PRUDENCE hands DORIAN his cup of tea, and from there circles the table to everyone else.
DORIAN
(accepting the tea)
Thank you little sister.
WESLEY clears his throat and opens a notebook, he mutters to himself
WESLEY
Oh, a pen, I need a pen.
DORIAN reaches over to grab the pen next to WESLEY
DORIAN
Its right here dear uncle.
WESLEY
(chuckling)
Oh. Right. Old age, son.
(to himself)
Old age.
DORIAN
(cold)
While we are on that topic of old age, what are we planning on doing with Alice’s room.
PRUDENCE
Dorian!
DORIAN
Just a thought dear sister, don’t be so sensitive.
(pauses and realized how insensitive he sounded)
(adjusts himself as if to put on a mask)
(smiles)
It would be a shame to have such a beautiful room collect dust.
WESLEY
(not looking up but slightly irritated)
Alice will come and go in the room as she pleases. We will not disturb her. A long silence.
PRUDENCE is finished with her distribution of the tea, so she is about to sit down.
CONSTANCE
I will not.
CONSTANCE looks at the empty seat from her table.
DORIAN
What?
CONSTANCE
I will not eat.
WESLEY
Not now Constance.
PRUDENCE
(mocking her sister)
‘I will not eat until everyone comes to the table’, well sorry your highness but for the hundredth time nobody sits there. THIS is why she always gets to eat in her room.
WESLEY
Fine Constance. Prudence dear, after we clean up bring your sister’s tea to her room.
CONSTANCE smiles, pleased with herself. WESLEY writes in his notebook, he doesn't look up when he speaks
WESLEY
I heard from Margaret that the town is getting worse. She called yesterday.
PRUDENCE
I thought you said the phone had broken.
WESLEY
It had, it had. But somehow it could last one more call.
PRUDENCE’s excitement about the phone fades. She became hopeful too soon that it had been fixed. DORIAN suspiciously eyes his sister.
PRUDENCE
It's a shame she can’t live with us.
WESLEY
(bitter)
Yes well it is a shame she married a commoner. Priorities can differ in certain people.
CONSTANCE
What are...prior-i-tiees?
There’s a knock heard at the door. Everyone stops what they’re doing and look up. This is unusual, VERY unusual. They are the richest of the town and no one dares to knock on their door or even come close to it. The townspeople are even frightened of the woods that separate them from the mansion and would never tread through them to knock on their door. Everyone is perplexed. They stare stage left where the knock came from. Finally PRUDENCE comes to and stands up pretending this is completely normal.
PRUDENCE
I shall, um. Get the...door.
She exits.
CONSTANCE
(who was smiling this whole time)
I told you he’d come one day!
DORIAN
Who?
CONSTANCE
My guest! It took him a while. But that's why I saved him a seat!
PRUDENCE walks in with CHARLES, who seems to be amazed by the mansion and is looking around. He’s in formal (but not too fancy) attire, and when he enters CONSTANCE stands.
CONSTANCE (CONT’D)
Hello!
CHARLES is caught off guard by the loud greeting, PRUDENCE chuckles in a very fake way.
PRUDENCE
Charles, this is Constance my little sister, Dorian, my older brother, and Wesley, my uncle.
CHARLES
It's very nice to meet all of you.
DORIAN
(to PRUDENCE)
Are we just giving strangers tours now?
PRUDENCE gives DORIAN a look.
WESLEY
(judgemental)
Where do you journey from, Charles. Must have been a long trip.
CHARLES
Yes a few hours, but it was very well worth it. I’m not here to intrude, I apologize if that is what it looks like. I just wanted to discuss with you the ownership of this house.
WESLEY
Ownership?
PRUDENCE
Before we talk business why don’t you join us for a cup of tea?
CHARLES
Oh no I shouldn’t intrude.
WESLEY
Charles is right he shouldn’t.
PRUDENCE
No I insist.
PRUDENCE walks over to the empty chair across from CONSTANCE and pulls it out for him, he sits down and is faced with a very giddy CONSTANCE. PRUDENCE then leaves to get him a cup of tea. The spotlight follows her as the lights on the dining table goes dark The piano part
from the beginning song begins to play ominously. She approaches the tea and poisons CHARLES’s cup. She puts it on a tray and slowly walks over, the tray is shaking in her repressed anger, she smiles through it. The second she approaches the table the lights go back on and the music stops.
PRUDENCE places the cup in front of him.
WESLEY
So...Charles. How do you and Prudence know each other, you seem to be very friendly.
CHARLES
Oh, we met down in-
PRUDENCE
(interjecting)
Just now.
I’ve seen him on the road, near the train tracks before, but um, I don’t know him.
She smiles again. CHARLES nervously chuckles in his confusion as to why PRUDENCE had lied.
WESLEY
The tracks? Prudence, when did you wander off to the tracks?
PRUDENCE
Oh no, I did not...wander. I just see him, from the garden...the tracks you can see from the garden.
DORIAN who was sipping his tea looks between WESLEY and PRUDENCE, squinting in suspicion.
WESLEY
Right.
(pause)
So Charles, you said you came here to discuss the ownership of this house. I assume there must be a misunderstanding as it is essentially a family heirloom.
CHARLES
I thought the same thing until a few days ago, I got a call from the town offices, telling me someone left me this house in their will. They said they couldn’t disclose who, which I think is pretty absurd. I mean if someone leaves something like a HOUSE I should know who...or at least why...right?
PRUDENCE
Indeed.
WESLEY
Yes...indeed. What a strange happening.
Oh why I’m being rude, if you are having tea with us everyone should be here. Prudence will you call Alice down here.
PRUDENCE
Right.
PRUDENCE puts her napkin aside in annoyance, whilst eyeing both WESLEY And CHARLES. She exits.
CONSTANCE
(too enthusiastically)
What’s your name again?
CHARLES
Charles. How about you?
CONSTANCE begins to giggle.
DORIAN
Don’t mind her antics.
CHARLES nods. A longer silence.
CHARLES
There really are a lot of people living here.
DORIAN
(leaning over and whispering)
Well, Alice doesn't exactly LIVE here. She haunts here.
CHARLES
I’m sorry?
ALICE enters with PRUDENCE beside her. ALICE sits in the empty seat next to WESLEY, CHARLES doesn't acknowledge this, because he doesn't see her.
ALICE
(kindly to WESLEY)
Hello brother.
How odd to have company.
DORIAN
Alice was our mother, until she tragically passed away about 6 months ago. And of course, as you know, the only person that can see or hear the dead is who she had trusted the most when she was living, in this case my dear uncle.
DORIAN acts as if this is common knowledge, CHARLES nods in hesitant understanding.
CHARLES
Oh. Thats quite interesting. If you don’t mind me asking how did she pass? I know in those murder mystery books ghosts-
DORIAN
If it was murder, she would also haunt the person who committed the crime. But we lost our mother to suicide.
ALICE
If suicide is another word for murder...my dear.
DORIAN shifts in his seat.
WESLEY
Oh Alice...your brain is all in a blender. Purgatory must have done something to your poor soul.
CHARLES
What did she say?
WESLEY
She is convinced her suicide was actually murder. But it is common for ghosts to blame their deaths on other people, especially such traumatic ones. The memory of their death is the only thing they can’t truly remember. Poor Alice’s was so gruesome she thinks someone had murdered her.
CHARLES
Well, how do you know she’s lying?
PRUDENCE
(annoyed)
No one in this house would do such a thing! Besides, all the evidence pointed to a suicide, and Uncle says she has never uttered the name of who had allegedly killed her. If you were a ghost wouldn’t you want justice? It just doesn't make sense for Uncle to believe her.
CHARLES
Yes, I suppose.
There’s a long uncomfortable silence. ALICE observes CHARLES.
ALICE
Wesley my dear, be nice to our guest. It seems as though he belongs here.
WESLEY
What do you mean?
Charles rustles with a bunch of papers from his messenger bag and lays them out on the table. Everyone is taken aback by his “improper behavior.”
CHARLES
I was told that a relative of mine had owned this house, which is weird to me since it was never mentioned by my family. I was told I had always lived in the town. But I visited the archives and found that my father lived in this house, he died before I was born, but if you follow the timeline I think he was living here, and was a victim of the fire that happened
DORIAN
20 years ago.
PRUDENCE
My.
CONSTANCE
That fire was quite pretty.
Another long pause.
CHARLES
How old are you?
PRUDENCE
She’s eight, don’t mind her childish and quite insensitive comments.
CHARLES nods hesitantly and looks over at CONSTANCE who smiles at him.
CHARLES
(shuffling with papers)
Anyway...This is the paper that was given to me by the offices. It claims I have rights to this house.
WESLEY looks at the paperwork closely.
WESLEY
This is quite peculiar, it was signed by...my father.
The kids (aka CONSTANCE, PRUDENCE and DORIAN) at the table look around at each other, they’ve never met their grandfather.
CHARLES
Does he live here too?
WESLEY
No.
CHARLES looks around the table to gage a reaction, but everyone is standing still.
CHARLES
Any idea why he would leave this house to me? I mean I would know you guys if you were my family...right? Maybe this was all a mistake, one big misunderstanding, I’ll see my way out.
ALICE
Wait.
WESLEY turns to ALICE, CHARLES starts to pack up his stuff.
ALICE (CONT’D)
(to herself)
Charles, charles charles?
She repeats the name as if she has heard it before. ALICE stands.
ALICE (CONT’D)
If grandfather signed it, that means he must be...our brother. He left the house to his children...the will said “I therefore leave my largest and oldest possession, the ownership of this timeless heirloom, to...my children.” He said “my children”. Never said our names. This boy must be our brother.
WESLEY
That is quite impossible, mother only had two of us.
DORIAN
Uncle...are you suggesting Charles is our relative?
PRUDENCE
No, no he can’t be. He-
(Prudence shudders almost disgusted with herself)
No.
WESLEY
The youngest of...three? But I would remember. I would remember if we had a brother.
CONSTANCE
(Begins rocking back and forth singing a tune)
One two
The sparks flew
Three four
The locked door
Five six
Get out quick
Seven eight
The house is in flames
Nine ten
The third is dead
Or is he
CONSTANCE (CONT’D)
Just missing a head
PRUDENCE
Constance what are you saying?
ALICE
Listen! Listen to her Wesley. She’s talking about the fire...from when we were young. Listen.
CONSTANCE
(still singing)
The third was found
Alone on the ground
Brought in by kindness
And homely sounds
He couldn’t remember
The look of his house
So he instead
Was kept like a mouse
Under the stairs
Of his new parents
Sent to town
To live with barrens
The two that were left
Decided to forget
And so a curse
Was brought instead
The third shall find
The two in time
CONSTANCE (CONT’D)
A poisoned table
Full of lies
Ones a romantic
One guilty of crime
And the two eldest
One dead one alive
The youngest shall be
The only one
Who unveils the truth
Of grandfather's son
Soon the table will be
Bare and empty
Bare and empty
As soon as the cups
Are shattered to dust
There will be one left
With no one to trust
PRUDENCE
Oh no...I didn’t.
CHARLES
(nervously looking around)
Where is the door again?
CONSTANCE
Door? You’re funny.
CHARLES
What’s funny nothings funny there's no door? Where
CONSTANCE
You came into our house
That's all you need the door for.
coming in.
when no one is coming in the door sleeps
she sleeps under the floorboards where no one can see her.
CHARLES
Where
is
the door.
CONSTANCE
I told you
you don't need it anymore
now that you are here.
There’s a blackout. A spotlight on CONSTANCE. The same song begins playing.
CONSTANCE
You see.
Family is just a concept. A concept we wanted to believe. That is why our family had this house. One that was passed down for generations. To keep a sense of family. A sense of history. But that kind of history can turn sour. Family in a house full of secrets and lies will never last.
PRUDENCE, WESLEY, CHARLES, and DORIAN are found unconscious when the lights go back up with
CONSTANCE
The third shall find
The two in time
A poisoned table
Full of lies
Ones a romantic
One guilty of crime
And the two eldest
One dead one alive
Who poisoned who you may ask?...
That’s a clever question isn’t it.
Why don’t you think about it.
(a very long pause)
Ugh fine.
How about I help you.
CONSTANCE (CONT’D)
(CONSTANCE goes around the table indicating each
character)
The old man, my uncle.
(goes up to WESLEY)
Despises disobedience. And he suspected a curious little girl wandering away from the house. (has now made her way to PRUDENCE)
(clicking her tongue and shaking her head)
Now my dear older sister couldn’t help herself. But Wesley obviously decided to resort to more extreme measures. Chamomile was her favorite, who knew she had a taste for arsenic too?
Well okay, I gave you the first one. Now think. C’mon use your brain a little. Who could do such a thing. Hm...wrong angle. Who had the motive to do such a thing. People can surprise you. (another long pause)
(going back to PRUDENCE)
My dear sister...we thought she was the innocent one. But she was angry. Angry at our kind guest here, Charles. You see Charles knew her...very well. Prudence, just as our old uncle here suspected, has gone to town a few times, and been a curious girl. But you see Prudence is the jealous type. She knew that every time she had tread back home Charles resumed his life without her. He was trouble. Little did she know she was playing with family blood. Yikes. So when he came along she had the chance to take care of him. Green tea was his favorite. (excited, making her way over to DORIAN)
Now my older brother...oh he’s a different story. What a troublemaker he was. I liked him. A shame he had to end like this. But then again guess he chose his own fate. Kinda boring though when it comes to his motive...the usual stuff. He wanted money, the ownership of the house. Wesley was old and all he had to do was stop breathing for a bit and Dorian would get everything. The house, the money, the land. But boy was uncle stubborn.
Oh but that doesn't explain why he’s dead right?
Hm, would you like to guess.
This ones a doozy.
But you see Alice. Ya know...ms mostly ghostly over here, hinted at it before. Suicide everyone said. But that was odd. She had a happy life, big house, nice family. But what else could it be? No one wanted to believe that someone here could do it. And the police sure as hell didn’t want to deal with accusing a rich man. You see, Dorian, had rage. Bottled up rage. He never believed that my mother was doing what she could with the money, thought she was a waste of space. But what’s the one thing a ghost can’t remember? Her death.
My mother was a nice woman. She didn’t want to tell Wesley that her own son murdered her. So she kept her mouth shut. Of course, Dorian could still see her, and that was punishment enough.
Anyway, here we are. Near the end are we? But I have to be transparent. I haven’t been truly honest with you. My apologies. Let me pull back the curtain.
(transition to the same table but without the chairs, and instead dolls sitting in the places of the people. Expect for CONSTANCE, who is still herself, sitting in the same place she was at the beginning of the play. The actor who played ALICE enters)
ALICE/MOTHER
What have you been doing sweetie? Planning a quite extravagant tea party I see.
CONSTANCE
I’ve been playing. These are my friends.
ALICE
And what are their names?
CONSTANCE
(pointing to the dolls)
Dorian, Prudence, Charles, Wesley and Alice.
ALICE
(flattered)
Aw...how sweet. What a family.
Lets go, supper is ready...and so is your tea honey. You don’t want it getting cold. (they walk stage left, lights blackout on the table)
CONSTANCE
Tea will be interesting today. I can feel it. Maybe we’ll have a visitor.
(excited)
I would love a visitor.
ALICE
Matter of fact a young man knocked on our door. I have a feeling you’ll like him. His name is Charles. I’ll introduce you.
(ALICE and CONSTANCE exit holding hands.)
(Lights on the table DORIAN, PRUDENCE, WESLEY, and CHARLES lay dead on the table, CHARLES takes a gasping breath as he comes to life)
(A small snippet of the song plays again.)
(flashing lights on the table then blackout)
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