Photo by Mikael Aldo
WORK IN PROGRESS
LIAM: He has managed to be the center of attention even after he’s gone.
HESTER: You’re the only person I know that would shame a dead man.
LIAM: That was a compliment.
ELLA: How do we know he’s dead?
OWEN: Some people are dead and they don’t know it.
LIAM: Ok, Owen…that was your inside voice.
OWEN: He’s can’t hear you.
LOGLINE / SUMMARY
Five friends go on a camping trip that spirals into a confrontation that dramatically alters their lives when one of them reveals a terrible secret.
THE CHARACTERS
LIAM –(M/21) -Rebellious and provocative. No filter. Dynamic and always close to the edge. He craves attention.
ELLA—(F/21) -Good girl trying to be bad. Promiscuous, but only in word. The perfect foil for Liam. Secretly harbors feelings for him.
OWEN—(M/21) – An artist and misfit. Quiet and intense. It’s a mystery how he fits into this group of friends.
HESTER-(F/20) – Younger by one grade level. The peacemaker and probably the only voice of reason in the group. She has two dads.
THEO—(M/22) – Older by one grade level. A jock who never really came to terms with life after graduation. Has big ambitions but can’t seem to get his life straight enough to move on.
The characters can be any ethnicity.
THE SETTING
A campsite in a national park, secluded and rustic. There is no one else around.
THE PLOT
Some time ago, a young man left the house of a graduation party to walk home, never to be seen again. The investigation into his disappearance went cold.
The play begins two years later when a group of friends decides to go a trip to honor their lost friend, who was an avid camper.
WRITER’S STATEMENT
There is no denying the consequences of our actions. Every choice we make, every opinion we have, every word we utter ultimately comes back to us.
I wanted to write a play dealing with the purest form of ramification. We are born feeble and we die feeble and in between we make choices that move us step by step through that process.
Some choices lift us up and some push us down. But, ultimately, life is a circle that wraps itself around us. Are those choices guided by a higher power? Are they the reflection of something indicative of a part of our humanity that embraces the dark side of our nature?
In the end, every step we takes being us closer to the end of that circle, only to have it start again. There is no moving backwards. No one can possibly know what happens when that journey is complete.
(Warning: mature language and subject matter).
VIEW BARRY’S OTHER WRITING PROJECTS
Kingdom of Animals
Texas Christmas Carol
The Quality of Mercy
Revelations