The Switch (An American Telenovela)

Written by Colin McElduff, Kira Knauf, and Haley Busman

Characters:
Gabby- wants to be lawyer, devoted,hard on herself, rough childhood (main
character)
Rose- positive, goes with the flow, wants to be lawyer (Gabbys best friend)
Tom- lawyer from major firm, inspired his daughter (Gabbys dad)
Narrator - 3rd person to give context to play
Lenard - boy bully (Denise is his girlfriend)
Denise - girl bully (Lenard is her boyfriend)
Mail guy - thinks Gabby is crazy, and has her letter from Harvard (non-speaking)
Judge- confronts Gabby
Police officer

Setting: A small town city in Washington a close-knit community.

Timeline:
1. When she was younger, her brother died just days old.
2. Shes moved from Iowa to Washington since her dad got a new job.
3. Monologue - Opening letter from Harvard
4. Gabby and Rose mix up their acceptance letters and get into a huge argument
5. Gabby becomes insane, thinking she is Rose, and commits a series of crimes
that land her in a padded room and a trial before a federal judge.

Narrator: When Gabby was only 2 years old, she was heartbroken over the loss of her
baby brother to a life threatening heart condition when he was just days old. Not too
long after that tragic event her family moved from Iowa to Washington as her dad had
got a new job at a bigger law firm, in hope to leave behind the painful memories.

(Setting: 12 years later..17 year old GABBY is getting ready for school)

(Scene stars with GABBY pacing around her room and grabbing her books, its the first
day back from winter break)
Gabby: ...Okay I got this! First day back.. Im going to crush it- NO! Destroy it- NO! Im

going to CONQUER THE WORLD!!!!!

Dad: -GABBY! WHY ARE YOU YELLING!?

Gabby: ...sorry Dad! (sarcastically) Just trying to conquer my crippling self-doubt!

Dad: Well youre gonna be late for school!! Hurry up!

Gabby: Yo soy!

Dad: Muy rapido!!

(GABBY rushes past DAD, gives him a quick hug, running out the door with her school
bag)

(Setting: Now at school, GABBY is in the hallway walking and talking with ROSE)

Gabby: ...ugh I was up all night filling out the whole application for Harvard. God it took

forever (eyeroll).

Rose: Oh yeah. about that.I havent even started...

Gabby: Rose!! (lightly punches arm) You said youd fill it out last night! -Dont blame me

if you dont make it in!

Rose: ...Goodness, relax Gabby. Some of us have a social life!

(LENARD enters with his girlfriend DENISE)

Lenard: Look, es la dos LOOOOOSSSSSEEERRRSSSS! (makes an L on his

forehead)

Denise: Yeah, youre all just a bunch of TRYYY HAARRRDS!!!

Rose: Oh shut up Lenard-you can barely keep your pants up!

(LENARD faints)

(DENISE gasps and collapses next to LENARD)

Gabby: (gasps) Good-golly those guys are so mean!

(BELL RINGS)

Denise: (starts to stand back up, dragging LENARD with her) This day couldnt get any

worse thanks to you meddling kids!!!

Gabby: What are you talking about?! He was the one making fun of us! ...and then he

just collapsed!

(DENISE walks off, dragging LENARD along with her)

Gabby: Goodness that scared the living life out of me! (GABBY and ROSE start to walk

away)... Wait Rose, did you even estudiaste por ingles a la noche?

Rose: Gabby, you know that I didnt. But when have I ever?

Gabby: (sigh)

(GABBY and ROSE walk offstage to class)

(Rose and Gabby leave still a little on edge about what just happened)

(Setting: Gabby and Rose go back to Gabbys house)

Gabby: Finally were out of all that drama! The only thing I want to be worrying about

now is Harvard!

Rose: Oh let it go Gabby! Theres still a week until we send in our final applications! And

you have already written the whole thing over once and a million times!!

Gabby: While you have what? The header written?

Narrator: A couple months later the letters were sealed and stamped out many
colleges, including Harvard. Gabby continues to wait impatiently while Rose still couldnt
be bothered.

(Setting: Gabbys house)

Gabby: (while at the mailbox) Ok! Todays the day hopefully the letters will come in!

Rose: You have said that everyday since we sent them out, this is the 63rd time you

have come to the mailbox to check! Patience...patience. (Annoyed)

Gabby: WAIT THERE'S THE MAIL TRUCK!!!! (tries to run after truck; trips and falls

face first, holds her arm up waving at Mailguy)

(MAILGUY gives GABBY a bewildered look; hands her her letter)

Rose: I guessss Ill go check if i got mine too. (Laughing at Gabby falling, not showing a

lot of emotion about the letters)

Dad: (rushing out GABBY) Gabby! Are you ok?! I just got out of my car and saw you

fall to be honest it was pretty funny (seeing that GABBY is perfectly fine, chuckles).

Gabby: Yeah, Im fine. I just got a lil excited I guess- Look dad its here!! (shows him

letter right in his face)

Narrator: Gabby was a little too excited, if you know what I mean (wink)(makes motion

that she peed herself)

(DAD and GABBY head inside; GABBYs phone rings and DAD goes offstage)

Gabby: (answering her phone) Rose, guess who got her letter!!

Rose: Let me guessyou? -

Gabby: (excitedly screaming) SI!!!, YO!!!!

(MOM, just getting home from work, faints in the background. DAD comes back in an

drags her off)

Rose: Well I just got one too, not to brag...pero.

Gabby: OM-E-GOSH! (gasps) We should totally open them together!!! (squeals)

Rose: Okay, Ill be over in a few.

(ROSE enters, letter in hand, with GABBY pacing back and forth)

Rose: Can you wait, like, one more minute. I had a lot of water today and I have to pee!

Gabby: OK fine, but hurry up!!!... I guess one more minute wouldnt hurt...

(ROSE leaves, and GABBY starts pacing pack and forth, eyeing the letters. She doesnt

want to wait, but the anxiety is killing her. GABBY eventually gives in, carefully opening

her letter)

Gabby: (whispering) What?! I didnt get in! (backing up slowly) this isnt happening.

(GABBY impatiently waiting for ROSE and in a state of shock, she opens ROSEs letter

and discovers ROSE actually made it into Harvard.

Narrator: It could be, perhaps, that Gabbys ponytail was too tight, or that the lights in

her room was too bright. But I think that the most likely reason of all is the loss of her

brother, before he could crawl. (As GABBY switches her letter with ROSES)

(Gabby seals the envelopes back up just as she hears the toilet flush)

Rose: Ok for the moment we have been waiting for. (drumroll on her knees)

(ROSE and GABBY open up their letters; GABBY does her best to look surprised with

her letter, while ROSE actually looks disappointed)

Gabby: I MADE IT AHHHHH (jumping up and down)

Rose: But...I didnt whatever you know, its fine. Theres always the other ones I

applied to, right?

Gabby: Oh yeah of course, Rose! .but I mean.. you didnt even care to be begin

with

Rose: Yes I did! Of course I did, I mean, how could you say that Gabby!?!

(growing tension in the room)

Gabby: WHY are you getting mad?! You didnt even try! You know how much time I put

into this!

Rose: WAIT A MINUTE (looking down at the letter in her hand)!!! WHY DOES MY

LETTER HAVE TU NOMBRE ON IT, GABBY?!!!!!!!!!

Gabby: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT???

Rose: Wow, you actually switched our letters? Are you seriously that desperate?!

Gabby: OH HOW DARE YOU!

Rose: HOW DARE I?

Gabby: You never have taken any of this serious for even a single day! YOU DONT

DESERVE TO GET INTO HARVARD!

Rose: You know what Im sick of this, I have been your friend for many years and you

have always made me feel inferior to you! (ROSE grabs her stuff to leave)

Gabby: No, I have not! You have done all this to yourself!

Rose: I HATE YOU!! YOURE NOT MI AMIGO!

Gabby: WELL RIGHT BACK AT YOU!

(ROSE goes to grab her letter, but GABBY grabs the other half of it. They tug-of-war

with it, each yelling to give it to them. They continue to yank it back and forth until the

letter rips in half)

Narrator: wait a minute did you see what I just saw?!?!?! A friendship ripped to shreds

literally...

Rose: ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!

Gabby: YOU TURD!!!

(GABBY slaps ROSE right in the face, repeatedly back-handing then front-handing until

ROSE faints and falls to the ground)

(Stage goes dark, and GABBY walks up stage with a spotlight focused on her)

Gabby: (slowly getting more and more devious) I had waited to months to get this letter.
8 weeks, 60 days, 1,460 hours, 87,600 minutes, and 5,256,000 seconds. (getting more
crazy) I DESERVE this! I NEED this! This is MY future and I WILL GET IT NO MATTER
THE COST!

(blackout)

Narrator: As time went on, Gabby continued to get even MORE insane, that she
believed she was in fact, Rose. Some may say she really was...

(Lights come up, with GABBY in a straightjacket, sitting in a courtroom facing the
JUDGE and the OFFICER, with DAD sitting in the backrow)

Judge: SO youre convicted of grand theft, breaking and entering, assaulting a police
officer, trespassing, (really quickly) kidnapping of a former best friend.and IDENTITY
THEFT, Rose. I also would like to clarify that impersonating a student at Harvard Law is
breaking a federal law, Rose.

(GABBY is listening agreeing with pretty much everything, not flinching)

Gabby: Wait, identity theft??

Judge: Si, Rose, or should I say (quick head turns with dun-dun-dun), GABBY???

(OFFICER goes up to GABBY and rips off her face mask which made her look like
Rose, revealing that she truly is not Rose)
Gabby: Youll never catch me alive!!! ADIOS MUCHACHOS!!! (evil witch cackle, and
starts to run away with really high knees).

(GABBY trips and falls face first (again), shuffles back up in her straightjacket, and
continues running off-stage left. The OFFICER begins chasing after her, with the
JUDGE following closely behind).

Dad: RUN GABBY RUN!!!!!! (DAD runs after the rest of the group)

(Fade to blackout)
To be continued.

Questions and Notes

Super intense scenes
Just trying to conquer my self doubt
Gabby repeatedly slapping Rose
Everyone is fainting
Daddy laughs at Gabby falling
Moments of Spanish
Flowed nicely for the style of the play
 Comedy in confusion?
Narrator used in other moments to add onto the style change
Worked well
Gabby plans and Rose goes with the flow
Rose is careless but seems to care, does she care? That character
choice?
Extreme crazy, extreme chill
Judge scene shows how insane Gabby is, it works
What happens with Harvard?
Does Rose die?
Are there more ways to add spanish and the intensity?
Are they american? Like who would act this?
Whats at stake for the parents with Harvard?
Totally chill if she doesnt get in
Does anyone actually go to Harvard?
Gabby kidnaps Rose, attempts to impersonate her @ Havard
but is caught on the first day of class
Does Rose actually do her application or not has it done?
Had it done - remaining aloof
Why did Gabby not get into Harvard?
Forgot to submit form 23DG692A
How does her dad feel about what Gabby has become?
How does her little brother tie in?