Cast of Characters

MOTHER: A romantic woman who wants

her children to appreciate
fine art. Doubles with
ADELINE.

FATHER: A bitter, pretentious art

connoisseur. Doubles with
ARTHUR.
BOY: A distracted young boy in the
present day, a rambunctious
trouble maker in Van Goghs
time. Should be played by a
female.
SON: A brooding teenage artist.
Doubles as VINCENT.
VINCENT:
 ACT I
Scene 1
A modern art gallery, showcasing the work of
Vincent Van Gogh. We are greeted, in darkness, to
a group of museum PATRONS and their TOUR GUIDE,
staring out at a painting, center. Projected on
the back wall is Van Goghs "Starry Night". We
hear, as the lights rise, the opening of Don
McLeans "Vincent".

We now see in full lighting our characters; a

family of four, consisting of two parents, a young
boy, and a teenage son. The son is referred to
simply as the SON; he is a bit of a loner, and he
sketches in a small notebook; his MOTHER, romantic
and a dreamer, stares in awe of the painting; his
FATHER, a bitter, pretentious art critic, is
scowling disapprovingly at the painting. The young
BOY is paying very little attention; he has a
small tablet that he is playing a game on (we can
hear, audibly, the beeps and the boops coming from
the device). The Family begins to speak, slowly at
first.
MOTHER
(to the Father; in regards to the Boys
tablet)
Tell him to turn that thing off.
FATHER
Who cares? Its overrated garbage anyways.
MOTHER
I think its quite pretty. (beat; to the Boy) Turn that
thing off, sweetie...
BOY
Awe, mom!

MOTHER
Look at the painting, dearie.
The Mother and Boy look at the painting for a
moment.

FATHER
Another Van Gogh exhibit. Who needs another Van Gogh
exhibit?

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 2.

MOTHER
Hes a beautiful painter.
FATHER
Theyre all the same. You walk in, you see Starry
Night, you see the self-portrait, you listen to that
Don McLean song play on loop, you leave.
MOTHER
Those wide brush strokes...

FATHER
Rousseau was better.
MOTHER
His use of color... (to the Boy, who has begun to play
on his tablet with the volume off) Are you even looking
at it?
BOY
(turning the tablet off; hiding that he
was playing it)
Yes, mom.

MOTHER
(to the SON)
What about you?
SON
Im drawing, mom.
MOTHER
Well stop drawing and look at the painting.
SON
(snidely)
Were in an art museum.
MOTHER
Are your drawings up on these walls?

SON
No, mom.
MOTHER
Then look at the painting. Theres a lot you can learn
from them. Look at his use of color...
SON
Thats pretty generic, mom...

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 3.

MOTHER
Look at the way he used his art... Used his art to
cover up the pain of his life. He had a hard life, you
know.
FATHER
Oh, it wasnt that bad.
MOTHER
Rejected by society... Treated like a burden... And yet
he created this. (beat; to Father) You have to admire
that, dont you?
FATHER
All artists have pain in their life, dearie.

MOTHER
But some more than others. (beat) Van Gogh, in his
time, was an outcast-
FATHER
Thats an urban myth.
MOTHER
And thats why he took his life.
FATHER
Actually, new evidence suggests-
MOTHER
General consensus is-

FATHER
There was a young boy he knew in town-
MOTHER
He was troubled-

FATHER
The boy liked to play tricks on him-
MOTHER
He was bipolar-

FATHER
The boy thought the gun was jammed, so he fired-
MOTHER
He was depressed-

FATHER
He told everyone he tried to kill himself to save the
boy-

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 4.

MOTHER
He couldnt bear to live in a world that showed nothing
to him.
Suddenly, the scene shifts. We are now in 1880s
France. The Son, now acting as VINCENT, goes off
stage and comes back with a stool and canvas. The
painting in the background shifts to Van Goghs
"Green Wheat Field". The Mother and Father go off
right. The Boy walks around in the background,
pacing, fiddling with his fingers. Vincent hums to
himself as he begins to paint on the canvas. After
a moment, the Boy, who has been running, playing
some sort of game with himself, bumps into the
canvas, almost knocking it over.
BOY
Sorry, mister!
VINCENT
Watch where youre going.
He readjusts the painting and begins to paint
again. The Boy continues to run around and, after
a moment, becomes bored with himself, and goes to
Vincent.
BOY
Excuse me?
Vincent does not respond.
BOY
Excuse me, mister?

Once again, Vincent does not respond.

BOY
Sir?

VINCENT
(annoyed)
What?
BOY
What are you drawing?

VINCENT
Im painting.
BOY
What are you painting?

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 5.

VINCENT
The wheat field.
BOY
Doesnt look like the wheat field.

VINCENT
Not yet.
BOY
Are you the guy who cut off his ear?

VINCENT
No.
BOY
Then whats the bandage for?

VINCENT
Its for the ear.
BOY
That you cut off.

VINCENT
No.
BOY
My dad says that you cut your ear off and gave it to a
prostitute.
VINCENT
Do you even know what a prostitute is?
BOY
No! What is it?
VINCENT
Ask your father, if hes so into telling you things.

BOY
Did it hurt?
VINCENT
Yes.

BOY
Whyd you do it?
VINCENT
I dont know.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 6.

BOY
Are you crazy?
VINCENT
I dont know.

BOY
Everyone says youre crazy.
VINCENT
Is it your business whether Im crazy or not?

BOY
No.
VINCENT
Is it everyone elses business whether Im crazy or
not?
BOY
No.
VINCENT
Then leave off it.
The Boy pauses, pacing back and forth around
Vincent, as if anxious for someone to say
something. Finally:

VINCENT
Is there something you want?
BOY
I want you to teach me how to paint.

VINCENT
No.
BOY
(pleading)
Please!
VINCENT
Absolutely not.
BOY
Why not?
VINCENT
I have enough on my hands as it is.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 7.

BOY
All the other painters in town have apprentices.
VINCENT
I work alone.

BOY
Please!
VINCENT
No! (beat; calmly, as if reasoning with the Boy)
Besides, you cant be taught to paint, you just paint.
BOY
Who taught you?
VINCENT
Nobody.
BOY
Come on, someone mustve taught you-
VINCENT
I taught myself.
BOY
But-
VINCENT
Just as youll teach yourself.
BOY
Father said I could get an apprenticeship with-
VINCENT
Name any of the painters in town, you wont learn
anything from them.
BOY
But what about from you?

VINCENT
You wouldnt learn anything from me, either.
BOY
But-

VINCENT
You want a deal?
BOY
What?

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 8.

VINCENT
Ill make you a deal. One paintbrush, one set of
paints, two canvases, theyre yours, you can paint
whatever you want.

BOY
Really?!
VINCENT
I just need you to do something for me.

BOY
Anything, anything-
VINCENT
I need you to run into town-

BOY
Yeah-
VINCENT
And I need you to go over to the school building-

BOY
Yeah-
VINCENT
And I need you to tell all your schoolboy friends to
stop playing your tricks on me!

BOY
What?
VINCENT
Dont think I dont recognize you. I see you hanging
out with all those boys, those boys who always come out
here and- Why, I bet that you-
BOY
I wasnt-!

VINCENT
Youre up here to pull some sort of prank on me, arent
you?
BOY
No!
VINCENT
Empty out your pockets.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 9.

BOY
What?
VINCENT
Empty out your pockets... Come on.

The Boy shamefully empties out his pockets,

revealing a small, black piece of clay, which he
tries to hide in his hands.
VINCENT
Open your hands.
The Boy opens his hands, shamefully revealing the
piece of clay to Vincent.
VINCENT
What is that?
BOY
Clay, sir...
VINCENT
Clay for what? (silence) Clay for what?
BOY
The boys, the other boys said-
VINCENT
What did the other boys say?
BOY
They said itd be funny, itd be funny if-
VINCENT
Itd be funny if what?
BOY
If I erased part of your painting, sir. I didnt think
it was that funny, but the other boys-

VINCENT
Why do you care what the other boys say?
BOY
I dont-

VINCENT
Then whyd you do it?
BOY
I dont know-

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 10.

VINCENT
Do the other boys tease you?
BOY
No.

VINCENT
Do they?
BOY
No.

VINCENT
Do they make fun of you?
BOY
No.

VINCENT
Do they call you names?
BOY
No. (beat) Yes.

VINCENT
What do they call you?
BOY
(inaudibly; shamefully)
Pleurchineur.
VINCENT
What?
BOY
(slightly louder)
Pleurchineur.
VINCENT
What?

BOY
(shouting)
Pleurchineur, OK?! They call me a cry-baby! Is that
want you want to hear?!

VINCENT
Yes. (beat) Now why do they call you that?
BOY
Cause I cry all the time.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 11.

VINCENT
Why do you cry all the time?
BOY
I dont know.

VINCENT
Are you sad?
BOY
No.

VINCENT
Are you happy?
BOY
I dont know.

VINCENT
Then why do you cry?
BOY
I dont know. I just do.

VINCENT
And they make fun of you for that?
BOY
Yeah. All the time.

VINCENT
And you say you dont care what you think?
BOY
I was lying.

VINCENT
Ah. You were lying.
BOY
Yes.
VINCENT
And they made you come up here and... Do what exactly?
BOY
They wanted me to erase your drawing. They didnt know
it was a painting... They didnt know it wouldnt
erase...
VINCENT
And where are they now?

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 12.

BOY
(pointing off center)
Right down the hill.
VINCENT
Ah, yes, I see them. (beat) Listen, kid, you remind me
a lot of myself. You know what they used to call me
back in school?
BOY
What?

VINCENT
Le poisson.
BOY
They called you a fish?

VINCENT
You know why they called me that?
BOY
Why?

VINCENT
Cause when I ran, I used to run like this... (without
getting up, imitates a fish) Id breathe heavily, and
Id flop around, like a fish.

The Boy begins to laugh a little bit.

VINCENT
Hey, whats so funny?

BOY
Its nothing- Just- A fish?!
VINCENT
Yeah, thats what they called me. And you know what I
did?

BOY
What?
CENTVI