Play # 19

Clean-up Crew

____________________________

By Ashley Vinson

Originally for the “31 Plays in 31 Days” challenge

Contact:
Ashley Vinson
ashleyvin95@gmail.com
 1.
A kitchen area with counter top cabinets:
microwave, sink, stove, and refrigerator
from stage right to stage left.

MIMI enters and grabs a bucket with

cleaning product in it, a sponge, gloves and
a mask. She goes over the refrigerator to
start cleaning. JOYCE and YVETTE are
heard offstage.

JOYCE
(offstage)
Come in the kitchen and help me.

YVETTE
(offstage)
I’ll be there in a minute.

JOYCE
(offstage)
Bring the broom and dustpan outta the hall closet when you done.

YVETTE
(offstage)
Yeah.

Joyce enters the kitchen with an uncooked

bag of popcorn

JOYCE
Woo, I’m tired.

She places the bag in the microwave and

starts it

JOYCE
(to Mimi)
We need to clean the house up. Company is supposed to be coming later to visit your grandma.
Your granddad invited people over without telling nobody and the house look a mess. I mean,
who out of the two of them were gonna do it? Tuh, neither one. Doing stuff and expecting
 2.

somebody else to do it. They done lost their minds. It’s your house, you clean it up. Just
ridiculous.

Yvette enters without the broom and dustpan

JOYCE
Where the broom at, Yvette?

Yvette rolls her eyes and leaves

JOYCE
Yo momma don’t remember nothing, do it? (beat) Shoot!

Joyce takes the burnt popcorn out

JOYCE
Left it in there too long.

She opens the bag

JOYCE
It ain’t going to waste. (Eating) When your momma gets back, tell her to sweep in here and go
outside to sweep the porch.

Joyce exits as Yvette enters

YVETTE
Mimi, you don’t have to tell me. I heard her.

Mimi and Yvette clean in silence for a

moment

YVETTE
Your Aunt Joyce knows she can talk. I just want to know who put her in charge to tell folks what
to do. And what was she doing? Complaining the whole time. Not lifting a finger. I got a finger I
could give her.
Yvette sweeps up the remaining dust, dumps
it in the trash
 3.
YVETTE
I’m going outside.

She exits with the broom and dustpan

Beat

Joyce enters the kitchen with an empty

popcorn bag and throws it away in the trash

JOYCE
I guess yo momma outside sweeping.

Joyce gestures for Mimi to move from the

refrigerator. Mimi does and Joyce grabs a
bottle of water to drink. Mimi resumes
cleaning while Joyce takes a few sips of the
water

JOYCE
That was good. One thing your grandma knows how to do is keep cold water in the fridge.

Yvette enters with the dustpan full and

dumps it in the trash

JOYCE
About time. You did finish that quick though.

YVETTE
Yes, I did. What have you done?

JOYCE
Don’t be worried about what I’ve been doing.

YVETTE
That’s just like you. Bossing everybody else around while you sit back and do nothing.

JOYCE
Somebody got to supervise.
 4.
YVETTE
Yeah right.

Mimi throws the sponge in the bucket and

removes the mask

MIMI
I’m done cleaning and done with this. I have no clue why you two got problems, but ya’ll need
to fix it.

She takes off the gloves and throws them in

the trash

MIMI
I’m going to lay down. (to Yvette) Wake me up when you ready to go home.

Mimi exits. Joyce and Yvette clean up

Mimi’s area. When they finish they look at
each other

Black out
End of Play