Professional Documents
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The Club
The Club
The Club
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
DOROTHY: -- Dorothy has a secret she doesn't want anyone to know about
COOKIE: -- One of Dorothy's oldest friends but does not know what the secret is
SHELBY: -- One of Dorothy's oldest friends but does not know what the secret is
COOKIE: Will you and William tour the Cape this year, Dorothy?
DOROTHY: Not this year. We've done that twice. This year William is planning something
very special. We are renting a luxury condo high up in the mountains in Wyoming. Just he
and I this time. We're going to spend four weeks practically living on top of the world.
SHELBY: (chokes on her mimosa) You are not actually going to rough it for the summer, are
you? Please tell me that is your husband's idea of a joke.
DOROTHY: We will hardly be roughing it, Shelby. William has assured me this will be a
four-star trip the whole way. The luxury condo we are renting is fully furnished even with
house staff. Everything we need will be at our finger tips.
COOKIE: Wade and I are renting a yacht. All of our children are going to go with us, except
Kevin. He is going to be climbing Mt. Everest this summer.
SHELBY: Well, Gunther and I are going to tour Europe, Asia and Australia. We have been
invited to dine with royal and political dignitaries in several countries. Jessica and my grand-
daughter Jennifer are going to be meeting us in London. Little Jennifer is so excited, she gets
to meet a real Princess.
DOROTHY: My, my ladies. We are a spoiled bunch. I propose a toast.
(Dorothy raises her glass. Her demeanor is beginning to become a bit more sloppy than
before. Not quite drunk, but no longer pretending to be sober.)
DOROTHY: To our wonderful and very rich husbands—Hopefully they don’t die young, and
but if they do, may they leave everything to us—
To our beautiful children, grandchildren and hopefully someday great grandchildren. May
they all grow up to be important, rich men or sweet, gentile women.
(They clink their glasses and all three greedily suck down the contents.)
COOKIE: (sets her champagne flute down very hard on the table):
Jack! Jack! Dammit! Where are you?
(Jack, the waiter, enters and stands silently next to the table beside Cookie)
COOKIE: Jack!
(yelling and swinging her arms wide, nearly hitting Jack standing beside her.)
COOKIE: Oh there you are Jack. Bring us another round of mimosas. Oh hell, bring two.
And bring me a Gin and Tonic. And hurry up I'm thirsty.
DOROTHY: Will you bring some more jam for the English muffins, and a bloody Mary?
(Jack silently backs away from the table and exits. Jack immediately re enters and comes
back to the table. He does not have any drinks with him and he is greatly agitated as he
approaches Dorothy.)
JACK: Mrs. Van Needer, there is someone here for you. I told her that it wasn't possible to
see you. That The Club is private. I tried to stop her. I'm sorry Mrs. Van Needer.
(There is the sound of heavy footsteps on the floor, coming from far away)
(Cookie turns and faces the direction the stomping sounds are coming from.)
(Karen enters wearing heavy boots and black motorcycle gloves with half fingers.)
SHELBY: My goodness! Who are you? And in those horrible clothes no less.
Who the hell would interrupt your Sunday Brunch with the girls? Not even William is that
stupid.
KAREN: (mimics the snotty voices of the three women) Girls! It's so good to see you.
KAREN: (Karen leans down so she is closer to the faces of the three women sitting at the
table and directs her comments directly at Dorothy seated in the middle of the three women):
I should hope so … Mom.
DOROTHY: I'm not …. I don't know who you are. I think you have me mixed up with
someone else.
SHELBY: Who are you and how the hell did you get in here? This is a Private Club. I'm
calling security. Jack!
(Jack enters with the drinks and he sets them down on the table and turns toward Shelby for
direction.)
Call Security Jack. Have this woman removed from the premises.
(Karen grabs a chair from a far away table, and sets the back of it against the table. She
straddles the chair and begins to eat things off the table, picking them off with her motorcycle
gloves still on.)
DOROTHY: I'm very sorry, whoever you are. I don't know you. Do not call me Mom.
Please leave.
KAREN: Oh come on Mom, I'm disappointed in you. It's me, Karen. You know the kid you
jerked out of private school because someone found her in bed with another female student?
Don't you remember? The one you haven't seen in ten years since you kicked her out on the
streets when she was 18 years old. Sound familiar yet?
SHELBY: (pats Dorothy on the back) Oh my God Dorothy, you're as white as a sheet. Are
you alright?
You should be ashamed of yourself. Look what you're putting this poor woman through.
KAREN: How is your gold digging whore of a daughter, Shelby? Still sucking the dollar
bills out of anything that accepts credit cards?
COOKIE: (slurring most of her words) Whad are you doin’ here Karen? Whad are you tryin’
to prove… by bein’ here and doin’ this to your…mother?
KAREN: So, it's still a sore spot for you, huh? You still won't be honest about what you did
to me.
DOROTHY: What I did? What about what you did? To me? To your father? You turned
us into the laughing stocks of the whole damn town and practically ruined us.
KAREN: On my eighteenth birthday you gave me $5,000.00 and told me to never show my
face again in Old Oaks. You jerked me out of school, and then promptly threw me out on the
street. You didn't care where I went, or what happened to me. That’s what you did. You got
rid of me.
SHELBY: Children don't always understand why their parents do the things that they do.
KAREN: Hmmm…
(Karen leans back in her chair and sets her big boots up on the table.)
SHELBY: Although, I would never send Jessica away. But then again she would never
disgrace her family enough to warrant something like that.
KAREN: And of course, I'm sure Jessica is still the perfect daughter--never doing anything to
upset Mommy and Daddy. When it’s really never doing anything to upset Mommy and
Daddy's checkbook.
SHELBY: How dare you say that about my daughter? Who do you think you are?
KAREN: I remember what Jessica was like when we were kids. She definitely was no angel.
Tell her that her best friend, the dyke, crashed your brunch today. She oughta like that.
KAREN: (sets her feet down, and prepares for a battle) What word Mom? Dyke? How
about faggot? Gay-wad? Lesbian? What about this one: homosexual?
DOROTHY: Karen! Stop this. Please stop this. Why did you come here? These people
know me.
COOKIE: (drunkenly)
Gay people can't get married. I voted against that.
SHELBY: It isn't right, the way you people always flaunt what you are. You all should be
rounded up and put on a deserted island somewhere. That way when every last one of you
dies, there won't be anymore because you can't breed. Thank God.
KAREN: Actually, Lisa and I live in Boston. It's legal for us to get married in Massachusetts
so we're getting married on June thirtieth. I told Lisa it would do no good to come here
today, but I thought I'd make the effort anyway, for her. She’s the one that wants you there.
DOROTHY: (stands up, visibly upset) No Karen. I don't want to ever see you again. I don't
want you to come back to Old Oaks. I don't want to go to your wedding. I don't want to
have anything to do with you.
KAREN: (stonily and stubbornly) How can you say that? I come from you. I am part of
you. I am your blood, your bone. I have your eyes, and your hair. I have Daddy's strong
back and strong mind. How can you just shove me out of your life?
DOROTHY: You don't understand. This is not easy for me Karen. There are certain social
standings that I have to uphold. I cannot be the person I am and have an openly gay
daughter. It's not acceptable.
KAREN: And who is the person you are today--a cruel, unloving, frigid old hag? A rich old
woman who has nothing but her money and mimosas to keep her warm?
(Karen swings an arm wide and knocks over a few full champagne flutes in front of her on
the table)
And just so you know I've already talked to Daddy. He's who told me where to find you.
He's coming. Daddy loves me, why can't you?
COOKIE: (slurring) I know why she doesn’t wanna talk to you Karen. I don' remember what
year, but Dorothy had a very s-special roommate when she was at school, remember Shelby?
What was her name again? Janet. Jenny. No. Juliet. That was her name, it was Juliet.
(She sucks down the rest of her Gin and Tonic noisily.)
I remember someone saw them kissing in the balcony of the old theater playhouse on
campus. Wasn’t that you, Shelby?
COOKIE: Juliet was beautiful. She had long black hair and coffee colored skin. Her eyes
were dark brown and she was such a sensitive person. A poet I think. She was Puerto Rican
or Mexican or something-can, I forget. She always called your mother Dorothea.
(Dorothy covers her mouth, squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. She finally opens
her eyes.)
KAREN: I'm not trying to hurt you. Your reputation won't be tarnished just because you're
big gay daughter came to see you at The Club. In fact, it will probably make for excellent
fodder around the dinner table for everyone here today--especially these two bitches.
KAREN: Stop it mother. I came here to ask you to care about me. Take a good look at me.
I am happy, I am healthy and I am successful, and I don't need you. But I want you to come
to my wedding. I want my family to be there too. You owe me that.
DOROTHY: I don't owe you anything Karen. Not a thing. You are not my daughter. I will
not accept the blame for the way that you chose to live your life.
KAREN: No, you're right. It's not your fault. And I didn’t choose to live my life this way. I
was born this way. God made me this way. It doesn't mean there is something wrong with
me. It doesn't mean there was something wrong with you. You aren’t to blame for this.
DOROTHY: (beginning to sob) But why? Why do you have to be this way? Why do you
have to put your family through this?
KAREN: I'm not putting my family through anything they can't survive. My brothers and
my father are coming to our wedding in Boston. If you don't come, if you decide to miss out
on your only daughter's wedding, this will be the last time you ever see me. I won't even
come to see you on your death bed. You will already be dead to me.
(Karen stands up, holds eye contact with her mother for several seconds and turns around and
exits with heavy footfalls.)
(Both Cookie and Shelby turn toward Dorothy like birds of prey eyeing their kill.)
So, Dorothy, why didn't you ever tell us why Karen was sent away?
COOKIE: (slurring) I'm sorry Dorothy …I’m sure you have a perfect explanation for not
telling your best friends the truth…about Karen. I would have done … the same thing--
except … we would have sent her to one of those ex-gay places. You know … the ones that
are exposed to cure homo …s.
DOROTHY: Shut up, both of you. I don't want to hear another word. Just leave me alone.
(Turning to Cookie)
(turning to Shelby)
Jack! …. Jack!
Have my car brought around. I suddenly do not feel well and want to go home.
SHELBY (throws a linen napkin at Cookie and hits her in the face with it.):
You ordered them. You drink them. I'm going home. Jessica will not believe this.
(Shelby exits.)
(Cookie is left at the table with quite a few half empty glasses. She sits for just a little while
as if frozen and then picks up the first flute in front of her and drains its contents, then picks
up another and drains that one too. She continues through the flutes as the lights begin to
lower and darken, leaving Cookie alone with just her empty glasses until the stage is
completely black.)