Snap

By Samuel Seattle Adams

(CHARACTERS)
Friend group

JANE (feels isolated and like the only reason the group pretends to like her is that they
can always hang out at her house, is infatuated with Ben, excitable, talks a lot, laughs a
lot, casual with light slang

JOSH (gets in constant arguments with his dad, doesn’t feel loved by his family, goes to
the group for distraction, has a reputation for being a nerd, and hates it. Thoughtful
speaking, larger vocabulary, not loud but confident

EMILY (plays soccer, and is extremely good but everyone expects her to be perfect so
she has to spend all her energy staying ahead of everyone's expectations. Unsure of
herself and a little self-conscious, doesn’t like attention, but is very kind and thoughtful

NICK (Under the shadow of ABBY, but is neglected by her, can’t say anything about bc
he hates confrontation, always the nice guy. He’s a quick-witted clown but so much
more, and nobody notices. Cocky, clever, often the only one to get his jokes but doesn't
mind. He says a lot of things no one picks up on

ABBY (has other friends, doesn’t quite fit in with these but loves them and wants to
spend time with them, but spends most of the time wishing she was with her drama
club. Lot’s of slang, uses a few of the same phrases a lot, it’s hard to tell when she’s
being sincere
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Scene 1
JANE’s living room (where the group usually hangs out) on a Saturday afternoon. There should
be a couch and a few comfortable chairs, with a coffee table in the middle., As well as a front
door on stage left and another door leading to the rest of the house on stage right

JOSH
arrives
Hi Jane! Thanks for having us over. Am I the first one here?

JANE
You sure are haha, you’re always on time

JOSH
What can I say? I like to be punctual. It’s good to see you, how are you doing?

JANE snaps her fingers and the rest of the room freezes, including JOSH.

JANE
I’m doing terribly. I feel isolated when I’m surrounded by my “friends.” We hang out all the time,
but I feel like the only reason I’m included is that everyone knows my house is always available.
At school, the only reason anyone spends any time with me is this vestigial obligation to like me,
but no one has reason to anymore

JANE snaps again and falls back into the chair she was sitting on at the beginning of her rant.
JOSH unfreezes
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JANE
I’m doing ok. I’m just vibing you know

JOSH
Excellent

JANE
What about you how’s it go-

JOSH
Hey, look! Emily’s arrived!

EMILY walks in

EMILY
Hi!

JANE
Heeeeyyyy

JOSH
Afternoon Emily, it’s good to see you

EMILY
Jane! Josh! How is everyone today?

JANE
Doing A-OK, girl!

JOSH
How did your game go?

EMILY snaps her fingers and the room freezes

EMILY
Terrible. I mean, we won, and I was the star as usual. So yeah. Terrible. I thought the pressure
couldn’t get any higher but now my family, friends, coaches, and absolutely everyone expects
me to never lose. Or even do worse than I did before. I have to spend all my time trying to stay
at peak performance level to keep up with the expectations I’ve created for myself. I’ve painted
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myself into a corner with my hard work so now I can’t fail because no one will let me. Because
I’m EMILY who never fails.

EMILY snaps her fingers and the room unfreezes

EMILY
Good. We won. It was pretty great.

JOSH
Called it!

JANE
Didn’t your couch see you’re the best player he’s ever seen?

EMILY
Who told you that?

JANE
Oh like everyone’s talking about it

EMILY
I don’t want everyone talking about it…

JANE
Weeeellll they are

EMILY
Uuuumm…. That’s ok. So what are y'all up to?

JANE
Waiting for you *laughs again*

EMILY
Well here I am….what are we going to do?

JOSH
Well, what do you guys want to talk about?

JANE snaps her fingers and the scene freezes just in time to get a quick comment in
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EMILY
Bet she’s gonna start talking about Ben. She just can’t not.

Snaps again and everything unfreezes

JANE
OH, Ben talked to me again at lunch today!!!

EMILY glares at the back of JANE’s head and rolls her eyes in exasperation

JOSH
Heavy sarcasm
Oh did he really? That’s so exciting. Please tell us every tiny detail of the encounter!

JANE
Seemly completely missing the sarcasm
Ok! So, I was sitting down to eat and he walked by and I was like hi and then he was like hi only
he said it much cooler than I did and then I was like-

Just as JANE begins to rant the door opens and ABBY walks in closely followed by NICK

ABBY
The party has ARRIVED girl bosses

NICK
Sure has. And I brought Abby, too

He flops down on the couch next to JOSH

ABBY
Aaaaand how are my queens today? What’s up?

Everyone (except JOSH) snaps in unison and everyone freezes, and one at a time unfreeze as
they deliver their lines, and then refreeze.

EMILY
I was already stressed and anxious coming here and now I’m getting more and more annoyed
at Jane

JANE
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I’m lonely and desperate for connection but everyone just seems like they want me to shut up.
Everyone thinks I missed Josh’s sarcasm but I just ignored him because I don’t know what he
wants

NICK
I feel like I’m constantly under the shadow of Abby. She barely even spends any time with us
and what time she does spend is on her phone, but everyone still loves her because she’s
ABBY. And of course, I love her too, but….well, I don’t know. I’m frustrated. And it’s just known
I’m her best friend so people lump us together, even though we have different interests.
Besides, she calls me her “best friend” but she has at least 8 other friends that fall under the
same category. And that’s not the least of it. I’m struggling to find purpose and I feel like my only
value to anyone is to be funny.

ABBY
I’m torn and guilty. This is the first time I’ve been able to see these people outside of school for a
while. I make excuses about how busy I am but I just feel like I don’t fit in. I fit in much better
with my other friends.

JOSH unfreezes, stands up and opens his mouth, says nothing, and sits back down

EMILY
I’m good, thank you

JANE
I’m vibing

NICK
Abby, you asked what’s up?

ABBY
Yeah…

NICK
Up is a 2009 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios about a
grumpy old man and a boy scout
 6

ABBY
Fondly
Shut up NICK

JANE
Hold up, I was meaning to ask. Did anyone figure out what we needed to do for the math
assignment?

Everyone looks at JOSH, a pause, and then JOSH snaps

JOSH
Why do they always look at me? I’m smart and I enjoy math, but that doesn’t make me some
nerd with zero social skills, but that’s how everyone treats me at school, especially you guys.

Snaps again and everyone unfreezes

JOSH
Sigh
I finished it, yes. It’s kinda counterintuitive but you graph it all first

NICK
Ohhhhh. See, I normally do my homework backwards so that'll be easy

Everyone laughs

NICK

Josh…you down, doing ok buddy?

JANE

Yeah, you don’t look too good...

ABBY

Yeah, are you ok?

JANE
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You know you can talk to us right

ABBY

So anything you need-

JANE

YEAH, anything you need-

ABBY

We’re here
JANE

Yes, we are here for you

NICK

I think he gets it
JOSH snaps his fingers and the room freezes

JOSH

I’m not ok. I got in a huge fight with my dad this morning and I still feel scared. I came here
because I’ve learned to rely on you guys but I feel like you don’t actually see me, you see what
you expect to see. You ask how I’m doing and make such a big point of how amazing you are in
“being there for me” but it’s frankly just Jane and Abby one-upping each other to show how nice
they are. But I can’t say any of this because that’s not what you do. When you don’t look ok and
someone asks if you’re ok you just say-

JOSH snaps his fingers again, the room unfreezes and he says

JOSH
I'm just tired

NICK

Too tired? Like a bicycle?

JOSH
Tactfully ignoring NICK

Yeah, it’s been a long week. TONS of homework

JANE
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Haha yeah that’s what I thought

ABBY
Same-zise

EMILY
I recommend a power nap. Works great for me

JOSH snaps

JOSH
See?
JOSH snaps again

JOSH
Yup. So what are we gonna do?

NICK

I WANNA PLAY UNO

EMILY
laughs

I think Nick wants to play Uno

NICK

Y’all are going down

NICK runs out to find Uno

JOSH
Fondly
I swear he suffers from insanity

NICK
Returning with Uno

I do NOT suffer from insanity I enjoy every second of it

The group beings to play Uno with much laughing and banter
Curtains
END OF SCENE 1
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Scene 2

The group is sitting around at a park on a nice Friday afternoon

NICK

Yeah yeah so after I tell the girl I just met how stupid this new principal is, she looks at me all
weird

JANE
You must get that a lot

JOSH

No, listen to him. Then the girl looks at Nick and says to him-

NICK

She’s like, do you know who I am?

JOSH

Then she goes on to inform Nick that she’s the principal's niece!

EMILY
Oh no

NICK

And then I said to her, do you know who I am?!

JOSH

She responded, “No, I don’t know who you are.”

NICK
And I’m like, good, and I run off!
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ABBY
Fondly

Oh, Nick…
EMILY
Of course you did

NICK snaps

NICK

It’s always the same. I’m a quick-witted goof, and I can never be anything else in their eyes. The
truth is I notice so much more than anyone thinks I do. Especially with JOSH, I love him like a
brother and I’m worried about him…but I don’t say anything. Kind and compassionate are not
who I am around these people…but I’m going to change that. I get the feeling that JOSH needs
it

Snaps again

JANE
You didn’t!

JOSH
He did!

NICK
JOSH, you seem off… Are you ok?

EMILY

Yeah, we’re worried about you…really, what’s up

JOSH holds up his hand and begins to snap, but he looks at his friends all ready to listen but
puts his hand down

JOSH
…well, I’ve had a rough couple of weeks…

JOSH begins to explain his worries and how he’s been feeling, as his friends listen
sympathetically. The curtains close and the lights go off
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THE END

NOTES