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Super
a play in one act by Christine Prevas Characters: CHASE IO JAMIE JACK LUCY NATE OLIVIA THEO (Eight chairs in a semicircle. THEO in the middle. One of the chairs is empty. All on stage except JAMIE.) (Asterisked lines* are delivered straight to the audience.) THEO Hi. Im Theo. And Im an alcoholic. Im also a superhero. And Im not sure which one is worse. I mean, Ive been sober for three and a half years, but I stopped a burglar in a convenience store while getting gas on the way over here tonight. (He pauses, half-heartedly expecting a laugh that he will not get.) Right. Last time I make that joke. Well, for any of you out there who are new today, welcome to H.O.P.E., or Heroes Overcoming Problematic Emotions. LUCY* He starts this way every week. THEO This is a place to talk, to get everything out in the open and turn to people like you for advice. To be completely honest, whatever it is you need to say. Whatever your problems are, were here for you. LUCY* Practically the same freaking spiel. Its kind of cute. THEO Like I said, Im Theo. Im not powered. A lot of people dont come back to group when they find that out. I understand. Thats fine, and thats why Im telling you upfront. If you dont feel comfortable with that, I know that P.P.T. meets in here on Thursday nights at seven if youd rather go then. But just because Im not powered doesnt mean I dont know what youre going through.

JACK* Im fourteen all over again, sitting in front of the guidance counselor because they think its gonna help me assimilate. Because I hit another kid, or cussed out another teacher, or cut another class. Im fourteen and all I want to do is go to track practice but Im missing it again for detention, sitting in a room with a poorly trained shrink telling me she knows what Im going through or understands how Im feeling. Im fourteen again and Im sick of this bullshit. But the court requires I be here and I have work Thursday nights and also I slept with the girl who runs P.P.T. a couple times and Id rather not have to deal with that again, so Ive got to deal with Mister Alcoholics Anonymous over here and his how are you feeling and I understand what youre going through. Bullshit. LUCY* Its nice, for me. The consistency of it. I come in here every week with a new face, different eyes, new hair, a different height. He always recognizes me, no matter which celebritys face Im trying on for size. And he always starts the exact same way. CHASE* Were not superheroes. We dont run around in capes saving lives or fighting crime. Were just trying to live average lives. Everyone here just wants to live their life. I know before they do what they are going to say when they stand up and introduce themselves. Hi, Im Laura, and this has been a good week for me, or Hi, Im Kevin and the hazardous toxins I can exude from my skin in self-defense are slowly giving my mother cancer. Well, hi, Im Chase, and today Im not okay. LUCY* He never looks any of us in the eye. OLIVIA* The world is ending. Quicker than anyone thinks. LUCY* Theo, that is. He never looks any of us in the eye. I think maybe its because when he does he can see how truly miserable so many of us are. I keep trying to talk to him after meetings, but he must pity us so much. IO* My sister said being here would help me, but I do not understand why speaking of the things that trouble me would help. It is not as if they will go away. THEO Most of you are familiar faces, and I know you all know the routine. But sometimes routine can help us power through the little things that occupy and distract us. So lets say our names and how were doing today.

CHASE* Hi, Im Chase, and today Im not okay. NATE* I could walk into a bank vault and walk out with as much money as I could fit in my bag if I wanted to. I could take the Mona Lisa or the Hope Diamond. I could get into Disney World after the park closes. IO* Studies indicate that this should be good for me, but I do not think it will help. JACK* Actually, though. Complete bullshit. OLIVIA* Theo is going to die next week. Nate only has a few short years. Chase will get a month at best before he finds out he is HIV positive. LUCY* I wonder why he keeps coming back if hes powerless. OLIVIA* Most of the rest of us will go when the world does. NATE* I could give her anything she wanted. CHASE* Hi, Im Chase, and today I found out that my lover is cheating on me. THEO Chase, how are you today? CHASE I am not okay. THEO Would you like to tell us about it? JACK* This is bullshit.

CHASE Its Zac. JACK Who the fuck is Zac? LUCY Dont be an asshole. Let him talk. CHASE I met him when I was a freshman in college. You know the type dashingly handsome drama major who sits across the table in your English seminar, exchanging those looks across the table, far too long for glances to be held. JACK Ugh. LUCY Shhh. CHASE I used to use my telepathy to figure out the right thing to say when I wanted to flirt with someone, but with him I never did. I guess I didnt have to. He was like an open book. I knew what to say without having to read his mind. We spent a lot of time going to this coffeehouse, just talking, and he was just very... honest, very genuine. Completely brilliant. I sort of realized somewhere along the way that I was in love with him, in love with this person whose mind I didnt have to read. I promised him Id never read his mind and he promised me hed never lie. For the first time in my life, I could pretend I couldnt read minds. I could interact with someone on a purely human level, where I didnt need to know what he was thinking at all times to understand his actions or feelings. JACK What a fag. CHASE You had sex with a man once in a dark alley when you were seventeen and havent stopped feeling ashamed of that moment since. JACK

How did you what? CHASE Telepath, asshole. THEO Chase, would you like to continue with your story? CHASE Like I said, I knew his every thought without having to pry. It was the first time anyone had ever been that open with me. It was weird... that though I knew less about him, every thought he divulged felt so much more intimate. I never felt insecure in our relationship it all. I trusted him completely. IO I do not understand why his desire for you not to read his mind would allow you to trust him. This is counter intuitive. CHASE Yeah. I know. Doesnt make much sense. In retrospect I guess I had it coming. But hes been acting weird lately, so I thought it couldnt hurt to see what he was really thinking, just once. I was well-intentioned, I swear. I thought if I knew what was making him upset I could fix it without him having to bring it up. And. Well. I guess I hadnt considered that he could possibly be lying to me. LUCY Oh, Chase... CHASE Hes been cheating on me for a few months now. LUCY Have you told him you know? CHASE No. LUCY Youve got to confront him! CHASE And tell him I was reading his mind?

LUCY Technically, he lied to you first, so it wouldnt be breaking the promise. IO Studies indicate that sixty percent of all men will have an affair at some point in their lifetime. The odds were not in your favor to begin with. LUCY Thats a horrible thing to say. CHASE* She doesnt mean it. Io is not okay today either. Io is very, very rarely okay when she comes to group. IO* I see very little point in interacting with other humans. CHASE* Io overhears what people say about her. They think she has some sort of developmental disorder. She doesnt. She just doesnt have room in her brain for human interaction once you factor in the vast amount of information she is constantly processing. JACK* This is bullshit. NATE* At least Chases lover can cheat. CHASE* Io solved the problem of world hunger in the second grade. She has designed a ship that could colonize Mars and proved Fermats Last Theorem when most of us were struggling with long division. Most people do not believe her when she tells them this. She thinks about these things a lot. OLIVIA* Ios brain will overheat on her twenty second birthday, sending her into convulsions and killing her before the ambulance can arrive. CHASE*

Im not sure what else Io thinks. Her brain moves faster than I can process most of the time. IO* I do not have time to sit here listening to the emotional problems of others. I have work I should be doing. NATE* I could walk straight into an empty room in a five-star hotel without having to pay. JACK* I wish everyone would just hurry up and let me get out of here already. IO* I do not care that Chases lover is cheating or that Lucy is prettier than I am or that Theo is an alcoholic. There are more important things at hand that they wont let me bring to this room. OLIVIA* Chases lover Zac is also contemplating suicide. He will take his own life eight months and six days after Chase leaves him. CHASE* Io, though she wont consciously admit that emotions phase her, is very, very sad. THEO Io, is there something you would like to say to the group? IO Einsteins theory of relativity is incorrect. THEO Im sorry? IO Scientists have found particles that can move faster than the speed of light. I have created a model to confirm these findings, and replicated the tests. They are correct. THEO Well

IO Additionally, I have found seventeen new uses for the element Tellurium that would improve every day items. CHASE* No one she speaks to will believe her. THEO Would you like to tell us how youre feeling today? IO I am functioning sufficiently. CHASE* Io has never felt love. THEO Thats good to hear, Io. We worry about you sometimes. IO There is nothing about which to worry. I do believe, however, that there is cause for concern about Nate. He has been significantly quieter today than he has been in the past. His pupils are constricted. His shoulders are tensed. THEO Nate? NATE Its... nothing. THEO Are you sure? JACK Jesus, he said it was nothing. Can we get a move on, please? NATE* I could give her anything in the world she wanted. Steal the crown jewels or the Pieta or the dinosaur skeleton from the museum. But I cant give her the one thing she needs.

LUCY* Nate always looks so sad. CHASE* Hi, Im Nate, and I can walk through walls. NATE* Intangibility. IO* His particles can shift and separate to move through other matter. NATE* It doesnt just mean that I can phase through solid objects. Sometimes it means I cant be touched. THEO Are you sure? NATE Im fine this week. I promise. LUCY* Theo wont even make eye contact with Nate. THEO And how are things with Claire? NATE Theyre fine. CHASE* They arent fine. He hasnt stopped thinking about how not-fine they are since he got here. THEO Im glad to hear that, Nate. (JAMIE stumbles in, takes a seat in the empty chair.) JAMIE

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Oh, god. Am I late? Im so sorry THEO Its fine, its fine. Really. Have a seat.

JAMIE Thanks. THEO Why dont you introduce yourself? JAMIE Uh. Okay. Hi. Im Jamie. THEO And how are you feeling today, Jamie? JAMIE Alive. THEO Always a blessing. JACK Oh, come on. Look. Can I just say how Im feeling, tell my sad little story, and get out of here? OLIVIA* Jacks molecules will one day vibrate so fast he will quite literally dissipate into thin air.

JACK* Im only here because I could get out of doing community service if I promised Id come to a support group once a week. CHASE* Hi, Im Jack, and I hate everybody in this room. THEO

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So what is it you want to tell us? JACK Well, for one, that Im sick of all this how are you feeling shit. LUCY Look, Theos just trying to help JACK Do you even know what it feels like? LUCY What do you JACK Dealing with all of you average people. CHASE None of us here are average. NATE Unfortunately. LUCY Except Theo. IO Technically speaking, Theo is very far from the average homo sapiens. JACK Fine. Average speed people. Look. Have you ever been in line at a bank right before closing on a Monday? And youre eighth or ninth in line, and you know you have to get to the front and deposit your paycheck before they close, but every single person in line in front of you is opening a new account, or doesnt speak English, or is handling a whole envelope of thousands of dollars in ones and keeps having to count and recount them to make sure theyre depositing the right amount. And you know, if you could just go in front of them, youd be out the door before they finished counting, because literally all you have to do is give the teller the signed check so they can deposit it into your account for you, but no one is listening. And youre desperate to get this check deposited because your rent is due

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and, well. Yeah. Its like that. Every interaction I have with other people is like that. Everyone is just... so... fucking. Slow. IO Yes. The average human mind moves at an incredibly slow pace. JACK I... IO I understand. When I converse with human beings, I am constantly surprised at the pace of their thought processes. If average human reaction time were a millisecond or two faster, we would likely be far more advanced scientifically as a species. You move much faster than average, both physically and mentally, and while this should be a great advantage on your part, you view it as a disadvantage. Why? JACK Because Ive been constantly punished for it. You know, I was going to be an Olympic athlete when I turned sixteen, and my speed disqualified me. They said it was an unfair advantage. LUCY Oh, Jack... JACK Running was the only thing I ever loved. Its literally all Im good at, and Im not allowed to do it. NATE Hey, man, I cant do what I love, either. CHASE* What Nate means to say is, I cant do who I love. IO You should take advantage of the speed. Milliseconds faster than the average human, you could do amazing things. JACK Thanks.

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(OLIVIA screams, and continues to scream over the following dialogue.) LUCY Oh God... THEO Olivia, are you okay? Olivia, sweetheart, its okay... OLIVIA Theyre coming... JAMIE What is it? Whats wrong with her? CHASE Olivia can see the future. JAMIE All of it? THEO Olivia. Honey. LUCY Just peoples deaths. Its really forlorn, actually, on the days she does speak. She told me a few weeks ago, after an episode like this, that I only have three more years to live. JAMIE Shell tell you how youre going to die? NATE She tends to stay pretty quiet. I tried to ask her once, and she wouldnt say. THEO Olivia, come back to us. JAMIE So whats she seeing now? LUCY

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She wont tell us. Im not sure she can. CHASE Shes seeing the end of the world. LUCY What? JACK Well shit. NATE Whats it like? JAMIE How do you? CHASE Telepath. Its, um. Its not very clear. Fuzzy, dark, quiet. THEO Olivia. Sweetheart. Can you tell us what you see? CHASE No. THEO Can you tell Chase what you see so he can tell us? CHASE She, uh. She doesnt want to tell us. Doesnt want to hurt us. OLIVIA* They dont want to see. The blood in the streets, the darkness everywhere, seeping into every pore of the species. Its... horrifying. They keep asking but they dont want to know. THEO Olivia? Can you hear me? OLIVIA

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Yes. THEO Are you okay? OLIVIA Of course. THEO You sure? OLIVIA* Theo only has a week and a half to live. What are we going to do when hes gone? LUCY* He wont look her in the eye... He wont look any of us in the eye. OLIVIA* Hes going to drink himself to death in an alley downtown. LUCY* We dont need his pity. CHASE* Hes lying about how long hes been sober... LUCY* I dont need your fucking pity! CHASE* Hes been sober for three hours. NATE* Hes comforting her. CHASE* I cant figure out whats wrong with him... OLIVIA* Such a nice man...

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NATE* You have no idea how comforting a hand on your shoulder can be until you cant feel it anymore. One of the most intimate possible gestures. Intangibility doesnt just mean that I can phase through solid objects. Sometimes it means I cant be touched. I cant control it. When I get emotional, I phase in and out, slip right through the cracks. The other morning I stubbed my toe, fell through the floorboards, and got stuck around my ribcage. Had to wait until Id calmed down to fall the rest of the way through. OLIVIA Im okay, Theo. Someone else can go. NATE* I can give my wife everything she wants. Money, diamonds, anything. But I cant touch her... JACK Nate, man, are you... crying? NATE No. CHASE He is. LUCY Whats wrong? CHASE Hes thinking about his wife. About how he cant NATE NO! Dont you dare use your telepathy on me. That is breaching my privacy and my rights as a human being. Does anyone else think its a little unfair that he gets to use his special fucking gift to find out things wed rather no one know about? CHASE He cant touch his wife. Cant control his emotions well enough to stay tangible around her. NATE Fuck you.

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LUCY Nate... NATE Fuck you. THEO Look, maybe... NATE FUCK YOU! OLIVIA* Out of us all, Nate is going to live the longest life. Luckily for him, thats still not very long. NATE I cant... I cant... She wont leave me. I keep telling her to, but she wont do it. Im tired of putting her through this, but she just wont go... IO I do not understand. You love her, and yet you are sad that she will not leave you? NATE She deserves so much better. IO But she does not want better. Even I can see this fact is quite clear. She loves you. Is that not what love is? Wanting to be with someone despite their obvious flaws? NATE I... IO Even I can understand the attraction to flawed things. LUCY Nate? Would you like to see her? NATE What?

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LUCY I mean, not actually her, but... I mean, I can look like her, if youd like. You can talk to me... to her... and get out the things you need to say. It might help? NATE I... Fine. (LUCY stands in front of NATE, back to the audience.) NATE Claire... God... I cant do this. LUCY Just try. NATE I cant... THEO Lucy, stop it. LUCY Nate, look at me. NATE No... THEO Lucy! LUCY* He wont look me in the eye. THEO Are you okay? LUCY* Why wont he look me in the eye? THEO Hey, its going to be okay.

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LUCY* I have had my fair share of men who wont look me in the eye. When you can look like anyone, you get a lot of that. And for a long time, that was okay, because they may not have been looking at my eyes but at least they were looking at me. THEO Nate, everything is going to be fine... LUCY* I thought he might be different. CHASE* Sometimes when Theo tells us that everything is going to be fine, hes saying it more to himself than to us. IO* Even I can understand attraction to things that are flawed. JACK Well, now that Shadowcat over there has given us his sob story, can I leave? NATE Asshole. JAMIE I CHASE Jamie hasnt spoken yet.

JACK Yeah. She has. She said she felt alive, remember? OLIVIA Jamie tried to kill herself three hours ago. And again, twelve hours before that. And again, a day and a half ago. JAMIE How did you know that? I thought you only saw when people died...

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OLIVIA I do. You did die. You died each time. JAMIE But... OLIVIA I see many deaths before you. JAMIE So you mean... There must be some way... That cant be possible, that isnt fair. JACK No. Its not fucking fair. You get to live forever? JAMIE I dont... I cant... JACK Do you know what Id do to be able to live forever? Id kill to trade with you... JAMIE And Id die to trade with you. CHASE You hung yourself. You shot yourself. You overdosed. Why did you keep trying after it didnt work the first time. JAMIE I want to die. I want so badly to die... THEO Jamie, life is an incredibly valuable thing JAMIE Save the support group crap. Im not here to listen to you go on about the beauty of life and all that. I came here because I thought, maybe, if someone else with powers could kill me, it would... it might last. THEO

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I know youre not in a great place right now, but JAMIE Do you even have a power? You fucking... son of a bitch. You dont even know what its like to be abnormal, to have this problem. Its like a cancer, and it never goes away, but instead of killing me mine is keeping me alive when I. Dont. Want. To. Be. Alive. Dont pretend you understand any of us. You can die. OLIVIA He will. Tonight on his way home he will buy a bottle of Everclear and he wont stop drinking until it kills him. THEO What? OLIVIA What? THEO What did you just say? OLIVIA I didnt say anything. THEO No. You said Im going to die. You said Im going to drink myself to death. I... I havent had a drink in three years. CHASE Yes you have.

THEO No, I... JACK What? THEO I havent...

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JACK Stop lying. THEO No, I didnt... JACK You give us all this bullshit about how youre an alcoholic and youve been sober for years, and how inspiring that shit is supposed to be, and it turns out you have a drink, what, last night? CHASE Three hours ago. IO I do not understand why you would choose to drink if you know how it affects you. LUCY Oh, god... THEO* I didnt mean to, I swear. I didnt mean to lie to them. I never mean to lie. I do know what theyre going through. I do. JACK Look, Im bailing. IO I think I shall probably leave as well.

LUCY Guys... THEO* I just... I want to help. JAMIE This is bullshit. THEO*

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Thats all Ive ever wanted... to help. I cant help that Im weak. LUCY* He doesnt pity us, does he? THEO* I cant help that Im not who they think I am. LUCY* Hes trying to escape our pity. NATE Yeah, Im done. LUCY* The poor man... JACK Bye. CHASE Wait, something is wrong. Something is... THEO Stop. (All freeze except THEO, who moves from person to person, touching the forehead of each one. As he does, their expressions go blank. They return to their seats, then return to their states at the beginning of the play.) THEO Hi. Im Theo. And Im an alcoholic. Im also a superhero. And Im not sure which one is worse. I mean, Ive been sober for three and a half years, but I stopped a burglar in a convenience store while getting gas on the way over here tonight. Right. Last time I make that joke. Well, for any of you out there who are new today, welcome to H.O.P.E., or Heroes Overcoming Problematic Emotions. This is a place to talk, to get everything out in the open and turn to people like you for advice. To be completely honest, whatever it is you need to say. Whatever your problems are, were here for you. Like I said, Im Theo. Im... not powered. A lot of people dont come back to group when they find that out. I understand. Thats

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fine, and thats why Im telling you upfront. But just because Im not powered doesnt mean I dont know what youre going through. Believe me, I do.