A Little Push- Scene 1
Fade up to a simple apartment setting. It's split in two different sections. On stage left, we see the living room area containing a couple of chairs and a coffee table. On stage right is the bedroom area complete with a mattress, a few bedsheets, and a nightstand next to it. In between them both is a single door.
The lights are designed in a way that they mimic the natural lighting of morning. They’re focused squarely on the stage right side where our hero, ANDY WARREN, is sleeping. He is a simple 20 something living in the city. His dream is to become a writer, though the bills and basic worries of daily life prevent him from acting on those dreams as fully as he should.
He remains wrapped in the bed's blankets for a few moments, pleasantly snoring and ensconced fully in his dream land. Suddenly, his cell phone alarm starts ringing on the nightstand- a loud, blaring chorus of computers operating all at once.
After a second, the sound causes Andy to sway from side to side in the bed. Then, a few seconds later, he sticks one arm from out of the covers toward the phone. He grabs it, turns the alarm off, and starts to slowly get up to a seated position on the bed revealing the white tank top he has on.
ANDY WARREN
(looking at the screen; half asleep)
...Stupid fracking early shift!
Andy takes off the sheets, revealing the boxer shorts that he wore to bed along with the tank top. He stands up and begins walking over to the left side where the unseen closet is and gets dressed. In the middle of the dressing, you can hear him singing a song to himself for a time. As this goes on, a figure begins to emerge from within the darkness on the stage right side.
After the mystery figure rummages around the darkened area for a minute, they stumble onto an edge of the coffee table. The sound causes Andy to step out of the darkness, almost fully dressed in a standard dress shirt and pants with a tie.
ANDY WARREN
(looks around suspiciously)
What the hell?
Andy moves meticulously over to the door, running through every type of possible scenario about who was behind the mystery noise. The process takes about five or six seconds before he reaches out and opens the door.
ANDY WARREN
(barking out to whoever's listening, trying to seem threatening)
Hey asshole! I know Judo and Iāido.
(slowly pulls back the door and walks through)
Drop whatever of my shit you have right now before I beat your ass into a...
As he's speaking and walking through, the lights on stage left go down and the others stage right go up simultaneously. Before Andy can finish his sentence, he sees a perfect doppelganger of himself standing next to the chair holding his mail.
The man is dressed exactly like he is and has the same physical dimensions Andy has. Though the two of them share some differences in terms of emotions and body language. Andy's mouth is agape as he closes the door behind him.
ANDY WARREN
(Cont.)
...fine mist.
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
With anyone else, A-Bomb, I might be intimidated. But with you... I’m gonna need a little more.
ANDY WARREN
Who the fuck are you? And how do you know my old superhero name from elementary school?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
(chuckles)
And hello to you too.
ANDY WARREN
(walks toward him, examining him before stopping in between chairs and table)
Why are you dressed in my clothes?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
Well, to explain it would take a working knowledge of Eastern philosophy to really understand.
ANDY WARREN
(more confused than before)
What the fuck does that have to do with anything?!
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
(rolls his eyes)
Isn’t it bloody obvious?
(pause)
I'm you!
ANDY WARREN
You're me?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
Your conscience to be precise. Your sub-conscience too, along with inner desires and impulses since they overlap a lot in my work.
Andy raises his eyebrow and scoffs in disbelief at what he heard.
ANDY WARREN
But that's impossible. I'm me. There aren’t people that live in other people.
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
I never said I live inside you, Andy. Just that I keep tabs on your conscience.
ANDY WARREN
(pause)
Right. Why do you look at me? The same person can’t occupy the same time and place without tearing the time-space continuum apart.
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
Where did you learn that from?
ANDY WARREN
Back to the Future.
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
First off, Marty McFly spent two-thirds of the second movie occupying the same area as the Marty from the first movie. Secondly, his girlfriend sees her older self in 2015 and the world didn't explode then.
ANDY WARREN
Good point.
(pause)
If you really are my conscience, I imagine you know a lot about me.
(C-Andy nods)
Who was my first kiss?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
Dana Stewart at a party in seventh grade during Seven Minutes in Heaven. You accidentally peed your pants mid-way through and ran crying out to the backyard. You ended up with the nickname Squeaky Pee for the rest of middle school.
ANDY WARREN
(still skeptical, under his breath)
Lucky guess! Probably got it off my Facebook page...
(next question)
What was my first car?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
A white and blue ‘85 Pontiac Trans-Am. Which you ended up getting into two accidents with in the span of one year. Now, can we finally get down to the important stuff?
ANDY WARREN
...Okay. What important stuff?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
I'm trying to save you.
ANDY WARREN
Save me from what? Am I gonna die in a week or something?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
(shakes his head)
I’m here to save you from living a dull, monotonous life in management filled with nothing but things.
Andy takes a couple of moments to absorb what he just heard. He then busts out in a flurry of laughter for three seconds before responding.
ANDY WARREN
Really? How exactly is that a negative?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
Because I know for a fact, wee mortal, that such a life would make you absolutely miserable.
ANDY WARREN
Miserable?
(smiles disbelieving)
Does this look like the smile of a miserable person?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
No, but...
ANDY WARREN
(interjects over Andy, checking his watch)
This has been “fun.” But I'm gonna be late for work.
(as he walks out the door)
If you'll calmly shuffle back to wherever nuthouse or homeless shelter you came from by the time I get home, that'd be terrific.
C-Andy takes a few moments trying to come up with a response. He finally does blurt something out as Andy is almost nearly out of sight SL.
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
Wow. I gotta say- your dad would be pretty disappointed to see what you became!
ANDY WARREN
(stops at the doorway; storms back at C-Andy, immensely pissed)
What the fuck do you know about my father, you son of a bitch?!
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
(defiant)
He was the one who told you before he died to never settle for safe. To never let go of your dreams or your creative spirit.
(as he's being slowly choked by Andy)
Isn't that why you wanted to be a writer in the first pl--
ANDY WARREN
(interrupts him; brimming with rage, though not necessarily screaming)
How dare you presume to know my life and how I should live it? You creepy, borderline sociopathic piece of shit!
(pause before steadily calming down, letting go of him)
I will give you 10 seconds to leave before I call the cops. 10...9...
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
Wait, wait! Before you do anything rash, let me propose an offer to you.
ANDY WARREN
8...7...
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
Give me a day to shadow you, to plead my case for why I think you should be bolder in life.
ANDY WARREN
(slightly less sure than before)
6...5...
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
If I win, you send that script pitch you’ve been working on for that writer’s residency in California you’ve been eyeing since February.
ANDY WARREN
4...3...
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
If you win though--
ANDY WARREN
2...
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
I’ll leave you alone. For good- let you live the life of bland, stable monotony that you think is so brilliant.
ANDY WARREN
(stops halfway from saying one; looks at him with a degree of intrigue)
Huh...tempting.
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
So you believe me...?
ANDY WARREN
I’m open to the possibility of— whatever the hell you said you were.
Andy looks over at C-Andy for a couple of beats. He then paces back and forth for an extra few moments before stopping two steps in front of the curious C-Andy.
ANDY WARREN
(Cont., clarification)
So all I'd have to do is suffer through whatever shit you’re planning for me, and you're out of my hair of good.
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
(nods)
If you can prove to me this sorry divot of mediocrity you’ve put together has merit.
ANDY WARREN
Quick question though, Conscience-Me: what’s stopping you from killing me the moment I step out of the apartment?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
Because I'd disintegrate and get recycled to another life on another planet to be their conscience. And my resume isn’t exactly...studly enough to get a better gig than this, sadly enough.
ANDY WARREN
Right...
(pause, followed by a grin, shaking C-Andy's hand)
What the hell! You've got a deal, weirdo version of me.
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
(smiles)
I knee you couldn't resist a good challenge, A-Bomb.
ANDY WARREN
Challenge?
(scoffs)
I figured this would make a funny story to tell Vanessa on our date tomorrow.
The two of them have a quick guttural laugh at the comment. As it dissipates, they drop their hands back to their side and go into a moment of awkward silence.
ANDY WARREN
(Cont.)
So...do you or do you not live somewhere in my head? Or some weird office that has a hundred different screens showing every second of my life—?
CONSCIENCE-ANDY
(interjecting)
Not really important, or easy to explain that quickly
ANDY WARREN
Right...
(checks his watch; slightly panicked)
Shit, I'm gonna be late!
He dashes off SL with C-Andy following closely behind him in a calm jaunt. Fade to black.