The January People’s Choice Award goes to…

The people have spoken… The January People’s Choice Award goes to Josh Drimmer for his short play, The Whisper, presented as a staged reading Simulcast & On-Demand via Vimeo Live on January 23rd. Congratulations, Josh!

Courtesy of Josh, we’re pleased to share the first few pages from the award-winning script. Enjoy!

THE WHISPER
by Josh Drimmer

Rob, 42
Del, 51
———————————————————–
A church basement, after an Alcoholics
Anonymous meeting. Rob and Del sit on plastic
folding chairs, drinking coffee. Their winter
coats are hanging on the back of their chairs.
Rob spins a bronze coin around in his hand: a 1
year chip.

ROB: I dunno about this year.

DEL: What about it?

ROB: Everything.

Pause.

DEL: Care to get more specific? Because if I think of where you were this time last year /

ROB: Do we have to?

DEL: If we forget what we’ve come from, we never appreciate what we’ve achieved.

ROB: What you’re describing as, what, achievement? It feels like nothing at all, Del. Lots of
people manage to not make a drunken ass of themselves every single day. Most people
aren’t 42 years old living in their sister’s basement.

DEL: Hey.

ROB: All I am is sober. All I have is sober.

DEL: We’re addicts, man. We have nothing if we don’t have sober. (corrects himself) Aren’t
sober. You’re fucking with my grammar here, man.

ROB: I’m sorry. For my grammar, if nothing else.

Rob sips coffee, cringes.

DEL: You just keep expecting more. It’s cute.

ROB: It’s gross. No one drinks robusta outside of AA meetings anymore.

DEL: I don’t even know what that means. (beat) Did you think you’d have it all together by
now? I mean, you have probably noticed that when we talk about recovery, we’re not
talking about something that ever ends, right?

ROB: I’m not saying /

DEL: I’ve been recovering for seven years now. That doesn’t mean I’m ahead of you or behind
you in any kind of cosmic game, it just means every day since what I hope was my last
relapse, I make that choice. I choose recovery. I choose to get just the slightest scintilla
better than the day before, and if I don’t put the bottle on my mouth or the powder in
my nose, I did. I won.

ROB: But it gets easier.

DEL: What?

ROB: You’ve established a different habit. You’re in deeper to a different life.

Join us for our next Monday Night PlayGround on February 27th! For more info, click here!