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[0:18] David Rigano: Hello and welcome to The Drama Book Show!

[0:21] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Today is our 100th episode.

[0:23] Dylan Glick: We turn a hundred today.

[0:26] David Rigano: Yes, we don't get to add another digit to our page until we get to the first time.

[0:29] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Day over 99.

[0:30] Dylan Glick: And we wonder if it's because we took that serum that lady from Death Becomes Her was offering.

[0:37] David Rigano: I got bit by a lost boy.

[0:39] Mark-Eugene Garcia: That's fair.

[0:41] Dylan Glick: And what did you do, David?

[0:42] David Rigano: It was the same serum, but Isabella Rossellini gave it to me.

[0:45] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Oh sure.

[0:48] Dylan Glick: Yes.

[0:49] David Rigano: Slay.

[0:49] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And we're back.

[0:50] Dylan Glick: And we're back.

[0:51] David Rigano: And we're back with 100 episodes.

[0:52] Mark-Eugene Garcia: It has been quite the journey.

[0:54] Dylan Glick: This has been three years.

[0:55] David Rigano: Three years.

[0:57] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Wow.

[0:57] David Rigano: So I think I started this in my 20s.

[0:59] Dylan Glick: And also, I'm really excited for our activity today where we list our 100 favorite things about each of the RL hosts.

[1:09] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Wow, that is starting with me.

[1:11] David Rigano: Our 100 favorite things about each of the 100 episodes.

[1:16] Dylan Glick: Starting with.

[1:17] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah, starting with the Suntime Encyclopedia, episode 0101.

[1:22] David Rigano: Yes.

[1:23] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I love that.

[1:24] David Rigano: It's about Sontime.

[1:26] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah.

[1:26] Dylan Glick: No.

[1:26] David Rigano: It's about Steve and Santa.

[1:29] Mark-Eugene Garcia: It has been quite the journey, and I'm excited to be continuing it.

[1:33] David Rigano: I'm excited that you both are on it with me.

[1:36] Mark-Eugene Garcia: It has been a wonderful creation and collaboration, and I just can't wait to keep doing more.

[1:41] Dylan Glick: There's already more in the recorded and ready to go, so we'll be at 106 real quick.

[1:46] David Rigano: Great.

[1:48] Mark-Eugene Garcia: But what also quick update from a previous episode, in case anyone was wondering both the answer to the question and what order we record these in.

[1:58] David Rigano: I just got a text message in my page.

[1:59] Mark-Eugene Garcia: My parents loved the ballast.

[2:01] Dylan Glick: Oh friends.

[2:03] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Nice, very cool.

[2:05] David Rigano: That'll be a good update because that was, I think, four episodes ago.

[2:07] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Nice.

[2:08] David Rigano: So I'm so glad that they loved it.

[2:10] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yes.

[2:12] David Rigano: Anyways.

[2:12] Dylan Glick: We'll fill that in.

[2:13] David Rigano: The 200th episode of The Drama Book Show.

[2:17] Mark-Eugene Garcia: But what better way to celebrate a hundred episodes than to roast to celebrate one of our co-hosts, and that's you, David.

[2:28] David Rigano: It's my play.

[2:29] Mark-Eugene Garcia: It's your turn.

[2:31] David Rigano: I guess this is what I deserve.

[2:33] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I guess this is what we deserve.

[2:36] David Rigano: This is the first time I've made one of those puns.

[2:40] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I just happened to do it on a microphone.

[2:43] David Rigano: We've been making that pun since before the play came out.

[2:47] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Since it arrived when he wasn't here for it.

[2:49] David Rigano: Yeah, yes.

[2:51] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And that was fun.

[2:52] David Rigano: Also, the play arrived, and they knew everybody's been waiting to do it.

[2:55] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Every time it didn't arrive, you would say, like, yes, we're not gonna get what we deserve.

[2:59] David Rigano: But it was fun to actually get the staff and be like, everybody, we're taking a picture holding this play because it's finally here.

[3:04] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Which was published in February by Next Stage Press.

[3:04] David Rigano: By Next Stage Press.

[3:09] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Thrilled to join the Next Stage Press family.

[3:11] David Rigano: After getting to, I got to interview you for a Next Stage Press play.

[3:11] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I got to interview Haley St. James for Next Stage Press.

[3:15] David Rigano: I got to interview Dan Loria for Next Stage Press.

[3:20] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I feel like I've also interviewed quite a few of them.

[3:22] David Rigano: It's a wonderful group of writers and really great plays.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And it's just a growing compilation.

[4:35] David Rigano: And that's the thing is I think that's something I really love about the community is that they're a community.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And you can't go to a Doug DeVita event without five other Next Stage Press writers coming here.

[4:35] David Rigano: And I think that's for all of them.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: They all just show up for each other.

[4:35] David Rigano: We've had lunches and drinks out together, and it's exciting.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I still think about the Tommy Jamerson event.

[4:35] David Rigano: Yes.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: That was so much fun.

[4:35] David Rigano: Tommy Jamerson, if you're listening.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Oh, that was doomily.

[4:35] David Rigano: I was out of town for the first time.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah, I was hosting it.

[4:35] David Rigano: So that's why.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: And then literally, I don't know.

[4:35] David Rigano: It's just like you bump into any of them anywhere.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I bumped into Haley St. James last night at The Lost Boys, and I pointed at them and went, Haley St. James, and then we chatted a little bit.

[4:35] David Rigano: I don't know.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: It was very friendly.

[4:35] David Rigano: It's just a great community, and it's something that I love.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I think Gene has put together a group of people that are passionate about theater, that are good at what they do, and that he's passionate about them, and that's been really good.

[4:35] David Rigano: Yeah, and he's great at communicating with his playwrights, and he's just on top of it.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Oh, yeah.

[4:35] David Rigano: It's very, it doesn't feel corporate in any way.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: No, it doesn't.

[4:35] David Rigano: You feel like you're part of a family, and I love that so many of my favorite writers are with him.

[4:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah, and it's just a great family.

[4:38] David Rigano: We should have a Next Stage Press event.

[4:41] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah, Next Stage Press like Christmas party here in the city.

[4:43] David Rigano: Gene, make it happen.

[4:44] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah, yeah.

[4:46] David Rigano: But we want to talk about David and what we have.

[4:49] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Yeah, and my favorite playwright, who is my best friend, Catie Carlisle, came to—sorry Dylan.

[4:56] Dylan Glick: Watching both me and Dylan look at each other and then look down was really funny.

[5:00] David Rigano: It's just, you know, maybe we should just second and third, maybe should we just—I'm gonna leave.

[5:04] Mark-Eugene Garcia: I'll be asking myself out.

[5:05] David Rigano: But my, no, my best friend in the world, Catie Carlisle, who is among my favorite playwrights, made a special trip to town to make sure that she could be part of this and moderate the event and interview me.

[5:19] Catie Carlisle: So that was also a very special thing for me to get to share.

[5:22] David Rigano: Yeah, it was really cool.

[5:24] Catie Carlisle: I loved that you took control of your own event.

[5:28] David Rigano: No, I had a whole thing planned of doing an intro where I was like talking about how—and you didn't know.

[5:35] Catie Carlisle: Like talk about how we're actually in a bit of a time warp because if you are in this room right now, this is not our 100th episode.

[5:42] David Rigano: But if you're listening, this is our 100th episode.

[5:46] Catie Carlisle: It's gonna be the 100th one.

[5:47] David Rigano: Yeah, that's gonna be nice.

[5:48] Catie Carlisle: And then you're like, I'm doing my own thing.

[5:49] David Rigano: I'm like, okay, I'll just be here.

[5:51] Catie Carlisle: And then you're gonna be like, I got up and I was like, we have almost a hundred episodes.

[5:54] David Rigano: I don't know what's gonna be the 100th episode.

[5:55] Catie Carlisle: And you're like, yeah.

[5:56] David Rigano: It's gonna be you.

[5:57] Catie Carlisle: It's gonna be you.

[6:00] David Rigano: Yeah, there were multiple times that I almost fainted.

[6:00] Catie Carlisle: It was a very weird experience to be on the other chair.

[6:07] David Rigano: It really is because then suddenly it's like you don't know what's gonna happen.

[6:10] Catie Carlisle: And I think that when you're moderating, you have a general idea of what's gonna happen.

[6:14] David Rigano: But when you're up there, you don't know what's gonna be asked, or you don't know what the audience is gonna say, yeah, who's gonna be there, and it's exciting.

[6:23] Catie Carlisle: And yeah, and it's the—you're looking out at a sea of your friends, yeah, and then you have to talk about—like when I'm talking to authors about their work, I'm looking out at a sea of strangers' faces and we're just having a talk about the work.

[6:39] David Rigano: I was like being super professional in front of a bunch of my closest friends and having to talk like a playwright.

[6:46] Catie Carlisle: Yes.

[6:46] David Rigano: Also to talk about things like—I know when we're like talking about Blood for Mine, it was like y'all know this, y'all saw the show.

[6:54] Catie Carlisle: Like, we have talked about this already, but I have to pretend like none of you have seen the idea of the show.

[6:58] David Rigano: I'm also looking, I'm also looking out.

[6:59] Catie Carlisle: I'm like, you were in a workshop of it, you were in the reading of it over here.

[7:02] David Rigano: Yeah, you were in the multitude of writers' groups where I was coming in with changing pages for it.

[7:09] Catie Carlisle: I think that was like what got me from my own nerves.

[7:11] David Rigano: It's like, okay, we're all complicit, we're all just pretending that we don't know anything about my writing, and we're all gonna discover it tonight.

[7:18] Catie Carlisle: Yeah.

[7:18] David Rigano: And it's like, I think that's the feeling.

[7:20] Catie Carlisle: Pulling back the curtain on this episode.

[7:22] David Rigano: Well, how about the episode, the David special and its behind-the-scenes look?

[7:26] Catie Carlisle: Yes.

[7:26] David Rigano: No, it was a really great event.

[7:29] Catie Carlisle: It really was.

[7:30] David Rigano: And oh, the actors you brought in were fantastic.

[7:32] Catie Carlisle: Also, because Kelsey Baker and Charles Mackley are so fantastic.

[7:38] David Rigano: Kelsey had done a workshop of the show before.

[7:42] Catie Carlisle: But Charles, I knew from one of Katie's plays, and this was the first time that he and I, we've socialized a bunch, but this is the first time that he and I were like doing something professional together.

[7:51] David Rigano: So that was really fun to have them over to my apartment and be like, we're just gonna play for an hour and that's rehearsal, and then we're gonna do this thing tomorrow.

[8:01] Catie Carlisle: That's awesome because it felt so natural, and they all were so good.

[8:05] David Rigano: They both were so good.

[8:06] Catie Carlisle: It was—you all were so good.

[8:08] David Rigano: You say they all because the two of them played collectively six parts.

[8:12] Catie Carlisle: Yes, no, yeah.

[8:12] David Rigano: They made it feel like they were different people.

[8:15] Catie Carlisle: And it's funny because as soon as I said that, I'm like, wait, there was just two, but we saw multiple.

[8:19] David Rigano: So you search for an author of that.

[8:21] Catie Carlisle: Yes.

[8:22] David Rigano: Not written by David.

[8:23] Catie Carlisle: Not by David.

[8:24] David Rigano: Sorry, like get me out of it.

[8:26] Catie Carlisle: This David Rigano, but I'm in search of an author because all we have is David Rigano.

[8:32] David Rigano: I'm excited to hear you talk about you.

[8:36] Catie Carlisle: No, I'm excited to share with everyone this deep dive into your work because they get to know you as I know you, which is a wonderful writer and friend who I send messages to after having some drinks.

[8:51] David Rigano: I was like, oh, this is getting sincere again.

[8:53] Catie Carlisle: Were you hitting the bottle?

[8:54] David Rigano: I hit the bottle.

[8:55] Catie Carlisle: I sent him a message last night after having a couple drinks, but we were talking about something he did that was really nice, and I realized I never thanked him.

[9:02] David Rigano: And he was like, he said he today he was like, hey, how are those drinks?

[9:05] Catie Carlisle: I know you were drinking because you were nice.

[9:08] David Rigano: I didn't say nice, I said sincere.

[9:10] Catie Carlisle: It was just that there was nice, and it's gotta be sincere.

[9:12] David Rigano: It was the—yes.

[9:13] Catie Carlisle: It was the text message followed by the Facebook comment, and both of them had not an ounce of snark, and I went, oh, he's drunk.

[9:22] David Rigano: Apparently, that's how you know if I'm nice to you.

[9:25] Catie Carlisle: I'm not snarky.

[9:26] David Rigano: David, I meant everything I said as I meant just now.

[9:29] Catie Carlisle: You're a great friend and writer, and I'm excited to share that with everybody else.

[9:33] David Rigano: Thank you.

[9:33] Catie Carlisle: Me too.

[9:34] David Rigano: Welcoming our—thank you so much.

[9:46] Catie Carlisle: Okay.

[9:48] David Rigano: So today, we are discussing What We Deserve by David Rigano.

[9:57] Catie Carlisle: David.

[9:58] David Rigano: Oh my god.

[9:59] Catie Carlisle: David Rigano is an award-winning musical theater writer and director.

[10:04] David Rigano: With his brother and collaborator Paul Rigano, he has written book, music, and lyrics to You Heard It Here, We Were Wild, Get the Duchess, and Awaken: A Sleeping Beauty Musical.

[10:17] Catie Carlisle: Together, they wrote the score for The Holy Cows of Credence, South Dakota, with book writer Mark-Eugene Garcia.

[10:26] David Rigano: And created the long-running Ides of March Extravaganza.

[10:32] Catie Carlisle: Excuse me.

[10:35] David Rigano: David's plays include Life Lessons with Susan Gale, Not the Same Old Story, Opposite Attraction, and What We Deserve.

[10:45] Catie Carlisle: As a director, David has helmed new musicals through workshops and initial productions, such as Nutcracker, the Musical, Wild Women of Planet Wongo, All Star, the Best Broadway Musical, and his own award-winning You Heard It Here.

[11:02] David Rigano: When not directing or writing, David can be found cooking and binging murder mysteries with his cat.

[11:09] Catie Carlisle: It's true.

[11:12] David Rigano: Hi, Catie.

[11:13] Catie Carlisle: Hi.

[11:14] David Rigano: How does it feel to be on the other side of this interview process?

[11:19] Catie Carlisle: So weird.

[11:21] David Rigano: So very weird.

[11:23] Catie Carlisle: Welcome.

[11:24] David Rigano: Thank you.

[11:25] Catie Carlisle: Thank you for coming and joining for tonight.

[11:28] David Rigano: Yeah, thank you for having me.

[11:30] Catie Carlisle: This play, What We Deserve.

[11:33] David Rigano: It started as a one act.

[11:35] Catie Carlisle: Can you talk a bit more about the origins of that version?

[11:38] David Rigano: Sure. When I was in college, I started playing around with the idea, and this is the real origins of the first few lines of the play was that there was someone in one of my classes in college who I thought resembled Minnie Driver.

[11:59] Catie Carlisle: So you just wrote down the lines, Minnie Driver, huh?

[12:04] David Rigano: That's who I look like.

[12:05] Catie Carlisle: You were trying to figure out who it was.

[12:07] David Rigano: And I didn't quite know where that was gonna go.

[12:10] Catie Carlisle: And I started playing with the idea of having these chance meetings, which was the title of the original play.

[12:19] David Rigano: And where people would—strangers would meet completely by chance, but I would write in all of these things that connected them, where every time they were meeting a new person, they had no idea how interconnected they all were.

[12:38] Catie Carlisle: Oh wow, yeah.

[12:39] David Rigano: And we presented it with a couple of actors in a staged reading, and then it got into a festival back in 2008.

[12:49] Catie Carlisle: So y'all can do math.

[12:52] David Rigano: And I sort of was working on it, and then I thought, oh, this is what it is.

[12:57] Catie Carlisle: It's a play called Chance Meetings, it's about chance encounters, and it had only two actors playing all six characters.

[13:05] David Rigano: So each scene, the two actors would play a different couple, and it would switch up as they went, and by the end of it, that was the game of the whole thing: watching these two people play six characters, not realizing how interconnected their stories were.

[13:21] Catie Carlisle: That's awesome.

[13:22] David Rigano: Can you tell me a bit more about how the one act version changed over time?

[13:28] David Rigano: Yeah, I uh after that production, I was uh encouraged to expand the play, and I was trying to think of how I might do that. At one point, someone did talk to me about possibly making a short film of it, so I did expand a little bit for a short film that would have been with six actors. I had some of the characters interact a little bit more with people who they don't interact with in the play. So once I was being encouraged to expand the play, I knew a little bit more about these characters because I had expanded them for a film, and I tried to think what the format of a full-length play would be, and whether I could keep the game of having two actors playing six characters. And I did ultimately decide that it wanted to do was see how they fit into all of those other intertwining relationships that we only heard about in the one act version.

And I said, if I'm gonna keep mismatching them back and forth, eventually it's gonna be really difficult to try to remember. Okay, it's only two actors, but when he was wearing that hat, he was this character in the first part. And he said this when he was wearing that hat, but now he's wearing the blue pants, and with the blue pants, okay. So he's talking about the person who he was in that scene with the red hat. And I just thought it was gonna be theatrically a little too confusing, a little too much, a little too complicated. So I did decide, okay, this is gonna have to be for six actors, and that allowed me the room to really play with who these characters are and what kind of worlds they inhabit.

Because I'll talk about this in a little bit. There were some lines that were alluding to the fact that it was only one man and one woman in the entire one act, and there were some sort of jokes about that. Once that was no longer gonna be the case, I could take those lines and they would mean completely different things when it was actually six actors. And this might be a good time to bring on a couple of actors.

[15:49] Catie Carlisle: Yeah, I would love to hear more from this play.

[15:52] David Rigano: So I brought a couple actors with me. And while a lot has been edited and rewritten and expanded from what that one act version was, they are going to read to you the portion of the play that covered the one the old one act version chance meetings. So we are gonna bring up Kelsey Baker and Charles Meckley to read part one of what we deserve.

[16:12] ♪ Musical number: "What We Deserve" — performed by Kelsey Baker and Charles Meckley ♪

[16:40] Kelsey Baker: Part one, what we want. A park. Scene one, Will and Marcy. Will and Marcy sit at opposite sides of the stage from each other. Will is looking intently at Marcy. Marcy is not looking at Will. Whenever Marcy turns in Will's direction, he quickly turns away or tries to appear as though he was looking past her. She pretends not to notice. Finally, when Marcy decides that he is suitable prey, she speaks to Will.

[17:10] Charles Meckley: Mini Driver.

[17:13] Kelsey Baker: What?

[17:16] Charles Meckley: Oh, you're trying to think who it is I look like.

[17:15] Kelsey Baker: Oh.

[17:21] Charles Meckley: I'm not Mini Driver.

[17:22] Kelsey Baker: Oh.

[17:23] Charles Meckley: I just look like her.

[17:24] Kelsey Baker: Oh.

[17:25] Charles Meckley: That's what everyone tells me.

[17:26] Kelsey Baker: Ah.

[17:27] Charles Meckley: At least that's what everyone tells me.

[17:30] Kelsey Baker: Did people tell you anything?

[17:32] Charles Meckley: Uh, I don't.

[17:34] Kelsey Baker: Things.

[17:35] Charles Meckley: What kind of things?

[17:37] Kelsey Baker: Uh things.

[17:41] Charles Meckley: People say things.

[17:44] Kelsey Baker: Do people tell you yes when they mean no? Do they tell you soon when they mean never? Do people say, of course, when they mean what gave you that idea that I was still that this was relationship was still happening, and I would tell you leave me no alone and you won't respect that.

[17:58] Charles Meckley: No. People say things.

[18:02] Kelsey Baker: What's her name?

[18:03] Charles Meckley: I'm Will.

[18:05] Kelsey Baker: What's your name?

[18:07] Charles Meckley: Oh, I'm Will.

[18:09] Kelsey Baker: People say things, Will. Because they think it's what you want to hear.

[18:13] Charles Meckley: Would you ever tell me what I want to hear?

[18:17] Kelsey Baker: What do you want?

[18:19] Charles Meckley: There was a man in LA. There are lots of men in LA, actually. Have you ever been there? There are lots of men in LA, but there was a man in LA who ate the exact same meals every day, but not always in the same order. Eggs and waffles, chicken salad sandwich, and steak with fries. It was so difficult sometimes to get a steak and fries at seven in the morning as a result. You see where I'm going with this? It takes work sometimes, and you don't have to do things in the same order all the time. If you try hard enough, you can do things however you want. Ever you want.

[18:58] Kelsey Baker: Terrible actress.

[19:00] Charles Meckley: What?

[19:01] Kelsey Baker: Oh, I'm not.

[19:02] Charles Meckley: Oh?

[19:03] Kelsey Baker: A terrible actress.

[19:05] Charles Meckley: I'm not.

[19:06] Kelsey Baker: Oh.

[19:07] Charles Meckley: At least.

[19:08] Kelsey Baker: At least.

[19:10] Charles Meckley: At least.

[19:12] Kelsey Baker: At least that's what everyone tells me.

[19:16] Charles Meckley: Are you waiting for someone?

[19:17] Kelsey Baker: Huh?

[19:18] Charles Meckley: I asked if you were waiting for someone.

[19:20] Kelsey Baker: Oh no, I'm just sitting. My friend was. I was waiting. But I gave up.

[19:26] Charles Meckley: Oh.

[19:27] Kelsey Baker: Because he's not gonna show.

[19:28] Charles Meckley: How do you know?

[19:29] Kelsey Baker: People tell you things.

[19:30] Charles Meckley: Oh.

[19:30] Kelsey Baker: I still wait, but I don't expect him to come, so I suppose I'm not really waiting. Just sitting.

[19:38] Charles Meckley: Beg your pardon?

[19:39] Kelsey Baker: Just sitting.

[19:41] Charles Meckley: Like me, just sitting.

[19:43] Kelsey Baker: I suppose so.

[19:47] Charles Meckley: Awful thing.

[19:48] Kelsey Baker: Waiting?

[19:49] Charles Meckley: What?

[19:49] Kelsey Baker: Waiting.

[19:50] Charles Meckley: Not waiting is an awful thing.

[19:52] Kelsey Baker: No.

[19:53] Charles Meckley: No. To be an actress and look like a terrible actress.

[19:57] Kelsey Baker: Oh.

[19:58] Charles Meckley: I can imagine.

[20:00] Kelsey Baker: So you're an actress?

[20:02] Charles Meckley: Not that it makes a difference.

[20:03] Kelsey Baker: No?

[20:04] Charles Meckley: Not when you're ten times as talented as him, and why should you even want him anyway?

[20:07] Kelsey Baker: Because what's it worth it without him?

[20:09] Charles Meckley: Oh, do you?

[20:10] Kelsey Baker: Are you?

[20:11] Charles Meckley: I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I talk too soon, I get very personal.

[20:16] Kelsey Baker: I can tell.

[20:17] Charles Meckley: Do you want to sit over here?

[20:20] Kelsey Baker: Sure.

[20:21] Charles Meckley: She crosses to Will and sits next to him.

[20:25] Kelsey Baker: What?

[20:25] Charles Meckley: Oh. So what do you want to talk about?

[20:27] Kelsey Baker: What?

[20:28] Charles Meckley: Oh, I'm I didn't.

[20:30] Kelsey Baker: Didn't what?

[20:31] Charles Meckley: I want to talk.

[20:33] Kelsey Baker: Oh.

[20:33] Charles Meckley: I don't mean to say I didn't want to. I just Why did you ask me over here?

[20:38] Kelsey Baker: I wanted to talk, but I didn't want to talk about something.

[20:42] Charles Meckley: You wanted to talk about nothing.

[20:44] Kelsey Baker: I should have said something in particular.

[20:46] Charles Meckley: But you wanted to talk.

[20:47] Kelsey Baker: Yes. It seemed like you wanted to talk, and it just seemed like it would be easier if we were closer.

[20:53] Charles Meckley: Ah.

[20:55] Kelsey Baker: So what did I want to talk about?

[20:57] Charles Meckley: A mini driver.

[20:58] Kelsey Baker: Terrible actress.

[20:59] Charles Meckley: Yes, but you're not.

[21:00] Kelsey Baker: Not mini-driver or not a terrible actress.

[21:02] Charles Meckley: Both, neither.

[21:04] Kelsey Baker: Everyone says I'm everyone wants to be right, but few people usually are. Don't you find that?

[21:10] Charles Meckley: Not that everyone is wrong. Sometimes some people are right. Just that everyone wants to be right.

[21:17] Kelsey Baker: You're too kind.

[21:19] Charles Meckley: I think.

[21:20] Kelsey Baker: Everyone wants. Everyone wants to have fun. And everyone deserves to have fun. Right? Every good boy deserves fun.

[21:35] Charles Meckley: Is that piano lessons when I was a kid? It's all that stock. Because don't girls deserve to have fun too?

[21:42] Kelsey Baker: But we don't always get to.

[21:45] Charles Meckley: What have you been in?

[21:46] Kelsey Baker: What?

[21:47] Charles Meckley: You said you're an actress. So movies? Plays?

[21:50] Kelsey Baker: Life.

[21:54] Charles Meckley: Oh.

[21:57] Kelsey Baker: About you.

[21:58] Charles Meckley: Oh, I'm not. I. I mean your life. What goes on in your life?

[22:05] Kelsey Baker: Things.

[22:08] Charles Meckley: Things.

[22:10] Kelsey Baker: What do you want?

[22:12] Charles Meckley: What everyone things.

[22:14] Kelsey Baker: Any things in particular?

[22:19] Charles Meckley: A really good actress, a really not terrible actress, is always on.

[22:25] Kelsey Baker: On.

[22:25] Charles Meckley: On.

[22:26] Kelsey Baker: I'm very on. Right now I'm on.

[22:30] Charles Meckley: Wow. Do you think mini driver's on right now?

[22:32] Kelsey Baker: I got into terrible actress.

[22:35] Charles Meckley: What's a who's a good actress?

[22:37] Kelsey Baker: Me.

[22:38] Charles Meckley: I know. I just How do you know?

[22:39] Kelsey Baker: What?

[22:40] Charles Meckley: How do you know Minnie Good?

[22:41] Kelsey Baker: Because you're so on.

[22:45] Charles Meckley: I am.

[22:49] Kelsey Baker: Very on.

[22:50] Charles Meckley: But you know what? It takes more than that.

[22:53] Kelsey Baker: Of course.

[22:54] Charles Meckley: Yes. It takes determination.

[22:58] Kelsey Baker: Do I seem determined to you?

[23:00] Charles Meckley: I think.

[23:01] Kelsey Baker: You don't get to just call yourself an actress because you're on and then expect to make it.

[23:05] Charles Meckley: No. You won't deserve to get the things that you want just because you want them. You have to work for them. You can be the most talented person in the world and not get the things you want. You can be the most terrible person and still get things that other people want.

[23:18] Kelsey Baker: I'm sure you're not terrible.

[23:20] Charles Meckley: I could be. I could be terrible at everything. Except acting like Mini Driver.

[23:27] Kelsey Baker: Of course. And you know what? You'll never know unless.

[23:30] Charles Meckley: Unless you act like Mini Driver for me.

[23:32] Kelsey Baker: No.

[23:33] Charles Meckley: No. Do you believe you deserve fun?

[23:39] Kelsey Baker: I believe that.

[23:41] Charles Meckley: I don't believe I've. Because I could act like Mini Driver.

[23:48] Kelsey Baker: You could. If that would be fun.

[23:51] Charles Meckley: It could. That would only prove my point that I'm good at acting like Mini Driver.

[23:57] Kelsey Baker: Yes. But that might be enough.

[23:59] Charles Meckley: Enough.

[24:00] Kelsey Baker: If we're having fun.

[24:01] Charles Meckley: We?

[24:02] Kelsey Baker: It just wouldn't prove much.

[24:04] Charles Meckley: No. It might mean I'm just good at everything.

[24:10] Kelsey Baker: Yes, it might. You'd have to see me do something else to know what I'm really good at.

[24:17] Charles Meckley: Yes, I'd I have to see you do something else.

[24:23] Kelsey Baker: Anything else you'd like to see me do?

[24:27] Charles Meckley: I acting.

[24:29] Kelsey Baker: Of course.

[24:30] Charles Meckley: Of course.

[24:34] Kelsey Baker: You ever think about having sex with Mill Minnie Driver?

[24:37] Charles Meckley: Blackout.

[24:39] Kelsey Baker: Scene two, James and Sally. James enters and runs over to Sally, who has her back to him reading.

[24:48] Charles Meckley: Hey there.

[24:50] Kelsey Baker: Oh, sorry.

[24:51] Charles Meckley: What?

[24:52] Kelsey Baker: Oh, you're not. Sorry, I'm supposed to meet someone. I you thought I was someone else?

[24:57] Charles Meckley: Yes.

[24:58] Kelsey Baker: I'm not.

[24:59] Charles Meckley: Yes, I know. You could look at a face first.

[25:02] Kelsey Baker: I already said.

[25:04] Charles Meckley: What's wrong with me?

[25:05] Kelsey Baker: There's not what?

[25:06] Charles Meckley: You thought I was someone else. What's wrong with the way I am?

[25:10] Kelsey Baker: Nothing. Nothing. I just need to be someone else.

[25:12] Charles Meckley: No, you don't need to be.

[25:13] Kelsey Baker: I deserve an explanation.

[25:15] Charles Meckley: For I'm only one person.

[25:17] Kelsey Baker: I can see that.

[25:18] Charles Meckley: I can't be more than one person.

[25:19] Kelsey Baker: I can imagine.

[25:20] Charles Meckley: So I'm just one.

[25:21] Kelsey Baker: Yes.

[25:23] Charles Meckley: I'm not the person you thought I was.

[25:26] Kelsey Baker: No.

[25:30] Charles Meckley: Who did you think I was?

[25:31] Kelsey Baker: What?

[25:33] Charles Meckley: I got a little mad before.

[25:36] Kelsey Baker: Before.

[25:37] Charles Meckley: A minute ago. I just thought.

[25:40] Kelsey Baker: What if I am that person?

[25:42] Charles Meckley: But you're not.

[25:44] Kelsey Baker: But how can you know?

[25:45] Charles Meckley: You just said you're not.

[25:47] Kelsey Baker: No, yes, I said I wasn't that person, but more specifically, I said I was only one person, which is still true, but I realize I assumed that the one person I am is not the person you're looking for.

[25:58] Charles Meckley: You you assumed correctly.

[26:00] Kelsey Baker: Because I couldn't be the person you're looking for, except I don't know it.

[26:04] Charles Meckley: You'd know it.

[26:04] Kelsey Baker: Uh how?

[26:05] Charles Meckley: You would have been there when we made the plans.

[26:08] Kelsey Baker: I don't just go looking for random women.

[26:11] Charles Meckley: You sure?

[26:12] Kelsey Baker: Yeah. Because you look like the type.

[26:17] Charles Meckley: But if you agreed to meet someone, then I didn't make that agreement.

[26:22] Kelsey Baker: I know. So I'm probably not the person.

[26:25] Charles Meckley: No. So now you've seen my face.

[26:29] Kelsey Baker: Your face?

[26:30] Charles Meckley: I also said before that you could look at a face, and now you have. And that's how I knew.

[26:36] Kelsey Baker: How is it?

[26:38] Charles Meckley: How is what?

[26:40] Kelsey Baker: My face.

[26:43] Charles Meckley: It's a face.

[26:45] Kelsey Baker: Aren't you the charmer?

[26:46] Charles Meckley: I'm not really trying to charm.

[26:48] Unknown speaker: What's her name?

[26:48] Unknown speaker: What?

[26:50] Unknown speaker: What's her name?

[26:52] Unknown speaker: Ann.

[26:54] Unknown speaker: Ah.

[26:55] Unknown speaker: I'm Sally.

[26:56] Unknown speaker: James.

[26:57] Unknown speaker: Nice to meet you.

[26:59] Unknown speaker: Is she your girlfriend?

[27:01] Unknown speaker: What?

[27:02] Unknown speaker: No.

[27:03] Unknown speaker: Do you want her to be your girlfriend?

[27:05] Unknown speaker: I know.

[27:07] Unknown speaker: I don't know.

[27:08] Unknown speaker: That means yes.

[27:09] Unknown speaker: No, it doesn't.

[27:10] Unknown speaker: It means yes, but I don't want to tell you.

[27:12] Unknown speaker: Yeah, where do you come up with this?

[27:13] Unknown speaker: I can just tell.

[27:14] Unknown speaker: Sometimes when people say I don't know, it means I don't know.

[27:17] Unknown speaker: Not this time.

[27:18] Unknown speaker: Oh.

[27:19] Unknown speaker: Nope.

[27:20] Unknown speaker: People say a lot of things when they mean other things.

[27:24] Unknown speaker: So where's your girlfriend?

[27:25] Unknown speaker: She'll be here.

[27:26] Unknown speaker: She's not my girlfriend.

[27:27] Unknown speaker: But she will be.

[27:28] Unknown speaker: What?

[27:29] Unknown speaker: If things work out.

[27:30] Unknown speaker: What are you talking about?

[27:31] Unknown speaker: If everything works out today, she'll be your girlfriend.

[27:33] Unknown speaker: Isn't that what you want?

[27:34] Unknown speaker: No.

[27:35] Unknown speaker: I told you that.

[27:36] Unknown speaker: You know what?

[27:37] Unknown speaker: You deserve better than her.

[27:38] Unknown speaker: What?

[27:39] Unknown speaker: You deserve someone who won't string you along, who actually wants to be your girlfriend.

[27:44] Unknown speaker: I'm just waiting for a friend.

[27:45] Unknown speaker: I thought you were her because you look a little bit like her, but you're not her.

[27:50] Unknown speaker: Her name is Anne.

[27:51] Unknown speaker: Your name is Sally.

[27:52] Unknown speaker: She'll be here soon, and then we'll go somewhere else.

[27:55] Unknown speaker: Because of me?

[27:56] Unknown speaker: No, because that was the plan.

[27:58] Unknown speaker: We're just meeting here, then we'll go somewhere else.

[28:01] Unknown speaker: Why don't you just meet there?

[28:03] Unknown speaker: Where?

[28:03] Unknown speaker: The other place.

[28:04] Unknown speaker: What other place?

[28:05] Unknown speaker: The other place.

[28:06] Unknown speaker: You're going with her.

[28:07] Unknown speaker: Wouldn't it make more sense to just meet in the first place?

[28:09] Unknown speaker: We don't know where we're going.

[28:10] Unknown speaker: We're just gonna start walking.

[28:12] Unknown speaker: How romantic.

[28:15] Unknown speaker: Would you want me to be your girlfriend?

[28:18] Unknown speaker: What?

[28:18] Unknown speaker: If she says no, of course.

[28:20] Unknown speaker: What?

[28:21] Unknown speaker: Because you said I look like her, so if she says no, would you want me to be your girlfriend?

[28:25] Unknown speaker: Are you?

[28:25] Unknown speaker: No, I'm not asking you how.

[28:26] Unknown speaker: I don't know you.

[28:28] Unknown speaker: Just curious.

[28:31] Unknown speaker: No, she's not my girlfriend.

[28:33] Unknown speaker: She's not going to be my girlfriend.

[28:35] Unknown speaker: You're not gonna be my girlfriend.

[28:37] Unknown speaker: I'm just waiting for a friend to come here.

[28:39] Unknown speaker: And then when she gets here, we'll walk around somewhere else.

[28:42] Unknown speaker: And we will not come back here.

[28:44] Unknown speaker: We will go somewhere and have a conversation as we go.

[28:47] Unknown speaker: And that's it.

[28:49] Unknown speaker: Okay.

[28:51] Unknown speaker: Just because my friend met someone here, just like this.

[28:55] Unknown speaker: They wound up sleeping together.

[28:58] Unknown speaker: That's what I get for leaving him alone.

[29:00] Unknown speaker: What is he?

[29:01] Unknown speaker: Like he has self-esteem issues.

[29:06] Unknown speaker: Who knows what this woman said to him, but yeah, whatever.

[29:09] Unknown speaker: They Oh, and you think.

[29:11] Unknown speaker: No.

[29:11] Unknown speaker: I don't.

[29:12] Unknown speaker: I'm just saying that we're meeting here like this, and Will met this woman here like this, so I thought it was funny.

[29:21] Unknown speaker: Especially since you're waiting for your not yet girlfriend.

[29:26] Unknown speaker: So you came here just in case you might meet someone to fuck, like your friend Will did.

[29:32] Unknown speaker: What was the name of this lady of I I have no doubt unimpeachable character who he slept with?

[29:38] Unknown speaker: I don't want to tell you.

[29:39] Unknown speaker: You don't want to.

[29:40] Unknown speaker: No, it's just that I yeah, I don't want to tell you.

[29:43] Unknown speaker: I don't deserve to be treated like this.

[29:45] Unknown speaker: You don't?

[29:46] Unknown speaker: I'll remind you that you accosted me, and now you're insulting me.

[29:49] Unknown speaker: I'm trying to mind my own business.

[29:50] Unknown speaker: You're telling me about your friend's fuck buddies.

[29:52] Unknown speaker: Fuck buddy singular.

[29:54] Unknown speaker: One woman who he refers to as.

[29:56] Unknown speaker: You know what?

[29:56] Unknown speaker: No, you know what?

[29:58] Unknown speaker: You don't deserve to know how he refers to her.

[30:00] Unknown speaker: I don't care.

[30:01] Unknown speaker: I couldn't care less what's the pet name your friend Will has for the rando.

[30:05] Unknown speaker: I wasn't a it wasn't a weird pet name.

[30:08] Unknown speaker: He just he didn't know her real name.

[30:12] Unknown speaker: No.

[30:12] Unknown speaker: That's not weird at all.

[30:13] Unknown speaker: Okay, you know what?

[30:14] Unknown speaker: I just thought it was funny.

[30:15] Unknown speaker: That's all.

[30:16] Unknown speaker: That's even funnier when the itching starts.

[30:18] Unknown speaker: We're here and we're talking, and Anne isn't here.

[30:21] Unknown speaker: That was what's soon?

[30:23] Unknown speaker: I hope so.

[30:24] Unknown speaker: Oh, that's so sweet.

[30:25] Unknown speaker: Will you?

[30:25] Unknown speaker: I'm just saying that's really sweet.

[30:27] Unknown speaker: Not implying that she's my girlfriend.

[30:29] Unknown speaker: Or that I want her to be my girlfriend, or that she will be my girlfriend, or that you will be my girlfriend.

[30:34] Unknown speaker: How?

[30:34] Unknown speaker: I don't know.

[30:35] Unknown speaker: You did that before.

[30:36] Unknown speaker: You twisted everything up.

[30:38] Unknown speaker: I say it's funny, you think I'm saying something.

[30:40] Unknown speaker: I say it's sweet and you think I'm also saying something.

[30:42] Unknown speaker: I said I don't know, and then you started the whole thing about my wanting you to be my girlfriend.

[30:46] Unknown speaker: Why, do you?

[30:47] Unknown speaker: No!

[30:47] Unknown speaker: Okay.

[30:50] Unknown speaker: So where's your girlfriend?

[30:51] Unknown speaker: Fade to black.

[30:53] Unknown speaker: Scene three.

[30:55] Unknown speaker: Sam and Anne.

[30:57] Unknown speaker: Sam enters, taking in the atmosphere.

[30:59] Unknown speaker: After a moment, Anne enters, anxious.

[31:02] Unknown speaker: She goes towards Sam as if to speak to him, thinks better of it, and turns away.

[31:11] Unknown speaker: Did you what?

[31:13] Unknown speaker: Oh, it looked like you No, I just I can't.

[31:17] Unknown speaker: You lost?

[31:18] Unknown speaker: No, I'm not lost.

[31:19] Unknown speaker: Someone else is.

[31:20] Unknown speaker: I lost someone.

[31:21] Unknown speaker: A kid?

[31:22] Unknown speaker: Did you lose a little kid or older?

[31:23] Unknown speaker: You look too young to have an older kid.

[31:25] Unknown speaker: No, it's not a kid.

[31:26] Unknown speaker: It's my boyfriend.

[31:27] Unknown speaker: He's lost?

[31:28] Unknown speaker: I'm pretty sure he's perfectly safe and sound, but I don't know where he is.

[31:34] Unknown speaker: Did he ditch you?

[31:36] Unknown speaker: He said to meet him somewhere, but he wasn't there.

[31:40] Unknown speaker: I'm wandering around now hoping that I'll bump into him.

[31:44] Unknown speaker: How long did you wait for him?

[31:45] Unknown speaker: Maybe you were just early.

[31:46] Unknown speaker: I don't maybe oh he was just late.

[31:48] Unknown speaker: I waited.

[31:49] Unknown speaker: I waited a while.

[31:51] Unknown speaker: Texted.

[31:53] Unknown speaker: Okay.

[31:55] Unknown speaker: Sorry.

[31:56] Unknown speaker: I really am.

[31:56] Unknown speaker: Sometimes guys are late.

[31:58] Unknown speaker: Yeah, I know.

[31:59] Unknown speaker: Sometimes.

[32:00] Unknown speaker: Sorry for making it seem personal.

[32:02] Unknown speaker: I wanted to.

[32:03] Unknown speaker: Thanks.

[32:05] Unknown speaker: You don't deserve that.

[32:07] Unknown speaker: Thank you.

[32:08] Unknown speaker: No one deserves that.

[32:11] Unknown speaker: Thank you.

[32:13] Unknown speaker: So what if he's running late if he's stuck on the subway?

[32:16] Unknown speaker: I'll go back to the spot where he said to meet me.

[32:20] Unknown speaker: Text again.

[32:22] Unknown speaker: My ex-girlfriend used to like to meet here in this park.

[32:25] Unknown speaker: But she always changed the meeting place last minute, and it was always my fault if I couldn't find her.

[32:31] Unknown speaker: That sucks.

[32:32] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[32:33] Unknown speaker: When I broke it up, she said, I'll keep waiting for you in the usual spot.

[32:33] Unknown speaker: The usual spot?

[32:38] Unknown speaker: Yeah, it's just the thing.

[32:39] Unknown speaker: There was no usual spot.

[32:40] Unknown speaker: You don't deserve that either.

[32:42] Unknown speaker: Thanks.

[32:47] Unknown speaker: What's your name?

[32:49] Unknown speaker: I'm Ann.

[32:50] Unknown speaker: It's nice to meet you.

[32:51] Unknown speaker: Nice to meet you.

[32:52] Unknown speaker: I'm Sam.

[32:52] Unknown speaker: Hi Sam.

[32:54] Unknown speaker: Is it weird to say nice to meet you when we've hardly met?

[32:58] Unknown speaker: I don't know.

[32:59] Unknown speaker: I guess not as long as it stays nice to have met you.

[33:04] Unknown speaker: So far it is.

[33:05] Unknown speaker: So far it is.

[33:07] Unknown speaker: Less than ideal circumstances, but what's your boyfriend's name?

[33:11] Unknown speaker: James.

[33:14] Unknown speaker: Sounds like a reliable name.

[33:16] Unknown speaker: He seemed like a reliable guy.

[33:19] Unknown speaker: I don't know.

[33:20] Unknown speaker: Maybe he met some woman.

[33:22] Unknown speaker: Don't joke.

[33:23] Unknown speaker: Hey, maybe maybe he met up with my ex in the usual spot.

[33:26] Unknown speaker: I said don't.

[33:30] Unknown speaker: What's your ex name?

[33:32] Unknown speaker: Marcy.

[33:34] Unknown speaker: Marcy.

[33:36] Unknown speaker: I don't know if that one sounds like a reliable name either.

[33:40] Unknown speaker: It's not.

[33:42] Unknown speaker: It's not even reliably her name.

[33:44] Unknown speaker: Oh?

[33:45] Unknown speaker: Yeah, she likes to no need to get into it.

[33:47] Unknown speaker: It's weird.

[33:49] Unknown speaker: I see.

[33:50] Unknown speaker: Some women.

[33:51] Unknown speaker: What?

[33:52] Unknown speaker: You don't seem like that.

[33:55] Unknown speaker: Seem like what?

[33:56] Unknown speaker: Like someone to demand things?

[34:02] Unknown speaker: I can demand things.

[34:03] Unknown speaker: No, I'm sure.

[34:04] Unknown speaker: I just.

[34:05] Unknown speaker: Yeah, I have deal breakers and needs that have to be met.

[34:12] Unknown speaker: Not like that.

[34:13] Unknown speaker: Yeah, like that, but also just like being there.

[34:17] Unknown speaker: I think so.

[34:18] Unknown speaker: Like being here.

[34:21] Unknown speaker: Or more like.

[34:26] Unknown speaker: More like here.

[34:30] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[34:31] Unknown speaker: That could be it.

[34:35] Unknown speaker: What would you do if you caught James and Marcy together?

[34:39] Unknown speaker: Oh.

[34:40] Unknown speaker: Cross James off the list of reliable names?

[34:45] Unknown speaker: And then shoot him?

[34:46] Unknown speaker: Or myself?

[34:48] Unknown speaker: Oh.

[34:48] Unknown speaker: Or both.

[34:49] Unknown speaker: Hey, don't joke.

[34:52] Unknown speaker: You wouldn't shoot Marcy.

[34:57] Unknown speaker: We never agreed.

[34:58] Unknown speaker: Okay.

[34:58] Unknown speaker: In that case, I'd let you take care of that.

[35:01] Unknown speaker: I've never met Marcy.

[35:05] Unknown speaker: So is he usually there?

[35:06] Unknown speaker: Where?

[35:07] Unknown speaker: Just because well, he's not here.

[35:09] Unknown speaker: Oh, no, he's not.

[35:11] Unknown speaker: Are you gonna keep looking?

[35:12] Unknown speaker: I mean, I guess.

[35:14] Unknown speaker: You said you were gonna see if.

[35:15] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[35:16] Unknown speaker: Not like I want to get rid of you.

[35:18] Unknown speaker: I'm just saying.

[35:19] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[35:22] Unknown speaker: What if you can't find him?

[35:24] Unknown speaker: Call him again, text him again, go home, call him again, leave a message.

[35:31] Unknown speaker: Maybe.

[35:32] Unknown speaker: Maybe.

[35:33] Unknown speaker: Maybe.

[35:34] Unknown speaker: Okay.

[35:37] Unknown speaker: Maybe.

[35:38] Unknown speaker: Maybe.

[35:41] Unknown speaker: Maybe I do deserve all this.

[35:44] Unknown speaker: Oh, come on.

[35:46] Unknown speaker: No, maybe I do.

[35:47] Unknown speaker: Got all this, right?

[35:48] Unknown speaker: Maybe I deserve it.

[35:49] Unknown speaker: Nobody.

[35:49] Unknown speaker: It's fine.

[35:55] Unknown speaker: You deserve better.

[35:59] Unknown speaker: You know what's funny?

[36:01] Unknown speaker: What?

[36:02] Unknown speaker: Spilling all this to a stranger.

[36:05] Unknown speaker: Then I guess we're not strangers anymore.

[36:08] Unknown speaker: Besides, you should stop spilling and go find James.

[36:13] Unknown speaker: I know I should.

[36:18] Unknown speaker: But you're not going to.

[36:21] Unknown speaker: I'm not sure he deserves it.

[36:26] Unknown speaker: What if James comes here and sees us together?

[36:32] Unknown speaker: Here.

[36:32] Unknown speaker: Or there.

[36:34] Unknown speaker: I wonder.

[36:36] Unknown speaker: Of course, we're not doing anything bad.

[36:38] Unknown speaker: He wouldn't know that.

[36:39] Unknown speaker: And if you found him with Marcy, you wouldn't know that they weren't doing anything bad.

[36:43] Unknown speaker: This is true as well.

[36:45] Unknown speaker: Moving even closer.

[36:49] Unknown speaker: You're not gonna go, are you?

[36:52] Unknown speaker: I don't think so.

[36:55] Unknown speaker: Why not?

[36:56] Unknown speaker: Leaning into him reflexively almost without realizing it.

[37:01] Unknown speaker: I'm not sure.

[37:03] Unknown speaker: I'm asking myself that same thing, and I just don't know.

[37:08] Unknown speaker: Is it because you're afraid you'll find him with another woman?

[37:12] Unknown speaker: I don't think so.

[37:13] Unknown speaker: Has he ever cheated?

[37:15] Unknown speaker: No.

[37:17] Unknown speaker: I mean, I don't think so.

[37:20] Unknown speaker: I don't know.

[37:22] Unknown speaker: No.

[37:26] Unknown speaker: Have you?

[37:29] Unknown speaker: What?

[37:30] Unknown speaker: Slow fade to black?

[37:32] Unknown speaker: End of part one.

[37:37] Unknown speaker: And when I knock that over.

[37:50] David Rigano: Oh, thank you so much to Charles and Kelsey.

[37:54] Catie Carlisle: Thank you.

[37:58] David Rigano: So, David, you said at the beginning that this play was originally called Chance Meetings, and now it is What We Deserve.

[38:07] Catie Carlisle: So what point did you decide to change the title of this play?

[38:13] David Rigano: I had fully expanded it, so I had written two more parts that followed a similar structure to what you just saw, where there would be three scenes, each one with a different coupling of those same characters that you saw.

[38:30] David Rigano: And I put it away for a long time.

[38:34] David Rigano: And at one point, you and I were in a writer's group together.

[38:38] Catie Carlisle: Yes, we were.

[38:40] David Rigano: And we had met in a writer's group where I was workshopping some of this.

[38:44] David Rigano: And because I was finally years later, I'm gonna come back to this, I'm gonna see what there is to this play.

[38:50] David Rigano: And then we also split off on our own, started our own writers' group, which also included published playwright Haley St. James, who is on these shelves as well, and has a podcast episode as well.

[39:04] David Rigano: The Affair Plays absolutely grab a copy was written in our writers' group.

[39:10] David Rigano: But during that time, while I was getting feedback on it, I was realizing that with the two new parts, it wasn't about the fact that they were meeting by chance anymore.

[39:26] David Rigano: It wasn't that really was just the game of the one act, the idea that they were all strangers, but that they had more in common than they realized.

[39:36] David Rigano: And it took me a while to really go.

[39:48] David Rigano: Oh, a hundred percent of the time.

[39:50] David Rigano: And you and I are working on something right now.

[39:54] David Rigano: And a few weeks ago, I was like, hey, I think I have an idea for a new title because I just never want to look at this old title.

[39:59] Catie Carlisle: Oh, yeah.

[40:00] David Rigano: And then we switched it, and the other day I was like, okay, wait a minute.

[40:04] David Rigano: I don't think I want to look at this title over.

[40:06] David Rigano: And it happened.

[40:07] David Rigano: So we just go through so it had gotten to the point where every time I would refer to it as Chance Meetings, I was like, that's not what this is anymore.

[40:16] David Rigano: And I was going through, and even in that excerpt that you saw, there's a lot of there are more now, but there were references to the notes on the piano scale, every good boy deserves fun, had that little joke in there. There was already the reference of what if I deserve all this? What if everything that I have here? And I realized that there were already these little threads of characters talking about what they deserve, you don't deserve this, do I deserve this? All of these kinds of things. And that's how I landed on the title, What We Deserve. And then looking, because do you also know when you like when you step back a little bit and the play tells you something it's been doing the whole time?

Oh yeah. That you like you're like, oh, that so I I realized that I was, and I knew that I was like trying to ultimately get these six people into the pairings that made the most sense, but I also realized I was getting them towards something that they deserved for good or not. Sometimes you go, Oh, you deserve each other, and you two should get together so that you don't force yourself individually on the rest of the population. So there was a bit of that in there as well, and so that ultimately got me to to the title, What We Deserve.

[41:44] Catie Carlisle: Yes, and from what we saw from what was read, we could see how this could be a chance meeting, you know, all the different couples interchanging with each other. But as you expanded it, we learn more about these characters and their personalities and their intentions. And so it went from just being chance meetings to actually far from chance meetings, it is what these characters each deserves to land on. That makes a lot of sense to me. There was also that the second part, so that the first part of the play is called What We Want, the second part is called What We've Got. So the second part was looking at all of these characters in the relationships that they're already in. So I was that's the whole second act, if you will, isn't a chance meeting at all.

These are the existing relationships. And then we get to the third part and we get back to the chance meetings. But yeah, as you're saying, it you there's something that feels like it's less by chance and more like them finally reaching what they're supposed to be.

[42:46] David Rigano: I love it. And thank you for sharing your process with us. And now that you are published, what are you hoping comes next? I'm so thrilled that everyone here has it in their hands. I mean a production, obviously, would be great if anyone listening. What we've done developmentally so far is we did a fully staged reading, which Kelsey was in. Kelsey played the role of Sally in that staged reading, which is why I wanted her to come be with us tonight and not just reprise the role of Sally, but show us the wide range of what she's what she's got. That's part two. And then, and then I brought it to a table read that Kim Wilpon so wonderfully put together at Marymount Manhattan College, which is my alma mater.

And this was like just pre-pandemic. Kim was putting together this alumni series where alums could use space at Marymount to develop projects because so frequently the thing that holds us back from getting to actually do this is just space. Having a place to do these things. And so it's gone through a few public readings where I've learned a lot, gotten a lot of good feedback. I would love it has not yet had that full production. So licensed through Next Stage Press. Anyone who's listening and wants to see this on its feet, you can make that happen. But also, as you could see from the excerpts that you heard, the whole play is two-person scenes. So I really do think that this would be really good for college scene study classes or adult scene study classes.

I think that this could be really ripe for college directing classes, either to take one of these scenes or to take any of these three acts as a one act play and just present them as their own little excerpt. Because obviously, this first part was originally done as its own play, and each each other part is there are aspects of it that you obviously aspects of how it's all intertwined that you don't get, but it's part of but but they are self-contained one acts. So, yeah, like realistically, I would just love to see this getting into schools, or if some intrepid student director wants to put the whole thing on at your college, even if some really intrepid student director wanted to see if they could do it with only two actors, and if they could navigate that, I would by all means love to see if that was possible and and experimentation, yeah, play.

[45:33] Catie Carlisle: I love that. David, thank you so much for hosting me, hosting you. Thank you. And and we can before we go, we can open it up.

[45:44] David Rigano: Yeah. To all assembled as well.

[45:46] Catie Carlisle: Okay. Great. You want to go for that?

[45:49] David Rigano: Sure. Does anyone I say that, and then no one's gonna have a single question? Does anybody have any questions about the play, the process, the anything?

[46:00] Dylan Glick: Oh, Dylan.

[46:02] Catie Carlisle: Yes.

[46:03] Dylan Glick: Um, the way each of the couplings were was it ever swapped? Were couples apart from other couples? Like, was it always the same pairings every time that we do these on a process or I'm so the question is were the pairings? Did I ever swap up the pairings?

[46:19] David Rigano: Did you mean did I swap? So structurally, do you mean like when I was writing, did I ever try out different pairings? I know they swap. Yeah, this is it could be good, yeah, because they do ultimately swap. I didn't really, and the reason is because it's a jigsaw puzzle. Again, with the second act, their existing relationships were already written into the first act. So if we were going to see what they were living through, then that had to be seeing James and Anne's actual relationship. In case you might have missed that, James saying, I'm meeting my friend, she's not my girlfriend, her name is Anne, was absolutely a lie. So seeing so I knew that it was gonna be seeing James and Ann's actual relationship and what that dynamic was.

We know that that Will and Sally are friends, and so we wanted to see what that friendship dynamic was, and then we knew that Sam from the last scene and Marcy from the first scene were exes. So where are they in that journey? So that was built in that we would have this relationship that was really not going well, this friendship, and what the dynamic of those two, this very shy person and this very outgoing person were.

[48:08] David Rigano: And then who else? James and Marcy meet up, and then the last two who we have available to us, who are our only two innocents of the play, Will and Anne meet up, and that's the last scene. And I do think that with this, there's so much that you can do. Again, it really was like fitting pieces into a jigsaw puzzle, but I think that it opens things up. One of the things I mentioned was that you can see there are references in the text that you saw to like, oh, I thought that you looked like this person. There's a lot of references to who looks like who looks like someone else. And that was a joke in the origin. Like, as you can see in this reading, if he says to her, you look like this person, and then you meet that person in the next scene, and it's the same actor, yeah, you look like her.

But now when we did the reading, we had an actor who looks nothing like Kelsey playing Anne. We had an actor who's an entirely different race from Kelsey playing Anne, which then goes to show, oh, he was lying from the word go. From when he said, Oh, I'm so sorry, you look like someone. No, you didn't. But if she doesn't know that, then it's a pickup line. So the beauty of theater, right?

[49:27] Catie Carlisle: Yeah.

[49:29] David Rigano: Changes the story. And there are so many ways that you can cast this if you want to lean into the characters looking like each other, or if you really want to make them so diametrically opposed, and what does that do for the storytelling? I do also have a note in there because as you'll see, Marcy will go through the entire rest of the play. Again, comparing herself to old movie stars. And I do say, by all means, do not try to find someone who looks like any of the movie stars who she relates herself to, which include Mini Driver Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine, who obviously you're not gonna find someone who looks like all three of them. This is much more in her own head, who she feels like she's putting on at this moment.

I also said, feel free to change any of them if you happen to have an actor who does actually resemble a celebrity, but don't feel that you have to, and of course, by all means feel free to change all of them according to the race of the actor who you cast, because obviously, or not, maybe that's her thing. Again, I do think that as much of this as is very tightly structured, there's a lot of room to play in production.

[50:46] Catie Carlisle: Beautiful.

[50:47] Dylan Glick: Um, how do you choose which pair to end the play with?

[50:52] David Rigano: The question is: how do I choose which play, which pair to end the play with? So there's gonna be some spoilers ahead for those who have not read the play or been involved in some of the readings. The director of the one act version did something that when it was still a one act, I actually wrote into the play, which was the whole play was sexual tension and but with very little actual touching. There was a lot of sexual tension built by proximity, whatever you think proximity means. And that was a reference to a play that just closed that these two did. We can cut that out of the podcast. There was tension built through proximity through language, but very little tension built through actual physical touch.

And what that director did was when Sam said, has he ever cheated? And she said, No, what? I don't think so. I don't know, no. And then he said, have you? and he kissed her. And it was the first and only bit of actual physical intimacy in the play. They broke, she said, what? And then lights went out, and that was the end of the play. And I loved that was such a very specific choice. I wound up writing that into the play. Then I wound up expanding it, and I said, but it can't happen there now. But I loved the idea of that, so I wanted to keep that as the last thing that happened was a moment of real romantic intimacy. And then the question is, who's gonna get that? And is it going to be the two people whose collective aggressive trauma bring them together?

That's Sam and Sally, who also, while we were in rehearsal and you were doing the Sam and Sally scene, and I was sitting there going, something's it's just something's missing from this scene. This scene feels a little too short. Also for that production, it's a nine-scene play, and we had exactly nine hours of rehearsal to do that staged reading. So every scene got rehearsed once for an hour, and the entire cast didn't even meet each other until they were all in the same room to put on the staged reading. And Allie, our director, was like figured out on your own time. You're not re-write, we don't have time for it. I was like, no. But I was sitting there watching, watching you two do that scene, and there was this almost one-upmanship about who's had it worst. And I went, oh, they need to have a pissing match.

[53:36] David Rigano: They need to have a trauma pissing match, which is now in the play, which is they keep saying, "Oh, okay, sure, no, yeah, that sucks, but you know what else sucks?" And they just keep trying to one-up each other, and that is what turns them on to each other. And is do you want to give them that moment of the kiss? We have James and Marcy, and as we saw, Marcy is a lot, and James is pretty much evil. And do we want to give them that moment of the kiss? Or do we want to have our two innocents who have been just absolutely flung hither and yon by these other people around them, and let them get a moment of sincerity? So that ultimately I wanted to work. There's a note in the play that says, please do this dialogue at a clip, which thank you so much for honoring that so beautifully.

Please do this dialogue at a clip because we have to earn a complete shift in tone for the last scene. And the last scene is where these two people who have never met before see themselves in each other. And it's like they have met, and it's like they have known each other. When you take a look at the last line of the play, you'll know what I mean. And they're the ones who, so again, spoiler alert, they're the ones who get the kiss. So that's how I decided. Based on the original staging of the one act, I worked my way towards how I could get that moment, but in an even more sincere way for the full-length play. Thank you. Does anybody else have any questions? I also want to shout out because I've talked about Kelsey working on the staged reading with us, but I also want to shout out Charles, who was so wonderful.

And the entire reason that I know Charles. Oh, hi, is because Katie did a wonderful play called A Hundred Days, and Charles was in it. And so I got to, that's how I got to first see Charles acting and get to know him. So thank you, Katie.

[56:00] Catie Carlisle: Oh, thank you. And thank you for developing that play with me in our writers' group. And thank you, Charles, for being in that play for me. Beautiful production. It's a wonderful play. Is it on the NPX that I only just realized?

[56:13] David Rigano: It will be. We're all out here trying to get our stuff done. New Play Exchange very soon. And that is, I have a New Play Exchange, so my stuff that is not published is on New Play Exchange. I've only been bullying Katie for a year and a half to get a New Play Exchange.

[56:29] Catie Carlisle: I did it like two weeks ago.

[56:31] David Rigano: So yeah, so I wanted to thank you, Katie, for introducing me to Charles, and thank you for doing such a wonderful job here tonight. Does anybody else have any questions about the play or the publication or any of all that? If not, yeah. If not, David, New Play Exchange, where else can we find you and look forward to more of your works?

[56:54] David Rigano: Here at the Drama Book Shop. This is the first thing that I have published. So we'll be working on more stuff. But ReganoSongbook.com is where you can see a ton of stuff for my plays and my musicals. And then on all of the socials, it's Regano Songbook, R-I-G-A-N-O Songbook. And I'm putting out, I do concerts and I have videos from concerts up on my YouTube channel and on Instagram. We're always putting out some fun stuff. And on TikTok, we do a series called Audition Tips We Wish You Knew, in case you're an actor. And if you're just a performer who's looking for scenes or this is not a good one for monologues. Eulogies is a good one for monologues. And hopefully I'll get eulogies up somewhere and published.

But yeah, if you follow those places, and if you're just someone who's looking for material, by all means check out my New Play Exchange, check out this play. If you're looking for songs, check out my YouTube channel. And there's, you can buy sheet music on the website. And that's me. Thank you. And this is where we play the crowd goes wild sound effect.

[58:09] Catie Carlisle: Thank you, David. Well, thank you all so much for coming to this episode of The Twilight Zone. And yeah, thank you all for coming out tonight. It's so good to see so many wonderful and supportive faces. Thank you, Kelsey, and thank you, Charles. Kelsey Baker and Charles Meckley. They're wonderful performances. Thank you, Katie.

[58:40] Catie Carlisle: You're welcome. I have to. This is my best friend in the whole world. Right now. And for now, he says. And I said, in the world. And we have both in, not with this one because it's been old, but we have both in so many cases been like one of the first people to see new works that we've been working on. So to have you here talking about this play that you got to see go through a portion of its development. So much to me. Having y'all here. And again, follow the Drama Book Show wherever you get your podcasts. Follow @dramabookshowpodcast on Instagram. Follow the Drama Book Shop on Eventbrite so that we can see your smiling faces at plenty of other events in person to come. And now it's so weird.

I have to go back into host mode. And we are back. Wow. Did we all get what we deserve in the end? No, you gotta read the play. You gotta read the whole play. We only did act one. True. Act two of What We Deserve opens with this a haunting lament. I was doing draws and okay. I usually I get the drowsy references. Damn. Well, I could have said the Trouser Shepper and not like that. The first line of action is I slept with someone. So that lets you know of my play.

[59:51] David Rigano: The first line of the second act of my play is I slept with someone. So that's like, isn't that the couple? Am I thinking of the right which couple? Oh my, I'm such an, I can't believe I said that. It's like cover cut this out for spoilers. It was like the one where someone cheated. It was like the two where it was like I forget their names. I forget their names. It was in a, it's Anne and James. Cool. Yeah, and we don't have to cut this out. I'm not cutting it out. They, you met some of the characters there, and then hopefully you've seen what some of how their stories intertwine, which as I said in the interview was all that the original play was. The whole game was these people think they're meeting strangers, but they're all more interconnected than they think they are.

So yeah, so I will say the first scene of the second part. I don't want to say act, there's no intermissions, but the three-act structure is we start to see all of the connections that were discussed in the first part. We get to see what they're living with. Yeah. Which is why act one is called What We Want, act two is called What We've Got. So we get to see what everyone's existing relationships are, whether that is being in a relationship, friendship, or an ex-relationship. And so we do see Anne who had discussed her boyfriend James, and James who had discussed not being in a relationship with his friend Ann. This is who I was thinking of. Yes, and the first line is Anne says, "I slept with someone," and you gotta buy the play if you want to find out how he reacts to that and what the rest of that scene is. I love it. Now as someone who's been on this side of it, are you already thinking about your next event?

[1:01:37] David Rigano: Yes. Yes, aim. Because I like, and it's interesting because I obviously have other plays. And I, you know, and I'm thinking about I submitted this one to Next Stage when they announced that they had an open submission policy. And I thought which of my plays if which feels ready, which has had the most because my musicals have been produced. Yeah. But none of my plays have had full productions. I've had readings very frequently you cannot get public, which is another thing that I love about Next Stage Press. So frequently they won't even look at you if you haven't had a production of something, let alone a major production. And I do, I have some plays that I'm still thinking like I know that I've gotten as far as I can get on my own, but I do feel like I want to see it on its feet with people and a full production before I'm going to be comfortable putting it out there in the world for other people to do.

But What We Deserve I think it's been through enough workshops and staged readings that it's ready. Yeah. In part I'm like which might be the next play but I've, I'm also working simultaneously on a couple of books. I teach high school theater workshops. So this is another thing I can, I can come to you either live or virtually to your high school drama club and I can teach you about creating theater through collaboration which is called playmaking or I can teach you about the basics of moving bodies around on stage, which is called focus on staging. And I am taking both of those high school workshops that I teach and adapting them into books.

[1:03:10] David Rigano: I love it. So that they will be available to people who can't take the work. And of course, there's going to be things in the book that you can't get into in a live workshop. And then there's going to be things in a live workshop where I'm there interacting with you and answering your questions that you're not going to get out of the book. So yeah, so I'm also thinking about what might an event for and how what am I going to do for these events to not feel as weird as I did in the last video? I don't think it'll ever be that because I know I feel like for any interview I've ever done or anything like that, it still has that feeling. And I don't know, like I've been on enough other people's podcasts that I'm like, this feels different when I'm being interviewed on my own. I guess so, yeah.

[1:03:50] Catie Carlisle: That makes sense.

[1:03:51] David Rigano: That makes sense. But we're just gonna keep doing it. We're just gonna keep making work and keep putting it out there and keep doing events for it. Yeah, exactly. I would like to call dibs on the 200th episode. Thank you very much.

[1:04:00] Catie Carlisle: Sure.

[1:04:01] David Rigano: I hope that you're like really the like 130th at this point.

[1:04:05] Catie Carlisle: I was gonna say 100.

[1:04:06] David Rigano: That's two.

[1:04:06] Catie Carlisle: That too.

[1:04:06] David Rigano: 130 would be great.

[1:04:08] Catie Carlisle: Yeah, exactly.

[1:04:09] David Rigano: Exactly. We have a lot to still push out, but we gotta get you published and we gotta get you on our shelf.

[1:04:16] Catie Carlisle: We're gonna do it.

[1:04:17] David Rigano: We're gonna do it.

[1:04:18] Catie Carlisle: Yeah.

[1:04:18] David Rigano: And hopefully, I don't think that I have to make a secret of this, but I, Katie, who you heard is a wonderful playwright as well. And I'm trying to start a dialogue with Jean.

[1:04:29] Catie Carlisle: Nice.

[1:04:29] David Rigano: To hopefully get her on our shelves as well because she's amazing.

[1:04:34] Catie Carlisle: That'll be great.

[1:04:35] David Rigano: Aside from that, I know that you and I are both passionate. Actually, the three of us are very passionate about this next subject for our next episode, and that is murder mysteries.

[1:04:45] Catie Carlisle: You do mysteries.

[1:04:47] David Rigano: We love some murder mysteries.

[1:04:48] Catie Carlisle: Yes, we do very much.

[1:04:50] David Rigano: Oh, and someone who just recently saw The Mousetrap, again, just off love.

[1:04:54] Catie Carlisle: And y'all are reading, you're reading Agatha Christie, right?

[1:04:57] David Rigano: See, here's the thing. I just read this, I read this murder mystery by this Japanese author named, I think, Uku Getsu, and it was told through floor plan.

[1:05:06] Catie Carlisle: You were challenging telling me about that.

[1:05:07] David Rigano: So I love a murder mystery, and I'm writing, you're gonna have to tell me.

[1:05:11] Catie Carlisle: I'll show, I'll tell you about it.

[1:05:12] David Rigano: And I'm writing a slasher right now that is also a murder mystery.

[1:05:15] Catie Carlisle: We're all writing murder mysteries.

[1:05:16] David Rigano: I think, yeah.

[1:05:17] Catie Carlisle: Yeah.

[1:05:17] David Rigano: What's your thriller?

[1:05:19] Catie Carlisle: What's the buzz?

[1:05:19] David Rigano: Okay.

[1:05:20] Catie Carlisle: What's the buzz?

[1:05:22] David Rigano: What's the buzz?

[1:05:22] Catie Carlisle: Um, maybe I'll crank out a murder mystery at some point.

[1:05:25] David Rigano: But one of the reasons I love murder mysteries is because I'm bad at them.

[1:05:29] Catie Carlisle: Okay.

[1:05:30] David Rigano: I'm not good at trying to guess.

[1:05:33] Catie Carlisle: I'm not a Poirot.

[1:05:34] David Rigano: I'm not good at solving them.

[1:05:36] Catie Carlisle: So they are just such a delightful, right up to the end.

[1:05:41] David Rigano: There's rarely a "I saw that coming" for me in a well-done murder mystery.

[1:05:46] Catie Carlisle: And then it's at the point where I don't even try anymore.

[1:05:49] David Rigano: It's because that's not what the fun is about.

[1:05:52] Catie Carlisle: The fun is about living in the mystery until I see the really fun ways that the writer put all laid out all the time.

[1:06:00] David Rigano: Yeah, when you look back at it and see all the clues.

[1:06:02] Catie Carlisle: And so we're gonna delve into, there's no, oh sorry, we're gonna delve into no murder like show murder for our next episode with novelist Matthew Green.

[1:06:12] David Rigano: And he delves into the first of what is gonna be a series of cozy mysteries, and it's exciting.

[1:06:19] Catie Carlisle: So we'll talk about that next episode. Remember to follow us on Instagram at Drama Book Show Podcast.

[1:06:25] David Rigano: Please subscribe to the Drama Book Shop on Eventbrite so that you can be alerted every time we add a new event to our calendar.

[1:06:31] Catie Carlisle: And remember, all the books we talk about can be found here at the bookshop.

[1:06:34] David Rigano: And so can we.

[1:06:35] Catie Carlisle: And we will see you at the bookshop.