Greg – Rehearsal Tracks, Sides & Lyrics

GREG: Side 1 ( from Act 1 – Scene 9 )

LIGHTS COME UP IN SUNSET COLORS.

Stephanie is in a hospital gown sleeping peacefully under her covers.

The boys are not there.

Lorca stands painting at her easel DSC in front of the window. At her feet is a jar of water and a rag.

Quietly, Greg enters the room DSR and checks on Stephanie, then steps over to where Lorca is painting.

GREG

That’s really beautiful!

LORCA

I thought you were going to play Death Drop in the Dayroom with Neal.

GREG

I was, but I couldn’t get into the game. I wanted to be here.

(He turns and looks at Stephanie.)

Boy, the poor thing is really out of it. I’m glad she’s going to be okay.

LORCA

(curtly)

No thanks to you.

GREG

So now you’re blaming me? Like I forced her? She wanted to go.

LORCA

Give me a break, Greg. Stephanie would never do something like that on her own.

GREG

What? Eat pizza!?

LORCA

No! Sneak out of the hospital and do something that jeopardizes her condition.

GREG

It was just pizza!

LORCA

It’s just pizza to the rest of the world, not to us. We’re on a strict diet because we’re seriously ill and our systems are fragile. Can’t you understand that? Every little thing we do, or don’t do, makes a huge difference. You went through the screening process. You know what’s expected of us, and you agreed to it. If you can’t handle it, why don’t you just leave?

Turning away from him, she furiously swirls her brush in the water jar and lays it flat on the rag.

GREG

Hey, maybe you didn’t have a life before this, but I did, and excuse me if I’m finding it a little hard to let go of it. I thought if I could just get out and do something normal I would feel, I don’t know… normal… like I wasn’t sick anymore. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be free from that for a while.

LORCA

So you break the rules to what, be free? The rules that are there to help you? Maybe keep you alive longer?

GREG

Living longer isn’t living, Lorca. Real life has spark, energy, adventure. I’m tired of having no future. The way things are now, I don’t even have a present. I can’t survive in this box. I’ve gotta break out, even if it kills me.

LORCA

And it just might.

GREG

I don’t care. I had dreams. I was supposed to travel the world, find the perfect woman, settle down and raise a family, and be an old man with lots of grandkids—not waste away in a little room eating perfect food just so I can live a few days longer. So I say, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

LORCA

Not me. I want to grasp life at its depth.

GREG

What does that mean? It sounds deep. Did you make it up?

LORCA

No. It’s from Vincent Van Gogh.

GREG

The ear-chopping guy? He didn’t grasp life. He couldn’t even handle it. He killed himself.

LORCA

That’s not the point. He faced his troubles fiercely. He didn’t run away or try to pretend they weren’t there. You can see it in his paintings—pure true colors exposed naked and unabashed with no apologies. Out of his turmoil he made masterpieces.

GREG

He only sold one painting his whole life.

LORCA

You don’t get it. He didn’t choose the easy way. He was willing to really look at the hardships and sorrows of life, wrestling them into images of breathtaking beauty. That’s how I want to approach my remaining days. Whatever comes, I want to face it head-on with my eyes wide open. I want to embrace it, even the suffering. That way, it’s my choice.

LIGHTS TO BLACK.

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GREG: Side 2 ( from Act 2 – Scene 4 )

GREG

Those weren’t real relationships. They were just… you know… fun.

LORCA

Oh, excuse me, now I see. What you really want is someone boring like me. Gee, when you put it that way…

GREG

That’s not what I meant, and you know it.

LORCA

Well, what exactly did you mean?

GREG

Fun is only entertaining for so long, but then it gets boring. But you… you have complexity, mystery, depth.

LORCA

How do you know?

GREG

Takes one to know one.

LORCA

That’s what I mean. How do you know?

GREG

Hey, I have complexity, mystery, and depth.

LORCA

Okay. Say something complex, mysterious, and deep.

GREG

All three at once?

LORCA

Should be easy for you, right?

Greg pauses thoughtfully.

GREG

I’m a passenger. That’s how I’ve spent my life—as a passenger gazing out windows, interpreting those blurred figures that seemed to have more meaning than I do. I don’t know what life really is; I’ve only caught glimpses, but I’ve never felt it or tasted it or smelled it or breathed it in because I could never stop long enough to do that. My dad was in the military. We were never anywhere long enough to put down roots or really get to know anyone. We moved so many times I lost count. Strange as it sounds, this is my chance to experience life—here, in this hospital—and I want to share it with you.