A Play by José O.

Performance: May 21, 2005
Hillcrest Juvenile Hall, San Mateo
Playwriting Instructor:  Dave Garrett


Character #1 :Toto, age 18, male, a toy motorcycle.

Character #2 :Tacola, age 50, a female tiger.

Setting : In a small white house in Jalisco, Mexico. Toto lives in the backyard. It is half grass and half dirt. Around the yard there is a white fence.

Time: May 6, 1999. Afternoon

At Rise : Toto is waiting for Bryan, a one-year-old boy, to play with him in the backyard near the fence. Tacola is in the other side of the fence. She is anxious to talk to Toto.



Toto:
 

Hi Tacola

 
Tacola:
  Mmmmm
   
Toto:
 

What’s wrong with you? Why are you mad?

   
Tacola:
 

I am not mad, that’s how I am.

   
Toto:
 

I’m about to take it.

   
Tacola:
 

Well today I don’t feel like smiling or talking.

   
Toto:
 

For real. I’m about to take it.

   
Tacola:
 

What do you mean?

   
Toto:
 

You know. I don’t have to explain it to you.

   
Tacola:
 

Yes you do.

   
Toto:
 

Now you are sounding rude.

   
Tacola:
 

I just want to know what’s wrong with you.

   
Toto:
 

Now you want to know how I feel.

   
Tacola:
 

You know that I always care about you.

   
Toto:
 

That’s what you say.

   
Tacola:
 

This is going too far. Now I really want to know what’s wrong with you.

   
Toto:
 

Sometimes I feel that you are not really a good friend.

   
Tacola:
 

That hurts.

   
Toto:
 

All I want is to talk to you and have a good day.

   
Tacola:
 

But I still don’t get why you are mad at me.

   
Toto:
 

That’s your problem. You don’t care about other people’s feelings.

   
Tacola:
 

What are you saying? Is that you don’t want to be my friend no more?

   
Toto:
 

Yes I don’t want to be your friend no more. You don’t care about how I feel.

   
Tacola:
 

I don’t want that to happen because I want you to be my friend.

   
Tacola:
 

If you don’t want our friendship to end then you have to choose who you want to be with.

   
Toto:
 

I don’t know what you mean.

   
Tacola:
 

It’s that when you are playing with Bryan you don’t put attention to me. You put me on the side. You know that Bryan is just a little boy. He is not going to play with you forever. He will get older and he will not play with you no more.

   
Toto:
 

So that means you are jealous because I don’t play with you and I play more with Bryan.

   
Tacola:
 

I am not jealous! I just thought you were my real friend.

   
Toto:
 

All I want is to be loved.

   
Tacola:
 

And all I want is to have a real friend. Someone I can trust and lean on.

   
Toto:
 

You should have told me that before.

   
Tacola:   You were always too busy playing with Bryan.
     
Toto:
 

(aside)   

Lord I need you to help me make a good decision. I don’t know who to play with either Tacola or Bryan. I love Bryan because he is my best friend and he is my family, but Tacola is my friend too. She doesn’t care if I don’t work, if I am old and rusted. I don’t know what to do right now. Bryan and Tacola are both here and I don’t know who to play with. If you are listening to what I am asking you please tell me how to do the right choice and not make Tacola or Bryan feel sad or mad. All I want is just to be loved. They both show me they love me and that’s the hard thing. I don’t know what to do. I feel that if I choose Bryan, Tacola is going to feel sad and angry because I chose Bryan and I didn’t play with her. If I choose Tacola, Byran will feel betrayed and sad because I don’t want to play with him no more. I don’t think I can do it alone; I really need your help lord. Please help me and I hope that any choice you tell me to make I hope that no one gets angry or gets sad. All I want is to have them both be my friends.

     
Tacola:  

Why are you so quiet now?

     
Toto:  

I am quiet because I feel that I made the wrong choice by playing more with Bryan instead of you.

     
Tacola:  

I don’t want you to feel guilty because that make me feel that I am not a respectful person.

     
Toto:  

I think that you and me need to talk about how we really feel about our friendship.

     
Tacola:  

Well I think I have time.

     
Toto:  

Tell me yes or no.

     
Tacola:  

Ok yes.

     
Toto:  

Well I haven’t told you how I feel about you. I think you are a great friend to be with and I really want you to be my friend.

     
Tacola:  

Thank you for telling me that. Well I feel the same way you feel and I think that we over-reacted.  

I am different from other tigers because I am a vegetarian. Other tigers just want to be like other tigers and I want to be my self. Two months ago I met you and you have become my best friend. I have great times when I am with you and when you listen to me when I need someone to talk to. I hope that you feel how I feel about you because I want you to be my friend. I am getting a lot of peer pressure from my friends because I am different. They don’t want me to be myself. They make me feel bad because they tell me to be a real tiger.   They tell me that I need to eat meat and kill other animals as my prey. I don’t like to kill other animals because I don’t want to live with that guilt. I don’t want to make a mistake that I will regret later in life. It’s really hard for me because I don’t want to listen to them but sometimes I do and when I do that’s when I just feel that I just want to give up, that I can’t take it anymore. I just feel that I am tired and that I am getting frustrated. I just feel that I had enough.

     
Toto:  

I know that I have to make a choice now about you and Bryan. I am getting old and rusted. I know that sooner or later they are going to throw me to the trash. It is going to be hard but I won’t regret my decision.

     
Tacola:  

Well all I can say is choose the person you really want to be with. See if he or she is really your real friend.

     
Toto:  

I have made my decision. It was hard but I have to choose you because I know that you are always going to be there for me and I know that you love me the same way I do.

     
  The End.


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