Given Circumstances

THE FOLLOWING IS THE GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CHARACTER 'PARENT' IN NEIL LABUTE'S PAY 'IN THE BEGINNING'

PG.	CHARACTER	LINE	FACT	OPINION
1	Stage direction	“PARENT AND HIS ONLY CHILD”	*
1	CHILD	“You love to say ‘we’ll see’ or ‘I don’t know’.		*
2	CHILD	“You’re refusing to help me”		*
2	PARENT	“My whole life I’ve helped you”		*
2	CHILD	“We fight sometimes”	*
2	PARENT	“I feel like I can recall a time or two [when you’ve called me an asshole in public]”	*
2	PARENT	“Belittled me. Humiliated me. In front of your friends or your fellow... students”		*
2	PARENT	“Rioters. Occupiers.”		*
3	CHILD	“I was down there in the park and you tried to get me to come... home...”	*
3	PARENT	“I brought your food... carried this overflowing bo* of sandwiches and drinks down to you...”	*
3	PARENT	“I’m not asking for any thanks for school or your rent or the air-line ticket to Iceland so you could be on the news... be seen around the world tossing a firebomb at that hotel”	*
3	PARENT	“Everybody has a tipping point and I’ve hit mine”	*
3	CHILD	“All I want is for you to just respect my decision to do this”	*
3	CHILD	“You don’t listen!”		*
4	PARENT	“I am not stopping you”		*
4	PARENT	“... not just you college kids who do it for a couple of weeks because you care so much... because you love this planet and all its peoples so so much...”		*
5	PARENT	“I am saying you won’t ever ask me this again because I can’t hear you anymore”		*
5	PARENT	“I am looking forward... I have seen the future and it’s not you.”		*
5	PARENT	“I had such hopes and dreams for you”	*
5	PARENT	“... but it’s not you or anyone like you. (BEAT) Folks like you mean well but in the end, they don’t do shit. Nothing. They sit on the grass and smoke a little pot and I don’t wanna be part of that”		*
5	CHILD	“I wish you would [put a gun to your head]! I really do!”	*	*
5	PARENT	“I love you—I love the fucking shit   outta you!!”		*
6	PARENT	“That’s why I stayed at a job I didn’t like all these years and with a woman I didn’t love all these years, in a neighbourhood I despised all these years!! For you. For the hope that it was you”	*
6	PARENT	“Not a lot you can say about the truth: it just is”		*
6	CHILD	“I came home for your birthday”	*
6	PARENT	“If you wanna be there so bad you can’t even wait for your friends to pick you up... then walk”		*
7	PARENT	“I just mean... in the beginning, the first people who wanted to see an ocean or the Arctic... Africa, even... those first men and women would walk for miles and miles and miles. Hundreds or thousands of miles to e*plore them. Those sights.”	*
7	PARENT	“Some of them did [have wagon trains]. Yes. But not all”	*
7	PARENT	“If they wanted a thing badly enough then they built it or walked to it or dug it up out of the ground with their own bare hands.”	*
7	PARENT	“That’s what people do when they really believe in something or desire it badly enough.”		*
7	CHILD	“You’re crazy!”		*
7	PARENT	“You’re lazy!”		*
7	PARENT	“I’d take your jacket with you. Gonna be cold tonight”		*
8	PARENT	“You should go up to your nice rom and crawl in to your soft bed and forget about the whole thing”		*
8	CHILD	“You’re such an asshole!”		*
8	PARENT	“I know we’d get back round to that if I waited long enough”		*
8	CHILD	“I hate you! I hate you!! I hate you!!!”		*
8	PARENT	“This movement of yours... it’s a bunch of kiddies who despise their mommies and daddies and so they’re taking it out on the whole goddamn planet!”		*
8	PARENT	“No you won’t [do something]! You’re a pussy and you’re weak and the weak never win!”		*
9	CHILD	“You’re wrong”		*
9	PARENT	“You little shitbag”		*
9	PARENT	“And they’ll be crushed back down, just like the ones who came before them”		*
9	PARENTS	“You’re freeloaders and parasites—embrace it and I might even respect you”		*
9	CHILD	“I don’t want your respect!”	*
9	PARENT	“Perfect, because you don’t have it!”	*
9	CHILD	“You never really loved me! Never, never, NEVER!!”		*
9	PARENT	“This is the real problem here. It’s not at all about Wall Street... it’s about ‘daddy didn’t hold me enough when I was a baby.’”		*
9	PARENT	“Overall? Yeah, I think [it is as simple as that]”		*
10	CHILD	“You’re an old fool whose time has come like all the other old fools before him”		*
10	CHILD	“If you make me crawl back to New York on my hands and knees then I will, I will!”		*
10	CHILD	“You should support that, support me in that!! Not because you agree with me but because you believe in me!! Believe that I believe in it!”		*
10	CHILD	“I beg you! I am begging you on the ground, here at your feet! ... Daddy?”	*
10	Stage direction	“REACHES IN TO HIS POCKET AND PRODUCES A SET OF KEYS. SOME CASH”	*
10	PARENT	“Take the Mercedes”	*
10	PARENT	“I e*pect you back on the weekend.”	*
11	PARENT	“I don’t wanna drive down to get you out of jail”	*
11	PARENT	“I’m sure they need help digging a latrine or something”		*
11	PARENT	“You know how your mom is...”		*
11	CHILD	“You know what, Dad? You’re not as bad as you think you are.”		*
12	CHILD	“I mean, don’t get me wrong: you’re an asshole... but you’re a good-hearted asshole”		*
12	PARENT	“That’s... that means a lot. Son.”	*
12	PARENT	“Shit. Why can’t he just go to rehab, like normal kids do?”		*
12	Stage direction	“THE PARENT SHAKES HIS HEAD WHILE PULLING A CELL PHONE OUT OF A JACKET POCKET”	*

THE FOLLOWING IS THE GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CHARACTER 'CHILD' IN NEIL LABUTE'S PAY 'IN THE BEGINNING'

PG.	CHARACTER	LINE	FACT	OPINION
1	Stage direction	“PARENT AND HIS ONLY CHILD”	*
1	CHILD	“You love to say ‘we’ll see’ or ‘I don’t know’.		*
2	CHILD	“You’re refusing to help me”		*
2	PARENT	“My whole life I’ve helped you”		*
2	CHILD	“That’s not what I mean”	*
2	PARENT	“You never do, you don’t state the facts when you’re screaming at me, telling me what an asshole I am”		*
2	CHILD	“We fight sometimes”	*
2	CHILD	“... but I don’t just go around calling you names. No, I don’t”		*
2	PARENT	“I feel like I can recall a time or two [when you’ve called me an asshole in public]”	*
2	PARENT	“Belittled me. Humiliated me. In front of your friends or your fellow... students”		*
3	CHILD	“I was down there in the park and you tried to get me to come... home...”	*
3	PARENT	“I brought your food... carried this overflowing bo* of sandwiches and drinks down to you...”	*
3	CHILD	“Mom made you do that! Mom did!”	*
3	PARENT	“I’m not asking for any thanks for school or your rent or the air-line ticket to Iceland so you could be on the news... be seen around the world tossing a firebomb at that hotel”	*
3	PARENT	“Everybody has a tipping point and I’ve hit mine”	*
3	CHILD	“People still need help! Our help.”		*
3	CHILD	“All I want is for you to just respect my decision to do this”	*
3	PARENT	“You never speak in specifics!”		*
3	CHILD	“You don’t listen!”		*
4	CHILD	“We’re not... it isn’t just one thing! It’s lots of things. The homeless and, and... what the banks have done... look at what students are doing right now! Going back to grad school, deeper into debt because there aren’t any jobs out there, nothing! (BEAT) And I believe in these people, in helping give voice to all of them and in any way that I can. That is what I wanna do... that’s what I wanna be a part of.”	*
4	PARENT	“everybody who does work for a living can be scolded by you and your kind”		*
4	PARENT	“I am not stopping you”		*
4	CHILD	“I don’t have enough money in my account. I need some money. Please.”	*
4	PARENT	“... not just you college kids who do it for a couple of weeks because you care so much... because you lovethis planet and all its peoples so so much...”		*
4	CHILD	“I won’t ask again! I promise.”		*
5	PARENT	“I am saying you won’t ever ask me this again because I can’t hear you anymore”		*
5	PARENT	“I am looking forward... I have seen the future and it’s not you.”		*
5	PARENT	“... but it’s not you or anyone like you. (BEAT) Folks like you mean well but in the end, they don’t do shit. Nothing. They sit on the grass and smoke a little pot and I don’t wanna be part of that”		*
5	CHILD	“You don’t have to buy in to anything! It is happening right now... the world’s... things are changing right in front of us and I want to be there, to help out when and where I can! I am a part of something that is bigger than just you and me”		*
5	CHILD	“I’m not the problem, I’m the solution! I am the future!! Me, and people like me!!”		*
5	CHILD	“I wish you would [put a gun to your head]! I really do!”	*	*
5	PARENT	“I love you—I love the fucking shit outta you!!”		*
6	PARENT	“That’s why I stayed at a job I didn’t like all these years and with a woman I didn’t love all these years, in a neighbourhood I despised all these years!! For you. For the hope that it was you”	*
6	CHILD	“I came home for your birthday”	*
6	CHILD	“That’s just ridiculous [to walk to New York City]. I mean... come on!”		*
6	CHILD	“Because it would take days, that’s why!! Because it’s far!		*
7	PARENT	“They had horses too! And wagons!”	*
7	CHILD	“You’re crazy!”		*
7	PARENT	“You’re lazy!”		*
7	CHILD	“I’m not walking to New York!”	*
8	PARENT	“You should go up to your nice room and crawl in to your soft bed and forget about the whole thing”		*
8	CHILD	“You’re such an asshole!”		*
8	CHILD	“I hate you! I hate you!! I hate you!!!”		*
8	PARENT	“This movement of yours... it’s a bunch of kiddies who despise their mommies and daddies and so they’re taking it out on the whole goddamn planet!”		*
8	CHILD	“I’m not doing this for me, okay?! This is important! This is our future!”		*
8	CHILD	“I DO! THE PEOPLE I LOVE AND RESPECT DO!”		*
8	CHILD	“I will! [go and do something]”		*
8	PARENT	“No you won’t [do something]! You’re a pussy and you’re weak and the weak never win!”		*
9	CHILD	“You’re wrong”		*
9	PARENT	“You little shitbag”		*
9	CHILD	“If we fail someone else will rise up...”		*
9	CHILD	“We are revolutionaries!”		*
9	PARENTS	“You’re freeloaders and parasites—embrace it and I might even respect you”		*
9	CHILD	“I don’t want your respect!”	*
9	PARENT	“Perfect, because you don’t have it!”	*
9	CHILD	“I never had it! You never really loved me! Never, never, NEVER!!”		*
10	CHILD	“You’re an old fool whose time has come like all the other old fools before him”		*
10	CHILD	“... we have a mission and a message and I am a part of that... [cont’d]... as the strong batter the weak in to the dust, I will do that!”		*
10	CHILD	“If you make me crawl back to New York on my hands and knees then I will, I will!”		*
10	CHILD	“To be part of something great and true and pure”		*
10	CHILD	“You should support that, support me in that!! Not because you agree with me but because you believe in me!! Believe that I believe in it!”		*
10	CHILD	“I beg you! I am begging you on the ground, here at your feet! ... Daddy?”	*
10	CHILD	“I won’t. I promise [not to park the Mercedes on the street]”	*
10	PARENT	“I e*pect you back on the weekend.”	*
10	CHILD	“I’ll be back Friday night. I promise.”		*
11	CHILD	“I’ll do my best [not to get arrested]... but the cops are... you know how they are! They provoke us!!”		*
11	CHILD	“I’ve never done that [yell and burn the flag]! That was not me! That was Tommy, my roommate! He did that!”	*
11	CHILD	“I won’t. I promise! [to try not to kill anybody]”	*
11	PARENT	“You know how your mom is...”		*
11	CHILD	“I’ll keep an eye on it [the fuel tank]”	*
11	CHILD	“You know what, Dad? You’re not as bad as you think you are.”		*
12	CHILD	“I mean, don’t get me wrong: you’re an asshole... but you’re a good-hearted asshole”		*
12	PARENT	“Shit. Why can’t he just go to rehab, like normal kids do?”		*