Off The Grid

Setting: the living area of a small house designed to be off the electrical grid. The walls are unpainted wooden planks with insulation in between them.

 

ACT I

Scene I

                                            The lights come up to an empty stage. It is a late spring afternoon. The door opens. Marty                                                        enters  first. She’s smartly dressed in clothes fitting a person prepared for the outdoors. She is                                                carrying a duffel bag, which she drops on the floor after she enters. She looks around.

MARTY:        Oh wow! This is unbelievable. (out the door) Len, you have to see this!

LEN:             (from offstage) Coming.

                                            MARTY exits to the kitchen. A few seconds pass. LEN enters. He’s wearing blue jeans,                                                            sneakers, a tee shirt and a hoodie sweat shirt. He’s carrying a normal suitcase and has a                                                        brochure in his hand. He takes a few steps, stops and drops his suitcase. He’s stunned by what                                              he sees.

LEN:             What in the –

                                           MARTY enters from the kitchen.

MARTY:        Well?

LEN:             This is unbelievable.

MARTY:        I know. It’s something else, isn’t it?

LEN:             Something else is right; it sure isn’t a house.

MARTY:        Of course it’s a house.

LEN:             Depends on your definition of house.

MARTY:        I told you it was rustic.

LEN:             You told me it was finished.

MARTY:        It is finished.

LEN:             The walls aren’t even painted.

MARTY:        That’s part of the experience.

LEN:             If we wanted to experience unpainted walls, we could have spent the week in our basement.

MARTY:        I’m referring to the experience of living off the electrical grid.

LEN:             Okay, our basement with the power off.

MARTY:        It’ll be great. Just think, a week free from TV, internet, cell service…

LEN:             If that’s meant to be a pep talk, it could use some work.

MARTY:        We’re like homesteaders out here. It’ll be a whole new experience for us.

LEN:             For you maybe. I learned all about this way of life watching reruns of Little House on the Prairie.

MARTY:        This is different. We’ll be living a life of simplicity, getting the most out of what’s nearby.

LEN:             Marty, we’re so far from civilization, what’s nearby is nothing. And next to that is more nothing, miles and miles                       of nothing but nothing. That’s what we’ll get out of this … nothing.

MARTY:        You know the first thing you need for this lifestyle? The right attitude.

LEN:             Then I’d say we’re pretty much sunk.

                                                              © John Spurway 2018