CAROL
I don’t know about / that—
PINA
I mean, your face is like— what happened to your face?
(Beat.)
When I looked for other pictures of you, from before you met daddy, I couldn’t find any.
CAROL
You didn’t show your father?
PINA
No
I showed Mark but
(CAROL tears the photo to shreds.)
What are you / doing?
CAROL
I should never have—
PINA
What?
MARK
Mom! How long ‘til dinner?
PINA
Should never have / what?
CAROL
Coming! (Beat.) We’ll talk later.
PINA
Why can’t you just / tell me now?
CAROL
I need to get dinner on the / table.
PINA
Mom!
(CAROL grabs the chicken and potatoes and goes onstage.)
MARK
You’re not like, vegetarian or vegan or gluten intolerant or anything are you?
AARON
No.
(PAUL enters.)
PAUL
Hey there, Milkbone. How’s it— (PAUL and AARON see one another.)
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
27
MARK
Dad, this is my friend Aaron. We’re working on a Biology / project.
CAROL
Sorry for the delay! Pina! Could you please grab the salad?
PAUL
A project? At school? A school project?
CAROL
Aaron, how about you take a seat next to / Mark.
PAUL
The two of you go to school. Together. At school.
(PINA enters with a salad and takes a seat next to MARK.)
PINA
Here’s the salad. Now can you—
CAROL
Paul? Wine?
PINA
Move over, Milkstain.
MARK
You move over
PINA
Mom
AARON
Uh
Yes
Yeah
We
That’s right.
PAUL
So, you’re in, what—
PINA
Mark. Seriously.
PAUL
The twelfth / grade?
MARK
(Imitating her)
Seriously?
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
28
AARON
Yeah.
PAUL
Which would make you…
PINA
MARK.
MARK
PINA.
PINA
Touch me again and I’ll—
PAUL
ENOUGH.
AARON
Seventeen
PAUL
Seventeen
You’re
PINA
So, mom—
CAROL
I’ve never seen you at any school events.
PINA
Mother—
AARON
I just moved.
CAROL
From where?
MARK
Saint Mary’s.
CAROL
And where in the city do / you live?
MARK
Dad, can you pass the chicken?
AARON
Pretty close to here
There’s an apartment building across from the school /
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
29
CAROL
You live there with your parents?
AARON
By myself, actually
MARK
That’s / awesome.
Dad, chicken.
CAROL
By yourself? But you’re so young /
PAUL
Not that young
I mean
It’s young, but not / that
MARK
DAD—
PAUL
Here, you want chicken? Here’s the chicken. Have all the chicken.
AARON
I have a medical condition that needs to be monitored before I can receive treatment
And we just figured
Instead of all three of us, you know
Turning our lives upside-down
CAROL
Still.
PINA
Mom, can you pass the dressing.
MARK
Which one do you / want?
PINA
Not you. Mom /
MARK
I’m right next to / it
PINA
Vinaigrette.
PAUL
So, you don’t have anyone who you, like… No roommates or anything… No one that you talk to about…
you know… whatever’s going on in your life.
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
30
AARON
No
Nobody
I don’t talk to anyone
Or tell anyone
Anything
Ever
PAUL
Not even Mark?
AARON
Definitely not.
MARK
He tells me some / things.
CAROL
That’s what I mean
That doesn’t sound like adequate support for a young / person—
What if you had some kind of emergency and you needed—
AARON
I mean, they only live in a couple / hours away.
MARK
Two hours by car. See?
AARON
Right. So. It’s fine. Seriously. But I appreciate /
CAROL
Well, if you ever need anything—
AARON
Thank you.
CAROL
Anything at all. You know where to ask.
PAUL
How about you, Peanut Pad Thai. You have a good day at school?
PINA
It was fine.
PAUL
What did you do?
PINA
Spent a bunch of time in the library
Doing research
For an essay
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
31
PAUL
For what?
PINA
History
I’m exploring all the different ways a person’s face could be altered beyond recognition
Say, mom
CAROL
Yes, Pina.
PINA
What are some of the different ways you can think of that a person’s face could be altered / beyond
recognition?
CAROL
Oh, I don’t / really—
MARK
Easy
Falling in a fire
Chemical explosion
Car accident
Severe frostbite
Gunshot wound
Animal attack
Acid in the / face
PINA
What do you think, mom?
CAROL
Well, Pina. I think there are many reasons why someone’s may face may undergo a transformation
PINA
Such as?
MARK
Landmines
Boiling water
CAROL
Oh, I don’t know…
MARK
What about, like
Plastic surgery
Like, someone’s involved in like
A murder
Completely accidentally
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
32
Just like
Wrong place
Wrong time
And they have go on the run
And the only way to survive is to get their face entirely / reconstructed so their identity—
CAROL
Thank you, Mark.
PINA
Are you saying that’s what / you?
CAROL
I’m saying it’s something lots of people / do
PINA
What people?
PAUL
Didn’t you have round two of cheer / tryouts?
PINA
Yeah, yeah
Anyone we know?
Like, anyone /
CAROL
I mean, statistically speaking, it’s definitely / possible—
PAUL
Pina?
PINA
I made the team.
PAUL
Wooooeeee! You hear that, Carol?
CAROL
Pretty hard not to, Paul, I’m sitting right / here—
PAUL
And? What about head cheerleader? You make—
PINA
No.
PAUL
You didn’t?
PINA
No.
PAUL
Why not?
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
33
PINA
They gave it to that beast, Danielle Savage.
PAUL
But you practiced so hard.
MARK
I was thinking of trying out for the cheer team
B-U-L-I-M-I-A
Bulimia!
PAUL
MARK.
PINA
But why would someone get plastic surgery unless there was something like
wrong with them?
CAROL
If a person feels a disconnect between who they are inside, and what they look like outside, it can be
psychologically damaging.
PINA
You mean
If a person—
Doesn’t like how they look
MARK
What we having for dessert?
CAROL
I forgot to grab something
MARK
Awww, man—
CAROL
Sorry, sweetheart.
PINA
They might get surgery
So they can / like—
PAUL
Pardon my French, Carol, but I gotta say, that is a crock of shit.
CAROL
It is?
PAUL
I’m just saying. Everyone thinks they look like a sack of shit sometimes. But that’s life. And it’s certainly no
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
34
excuse to stuff yourself with collagen. We’re all born with the body God gave us. If it were up to me, I’d say,
You don’t like it? Tough titties.
MARK
Even if you got acid in the face?
PAUL
Mark—
MARK
I’m serious
PINA
But in that photo
You looked exactly like me
PAUL
What photo?
CAROL
Salad, Paul?
PINA
So, if you had to get
PAUL
I don’t want any salad.
PINA
That would mean
CAROL
It’s good for you.
PAUL
I’d rather die young, than live an extra decade eating salad.
(PINA exits for the kitchen.)
MARK
If there are any extra rolls, can you grab them while you’re in / there—
CAROL
Mark.
MARK
What?
PAUL
What’s her problem?
(PINA re-enters with a paper bag on her head then takes her seat at the table.)
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
35
MARK
What the hell is that.
CAROL
It’s a bag.
MARK
I can see what it is, what’s it doing on / her head?
PAUL
Pina, why are you wearing a bag on / your head?
CAROL
If she wants to wear a bag on her head, I don’t see the / problem.
PAUL
You’re not serious.
CAROL
(Whispering)
Look, she just wants a reaction. Don’t give it to her.
PAUL
But why—
CAROL
Mark. We never asked you about your day.
MARK
A bird got stuck in one of the classrooms and they had to call the Fire Department.
CAROL
How. Interesting. What about you, Paul?
PAUL
I…
(Beat.)
Ran into an old co-worker I wasn’t expecting.
To see.
At work.
And I told him maybe we could get together sometime. To talk. Seeing as the last time we saw each other,
things ended on kind of a strange note…
And I just think it’s important that we all be on the same page.
CAROL
Who was this?
PAUL
This was… Bart.
CAROL
I don’t think I know a Bart—
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
36
PAUL
Sure, you do.
Bart.
Bart from Marketing.
Marketing Bart.
PINA
Pass the potatoes.
MARK
Since when are you ingesting complex carbohydrates?
PAUL
Anyway.
PINA
Potatoes, please.
CAROL
Sweetheart, are you sure you don’t want—
PINA
POTATOES. Please.
PAUL
Pina, I’m not sure this is appropriate dinnertime—
CAROL
No, no, it’s fine. It’s fine! Here you go, sweet pea.
(CAROL brings PINA the potatoes.
She starts eating them straight from the bowl through her bag.)
MARK
That’s disgusting.
PAUL
Yeah, this is really not—
MARK
Well, I’m stuffed, how about you, Aaron?
AARON
Actually, I’m not feeling very well. I think I’d better / go.
MARK
No!
PAUL
How d’you get here?
AARON
Walked.
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
37
MARK
Look, if this is because of Shia Laboeuf over here—
PAUL
From way by the school?
AARON
It’s really not that far.
PAUL
I can give you a ride.
AARON
Oh no
That’s / okay.
MARK
What about our project?
AARON
We can talk about it tomorrow.
MARK
When?
AARON
At lunch.
PAUL
Let me give you a ride.
AARON
Seriously, I don’t mind / walking
MARK
Okay
/ Uh
PAUL
I insist.
MARK
Where do you want to / meet?
PAUL
I’m out front.
(PAUL and AARON exit.
Beat.
MARK surveys the scene.)
MARK
What the hell is wrong with you?
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
38
(He exits.)
CAROL
Well. Now you know. I hope you’re happy!
(Beat.)
You can’t tell anyone. Not your brother. Definitely not your father.
(Beat.)
Come on, Pina.
Take off the bag.
(Beat.)
Say something.
(PINA keeps eating.
CAROL grabs the bottle of wine off the table then exits.)
8.
(PAUL’s car.
Silence.)
PAUL
You said you were in University. And for the record, you don’t look seventeen. How’d you even /
AARON
Fake ID.
PAUL
This is why people should not use fake IDs. (Beat.) Look, as long as nobody finds out, it doesn’t matter. Not
that it doesn’t matter, it matters— you didn’t say anything to Mark, did you?
AARON
Of course not.
PAUL
I’d appreciate it if you could / not—
AARON
Believe me, this isn’t something I plan on advertising
That’s me on the right.
(PAUL parks his car.)
AARON
Well
I should
PAUL
Wait.
(Pause.)
AARON
What?
Cleave – March 11, 2015 – Elena Belyea
39