THE SETUP
Gabby and her boyfriend Vincent are visiting their mutual friend Byron in the hospital. Byron is unconscious. Gabby is sitting at Byron’s bedside and Vincent stands behind her, his hands on her shoulders.
(The full scene which includes this monologue is also available for viewing: “Wishing On A Plane” – the longer 3-person scene, and “A Place Called Providence” – a 2-person section of the scene with just Vincent and Gabby.)
“He sold me a ticket to my brother’s wedding.”
GABBY
He sold me a ticket to my brother’s wedding.
No, my family doesn’t charge admission.
I mean a plane ticket.
I walked up to his station and said I needed a ticket to Providence, Rhode Island. And he said, “Oh, you don’t want to go there.” He was quite insistent. There was no line, he had time to kill, so he was just jerking me around. I had to get moving so I told him about the wedding just to speed things along. Before I know it, we’re laying out my entire family history, including my brother Jake’s failed first marriage, which is quite frankly none of this ticket pusher’s business, but pretty soon we’re exchanging names and phone numbers and of course he’s gay — my luck — but never fear, he says, he knows this great straight guy named Vincent that I absolutely have to meet when I get back from — ick — Rhode Island. “Still, if you’ve gotta trust your life to a plane, there are worse places to land than a city called Providence.”
Just the way he talked about you, I knew I was done for.
(photo: 1996 production by The Early Stage (Minneapolis, MN); Eriq Nelson (standing) as Vincent, Renee Werbowski as Gabby, Jim Lichtscheidl as Bryon)
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