THE SET-UP
Seth is a young Marine serving during wartime. Nicholas is his civilian longtime companion who waits back home. In addition to the strain on their relationship caused by distance and absence, they must hide their love for one another behind code words and secret identities because of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy barring gays and lesbians from serving openly in the United States military. Seth’s mother Anne assists them by providing the cover of a woman’s handwriting for Nicholas’ daily letters, but Nicholas and Seth’s resolve is starting to weaken. Jonas, another young gay Marine in Seth’s unit just coming to terms with his identity, forms an intense bond with Seth overseas. Tyson, a former Army soldier who got fed up with “don’t ask, don’t tell” and didn’t reenlist, now works alongside Nicholas, providing temptation as well as a reality check. When Seth returns home for an unexpected leave, with Jonas at his side, and post-traumatic stress following him from the battlefield, old relationships are tested, and new ones bloom.
For examples of Jonas and Seth’s bonding, check the scenes also available here online under the titles:
Showers
Seth and Jonas Alone
Desert Night Watch
The scene below is the resolution to the argument that resulted from Nicholas learning the details of Seth and Jonas’ connection overseas. The scene with that argument is also available here online under the title:
Betrayal Argument
“Other than loving you, being a Marine is the only thing I ever got right. It’s the only thing that even comes close.”
SETH appears.
SETH
You don’t have to worry about Jonas. Jonas has somebody else to think about now.
NICHOLAS
So do you! So *did* you, every – single – time the two of you were —
SETH
I was lonely.
NICHOLAS
You. were lonely. Wow.
SETH
You can be who you are. I can’t. You can talk about it, openly, with anyone you want. I can’t. Then Jonas came along and suddenly there was someone who shared my secret. And he needed me, too. There is so much horrible, twisted shit going on all around us, every day. This was just one decent, simple, caring thing we could let ourselves have. And it ripped me to shreds inside, because I *was* thinking of you. But it was the only thing that made it bearable. It was the only thing they couldn’t touch.
NICHOLAS
So you can’t tell me that it won’t happen again, with him, or someone else, because that’d be lying.
Pause.
NICHOLAS (cont’d)
Right. OK then. I just need to decide what I can live with.
SETH
I do, too.
NICHOLAS
Oh, you do?
SETH
I can’t lose you. I won’t lose you.
NICHOLAS
That’s kind of up to me at this point, isn’t it?
SETH
Yeah.
NICHOLAS
Semper Fidelis.
SETH
OK, now you’re just being an asshole.
NICHOLAS
The hilarious thing to me is that you claim I’ve got my identity as a gay man, but I have no one to act on it with. And even though you don’t have your identity, you’re the one who’s gettin’ it regular.
SETH
I’m not “gettin” anything. A stolen moment here and there.
NICHOLAS
Ever the romantic.
SETH
Do you really want to waste what little time we have left together arguing about this?
NICHOLAS
Of course not.
SETH
Then why don’t you shut up until you have something nice to say.
Pause.
NICHOLAS
I miss you.
SETH
I miss you, too.
So what do I do? What do we do? How do we fix this?
NICHOLAS
That’s nice.
SETH
What?
NICHOLAS
Hearing you say “we.”
I don’t know how we fix this. Hell, for all I know, being here isn’t even safe. They could be watching the house, our home. Your comings and goings. We could draw every curtain, go down in the basement and shut the door and they still have infrared satellite tracking. They could watch us do it. They could listen. They already watch and listen and read everything else. Why should this be any different? And all for what?
To keep you out of the showers? Out of the trenches? Out of your fellow Marine’s bunk? Everything else going on in the world and that’s what they’re afraid of?
SETH
It’s what you’re afraid of.
NICHOLAS
I have a reason to be afraid of it. They don’t.
Once upon a time, I used to think I had privacy. I used to think my country was on my side. Until you put on that uniform.
Pause.
A long one.
Nicholas almost doesn’t ask the question, but then he hears it coming out of his mouth anyway.
NICHOLAS (cont’d)
What if I asked you to choose?
SETH
Don’t.
NICHOLAS
Because I’d lose.
SETH
No. Because you wouldn’t.
If it comes to that, if it has to be a choice between you and the Marines, that’s not a choice.
You are my country. You’re the reason I do this.
But the Marines, they’re part of who I am now. Even if I quit, for the rest of my life, I’m still a Marine. I think I might need this.
Other than loving you, being a Marine is the only thing I ever got right. It’s the only thing that even comes close.
For you, I’d walk away from that.
But if you ask, and I say yes, we set things in motion that can’t be stopped. Things I have no control over. Once we start that way, we can’t go back.
NICHOLAS
And knowing them, they’d keep you, til it was over, or you were dead. It wouldn’t get you out of danger. It wouldn’t get you back to me.
SETH
But there’s no way to know. Unless you ask.
NICHOLAS
Seth —
SETH
Touch me.
NICHOLAS
God, Seth.
SETH
Please.
NICHOLAS
If you knew this was all you needed to do to shut me up, why didn’t you do it earlier?
SETH
I miss the sound of your voice.
NICHOLAS
Then let me read to you. It’s less dangerous.
SETH
Let’s not spend the whole night reading.
NICHOLAS
Take me to bed.
SETH
You take me.
NICHOLAS leads SETH off into the dark as emphasis shifts as —
(photo: (left to right) Nick James Parker as Seth and Tim Schmidt as Nicholas in the 2008 production of “Leave” by AfterDark Theatre Company at University of Minnesota-Morris, and the Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis; photography by Alex Clark)
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