Hallowed be thy Name
By Dylan Smith Bresnahan, Playwriting Summer Camp
A Cold dark cell, America, 2030
Character:
Al: heavy Texan Accent
Prison guard/ executioner: Rough southern accent
Prison Guard: Your last meal, fag.
Al: Really? This sludge? In my final hours your still giving me this pig feed? No Pop Tarts and Mimosas? Just this shit.
Al looks around but the guard is gone
He begins to eat
Oh Kyle, you sure could cook, and you wouldn’t have put up with this shit either….. you woulda been funny, woulda made fun of the guard with that god-awful mullet, woulda kept me sane, but those bastards killed you. This whole country is just killing us, not just the gays, but anyone who ain’t “up to standard”. Its been only 14 years since America legalised gay marriage, and now they are straight up killing us. Fuck em, that’s what Kyle always said, even when they ambushed us, in fact it was the 2nd last thing he said, right after that he said “at least we got married”. That man, he was never afraid of death, or persecution. They took him from me, I wish they took me as well……
I’m terrified of what they are gonna do to me, a public execution is the least of my worries, my dad might see but I couldn’t give a single damn. He’s probably the one who sold us out. He kicked me out of home after he found out about me and Kyle, Momma was heart broken. But as Kyle always said. Fuck em. What I’m scared of is how they will execute me, there is no electric chair, heck, there is barely any electricity since the EMP went off. I wonder… will they quarter me? Drown me like an old witch in Salem?…….Shit.
Kyle…… I’ve gone mad without you. No! I haven’t. Yes! I fucking have! I’m talking to myself like some grand soliloquy for Pete’s sake.(Beat) Oh Kyle, I remember, we met in high-school, I had to chase you for 2 years. 2 years of flirting and eventually outright begging. Junior year, you finally said yes.(Beat) Happiest day of my life. When the bastards killed you….. When you died…. A part of me died inside too.
Prison guard enters
Prison Guard: You have 1 hour.
Al: Great, thanks sweetie.
Damn, this country has gone to shit. Ever since Pence……. We thought Trump was bad but holy Jesus shitting bricks, Pence is worse. We all thought he was bluffing about re-training us gays, he wasn’t. We all thought his policies wouldn’t get past congress or senate. Pence dissolved both. I live in what I can only describe as a dystopic America.
God (Beat). Has the hour not passed yet? I wonder if what they say about God not loving gays is true? According to my father I secured my ticket to Hades when I married Kyle. But if Kyles’s in hell….. its not really hell. Maybe I should pray? How do I do it?….. uhmmm…..
Clasps his hands together in a praying position Lighting changes dream like atmosphere
Hey God? Nooo how does it go? Uhhmm……
Our father…..
Who ‘arth in heaven….
Hallowed be thy name…
Thy-
Enter Executioner with chopping block and axe
Executioner: Any last words?
Al: What?
Executioner: Any last words?!
Al looks up at the executioner from his view at the chopping block
Al: yeah, Kyle, I’m home
Al’s head is taken off in one fell swoop
As the axe falls, blackout
“We all stare at the abyss, Like Virgil
We all wonder the depths of despair, Like Dante
But our greatest betrayals
Come from the system itself.”
