Full-length play

A Play by William Ivor Fowkes

Creating a new life after the old one is snatched away

After the collapse of their respective marriages, two newly-out gay fathers who used to live in the same town embark on a challenging relationship. In the aftermath of divorce, and still mourning the death of his best friend and male lover of many years, Graham Walker is juggling his new identity, a relationship with an ex-wife who can't make sense of what happened, his desire to come out to his young sons despite her objections, and the news that she is already getting remarried. Chip Miller faces similar challenges although the end of his marriage is much more explosive and public--the result of a gay sex scandal splashed across the front pages of the tabloids--and his family has moved away after the embarrassment of the scandal. While their common circumstances and mutual attraction bring Graham and Chip together, their very different histories and conflicting approaches to navigating their new gay lives diminish their chances for success as a couple. 

Full script available at the National New Play Network's New Play Exchange (NPX). Click here.

Or see EXCERPT below.

LENGTH: 90 minutes

CAST: 6 actors (3M, 3F) playing 10 roles 

AFTERMATH is a "standalone" full-length play that may be performed on its own or together with the other 2 plays (ROOMMATES and MARRIAGE) that make up THE BRONXVILLE TRILOGY, or Marriages of Inconvenience. (AFTERMATH is the third play in the trilogy and includes a PROLOGUE and an EPILOGUE when performed with the other 2 plays.)

SETTING 

Bronxville, NY; Manhattan; Montclair, NY; and Provincetown, MA.

TIME

1992 to 2000

CHARACTERS

Graham Walker. Investment banker from Westport, CT. Articulate and intense. 40s.

Chip Miller. Senior executive at a packaged goods company. 30s, then 40s.

Dan Carlsen. Lawyer from Fargo, ND. Athletic and boyish. 40s.

Kitty Walker. Book editor, then stay-at-home mom. Attractive and shy. 30s, then 40s.

Debbie Carlsen. Advertising account exec, then stay-at-home mom. 30s, then 40s.

Sally Miller. Chip's wife. Good at taking charge of things. 30s, then 40s.

James. Flirtatious young gay man. Early 20s.

Brenda Heckenkamp. Nosy neighbor with a secret. 40s.

William Walker. Graham Walker's great-grandson. 30s.

Emcee. (Voice)

EXCERPT:

SCENE 1

PROJECTION: “1992, The Elm Rock Country Club” 

EMCEE (VOICE)

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give a big hand to the Harvest Moon Dance Couple of the Year—Doug and Libby Schmidt! 

Sound of applause. Music begins to play. 

Scene: DEBBIE CARLSEN and KITTY WALKER (both age 37) watch the Harvest Moon Dance Couple offstage. 

DEBBIE

That’s such a sweet sight. I just love the Schmidts!

KITTY

Doug’s very nice. He always stops and chats whenever we run into each other. And Libby! She’s like Super Woman—she just finished her second round of chemotherapy, and now she’s twirling around the dance floor like it never happened.

DEBBIE

(sullenly)

I just don’t get it. Cancer and Bronxville. The two don’t belong together.

KITTY

Well, it happens—here as well as anywhere else.

DEBBIE

Yeah—but the combination! I mean we have the best of all possible lives here in Bronxville, right?

KITTY

If you say so.

DEBBIE

You’re always so critical! I do say so. But cancer—it’s like the worst possible thing that could happen to anyone. It’s all just so tragic.

KITTY

I guess it’s a reminder to appreciate Graham and Dan while we’ve got them. You never know how long our marriages—our lives—will last. “Gather ye rosebuds” and all that.

DEBBIE

God, you’re such a downer, Kitty!

KITTY

I think that’s a very uplifting thought. Never take anything for granted. It could all disappear in a flash. That just means everything’s that much more precious.

DEBBIE

I wish you hadn’t said that. Now you’ve got me worrying I’m gonna lose Dan.

KITTY

You’re not gonna lose Dan!

DEBBIE

Have you forgotten our conversation last week when we were complaining about how our sex lives have dried up?  

KITTY

(more quietly and urgently)

Keep it down, Debbie. That’s not something for public consumption.

DEBBIE

Sorry. Well, I’ve been worrying all week about how to make things better, and now you’re reminding me that either of our husbands could drop dead any second! That’s not very comforting, Katherine!

KITTY

You and Dan are fine!

DEBBIE

As fine as you and Graham?

KITTY

We’re all fine!

DEBBIE

(starting to break down)

I wish that were true. I’ve got to make things better. I miss Dan so much! I love him—I don’t know if he knows that.

KITTY

He knows that!

DEBBIE

(getting upset)

I’ve got to make sure he knows that! Where is he already?

KITTY

They just went to get drinks.

(looking offstage)

See—they’re already on their way back.

DEBBIE

(calling out)

Dan! I love you!

GRAHAM and DAN (both age 40) return with drinks. DAN tries to hand DEBBIE her drink.

DAN

Here you go, darling!

DEBBIE hugs and kisses DAN profusely.

DEBBIE

Dan! Dan! I love you! Do you love me, too?

DAN tries to balance the drinks while Debbie hugs him.

DAN

Yes, of course, I love you.

(insisting)

Now here—take this!

DEBBIE

(finally accepting the drink)

Oh, thank you! Thank you! 

DAN

Whoa—careful. You’ll spill it!

Meanwhile, GRAHAM sloppily hands KITTY her drink.  

GRAHAM

(drunkenly)

And here you go, darling—your own special elixir prepared by Bronxville’s very best mix master, Elm Rock’s head bartender himself! 

KITTY

Are you all right?

GRAHAM

Hope you don’t mind—I got a little head start on you.

KITTY

(annoyed)

Graham, how many drinks have you had?

GRAHAM

Just one. 

(beat)

No, wait—two!

(puzzling) 

Or was it three?

KITTY

Graham, we didn’t join the Elm Rock Country Club so you could make a public spectacle of yourself. 

GRAHAM

You mean I paid thirty thousand dollars and still have to behave myself?

DEBBIE

(to Dan)

You never told me it cost that much!

DAN

I don’t tell you everything, dear.

DEBBIE

I hope the drinks are free, at least.

GRAHAM

Nothing’s free, Debbie. Everything goes on the account.

KITTY

Then that’s another reason to take it easy, Graham. 

GRAHAM

(joking)

Are you kidding? That’s precisely my motivation—I’m drinking away your inheritance!

KITTY

Graham! 

(beat)

Watch it—the Millers! 

GRAHAM

(to Dan)

What does that mean— “watch it the millers”?

SALLY and CHIP MILLER (both age 34) enter.

GRAHAM

Oh, those Millers!

SALLY MILLER

(chipper) 

Hey, everyone! 

DEBBIE

Hey, Sally!

SALLY

You all know my husband, Chip, don’t you? 

The men shake hands. 

GRAHAM

(a bit much)

Yes, we do, but we’d like to get to know him much better.

GRAHAM stares at CHIP and holds his hand a moment too long. CHIP pulls his hand away.

SALLY

How are little Bobby and David? 

DEBBIE

Fine!

KITTY

Great! 

DEBBIE

And little Alexandria?

SALLY

She’s growing so fast, it’s hard to believe she’s only two!

GRAHAM continues to stare at CHIP as he sips his drink. CHIP seems distracted.

GRAHAM

(to Chip)

Is your daughter in class with the boys?

KITTY

(to Graham)

You know Alexandria! She’s been to the house. She’s very pretty.   

GRAHAM

Of course, she is—look at her father!  

SALLY

I have to tell you the cutest thing. The other day, Alexandria looked puzzled when she was playing with her dolls, and when I asked her what was wrong, she said, “I can’t decide whether to marry David or Bobby.” Can you imagine? She has such a crush on them—on both of them!

GRAHAM

(joking)

Well, if this weren’t Bronxville, I’d tell her she could have them both. But that’s not how we do things around here, is it?  

CHIP

(finally brightening—laughing)

That’s right, only one wife and one husband per household. I think it’s a village ordinance.

KITTY

(extending the joke)

No, I think the ordinance only says no more than two adults per household. It doesn’t specify gender. There are two men living together down the Hill from us on Tanglewylde. And there must be a few pairs of old spinsters tucked away in town somewhere.

SALLY

Oh, I know the men you mean! Very nice, but I always wonder how happy they can possibly be living in a place like Bronxville. 

GRAHAM

(angrily)

What’s wrong with two men living together?! This is a free country!

KITTY

Graham! Please.

GRAHAM

I want to know why they can’t live in Bronxville as well as anywhere else!

SALLY

(gingerly)

You know, with all the kids around. They don’t have children, so I just mean they must feel left out. It’s kind of sad, really.   

GRAHAM

There’s nothing sad about it!

KITTY

OK, Graham—there’s nothing sad about it. Now relax, please.

DAN

Hey, everybody, why don’t we head inside and show the Harvest Moon Couple of the Year a fancy step or two?

DEBBIE latches onto DAN. 

DEBBIE

Good idea, honey. Let’s go! 

The group starts to exit. GRAHAM tugs at CHIP to keep him behind for a moment. 

KITTY

Are you coming, Graham?

GRAHAM

In a second. 

KITTY and SALLY exit.

DAN

Graham?

GRAHAM

(annoyed) 

In a second! I just want to ask Chip something!

DAN and DEBBIE exit.

GRAHAM (CONT’D)

I thought they’d never leave. Hey, I apologize for giving your wife a hard time. I don’t know what came over me.

CHIP

Sally can handle it.

GRAHAM

So, Chip, has anyone ever said you look like an actor?

CHIP

Uh . . . not really. 

GRAHAM

(behaving more drunkenly) 

Yeah, like . . . oh, I can’t think of his name! You know him! He was a big star in the fifties and sixties. He was in lots of movies. Like . . . uh . . . he was in Parrish. There you go! That movie with Claudette Colbert and Sandra Dee about tobacco farmers in Connecticut. Or was it Connie Stevens?

CHIP

I didn’t know they grew tobacco in Connecticut.

GRAHAM

Not anymore, but they used to. I grew up in Connecticut.

CHIP

Oh, whereabouts?

GRAHAM

Well, he was a very good-looking man. And you’re very good-looking, too.  

CHIP

Sorry, I don’t know who you mean.  

GRAHAM

Doesn’t matter.

CHIP

(uncomfortable)

Uh . . . shouldn’t we be getting back to the wives?

GRAHAM

Hey, what do you do? I mean, for a living?

CHIP

I’m in packaged goods. I work for United American Brands.

GRAHAM

Oh, I like well-packaged goods! 

CHIP

And you’re in banking—at Ivy Capital Partners, right?

GRAHAM

At Ivy Capital Partners? Owned by Ivy Capital Partners is more like it.

CHIP

(laughing)

Yeah, I guess we’ve all sold out.

GRAHAM

(dramatically)

Sold out!!

CHIP

It’s the price we pay to live in places like this.

GRAHAM

Did you think you’d sell out? I mean was that your plan?

CHIP

I was a business major at Cornell. 

GRAHAM

Ah, yes!

(singing)

“Far above Cayuga’s waters . . . “

CHIP

Right. That’s where Sally and I met.

GRAHAM

Oh, did she put you up to this?

CHIP

Let’s just say she didn’t discourage me.

GRAHAM

You see, I had no idea I was gonna sell out. I just wanted to be happy.

CHIP

Well, I’m glad you’re happy.

GRAHAM

I didn’t say I was happy.

CHIP

Uh . . . I really think we should get back to the wives.

GRAHAM

(defeated)

It always comes back to the wives, doesn’t it?

BRIEF BLACKOUT.

SCENE 2

PROJECTION: “4 Years Later”

EMCEE (VOICE)

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give a big hand to Elm Rock’s Harvest Moon Dance Couple of the Year—Graham and Kitty Walker! 

Lights up. Sound of applause. Music begins. DEBBIE (41) and DAN (44) enter.  

DEBBIE

(looking offstage)

Don’t they look great out there?

DAN

Better them than us.

DEBBIE

Come on—they’re our best friends. Be proud of them!

DAN

(deadpan)

I’m humbled to breathe the same air.

SALLY (38) enters.

SALLY

Hey, guys! 

DEBBIE

Hi, Sally.

SALLY

So, how come you’re not out there on the dance floor, too?

DAN

Because we’re not the Harvest Moon Dance Couple of the Year. We’re the stay-at-home-and-take-care-of-the-kids couple of the year.

SALLY

Is it my imagination or is Graham getting bigger? What do they call it—pumping up?

DAN

I was the athlete back at Yale.

DEBBIE

(deadpan—to Sally) 

I polish his trophies religiously. 

(beat)

Where’s Chip?

SALLY

Darned if I know! He went to get me a drink, and that’s the last I’ve seen of him.

DEBBIE

We don’t need the men. Let’s go get our own drinks! You don’t mind do you, Dan?

DAN

Go! I’ll stay here and study the Golden Couple while visions of cha-cha lessons dance in my head.

SALLY

Oh, I love the cha-cha!

SALLY & DEBBIE exit. CHIP (38) enters and watches GRAHAM & KITTY dancing offstage. DAN approaches CHIP. 

DAN

What’cha staring at, Big Guy? 

CHIP

Oh, hi Dan. I guess I never realized the Walkers were such good dancers.

DAN

There’s probably a lot you don’t realize, Chip. 

CHIP

Oh? Like what?

DAN

We come to this club, mingle with all these nice people, have drinks with them—but do we ever really know them? See them as they really are?

CHIP

(joking)

If you mean without their clothes on, I don’t think I want to conjure up that image!

DAN

I’m not joking, Chip. You ever wonder what’s really going on under the surface?

CHIP

(seriously)

Well, all people are essentially strangers to each other, don’t you think?

DAN

Yes, well put. That’s my point exactly.

CHIP

Especially spouses.

DAN

Now you’ve really hit the nail. But—I’m sorry, I’m being self-indulgent. Or boring. Or something.

CHIP

No problem.

DAN

I wish that were true. Hey, I won’t bother you anymore. You can go back to fawning over Graham. Just remember—he’s already taken!

CHIP

Excuse me?

DAN

In more ways than one!

DAN exits. GRAHAM and KITTY (both 41) enter, just coming off the dance floor.

CHIP

(suddenly chipper)

Hey guys, you looked great out there on the dance floor! How does it feel to be the Harvest Moon Couple of the Year?

GRAHAM

I can’t wait for our term to be over!

KITTY

You do not! You love all the attention!

GRAHAM

(deadpan)

She knows me too well. 

KITTY

Will you please excuse me, gentlemen? I need to go to the ladies’ room.

GRAHAM pecks KITTY on the cheek. 

GRAHAM

See you, darling.

KITTY exits.

GRAHAM (CONT’D)

Have you seen Dan, by the way?

CHIP

He just left. He doesn’t seem to be having a very good time. Oh, here—he’s coming back.

DAN enters.

CHIP (CONT’D)

I think I better leave you two alone.

CHIP exits.

DAN

You two make a cute couple. Boy, that guy has balls!

GRAHAM

What are you talking about?

DAN

The way he was drooling over you on the dance floor!

GRAHAM

I didn’t notice.

DAN

Slick, Graham. Slick. You can talk yourself out of every compromising situation, can’t you?

GRAHAM

I think you’ve had enough to drink. Maybe you should sit down and drink some water.

DAN

So, now you’re the authority on how to act in public? How to give the public a good show so no one suspects what’s really going on? 

GRAHAM

(quietly and intensely)

Dan, not here. Not now.

DAN

(mocking)

“Dan, not here. Not now.”

(beat)

Then where? When? Oh, I know—nowhere! Never! Keep it bottled up inside forever! Till you break!

GRAHAM tries to escort DAN out.

GRAHAM

C’mon. Bedtime.

DAN breaks free.

DAN 

Take your hands off me! You think I want you touching me after you’ve been throwing yourself after every guy in Bronxville?

GRAHAM

I’ll get Debbie. Maybe she’ll have better luck with you.

GRAHAM exits.

DAN

(calling out)

Oh, that’s a good one! Pretend to get my wife while you go off with Chip Miller! 

(beat)

Ha! Now who’s the fool? He went the other way!

END OF SCENE 

END OF EXCERPT