Messenger Theatre Company presents Season Two of The Dragoning
Episode Three: Ashley, Alice, Fiona and Willie
(The first few notes of the piano sound nice and theatre-y but then they start to deconstruct, a bit like a music box going awry. Strings come in. Men droning. Are they monks?)
EMILY:
Messenger Theatre Company presents
Season Two of The Dragoning
(lots of voices saying The Dragoning. The beat drops. There are some distorted strings or cries in rhythm.)
EMILY:
Episode Three: Ashley, Alice, Fiona and Willie
(The music sputters out.)
(The sound of a prison door closing, the sound of keys)
Episode 3
ASHLEY
Well.
Look at you.
Hi.
Yeah. Hi.
So – uh…surprise! I’m a dragon. Sorry about that. Sorry I – uh – surprised you. I just – though I had it under control, I guess. Sorry.
Ha! Yeah. Those guys were annoying enough to even turn a man into a dragon, I guess. That’s funny. And awfully kind of you to say.
Yeah- they’re keeping me fed and watered and they’ve even sent the librarian over with some books. Could be worse, I suppose.
Is your Dad okay? I’m so glad you guys ran.
Good. Please apologize to them for me. They seemed really great before…
Anyway – I’m sorry I didn’t get to talk with them.
None of the guys in here can believe how well you’re taking this surprise. They’re all like, “I don’t know if I’d be alright if my girlfriend turned dragon suddenly.” But I told them how easy going you are.
Right! And how a week in Dragon City will acclimate a person. That’s true, too.
Good point. Very good point.
So. Uh. I’m very sorry for putting you at risk. Please forgive me.
Thank you.
Yeah, we had a few visitors. I mean, obviously. I don’t know anyone in this country but you – so, it’s a little weird. But I guess I have created a little…teeny tiny….itsy bitsy international incident. So. We’ve had the FBI and the CIA stop by and of course your national law enforcement. And the librarian has been very kind to bring me a history of Busby Berkely musicals. I can’t imagine where she learned how much I’d like a book like that.
I don’t know what’s going to happen, really.
Your country wants to send me home and mine doesn’t want to take me. So – here I sit.
How are you doing being at home?
Are your parents okay?
Oh. Yeah. Okay. Good.
It’s really great to see you. And – it’s – like – I don’t know why but…it’s all a little déjà vu, isn’t it? This room. That one. Weirdly I feel like I’ve been in a place like this before.
Ha. Yes it does have a similar architecture as a Men’s Warehouse. That’s funny. Do they have those here?
Hey – you know I was just getting all nostalgic about my last night at home when I had all those people over. You remember that?
It was quite a little party we had.
Yeah. It was a hell of a night, with some wild people.
Hey, speaking of – have your heard from any of those people, by any chance? Just curious.
None of them. Hmmm. Well, that’s too bad. They were nice. If I ever get out of here, I look forward to seeing some of them again.
No, not Kala. No, you’re right. She wasn’t for me.
Well, if you do hear from any of those folks, let me know.
I certainly am sorry to have spoiled our trip. Like. Really. Sorry. I’m sure it’s a really great country out there and I’ll surely never see it.
(Door buzzing)
Oh, hell. That’s them to take you away. Well – I hope they let you come back soon, Brent, I really do. And thank you for forgiving me. I appreciate it a lot.
(Prison door opening)
Yeah, he’s going. He’s going.
Bye, Brent. I’m sorry. Hope I see you again. Someday.
(Dragon roars)
(office sounds)
Alice Dwyer
Thanks for coming in, Brent. We just were hoping you could help us with a little more information.
We just received some reliable intelligence that there are already dragons here. None have revealed themselves publicly but we feel it’s only a matter of time before we have a complete dragon manifestation on our hands. We’re hoping, having visited Dragon City, you can help us prepare.
We investigated your lead about scented candles and it checked out. That makes me inclined to trust you and whatever tidbits you might have collected while you were away that could help us predict what might be coming.
Wait, what?
What kind of software?
Like predictive models?
Based on missing persons.
That’s actually really smart. Would never have thought of that.
Does your contact have it up and running? Do you think he would sell it to us?
Please. Yes. Put us in touch. It would be a government contract so it would be worth his while.
I mean, I’m sure we could get one of our software guys on it but if their guy’s already done the preliminaries, I think that would save us a bunch of time. And time is of the essence here.
Everyone in the country would like to avoid being the next place to publicly have dragons.
We’re fairly confident that there are other places in a position like ours but we’re hoping we aren’t the first to be exposed, you know.
Right. So. Software. I’m going to check in with you about that the day after tomorrow, if you wouldn’t mind reaching out to your contact in the meantime and let him know I’ll be calling.
Now, let’s assume this dragoning is coming. How could we get a head start on it?
For example, are there things to put in place or are there structures we could/should start building now?
Sorry, what?
An apology pavilion? What’s that?
Sounds like it could also be used as a holding cell for dragons.
No, no. For apologies. Sure. Any law and order mechanisms in place? We’ve already been caught up short with the law here with Ashley’s arrival. And your role in bringing her here. So it would be helpful to know what they’re doing in Dragon City – and they’re not really talking to us.
Like a dragon task force?
Oh. Dragon justice. Huh.
No, no. We’re hoping for a just situation for everyone – our resident dragons included.
Anything else you can tell me, Brent?
No? Really?
Well. Fine. If you think of other things, please check in with me. And I’ll talk to you further about this software guy.
Thank you for your assistance, Brent. You’ve been very cooperative and we won’t forget it.
*
(Dragon Roar)
(Sound of Brent’s backyard patio)
FIONA
Thanks for reaching out to the Orchids, Brent. It’s a little dangerous, of course. But I understand you have something important to share.
Oh. Yes. We leaked that bit of information on purpose.
Well – not that it’s any of your business – but we felt we might be able to negotiate a release for Ashley if we clued them in about the dragons’ existence. How are they taking it?
Panic, huh? Oh sure. Of course. Moves them directly out of the abstract of – this might happen one day to “Oh. This has already happened. We’re already late.” I imagine they’re scrambling everywhere. What a lark!
Well – it’s not just for Ashley. We figure it might benefit us to have a dragon liaison in government on the early side. We’re In a much stronger position to negotiate while the public is unaware of the dragons among them.
We’re letting the government panic a bit – get all their ya-yas out and then we’ll make contact.
You didn’t say anything about us, did you, Brent?
Good. Good. Good.
That’s good. I’m glad.
Oh she did, did she?
Well – thank you for helping us make her imprisonment a little more pleasant. The actual library there is so wretched. It’s all thesauruses and test prep books.
Honestly, we just got lucky there. We already had a member in place in the library system. She just came in handy when this situation happened.
Well, thank you for letting us know about our outing in the government.
No, no, actually, it is actually good news to hear it come back to us.
That means it’s actually travelling through all the channels and didn’t just stop at our mark. It’s very good. Thank you. If you hear anything else, for sure do the same. And the Orchids will reach out to you before too long, I’m sure.
No, it is taking a little while – because there are members of the group who are reluctant to bring in a man no matter how helpful it might be. We’re negotiating some things at the moment.
Just hang on. We’ll be in touch when we’ve worked it out.
*
(Dragon Roar)
(Sound of a phone ringing under some covers. Sound of muffled voice on the other end. It resolves to Willie’s voice.))
WILLIE
Brent! Hey there, man. What a surprise it was when the front desk gave me your message.
Oh, they were like, “This foreign guy called for you and asked if we could give him your number.”
No, no, they didn’t tell me what it was – except you wanted to talk about software.
Oh, man. I’m sorry. What time is it there? I didn’t even think to check the time zones. I don’t do a lot of international calling. Should we do this another time?
Okay. Sure. Yeah. Get the light on and whatever you gotta do. I’m on one of those internet calling apps. It doesn’t charge me.
What do you mean safe?
Oh, like, are people listening? Am I alone? That sort of thing?
Yeah, man, I’m at home. No one’s here.
Okay.
Okay.
Wow.
The, like, actual government there?
A government contract.
They know I’m still a student, right?
Oh sure.
That makes sense to me.
Right.
Wow.
What do I have to do?
Okay. Sure. Great. Yeah.
Wow. Brent. Thank you. You’re getting me hooked up with a government contract before I even finish grad school. My teacher’s going to lose her mind.
No, really man. Thank you.
Oh, about the same. Pretty much like it was when you left. Just the very strange new normal.
Hotel’s doing fine.
Well – that’s funny you should ask – but yes, Ray did ask to look at my projections. I thought really all he wanted to know was which city I thought would get The Dragoning next. Wouldn’t have thought it would be yours! But, of course, I didn’t run those numbers.
You know. I haven’t seen him in a while. It sounded like he was planning on moving somewhere and starting a business. Asked me if I wanted to go in with him on it, in fact.
Oh, I turned that right down. He’s a nice guy but I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw him.
So I just wait to hear from your government people about the contract?
Alice Dwyer. Okay – yeah. I’ll look for her call.
Thanks again, Brent. This is, like, life-changing stuff for me.
Yeah, man. Get some sleep. Don’t be a stranger.
(Dragon Roar)
*
(Dragoning theme credit music begins. Strings. Bells. It’s a little creepy but also fun. Like mischievous creatures sneaking around after midnight.)
EMILY:
The Dragoning is produced by Messenger Theatre Company and written by Emily Rainbow Davis
The Dragoning Theme was composed by Scott Ethier
Sound design by Matt Powell
This episode featured Emily Hartford as Ashley, Clare Stevenson as Alice, Mischa Ipp as Fiona and Julian Rozzell, Jr as Willie.
Messenger Theatre Company is a not-for-profit organization and we are entirely reliant on your support.
Thank you in advance for making our next episode possible.
Stay safe out there everyone. And watch out for dragons.
(Music resolves.)