ADAR MARCUS

Play or Script | Repertory Company High School for Theatre Arts, New York, NY

Our America

Cast of Characters:

ELEANOR STANTON - Senior Senator from New York and chair of the Judiciary Committee, an establishment liberal who is extremely partisan but wants to keep the US population from being segregated along party lines.

TERRY WHITE - Junior Senator from South Carolina and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, a radical conservative who wants to divide the country by party in order to facilitate his coded agenda of racial division.

KELLY ROBERTS - Junior Senator from California and member of the Judiciary Committee, a progressive outsider who believes that party line segregation is the only way to stop fighting and pass legislation.

MELISSA CORTEZ - Senior Senator from Maine and member of the Judiciary Committee, a moderate who remains firmly loyal to Stanton. Her parents emigrated to the country illegally before she was born.

WANDA LITTLE - Junior Senator from Ohio and member of the Judiciary Committee, a crucial swing vote on the segregation measure.

Setting: The Senate Judiciary Chamber, over Zoom conference call, during the final minutes of committee debate before a motion to resegregate the country is either tabled or brought to the Senate floor for a vote. The bill has narrowly passed the house, and passage now will send it to the desk of the president, who has vowed to sign it into law.

SCENE ONE

The Senators on the Judiciary Committee are seated in their respective home offices, on a zoom video conference. The hosts of the call are the committee’s chair and ranking members, Senators Stanton and White respectively. Also present from the committee are Senators Roberts, Cortez and Little. They appear disheveled and riled up from hours of debate.

WHITE

Senator you’re not listening to me-

CORTEZ

We can’t do this. it’s that simple. I don’t understand why we’re still discussing this...

ROBERTS

We’re discussing this because it’s the only option, just look at what’s happening-

LITTLE

Listen, Stanton-

Senator Stanton wipes her brow and adjusts her camera, evidently frustrated.

STANTON

Quiet, all of you! We’re still not getting anywhere here. Senator Little, time check?

Little glances at her watch.

LITTLE

Eight minutes Senator.

STANTON

Eight minutes left people. Now that means we’ve been on this call for three hours and fifty two minutes, and tell me what we’ve concluded.

The senators are silent.

STANTON

Anyone? Roberts? Cortez?

CORTEZ

Well I’m with Senator Stanton. This doesn’t deserve to go to the Senate floor.

WHITE

You of all people, Melissa, should see. There are some folks in this country that just don’t give a damn, and this is the only way.

STANTON

Quiet! Someone please recap for me what we’re doing.

ROBERTS

Senator, we’re reviewing H.R. 106 the American Partition Act of 2044 passed by the House on Tuesday night. If the bill passes, it would put up two walls dividing the coasts from the middle of the country and end all contact between the Democrats on one side and the Republicans on the other. Liberals could go about our business and the conservatives could go about theirs. It would end the partisan gridlock we’ve had for years since the pandemic started, but more importantly it would stop our civilians from killing each other on the streets. It’s the only solution.

STANTON

I’ll say what I’ve said for hours now. We can’t bring this to the floor.

WHITE

We very well can.

STANTON

No, we can’t. Look, this bill betrays every institution established in this country. Listen, I get it, we’ve been gridlocked and quarantined on and off for years, no one can agree and-

ROBERTS

-Right now there are people rioting and killing each other on every other street corner.

STANTON

Listen I get it, believe me I do. But you can’t just... put up a fence between Virginia and Kentucky because you don’t want to deal with your problems. It’s not the American way.

ROBERTS

Cut the stump speech crap Stanton, you and I both know it’s way past that time. There is no American way anymore. Those days are behind us.

STANTON

(preaching)

Senator there is an American way. The American way is to keep this union together and fight for what’s right. Even when it seems impossible.

WHITE

You know what, just shove that Lincoln garbage up your ass, it’s the last thing we need right now. The American way is to give this country back to the people who deserve to be here.

CORTEZ

(referring to White)

What do you know about the American way?

WHITE

I know more than your people do, that’s for sure.

CORTEZ

What do you mean my people?

WHITE

Your people. Aliens. The ones standing there closing off the world for the rest of us. The only reason we’re in this mess in the first place.

CORTEZ

You know that’s not true, how dare you-

WHITE

-It’s our America Melissa, I can dare whatever I damn well like. Christ, there are more of you than there are of us now.

CORTEZ

So that’s what this is really about isn’t it. You want to rip this country in half because you think this country only belongs to you.

WHITE

You know, it’s like you just forget.

CORTEZ

Forget what? Forget that outside of your segregated mansion in the middle of god knows where this virus is still wreaking havoc? Forget that my mother has-

WHITE

Forget that we were the ones who built this damn country!

CORTEZ

Why, you motherf-

Stanton mutes Cortez and White in an attempt to interrupt this exchange.

STANTON

Alright, enough!

WHITE

What, trying to hide the poor Hispanic girl in your big white arms? Just because you’re the chair of this committee doesn’t mean you get to silence us whenever you please.

STANTON

Yeah it’s a crying shame you’re not the one in charge, isn’t it?

WHITE

I swear in the name of Christ/Almighty!

STANTON mutes everyone in the room.

STANTON

/Enough! I won’t do any more of this. All of you, keep your heads together!

There is a brief silence.

STANTON

Little, time check?

LITTLE

Four minutes, Senator.

STANTON

Right, as I was saying before-

WHITE

Now wait just a minute. I never finished-

STANTON

Oh you’ve said plenty already-

LITTLE

You know what Stanton?

STANTON

Don’t you you know what me, you know he’s wrong.

LITTLE

Aw congratulations would you like a medal? As usual one person in this room is way out of his league. But this crisis? This is your problem.

ROBERTS

Would you just pick a side, Wanda? This doesn’t help us.

STANTON

Hold on Kelly-

(to LITTLE)

-Now what the hell are you talking about?

LITTLE

Senator do you remember the bipartisan virus relief bill that failed the senate ten years ago?

STANTON

Virus relief bill?

LITTLE

Well you should.

STANTON

Why?

LITTLE

Because you’re the reason it didn’t pass.

STANTON

Listen, I don’t know what this ridiculous exercise is, but-

LITTLE

-Three minutes Senator. Please hear me out.

STANTON

We have to-

CORTEZ

Senator, let her speak.

STANTON

Fine. Go ahead.

LITTLE

Ten years ago when you were the Senate Majority Leader, the House passed a bipartisan virus relief bill. If it passed the Senate it would have funded extra virus relief for low income families and minorities through at least 2044- that’s this year Senator. But you blocked it from even reaching a vote on the Senate floor.

STANTON

That doesn’t have anything to do with this.

ROBERTS

Yes it does.

STANTON

Oh now you’re just wasting my time.

LITTLE

Fine, tell me why you prevented that bill from moving on and we will too.

STANTON

Well, at the time-

LITTLE

Why?

STANTON

It was just-

ROBERTS

Why?

Stanton, clearly uncomfortable, begins to get up from her seat.

LITTLE

Senator there’s nowhere for you to go. Sit down and look at me.

Stanton ignores her request.

LITTLE

That bill would have saved thousands of lives. That bill would have protected tens of thousands of families. That bill would have kept your colleague Melissa’s mother from dying.

Stanton is struck by this. She glances over at Cortez, ashamed. It is obvious that she knew about this already. She meets her eyes but says nothing.

LITTLE

Senator you had no reason to block that bill. But you did it anyway. You did it because you knew that the other guys were voting for it too. Am I correct?

Stanton looks down, declining to respond.

ROBERTS

Answer her, Senator.

STANTON

No.

LITTLE

So then why did you do it?

STANTON

Because, at the time it‚ it made sense.

LITTLE

(asked rhetorically)

It made sense?

Stanton nods tentatively. For a moment there is silence while the Senators think.

LITTLE

Senator Roberts, do you think it made sense?

Roberts shakes her head.

LITTLE

Senator White?

White shakes his head and clutches the American flag pinned to his lapel.

LITTLE

Senator Cortez?

Cortez shakes her head then looks at Stanton apologetically.

LITTLE

Stanton, wake up. No one here thinks tabling that measure made any sense at all. So tell me. Why did you really do it?

STANTON

I‚ was up for re-election in November.

LITTLE

Go on.

STANTON

I was up for re-election and I was polling behind my opponent. And I knew that the people in my constituency weren’t looking at what was in the bill. They were looking at who supported it. And then my aides told me that if it passed they’d think I betrayed my party and my numbers would drop even further, and that would be it for my career. And I knew that everything in that bill was a step in the right direction. But when it came to the floor, I couldn’t stand the thought of losing my seat because of it. So I blocked it from ever reaching a vote, and that was that.

LITTLE

But Senator that wasn’t that. Because it gets worse. You spent your time packing the courts with partisan judges. Anytime a judge that you didn’t agree with was up for confirmation you blocked the entire process. Because of that the courts weren’t there to protect the people from injustice, and extremists were allowed to parade down the streets with their signs and torches. Beyond that, the virus continued to spread, because in your undying quest for power you crushed any political effort to truly stop it. So people on both sides started rioting, because they had no other options, and ten years later the division of the entire country along party lines is the consequence. You’re standing here preaching about keeping the union together, but Senator you’ve spent your entire career breaking it. And you’re blaming all of us for stalling the entire time, but the fact is you’ve been stalling for the last twenty years. So in three minutes, I don’t know how I’m gonna vote on this absurd piece of legislation. But I do know that whatever I choose, it won’t actually matter. Not because I don’t want it to, but because this crisis we’re in? It’s unfixable. It’s unfixable because of racist pieces of garbage who find their way into power. It’s unfixable because we’ve been given three hours to fix a problem that’s been brewing for three hundred years. It’s unfixable because we’re trying to fix this problem with the same broken system that caused it in the first place. And that system is broken because of you.

Stanton stands up from her seat and rubs her forehead.

STANTON

I need a moment. Cortez? Breakout room?

Remorse laces Stanton’s eyes.

CORTEZ

Yes Senator.

LITTLE

Two minutes Stanton!

Cortez and Stanton pull into a breakout room.

STANTON

Melissa I don’t even know where to start.

CORTEZ

You don’t have to.

STANTON

I knew about your mother. I knew your mother was predisposed, I knew she was poor, but I did it anyway. And‚ I’m sorry. I know that can’t make it better, but-

CORTEZ

It’s not about my mother, Eleanor. This problem is much bigger. One look outside your window should tell you that.

STANTON

So then... I really was as bad as she said I was.

CORTEZ

Yes.

STANTON

I assume you’re gonna vote in favor then?

CORTEZ

I-

STANTON

No. No need to respond, I understand.

CORTEZ

No Eleanor you’re not listening to me. I believe in this union. I’m still voting with you. But I can’t guarantee that it’ll be enough.

STANTON

What do you mean?

CORTEZ

Well Roberts is obviously voting yes. White is insane and he was a foregone conclusion before we even started. And Little is going to hold her cards to her chest until the last possible moment.

STANTON

So then what do I do Liz? What if it passes? Then what do I do?

CORTEZ

I guess that depends.

STANTON

Depends on...

CORTEZ

Can you put aside partisanship, your personal feuds, your next election, all of it? Just this once, are you willing?

Stanton is silent for a moment.

STANTON

Yes.

CORTEZ

Then here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to swallow your pride, call that vote, and take your defeat if it comes. And then it’s gonna go to the full chamber, and for the first time in your career you’re going to have to defend our America on the Senate floor. In front of everyone. You shot this gun Eleanor, and now it’s your bullet to swallow.

Stanton is about to rejoin the others, but Cortez interrupts her.

CORTEZ

Eleanor?

STANTON

Yes?

CORTEZ

You can handle this.

Stanton and Cortez rejoin the rest of the group.

LITTLE

Time is up Senator.

ROBERTS

The vote will now commence. Just a brief reminder that you are voting on whether to advance H.R. 106 the American Partition Act of 2044 to the Senate floor for a full chamber vote. We will proceed in order by committee rank. Committee Chair Stanton?

STANTON

No.

ROBERTS

Ranking member White?

WHITE

Yes.

ROBERTS

Senator Cortez?

CORTEZ

No.

ROBERTS

I, Senator Roberts vote yes. And Senator Little?

Little takes a suspenseful pause as Stanton holds her breath.

LITTLE

Yes.

Stanton takes a moment to process her fate.

ROBERTS

Little, the final tally?

LITTLE

The final vote is three in favor, two against. The measure passes and will move to the Senate floor for a full chamber vote. Senator Stanton, do you wish to bring forth any motions of objection?

Stanton looks at Cortez, then turns to Little decisively.

STANTON

No.

SCENE TWO

The Senators are now in a zoom meeting in front of the entire Senate Chamber. Stanton, spotlighted as the speaker, begins to talk.

STANTON

Senators, I must be frank. Today, we are assembled to vote on one of the most important pieces of legislation in our country’s long legacy, at one of the most crucial and high stakes moments in our history. While you may likely have already made up your minds, I urge you to consider the weight of the decision you make now. The passage of this bill will set up the immediate construction of two walls along the length of this country, aligning where the State of Virginia meets the State of Kentucky in the east, and where the state of Nevada meets the State of Utah in the West. As you look around at representatives from all corners of this nation, know that with a yes vote, you wield the power to separate them for a lifetime and more. With a no vote, the road to recovery may be long and difficult. Many of you have rightfully pointed out that we may in fact never get there. But by passing this legislation we deny ourselves the opportunity to even try. Senator Roberts, the procedure for the vote on the floor?

ROBERTS

This will be a two minute vote on the passage of H.R. 106 the American Partition Act of 2044. When your ballot appears on your respective devices, you will select either yes, to cast a vote supporting the measure, or no, to vote against it. Your time to cast your digital ballots begins now.

(The audience members vote via an online poll that presents their options as Stanton watches anxiously from her podium. The other Senators watch nervously as the votes are counted, displayed on a live poll. Roberts or another designated actor calls out the result of the vote. One of two ending scenarios are then carried out, depending on how the audience votes.)

ENDING 1- THE RESOLUTION PASSES

STANTON

My dear colleagues, this is a regrettably dark moment for America. We have been mired in partisanship, fighting, and illness for years now. On our streets protesters have caused a degree of civil unrest unlike anything that has yet been seen in our history. But still I believe that we today have chosen the wrong path. With this vote, we have chosen to divorce our country from any hope of becoming the perfect union that Lincoln fought so hard to protect all those years ago. And now I must speak to you in its aftermath. Not to admonish you for your decision, but to claim responsibility. I spent my time as Senate Majority Leader destroying any chance of bipartisan cooperation. And it is my personal regret that only now do I see the consequences. I was voted into office to protect our country’s institutions for its citizens. But I have failed. And that is why today I stand before you... and announce my immediate resignation from this chamber.

The Senators gasp. An unidentified individual begins banging on Stanton’s door, the noise growing progressively louder.

It is my deepest regret that I could not have done more to protect what we could have saved, and I apologize to you and all of our America for- Hello? Who’s there? Can I help you?

Stanton gets up as her door is broken open. A single gunshot rings out as the call hangs up. The screen lingers black.

THE END

ENDING 2- THE RESOLUTION FAILS

STANTON

Senators, today, I would like to thank you. We have been mired in partisanship, fighting, and illness for years now. On our streets protesters have caused a degree of civil unrest unlike anything that has yet been seen in our history. But today you have chosen the righteous path. By voting against this permanent and dooming measure, you have given us a new lease on the union that Lincoln fought to protect all those years ago. That is not to say, though, that our work here is done. Quite the contrary, in fact. I recognize that many of my actions in my years as leader of this chamber contributed to our current precarious position, and that is why today I stand here and make a vow to you. I make a vow that from now on that, no matter how arduous this journey of recovery may be, that we will continue on a path of bipartisanship and cooperation, and introduce legislation to this chamber that helps to bring our America back to-

An unidentified individual begins banging on Stanton’s door, the noise growing progressively louder.

Hello? Who’s there? Can I help you?

Stanton gets up as her door is broken open. A single gunshot rings out as the call hangs up. The screen lingers black.

THE END