The Dream Ballet

CHARACTERS:
 
CARRIE: A 23-year-old girl who has just come home from a date at
the top of the play.
DREAM: The embodiment of CARRIE’s lost dream to be a ballerina.
She wears a traditional ballerina outfit and should have a magical
quality about her. DREAM should appear a few years older than
Carrie.
 
SET DESIGN:

A simple set with an entrance upstage and a couch center stage. The
set should seem like something a young college student could afford.
 
(Music from Coppélia plays and then fades out.)
 
CARRIE
Thanks again. It was a…I had a really good time.

(CARRIE shuts the door upstage and lights rise. CARRIE, giddy,
walks over to the mirror by the front door and checks her face
and hair.)
 
CARRIE
What a night! Aaah! What a kiss!
 
(CARRIE walks into the kitchen to get a Diet Coke from the
fridge and begins dialing a phone. DREAM emerges from behind
the sofa and begins dancing while CARRIE has her back turned.
Once CARRIE begins talking on the phone, DREAM stands still
in fourth position.)
 
CARRIE
Hey Laura, I know it’s super late, but I had to tell you—the date
was—out of this world. He’s a dream. A dream. We had the best seats
to the ballet, and we drank the yummiest wine at this cute place in
the art district. It’s only the third date, but this guy. This guy is great.
Call me tomorrow! Okay, love you.
 
(CARRIE turns and sees DREAM.)
 
CARRIE
Holy crap, what are…who are—
 
DREAM
Hello, Carrie.


CARRIE
You … you need to go. I don’t know who you are, but you need—
 
DREAM
You know exactly who I am.
 
CARRIE
No.
 
(DREAM begins dancing again.)
 
DREAM
You would have called the cops by now. Oh, it feels so good to dance
again!
 
CARRIE
(Stunned.)
You are not real.
 
DREAM
Before your evil mother helped to convince you to give me up, I was
very much real.
 
CARRIE
She’s not evil. She did what was best. Listen, I don’t know how you’re
here. Maybe I had too much wine?
 
DREAM
You did guzzle it down tonight. Geez, Care—way to make an impression
on your date.
 
CARRIE
I’m studying. I have a huge pharmacology test on Monday, and I
don’t need this right now.
 
(CARRIE sits on the couch. DREAM walks to the couch and
stretches her leg on the cushion next to where CARRIE is sitting.
After a few seconds, CARRIE looks up and points at DREAM’s
shoes.)
 
CARRIE
Those are mine!
 
DREAM
What?

CARRIE
I bought them for the audition. I thought those were boxed away—
How’d you get these?
 
DREAM
You imagined dancing in these a lot in those months following that
awful day. You imagined you were at the center stage as Cinderella.
Or Juliet.
 
(DREAM stops stretching on the couch and dances again.)
 
CARRIE
Can you stop dancing for Christ’s sake? This isn’t Swan Lake. It’s my
shitty apartment.
 
DREAM
(Laughs.)
I can’t stop dancing. You’ve let me re-emerge again tonight—something
you haven’t allowed in years. I have to try as hard as possible.
 
CARRIE
To what? What do you want?
 
DREAM
I want you to allow me to live again.
 
CARRIE
To live again?
 
DREAM
Yes, you know. To dance. Every day.
 
CARRIE
Okay, I officially allow you to dance whenever you want. Happy?
Now please … disappear.
 
DREAM
Think of all of our times together. When you got the solo in Alice in
Wonderland? We were magnificent!
 
CARRIE
Yeah. That was a great show.
 
DREAM
Tell me, what were you thinking about tonight while watching
Swanilda dance during Act III?
 
CARRIE
I was thinking … I was thinking … it was beautiful. The orchestra
was great. A very talented dancer. What everyone else was thinking.
 
DREAM
No, no no.
 
(DREAM sits down next to CARRIE.)
 
DREAM
What were you really thinking?
 
CARRIE
I was thinking how I need to study.
 
DREAM
What else?
 
CARRIE
That life’s not fair. I don’t know.
 
DREAM
Just tell me what you really thought, and then I’ll leave for a bit. Easy
as that.

CARRIE
Okay. I was thinking when I saw Swanilda dance …
 
DREAM
Yes. Yes. Go on.
 
CARRIE
You promise you’ll leave if I answer?
 
DREAM
Promise.
 
CARRIE
I wish it was me.
 
DREAM
Say it again! Louder!
 
CARRIE
I said I wish that it was me. That I was Swanilda.
 
DREAM
Good! What else?
 
CARRIE
 
(CARRIE stands up.)
 
I was thinking … how her form was off in her arms. How I could
have done a better cabriole than her.
 
DREAM
Of course. Oh, why did you give up on me, Carrie? It’s been so difficult
to not be able to … move!
 
(DREAM dances faster.)
 
I’m getting stronger the more you let me in. The more you give into
hope.
 
CARRIE
I loved to dance. And the music. Oh gosh. It was if they had written
the music just for me. I was so upset leaving the show. I had to hold
myself together in front of Ben.
 
DREAM
Is that why you drank a whole bottle of wine?
 
CARRIE
Three glasses.
 
DREAM
I’m teasing, my love.
 
CARRIE
But I can’t. It’s too late. Geez, I mean it’s been two years since I even
put on my shoes.
 
DREAM
It’s not too late. I know! Put these shoes on.
 
(DREAM moves to couch and sits.)
 
CARRIE
I didn’t always like dancing. It’s all fun ’n’ games when you’re little,
but then comes the day when you realize what the hell are you supposed
to do without any experience doing anything but dance?
 
DREAM
It’s worth it!
 
(Begins untying shoes.)
 
CARRIE
And your career ends so soon. Being a nurse is much more practical.
I’m going to make a difference in people’s lives.

DREAM
But you won’t dance if you become a nurse.
 
(CARRIE goes to couch and sits.)
 
CARRIE
I know, Dream. But life isn’t all magical. It’s hard and cold.
 
DREAM
But the ballet tells stories of pain, joy, coldness, happiness—everything!
That’s the beauty of dance. Here—try these on!
 
CARRIE
Oh alright. Being a dancer … there’s no money in it. It’s beautiful,
but what’s going to pay the bills?
 
(CARRIE begins to put on shoes.)
 
DREAM
That’s what your mother would say. But when you’re as good as
you—Oh they look like they’re fitting.
 
CARRIE
They’re…
 
DREAM
They’re just what you imagined.
 
CARRIE
Yes. I haven’t worn ballet shoes since my last practice at the studio.
 
DREAM
Michael must miss you. He saw such great talent.
 
CARRIE
He was a fabulous teacher.
 
(Music comes on, and CARRIE attempts to dance.)
 
DREAM
See there you go! Beautiful. You’ll get all of your abilities back if you
just let me back in.
 
CARRIE
 
(CARRIE stops dancing.)
 
I haven’t stretched in months. I’ve lost my posture. My arms are all
wrong. My feet hurt in these shoes.
 
(Pause.)
 
What do I have to do to get back to being as good as I was?
 
DREAM
Oh, not too much. Take classes every day.
 
CARRIE
What else?
 
DREAM
Lose some weight. But just stop eating those Cheetos at 2 a.m., and
you’ll be thin in no time!
 
(DREAM starts to dance.)
 
Do what I do. You’ll remember.
 
(CARRIE begins following DREAM’s dance moves.)
 
DREAM
Good, just like that.
 
CARRIE
Okay … I’m doing it.
 
DREAM
Perfect. Move your arms like this.

(As the dancing gets more difficult, CARRIE struggles and trips.)
 
DREAM
It’s okay, get back up.
 
(DREAM walks over to help CARRIE.)
 
CARRIE
Dance … it took me away from everything and everyone.
 
DREAM
C’mon, let me help you.
 
CARRIE
No. What happens when I fail, and no one is there to fix it?
 
(CARRIE stands up on her own.)
What about then?
 
DREAM
You’ll have fans. You’ll make more connections. Imagine all the
people you’ll meet when you’re travelling all over. You’ll be in San
Francisco and then Chicago and then New York—
 
CARRIE
What about Ben?
 
DREAM
The guy from tonight?
 
(CARRIE nods.)
 
I’m not a fortune teller, but you know what will happen. I’ll bet you
meet some handsome choreographer in your company.
 
CARRIE
And what about nursing school? I have student loans.
 
DREAM
That’s not important. You’re going to be center stage right in the—
 
CARRIE
Tell me.
 
DREAM
You’ll never finish.
 
CARRIE
You see this is why I gave up. These people put these ideas in your
head and convince you that you can do anything when you’re little ...
that the world is at your fingertips. But it’s not! It’s not easy, Dream.
I’m not just going to give up on something that makes sense.
 
DREAM
No one asked you to give up dancing, Carrie. No one told you that
you weren’t good. No one told you that you were too old. No one!
You gave up even before it got hard. You gave up before the greats
even become great.
 
CARRIE
It’s too late.
 
DREAM
No. You still have years. Years!
 
CARRIE
It’s not what I want anymore, Dream.
 
(DREAM stops dancing and begins to grow weaker.)
 
No, Carrie. Don’t say that. Dancing is at the core of your being!
 
CARRIE
I wasted so much of my parents’ money.

DREAM
They loved seeing you dance.
 
CARRIE
But not in the end. It took over our lives. I missed out on my life. My
friends. Love.
 
(DREAM is now sitting on the floor in pain.)
 
DREAM
But you were so happy.
 
CARRIE
Was I? All of the strain to be perfect. All the late nights of rehearsals
and barely sleeping. The injuries.
 
(DREAM struggles to breathe. Speaks slowly.)
 
DREAM
You’ll wake up ten years from now and regret all of this. I know
you will. And it’ll be too late!
 
CARRIE
 
(CARRIE takes the shoes off.)
 
I know. I mean I might. Life isn’t a ballet, Dream. Dolls don’t come
alive. Dreams don’t always live out to the end.
 
DREAM
Please. I don’t know if I’ll survive this. Don’t you see, Carrie? Dancing
is what cures your pain.
 
(CARRIE throws the ballet shoes on the floor. Each time a shoe
hits the floor, DREAM winces as if she were stabbed.)
 
CARRIE
When I wake up, I don’t want you to be here. Ever again. You almost
ruined everything for me.
 
DREAM
You’ll regret this! Don’t let me die!
 
(CARRIE goes over and softly squats down to DREAM’s level.)
 
CARRIE
I have a new dream.
 
(CARRIE kisses DREAM’s head as she stands. CARRIE grabs
her nursing book and exits stage left.)
 
(Lights fade and a spotlight appears on DREAM. Music from
Coppélia comes on, and DREAM tries to get up but slowly
collapses.)
 
BLACK OUT

by Alli Jordan
winner of the Craig M. Workman Award for Performance Media