Human

Niki Patel, Karuna Nandkumar, Marianne Benjamin,

Asha Richards, and Joanne
CAP Oral Interpretation
Inspirations
Green Group
4/25/14




Characters
Asha: Characters Name- Angela
Plot 1: Whitening Cream
Niki: Characters Name: Chloe
Plot 2: Dancer
Karuna: Characters Name- Kat (Katrina)
Plot 3: Model

Joanne: Characters Name- Britney
Roles played: Girl 1 in Plot 1 (acting), Dance Teacher in Plot 2 (acting) , Kats Mom in
Plot 3 (video), and Second Model in Plot 3 (acting).
Marianne: Characters Name- Marianne
Roles Played: Narrator (acting) , Girl 2 in Plot 1 (acting), Third Model in Plot 3 (acting).

Roles to be filled:
Other Girls in Dance Class in Plot 2: 2-3 girls from green group.
Talent Agent in Plot 3: 1 person from green group.

Narrator walks on from stage right. Single Spotlight.
Narrator:
Many women and girls today have tragically adopted a negative body image due to media and
others around them. Standards of feminine beauty are presented in almost all forms of popular
media, barraging women with images that portray what is considered to be the "ideal
body. Numerous studies have verified that one's subjective evaluation of their own appearance
can have a powerful impact on a person's development and psychosocial experiences. In survey
taken around Montgomery Blair high school most students rated their own body image as a 6 or
7, but some students replied with much lower numbers such as 3 to negative 5. This displays
how the average high school student doesn't always think well of themselves.
Narrator exits stage left. Lights Blackout.


Angela walks on from stage left into a cosmetics shop. She sees a bottle of skin whitening cream,
walks purposefully towards it, picks it up, and turns the label with a model on it towards her. She
stares at it for second, then seems to make up her mind and buys the bottle. She walks stage right to
go home and put it on. She freezes on her bed about to put it
on.
Flashback: (Video playing behind characters on stage) Fade in to Angela watching an ad for skin
whitening cream on her phone, move in to phone, then play ad on promethean. Fade to scene of
Angela as an older child, again watching this ad, to give the impression that it is frequently present
in her life. Angela gets up, and goes to school, where she is walking toward a group of her friends.
She overhears their conversation.
Girl 1:
Hey, did you hear that Jim asked Sharon out?
Girl 2:
Yeah, you know he thinks shes pretty because shes light skinned.
Girl 1:
Im pretty light skinned, he should have asked me out. (Smirks)
Girl 2:
Well we all are, he could have asked any of us! (Whispers) Except that one girl Angela, whats up
with her?
They all look over guiltily at Angela, who is listening from a short distance away. Feeling hurt and
excluded, she turns quickly and leaves.
Girl 1:
She needs to lighten her skin or something cause she's so ugly
Girl 2:
(Yelling at Angela as she walks away) Go use some Whitening Cream!! (The girls laugh)
Angela unfreezes, sighs, and doubtfully begins to apply the face cream. Lights Blackout.



Chloe rushes into dance studio, late.
Dance Teacher:
Oh, so I see you finally decided to show up.
Chloe:
Im so sorry, I-
Teacher:
Theres no need to apologize, we were all just practicing turns.
She puts her arm around Chloe, appearing to be nice, but then roughly pushes Chloe away so that
she stumbles.
Teacher:
Why dont you show us yours? Give me ten continuous fouettes. Now.
Chloe:
But you havent taught us-
Teacher:
No excuses!
Chloe slowly gets in position and attempts to turn. She falls on her second fouette, and her
classmates laugh. Teacher rolls her eyes.
Teacher:
Well I can see that all of you are inept and unprofessional.
Dance Teacher stalks out of the room, and the class slowly follows, assuming that the class is
over. Chloe, still on the floor, freezes.
Flashback: (Video plays in the background) Flashes of Chloes dance teacher yelling at her in
class and after competitions are interspersed with tweets and posts to her from other students in
the class, saying that she is too bad and ugly to ever become like one of the dancers on tv.
Back to Chloe, who gets up slowly and begins to dance to Nobody's Home by Avril L. After
minutes 1:44 to 3:26, she stumbles again and sinks to the floor and gives up while the music is
still playing. It slowly fades out as she sits there with her head in her hands.
Chloe freezes and Lights Blackout.

Kat, the newest model is sitting alone in front of a mirror getting ready for a shoot. Two other
models enter the room laughing and talking. Suddenly they see her, and stop talking.
Second Model:
"Oh it's you again."
Kat turns away and pretends not to have heard.
Third Model:
It looks like the ugly freak didn't hear us. Maybe she's deaf as well as FAT."
Second Model laughs.
Second Model:
"I think she was only hired because our agent felt sorry for her. You know, living with her single
crazy mom."
Third Model:
"I heard she never wanted to become a model, but her mom forced her because she thought that
she looked like one of us."
Second Model:
"Well she was WRONG."
Girls walk out laughing to themselves. Kat looks up, trying not to cry. Looks into the mirror and
freezes.
Flashback- A young Kat slowly opens the door after coming home from school, obviously tense.
Kat:
"Mom?" No answer.
Kat visibly relaxes, and walks inside.
Mom walks in.
Mom:
"Hi honey, how was school?"
Kat jumps.
Kat:
"Hi, um, you surprised me-"
Mom:
"Why, because I'm finally out of bed and over your father getting up and leaving us like a- never
mind, I'm over it. We're going to get on with our lives."
Kat begins to say something, but is interrupted.
Mom:
"You know, I was watching this show earlier today. America's Next Top Model. I was thinking,
you look like a lot of the models."
Kat's eyes widen.
Kat:
"Mom-"
Mom:
"Wait, just hear me out. You're tall, way too skinny, and we could use some extra money right
now."
Kat shakes her head slowly, then faster.
Kat:
"Mom you know I dont do that kind of thing-"
Mom:
"Oh get off of your stupid computer for two seconds and do something. Anyways, it's too late to
refuse, I signed you up to go see this company at the mall. I showed them a picture, they might
want to sign you."
Kat's mom turns and begins to walk out of the room.
Kat:
"What?! I can't do this, I have other commitments, and- and stuff.
Mom:
"It's tomorrow. We need this right now, be there."
She turns to leave, but seems to regret her harshness. She adds "Please." And then walks out,
leaving Kat standing there, utterly confused. She sits down slowly on a chair. Show quick silent
shots of Kat and her mom walking into a meeting with a talent agent, and then cut to a shot of
Kat and the talent agent shaking hands as if they just signed a contract. Now cut to recent mean
tweets on media from jealous friends at school and other models.
Back to Kat staring into the mirror. Suddenly angry at everything, she hurls her hair brush at the
mirror, and a single crack appears down the center. She puts her head in her hands and freezes.
Lights Blackout.


Narrator Enters. Single Spotlight.
Narrarator:
Images in the media today project an unrealistic and even dangerous standard of feminine
beauty that has a strong influence on the way women view themselves today. The media sends
powerful messages to girls and women about the acceptability (or unacceptability) of their
bodies. Young girls are taught to compare themselves to women portrayed as successful in the
media, assessing how closely they match up to the "ideal body. But in reality, does this ideal
body exist? The stereotypical idea of perfection or an ideal body is simply a figment of
imagination.. Perfection means not perfect actions in a perfect world, but appropriate actions in a
realistic world. Body confidence doesn't come from trying to achieve the "perfect" body, it
comes from embracing the body one already has.
Narrator Exits. Blackout.

Slowly three spotlights focus on the three main characters. Each of the three main characters
look up and stand up from wherever they have frozen.
Human: Christina Perri
Kat begins singing unfreezes from her previous position and stands up.
Kat:
I can hold my breath
I can bite my tongue
I can stay away for days
If that's what you want
Be your number one:

Chloe joins Kat and unfreezes from her previous position and stands up.

Chloe Joins:
I can fake a smile
I can force a laugh
I can dance and play the part
If that's what you ask
Give you all I am

Angela joins Chloe and Kat and unfreezes from her previous position and stands up.

Angela Joins:
I can do it
I can do it
I can do it

Kat, Chloe and Angela all walk forward while singing the lines that follow:

Kat, Chloe, and Angela:
But I'm only human
And I bleed when I fall down
I'm only human
And I crash and I break down
Your words in my head, knives in my heart
You build me up and then I fall apart
'Cause I'm only human
And I bleed when I fall down

Angela freezes in a standing position with her head held high and drops out of the song.

Kat and Chloe:
I'm only human
And I crash and I break down
Your words in my head, knives in my heart
You build me up and then I fall apart

Chloe freezes in a standing position with her head held high and drops out of the song.

Kat:
'Cause I'm only human
And I bleed when I fall down

Kat freezes in a standing position with her head held high and the song ends.

The three girls, now all frozen with their heads held high, wait 5 seconds, join hands and then
bow.
Marianne and Joanne now join the girls on stage, the all join hands, and then bow again.




THE END