Tea and Sympathy ACT ONE, Scene: The scene is @ small old Colonial house which is ‘now being used as a dormitory in a boys’ school in NG the qrnd floor at store Right we see the ” ie Right we se housemaster’s study. To stage Left of this is a hal sewers es abe te lope roenee at Fn ee ie ah toe of the bone rooms. The housemasters study is a warm and jriendly soo me ath le bat eho elope lighted there are cheerful pools of light. There is @ replace in the back walt, book cases, and upstage Ss estas edie we ones port Of ie aan set oni no common room forth ah Bent Se Mare here contr ene letting the boys use the study whenever the door is left ajar. ie boy's bedroom is small, containing a bed, @ oN ee heehee abe Saran bat Senn eet ins fen cfoa touches to Pee tie ore hontke-an India as on ce ite fae seins for the doer we Goer nere tel Peepers ee Se ee Te doo te 0m re sumed to lead to the sitting room which the room- a ne eam the ang room SS Mat he nig Poe Seam the eatnce poton mast 6 toa 1 i oS out pln bck 5 book) act 1 TEA AND SYMPATHY 7 As the Curtain rises, itis late afternoon of a day early in June, No lamps have been lighted yet—so the study is im a sort of tvitight. (Upstairs in his room, Tose Lx is sitting om bis bed ‘playing the guitar and singing softly ond casually ‘he plaintive song, “The Joys oj Love.” Tom is going on 13, He is young and a litte gangling, but intense. He is weoring fated Bhaki trousers, @ white shird open at the neck, and white tennis sneakers.) (Seated im the study listening to the singing cre LauRa Revnotns and Lanty Seats. LAURA i a lovely, sense five woman in Ber mid to late twenties, Ter essence is gentleness. Ske is compassionate and tender. She is Searing cashmere acai ond & wool oir. Ae ‘he listens to Tom's singing, she is sewing on what obviously 0. period costume.) (Linty is inher late thirtos, and im contrast tothe simple ‘effectiveness of Laura's dlotkes, she is dressed alittle 4100 flashy jor her surroundings. It would be in good taste on East 57th Street, but not in a smoll New England town. A smart suit and hat ond @ fur-piece. As she listens to Tom singing, she loys with the ‘martin’ glass in her hand.) Tox. (Singing.) “The joys of love ‘Are but a moment long— et Pains of love (When he has fished, he sirams on over the same melody very casually, and hums to i intermittently.) raw. (While Tox te singing.) Tom Lee? ‘Laura, (In Left armchair.) Yes. ‘Lirty. Doesn't he have an afternoon class? Tauza. No. He's the only one’ in the house that doesn't8 ‘TEA AND SYMPATHY act 1 Linx, (When Tout hos finithed the song.) Do you know what he’s thinking of? ‘Launa. (Bites off « thread and looks up.) What do you mean? ‘Litty, What all the boys in this school are thinking about, Not only now in the Spring, but all the time— Sexl (She wags her head a litle wisely, and smiles.) ‘Latma, Lilly, you just like to shock’ people. itv. Four hundred boys from the ages of thirteen to nineteen, That's the age, Laura. (Restless, getting wp.) Does it give you the wiles sometime, having ll hese around: SFE gun Of course not neve tink oft ak ay, ny, tells me they put salt ir f to oat em Gown, But the may they Lok a you, cant believe it. Laura. At me? Titty. At any woman worth looking at. When I first ‘came here ten years ago, I didn’t think I could stand it, Now I love it. Love watching them look and suer. ‘Lavra, Lilly, Try, This is your first Spring here; Laura. You wait. Laura. They're just boys. Tnmy. The authorities say the ages from thirteen to nineteeo— ‘Laura Lily, honestly! Lixzy, You sound 2s though you were in the grave, How old ate you? Lavra. (Sriling.) Over twenty-one, Ln, They come here fgnorant as all get-out about ‘women, and then spend the next four years exchanging Tisinformation—They’re so cute, and so damned intense. (Ske shudders again.) ‘Tacna, Most of them seam very casual to me, Larry, That’ just an air they put on—This is the age Romeo should be played. You'd believe him! So intense! These Kids would die for Jove or almost anything else. ‘Harry says all their themes end in death, Lauza. That's boys. act TEA AND SYMPATHY 9 Lux, Failure; death! Dishonor; death! Lose their sirls; death! Tr’s gruesome. ‘Lavza, But rather touching too, don't you think? ‘Lure, You won't tell your husband the way I was talk ing? LaoRa. Of course not. Eny. Though I don't know why I should care. All the boys talk about me. They have me in and out of bed ‘with every single master in the school—and some married ‘ones, too. TLauma. (Kidding ker.) Maybe Pd better listen to them, ‘LILLY. Oh, never with your husband, of course. Lavra. Thanks, Tnty, Even before he met you, Bill never gave me & second glance. He was all the time organizing teams, planning Mountain Club Outings. LAURA, Bill's good at that sort of thing; he Hikes it. Thy. And you? (Excns loks wp at Uae and smi) Not a very cooperative witness, are you? I know, mind my own business, But, watch out he doem't drag bis ‘usual quota of boys to the lodge in Maine this summer. ‘Lavns. I've got may own plans for him. (She picks up some vacation jolders.) ‘Lazy. Oh really? What? Lavna. “Come to Canada.”—I want to get him off on a trip alone, ‘Litzx. T don’t blame you. Lana. (Reflecting.) OF course Pd really like to go back to Italy. We kad a good time there last summer. Tt ‘was wonderful then. You should have seen Bill, Liv. Look, Honey, you married Bill last year on his sabbatical leave, and abroad to boot. Teachers on sab- batical leave abroad are like men in uniform during the war. They never look 50 good again. ‘Laora. Bill looks all right to me. Lizy. Did Bill ever tell you about the party we gave hhim before his sabbatical?10 TEA AND SYMPATEY act Lavna, Yes. I have a souvenir from it. (Ske is mearing a rather large Wookvortl’s dicmond ring on a gold chain ‘around her neck. She now pulls it out from her sweater.) Tuy, I never thought he'd use that Five and Dime engagement ring we gave him that night. Even though we gave him an awful ribbing, we all expected him to come Back a bachelor. Lacra. You make it sound as though you idded him into marrying. Lary. Oh, no, Honey, it wasn't that, Lavra, (With meaning.) No, it wasn't. (Laurea laughs of Im.) itty. Well, T've got to go. You know, Bill could bave married any mumber of the right kind’ of girls around here. But I-knew it would take more than the right kind of gil to get Bill to marry. It would take something special. And you're something special. ‘Lavna. How should I take that? Lary. As a compliment. Thanks for the drink. Don’t tell Harry I had one when you see:bim at dinner. ‘Launa, We won't be over to the hall. I've laid in a sort of feast for tonight. Litex, Celebrating something? aunt No, just an impulse Lx. Well, don't tell Harry anyway. Lavra. You'd better stop talking the way you've:been talking, or I won't have to tell him. Lx, Now, look, Honey, don’t you start going Puritan on me. You're the only one in this school T can shoot my ‘mouth off to, so don’t change, Baby. Don’t change. ‘Lavra. I won't. Liutv. Some day I'm going to wheedle out of you all the juicy stories you must have from when you were in the theatre. ‘Lavza. Lilly, you would make the most hardened chorus, gird blush. Latex. (Pleased.) Really? ‘Lavna. Really. Lity. That's the sweetest thing you've said to me in act 1 TEA AND SYMPATHY rn days— Goodbye. (She goes out the door to hall, and a moment iaier we hear the outside DOOR close.) Lavan. (Sits for « moment, listening to Tox’s rather flointive whistling. Ske rises and looks at the Conoda Bacation Hterature on the desk, and then, looking ot her swatch, goes t9 the door, opens it, and calls up the stair. way.) Tom— On, Tom. ‘Tom. (The momen’ To hears his nome, he jumps from the bed, and goes through the sitting room, and oppears (om the stairs.) Yes? _, LAURA, (She is very friendly with Him-—comradely.) Ut it won't spoil your supper, come on down for a cup of tea. (Tone goes Back into his room and brushes his hair, then he comes on down the stairs, and enters the study. He enters this room as though it were some- thing rare end special. This is where Laura lives.) (Lavna has gone out through the alcove to the other part of the house.) Tve just about finished your costume for the play, and we can bave a fitting. ‘Tox. Sure. That'd be great— Do you want the door open or shut? ‘Laven. (Ofstage.) Tt doesn’t make any difference. (Tout shuts the hall door. He is decply in love with this woman, though he knows nothing can come of it, 18 i a sort of delayed puppy love. It is very touching nd very intense. They ae sy with each er, casual, is abways trying in thinl sled ways fot her he loses Bere i (Lavna enters with te0 door, Ske puts tray on table cond sees hime closing the -) Pethaps you'd fence afro tat Ise of eget oat of class early, ihey can come ae “other boys get out of in too. Lawns (Gee Tor tho pose xa. (Gaetop for ike plats of cookies, but panses dong enought watch ost open the Soo the meres rac. ‘She is cmused, In o moment, she re-enters with a plate of cookies.) Help yourself. Tou. He takes a cookie, it eit tt