SCHOOL ON A MOUNTAIN

Characters: Meira, appreciative, values living in the moment, Cade’s girlfriend, 16-18
Cade, musical theatre composer, always wondering, Meira’s boyfriend, 16-18
Dr. Sharp, head dean of the Yosemite School for The Arts, man/woman, 35-50
Ensemble of girls, 16-18

Setting: A bench outside of the door of Yosemite School for The Arts in California, present
day. It is night and mid-summer.
ACT ONE, SCENE ONE

(the scene opens on CADE sitting on a bench

outside of the Yosemite School for The Arts,
he holds his face in his hands then looks up
when MEIRA and DR. SHARP walk out
from the building, CADE stands up)

MEIRA
Ah! Cade, there you are.

DR. SHARP
Cade! It was very nice to meet you, and your friend, Meira.

CADE
Oh, uh, likewise, Dr. Sharp. I am just anxious to see how
this year turns out.

DR. SHARP
We definitely have a journey ahead of us!

CADE
That we do.

DR. SHARP
(chuckles) Alright, well thank you for making it to
orientation, I know you and your family are still making the
move from Texas, it must be a little chaotic.

CADE
It definitely has been, but I believe there’s a lot in store for
me.

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DR. SHARP
And I will make sure that you have all you need to thrive
here.

CADE
Thank you, Dr. Sharp.

DR. SHARP
Of course. Alright, well have a good night, enjoy the rest of
your summer. Be on the lookout for the syllabus, I suggest
working on a new audition binder for your musical theatre
course.

CADE
Will do. Bye!

DR. SHARP
Bye-bye, bye Meira, it was nice meeting you.

MEIRA
Bye, Dr. Sharp!

(DR. SHARP exits and MEIRA joins CADE

on the bench)

MEIRA
I’m so proud of you, but you know I’m gonna miss you.

CADE
I-I. Fuck. I don’t think I can do this.

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MEIRA
Cade, baby there’s so much here for you. Like, look at this
place. You’re gonna live in the mountains, dude! Like in
Almost, Maine!
(beat, change of tone)

It’s gonna be really hard for me, for everyone back home;
but you know we support you. I love you so much. I’m so
unbelievably proud of you.

CADE
I love you too, Mei. I just. Look, its like I made it here. You
came with me. You have to leave in the morning. It’s all so
surreal. How can you be so certain everything will work out
here?

MEIRA
Because you told me that you’ll keep rolling along. I know
you will do whatever it takes to do good.

CADE
Yeah, but I made it to Playwright’s Horizons last year. What
else could I possibly do that’s bigger than that. Being tied
down; I… I’m not a prodigy. Ms. Bose, being the delusion-
feeder she is, always compared me to JRB. I could never be
JRB. What am I supposed to do? Write a knockoff of Songs
For A New World; and hope some workshop in Manhattan
green-lights it?

MEIRA
Baby, to be honest, I don’t know what you’re saying half
the time, and that’s my fault. But all I know is that you’re so
fucking talented. You sing, you act, you can maybe kind of
dance? Move? Eh?

CADE
Huh, thanks Meira. Question. How do you see senior year
going?

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MEIRA
I mean you are obviously going to be amazing.

CADE
No, I mean for you. Back home. With everyone there.

MEIRA
Oh. Um. Well you know how school is. It’s boring, but I
will have you to be there, at least over the phone, and by
mail, you know lik-

CADE
But Meira, you need to live for yourself. I can’t be the
reason you live through senior year. What’s gonna happen
when we graduate? What do you plan to do?

MEIRA
I don’t know, Cade. I don’t like thinking that far, you know
that. I just want to be here, with you, keeping the moment
for as long as it happens.

(a pause, maybe MEIRA sighs, maybe CADE

sighs, maybe they both do; but by this point,
they are looking at each other)

MEIRA
Woodland Springs. Do you remember Woodland Springs?

CADE
Of course.

MEIRA
They would do checks at night, then you’d come visit me.
You weren’t supposed to, and then you got chewed out
because we got caught that one night. You kept holding me,
even when the nurses were squawking their bullshit. I
(MORE)

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MEIRA (CONT’D)
wondered, I guess I still wonder if they were just yelling to
make it known that they were doing their job, ‘cause they
didn’t actually do anything about it. Either way, I wanted to
just stay there with you forever. Even though a few hours
earlier, I was crying like a baby ‘cause I wanted to go home.
I know I get so clingy, and we get overheated when we hug
for so long, but you know you make me better. You know it
because I know you feel the same. When you write your
stories, your songs, your perfect sonnets that somehow
didn’t come from the gods themselves; you make me want
to know more about myself, because I see myself in
everything you do. You have a chance to do so much more,
and everyone knows you will make them proud. Please
don’t doubt me by doubting yourself.

CADE
Meira.

(CADE seems like he is about to say

something else just as a group of girls from
the orientation walk outside smiling and
conversing, glancing at him, he doesn’t stare
directly but doesn’t look away from them as
they walk away. MEIRA doesn’t seem
concerned.)

MEIRA
Cade.

CADE
I’m scared.

MEIRA
Of what, Cade?

CADE
Of hurting you.

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MEIRA
You won’t and have never hurt me. Even through things
you’ve done other people say I should’ve been upset by. I
don’t let you hurt me, because I know who you are. You’re
not one who hurts people.

CADE
But I’m going to be here. You’re going to be in Texas and I
can’t kiss you, hold you, talk to you whenever.

(MEIRA stands up)

MEIRA
Cade will you shut up!?

(CADE looks up in confusion, MEIRA starts

to cry)

MEIRA
God, why are you making me grieve you before I have to!?
You’re not gone yet and you’re not letting me have you for
the time I have left with you! What? You think I don’t know
we’re on a time limit here?! Well I know Cade! I love you,
and as hard as you always make it, I always will. I told you
that I would come with you, and I did. I’m here, in
Yosemite with you. You’re going to school! On a fucking
mountain! And if I get to enjoy it with you, even for a bit, I
am the luckiest girl in the world. But you don’t give me a
chance, you worry about what might happen to me after
you. Why can’t you have me right now? I’m right here,
Cade. Please don’t push me away before you have to.

(CADE stands up and holds MEIRA, she

shudders in his arms)

CADE
Okay… so. Part of me is relieved. I thought you would’ve
been trying to stop me.

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MEIRA
What do you mean?

CADE
I don’t know, like maybe you would’ve felt like I didn’t
deserve to do this. To leave right at senior year; after being
at the same school since third grade, with you. I didn’t
expect you to be so happy.

MEIRA
I was always going to support you, no matter what decision
you made. You told me you were moving five months ago.
You gave me time to think, about what I want, what I need,
what I deserve.

(they both walk to the bench, CADE sits down

and MEIRA lays her head on his lap)

CADE
Do you remember that other show I wrote that almost made
it to Playwright’s Horizons?

MEIRA
Oh my god, oh my god, Madame Shrink???

CADE
Yes, Madame Shrink. I actually wrote it about you. Mostly
about Woodland Springs.

(MEIRA sits up and brightens her face)

I was so proud of it, I still am. It’s circling around Chicago

at the moment, my agent says there might be a strange
audience for it. I’m not worried about what’ll happen to it
because I know its always with me. But when I listen to the
demos, or even see pictures from that shitty workshop they
did at festival, it makes me wonder: where would I be
without you? God, that is beyond cliche, but really. I went
(MORE)

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CADE (CONT’D)
to New York because of your support. Because of all you’ve
given me in life, I’m so uplifted. I don’t deserve you, I don’t
think I ever have. But Mei, if I’m not one lucky son-of-a-
bitch for being able to have two perspectives on life, while
doing what I love. You gave me that! You brought me here!
I’m here, at a school, in a town of three-hundred, in
Yosemite! God, what have I done to be so fortunate. I
haven’t cherished you enough. If only time was as forgiving
as you are, I’d live normally, no creative grants or trips, just
to capture memories with you. You know, you saved me. I
don’t know if it was in Woodland Springs, or in third grade,
or just now. All I know is I want you to be satisfied.
Whether that be now, or after you move one; because I love
you. I do. For true.

(they kiss)

MEIRA
I love you so much.

CADE
I’m sorry that our paths had to be hindered by this situation.

MEIRA
Don’t be sorry, our paths aren’t hindered. There’s always
crossroads, but often they end up at the same place. It just
depends on where you feel you need to go.

CADE
Your words are so beautiful.

MEIRA
Clearly not enough for Playwright’s Horizons.

CADE
Don’t say that, It wasn’t you. They said it was because it
sounded too much like Company.

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MEIRA
Oh, I’m sure, lil Sondheim.

CADE
That’s lil JRB, thank you very much.

MEIRA
So sorry.

CADE
(sung)
It’s the little things you do together.

MEIRA
(sung)
Do together.

BOTH
(sung)
Do together, that make perfect relationships!

(they laugh, then hug, then blackout.)

End of play.