Mark Schultz

POLAR BEAR

  • Short Play
  • Drama

Stuart is looking for a way out. He wants a home. But between fixing everything his mother breaks, cleaning pools, and taking up root every time one of his mother's lovers leaves her, he's finding the going difficult. Until someone offers him a glass of water and opens the door to the desperate possibility of finding a place to belong.

Play Sample Text

SCENE TWO

STUART
You look at a cheetah. For instance. Right? How it runs so fast? You look at it. Like in those nature films: and it’s just a blur. It’s like a whoosh. You can’t really see it. Not really. It just sort of melts. Into this. Beautiful. Fucking. Thing. Of. Wind? And speed? Running running running. And you look at it. I mean, you try to look at it. (Cause you can’t look at it. It’s too fast.) And what you’re left with is this. Sense. That. It just belongs. Somehow. Wherever it is. It does what it does. And the landscape just sort of. Swallows it up. Holds it. Gently. And says. I love you. I fucking love you. And it’s all one seamless beautiful blur. Of something. Dangerous. And fast. And. Wonderful. And you get the feeling. I get the feeling. At any rate. That that’s what it’s like. To really live. To really belong somewhere. To something.

And of course it’s a fucking amazing predator. Of like. Elk. Or whatever. Caribou. Only. On the savannah. Which would be like your gazelles and your. Impalas. Ibexes. Things like that.

But yeah I love cheetahs. I run track? They’re so fucking fast. And I think. If I could be that fast? If I could somehow get to be that fast? I mean. Jesus. Fuck. The world just opening up like that. And you just falling in and falling in and falling in. Fucking amazing. How great would that be? Right?

But it’s a goal. You know. Something. To reach for. So.

So I reach for it.

So yeah. Yeah. I guess you could say. I’m a pretty positive guy.

Thanks for the water. By the way. It’s great. Pretty hot out there. Right?

You have a great house.