The Full Script

116 Pages·2013·0.97 MB·English

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SONGS AND SCENES

ACT ONE
Scene One. Broadview Hotel Room
“Colored Pencils” *.............................Young Sybil
“Where Am I?” * ................... Sybil and Doctor Wilbur

Scene Two. Doctor Wilbur’s Office, Omaha
“Normal” .............................................Sybil

Scene Three. Sybil’s Home/Doctor Wilbur’s Office
“Two Roads” ..................Wilbur, Hattie, Doctor Wilbur

Scene Four. Teddy’s Apartment, New York
“New York Is Freedom” ......................Teddy and Sybil

Scene Five. Doctor Wilbur’s Office
“The Other Girl.......................................Sybil

Scene Six. Street.

Scene Seven. Doctor Wilbur’s Office
“C’est Une Bonne Idee” * ...........Sybil and Doctor Wilbur

Scene Eight. Doctor Wilbur’s Office

Scene Nine. Apartment
“Sybil” *..........................Doctor Wilbur and Selves

Scene Ten. Doctor Wilbur’s Office
“What Am I?” .......................Doctor Wilbur and Sybil
“Nancy Lou” .....................................Sybil
“Sid” ...........................................Sybil
“Mary” ..........................................Sybil
“Vanessa and Marjorie” ..........................Sybil

Scene Eleven. Doctor Wilbur’s Office
“Willow Corners” ..........................Hattie and Girls

Scene Twelve. Doctor Wilbur’s Office
“Sybil Always Made Us Feel the Pain” *.......Sybil, Hattie,
Selves

ACT TWO
Scene One. Apartment.
“Who Am I?”*..........................................Sybil
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Scene Two. Doctor Wilbur’s Office
“Multiplication” ..............Doctor Wilbur, Sybil, Selves
“Doctor Wilbur”* .............................Doctor Wilbur

Scene Three. Restaurant.
“Two Roads” (reprise.)........................Doctor Wilbur

Scene Four. Apartment
“I Watch You” ........................................Teddy

Scene Five. In One

Scene Six. Hotel Room
“Where Am I?” (reprise) ..............................Sybil
“I Hate Her.” ........................................Sybil

Scene Seven. Apartment

Scene Eight. St Mary’s Hospital 1926
“Sybil Always Made Us Feel the Pain” (reprise)
...........................................Sybil and Selves
“Take Control” *....................Doctor Wilbur and Sybil

Scene Nine. Doctor Wilbur’s Office
“Blue is the Color of Love” *..............Sybil and Selves

* Denotes song on recording.
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ACT ONE, Scene One.
BLACK. YOUNG SYBIL sits in a spot
CENTER, drawing on a pad.

YOUNG SYBIL
MY PENCILS COME
IN MANY DIFFERENT COLORS.
I KEEP THEM ALL IN ORDER
IN THIS PILE.
ORANGE, RED AND GREEN,
RED-ORANGE TOO..
WHERE’S MY BLUE?

MAMA DOESN’T LIKE IT
WHEN I COLOR.
IF I TOLD HER BLUE WAS MSSING
SHE‘D JUST SMILE.
MAMA JUST WOULD NOT
KNOW WHAT TO DO
TO FIND MY BLUE.

GRAMMA WOULD KNOW
BUT GRAMMA’S UNDERGROUND.
AND PAPA IS AT WORK
AND MAMA WARNS
DON’T MAKE A SOUND--!

GRAMMA USED TO LOVE
MY COLORED PENCILS.
MY PILE, SHE’D SAY, IS
ONE BIG RAINBOW HUE.

I MISS MY GRAMMA
I WANT MY--

HATTIE
(Screams from OFF.)
Sybil!

(A shock of thunder! YOUNG SYBIL looks out,
terrified and the stage goes BLACK. The SOUND
of rain. A phone is heard RINGING. A LIGHT hits
a phone on a table.

DOCTOR WILBUR APPEARS and picks up the phone.)
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DOCTOR WILBUR
Hello?

(SYBIL appears, hair wet.)

SYBIL
(Into the phone.)
Doctor Wilbur? Do you--is--Oh, Doctor Wilbur..

DOCTOR WILBUR
Sybil? Sybil, where are you? You missed your appointment. I was
worried.

SYBIL
I’m calling...I’m in a phone booth.

DOCTOR WILBUR
A phone booth? Where?

SYBIL
It happened again, Doctor Wilbur. I’m so sorry. I’m so ashamed.

DOCTOR WILBUR
Sybil?

SYBIL
It’s raining. I’m so cold...

DOCTOR WILBUR
Raining? What do you mean? It’s perfectly dry--. Oh. Oh. Sybil?
Sybil. Are you still in New York?

SYBIL
(Breaking down.)
I don’t know! I don’t know!

DOCTOR WILBUR
Please, Sybil. Try to relax...

WHERE ARE YOU?
YOU HAVE TO THINK.
JUST TRY TO CATCH
YOUR BREATH..
PLEASE DON’T DISSOLVE IN
PANIC.
KEEP CALM OR CATCH
YOUR DEATH..
5

SYBIL
I always promise myself it won’t happen again! How many times have
I started over?

DOCTOR WILBUR
Then perhaps stop trying, dear-girl. Why start over? Why not go on
from where you are?

SYBIL
(Letting the sobs come.)
But I never know where I am...

WHERE AM I?
HOW DO I COPE
WITH WHAT’S HAPPENING
INSIDE?
IF YOU DON’T KNOW
WHERE YOU ARE
THAT MAKES IT VERY HARD
TO HIDE.
AND I REALLY WANT TO HIDE.

BECAUSE
PLACES COME
THEN PLACES GO,
THEN COME,
THEN GO AWAY..
I’M IN A PARK
THEN I’M ON A BUS
THEN I’M AT A
MATINEE!
WHERE’S MY DAY?
WHERE DID IT FLY?
WHERE AM I?

What day is it? What is today?

DOCTOR WILBUR
(After a pause.)
Its Saturday, Sybil. February Fifth.
(SYBIL reacts, tries to hold back sobs.)
Sybil..?

SYBIL
Five days! I’ve lost five days.
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SYBIL
WHERE AM I?
WHEN DID I COME?
QUESTIONS TIME NOW WON’T
ALLOW.
AND YET, NOW I MUST REMEMBER!
BUT I‘VE NEVER FATHOMED ‘NOW’.
PLEASE DOCTOR--SHOW ME HOW!

CAUSE IT
SNEAKS AWAY
AND SNEAKS AWAY
THEN SNEAKS AWAY
AGAIN.
IT’S EIGHT O’CLOCK--
BUT WHERE’S NINE O’CLOCK?
BECAUSE SUDDENLY
IT’S TEN!
WHERE‘S MY WHEN?
WHERE DID IT FLY?
WHERE AM I?

DOCTOR WILBUR
Sybil. Do you see anything that might identify your surroundings?
A building? A street sign?

SYBIL
It’s raining too hard, I can’t—wait. Wait. Lombard Street. I see
a sign for Lombard Street.

DOCTOR WILBUR
Good. Now. You’ve been away for a number of days. Check to see if
you have key. Do you have a purse with you?

SYBIL
(Shakes her head.)
No. No.
(Reaches into a pocket pulls out a key.)
Yes! A key. To the Broadwood Hotel. On Broad Street. I have a key!

DOCTOR WILBUR
(Sighs.)
Okay. Good. You’re in Philadelphia. Sybil, go back to the
Broadwood. Keep walking up Lombard, it’s on the corner. Stay there.
I'll be on the next train. Okay? Sybil? Dear-girl?
7

SYBIL
Yes. I’m so sorry. Thank you, Doctor Wilbur. Thank you...
(SYBIL hangs up and DOCTOR WILBUR sits
in an armchair, worried.)
WHERE AM I?
WHERE DO I GO
WHEN THE VOICES
TAKE CONTROL..?

(LIGHTS dim on SYBIL, stay on DOCTOR
WILBUR.)

(Immediately:)
8

ACT ONE, Scene Two.
1945. DOCTOR WILBUR'S OFFICE.

DOCTOR WILBUR
(Rising from her chair.)
I first met and treated Sybil Dorsett in Omaha, Nebraska. In the
summer of 1945.

(LIGHTS back on SYBIL.)

SYBIL
My mother says a lady doctor is un-Christian.

DOCTOR WILBUR
Does she? Do you feel that way?

SYBIL
(Shrugs.)
There's a war on.

DOCTOR WILBUR
(SHE studies SYBIL a moment.)
You know that this is a safe room, Sybil. Everything is secret here.
Everything. You can trust me.
(SYBIL almost looks confused.)
You're twenty-two. An artist.
(SYBIL nods.)
You were forced to drop out of the teaching college you attend due
to a quote, unquote, nervous condition?

SYBIL
(Gazing downward.)
Yes. I'm sorry.

DOCTOR WILBUR.
(Smiles.)
That's nothing to be ashamed of, dear-girl.
(SYBIL regards HER.)
Can you explain to me what happened?

SYBIL
(Stares at HER. Then.)
I was...nervous...agitated. I couldn't concentrate. A lot of the
time. Worry. Panic. I was...the school nurse, Mrs. Updyke, she sent
me to a neurologist. At the Mayo Clinic.
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DOCTOR WILBUR
Who found everything to be fine.

SYBIL
But it wasn't. I kept getting worse. The college sent me home and
told me not to return. Until I received help.

DOCTOR WILBUR
You have an IQ of 170.
(SYBIL doesn't respond. Pause.)
How has it been since you returned home? With your mother and father?
(SYBIL shrugs.)
Sybil?

SYBIL
They look at me. They're ashamed.

DOCTOR WILBUR
What makes you believe that they are ashamed?

SYBIL
They stare with...with grey faces. Grey faces mixed with brown...

DOCTOR WILBUR
Grey faces? Well, I'm sure they're just concerned.

SYBIL
No. Well, yes--I'm just...I'm an only child. Mother loves me, she
does. She and father are good to me. They worry about me. Everybody
worries about me. I'm not at all well.

DOCTOR WILBUR
At all?

SYBIL
But then I'm told I'm very healthy. Ever since I was a little girl.
I've been sick but...not sick.

DOCTOR WILBUR
I see. Why do you think you would be told you are fine if you were
not?

SYBIL
I don't know. It's confusing. Yet, still...

DOCTOR WILBUR
Still?