How many times have I reached out to you?

Drama scene from one-act eplay Last-ditch Effort, siblings chat at their father’s wake, after not seeing one another for quite some time.

Featured Scene – Last-ditch Effort

CINDY: I won’t tell a soul.

MARTIN: Please, don’t. Rebecca will claw my eyes out if she knows I told you.

CINDY: Why?

MARTIN: She’s private.

CINDY: I’m your sister, I’m not some —

MARTIN: It’s a sensitive matter.

CINDY: Yeah, but, it’s okay for you to tell me.

MARTIN: Cindy, I did tell you.

CINDY: She shouldn’t be so hard, like I’m some kind of poison.

MARTIN: No one is saying that.

CINDY: I have a right to know.

MARTIN: I didn’t, I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad.

CINDY: She’s always trying to keep us apart.

MARTIN: Is she?

CINDY: That’s why we don’t talk anymore.

MARTIN: You’re blaming Rebecca for that?

CINDY: Yeah.

MARTIN: She has nothing to do with you and me.

CINDY: Ever since you —

MARTIN: You don’t return my calls. How many times have I reached out to you?

CINDY: I don’t get the messages.

MARTIN: Cause you don’t care to check your phone I’m sure.

CINDY: So blame me, if it makes you feel better.

MARTIN: It doesn’t, it’s just the truth.

CINDY: I want to smoke a cigar.

MARTIN: Go. Smoke a cigar.

CINDY: Cause you put it on me, cause it’s your way of, of not being nice to me, after we haven’t seen one another in such a long time and all and, and —

MARTIN: Cindy, please, you’re working yourself up for no reason.

CINDY: Always critical of everything I do or say. I might as well not exist.

MARTIN: Don’t embarrass us in front of our family. They can hear you. Lower your voice.

CINDY: I want to be heard. I deserve to be heard. Tired of being put on mute for everyone else’s happiness.

MARTIN: Get me a cigar, too.

CINDY: You want one?

MARTIN: I’ll take one.

CINDY: Which one?

MARTIN: Get me whichever one you get, here.

MARTIN pulls out money.

I’ll treat us. Grab one for both of us.

CINDY: I’m smoking mine now.

MARTIN: That’s fine.

CINDY: I might not come back, or I might come back.

MARTIN: You told me.

CINDY: And if I don’t come back, I don’t want to hear about it from you cause I have a right to be my own person on my own terms without you influencing me or telling me what I can or cannot do. I’m a grown woman and can make my own choices. I’ve worked hard for my own free will, and not you or anybody can stop my own choices. Understand?

MARTIN: Cindy, get the f’cking cigars.

CINDY: F’ck off.

MARTIN: Cindy…Cindy.

CINDY: What?

MARTIN If you don’t come back…

MARTIN hugs his sister and kisses her on her forehead.

Be safe and…

CINDY: Yeah.

CINDY breaks off and walks away.

MARTIN smiles as he watches his sister.

CINDY exits offstage right.

MARTIN enters the funeral parlor room.

• To read the full ePlay Last-ditch Effort, find purchase button below:

Scene Summary

In the one act eplay Last-ditch Effort, Cindy is thinking about leaving her father’s wake when she sees her brother Martin and the talk out some of their issues. 

• Genre: Drama
• Length: ~5-minute scene
• Characters: 1 woman, 1 man
• Themes: family, siblings
• Best For: drama scenes for actors

FAQ

Related Scenes

• What is the moral of the story? – drama scene
• Don’t you owe thousands in tickets? – drama scene
• I feel more alive today than yesterday. – drama scene
• You’d be too busy selling everything to survive. – drama scene
• Communication doesn’t always take place through words. – drama scene

Scene Source: Last-ditch Effort

Last-ditch Effort is a dramatic play by Joseph Arnone, 2025.