In one-act drama play, “Distant Memory” Jessica is reaching her limits with being quarantined during a pandemic and Brian tries to calm her.

BRIAN: We can’t go out right now.

JESSICA: We can go for a walk.

BRIAN: Do you understand the meaning of quarantine? Of lockdown? SHELTER IN PLACE?

JESSICA: I can’t take this apartment anymore. We should have moved.

Loud ominous sounds are heard outside, Brian moves toward the window.

BRIAN: They are disinfecting the streets…

JESSICA: Good! I should go outside and breathe it all in so I can die.

BRIAN: You talk stupid.

JESSICA: They have us trapped! It’s a conspiracy, a social experiment, they want to see how we react to all of this. Can’t you see –

BRIAN: Jessica, are you losing your mind?

JESSICA: They want to bring us all down, they want to kill us off –

BRIAN: Who is they? Nobody wants to deliberately hurt us. This is a global crisis. (beat) Do you understand?

JESSICA: You don’t understand anything!

BRIAN: Stop shouting, the neighbors. They’ve been listening to everything.

JESSICA: I don’t give a damn! You can stay here, believe what you wish, but I’m leaving. I’m going outside.

BRIAN: No, you’re not.

JESSICA: How long before they finish spraying us all to death?

BRIAN: I have no idea.

JESSICA: I’m sick of what we are eating!

BRIAN: …I told you we needed to get more food.

JESSICA: I ordered a delivery online, and all we got was a bag of rice.

BRIAN: That’s not my fault.

JESSICA: I didn’t say it was.

BRIAN: I wanted to go out for food once I saw how they shorted us on delivery.

JESSICA: And I didn’t want to go to the store and catch this virus!

BRIAN: Okay, listen, you need to calm yourself down. I don’t want to keep asking you, CALM DOWN.

JESSICA: This is bullsh’t. This was supposed to be a good time in our lives. We had so many things planned, our wedding and now I don’t even know what is going to happen.

BRIAN: What’s going to happen is that this will all be a distant memory in the oncoming months. Once things reach their peak, there will be fewer infections being spread, and we can all slowly get back to living our everyday lives.

JESSICA: My job will only pay me for two weeks; after that, I’m screwed. I had everything going for me, I saved for months! It took me forever to save for our wedding. I wanted it to be special, with just our close ones around us. I never asked for anything in my life to go right. I’ve never expected anything to go right, but I thought, what the hell could go wrong if I planned for so long, if I’d just put my head down and worked for a year, maybe after it all, just maybe after it all, I could have just one day. Just one day.

BRIAN: I’ll take care of us.

JESSICA: Do you know how that makes me feel? I don’t want to rely on a man.

BRIAN: Please, don’t start all that.

JESSICA: Fine, but I don’t like my independence being taken away from me.

BRIAN: Nobody does.

JESSICA: What am I going to do, Brian? If they fire me, then what? I’m not going to be able to get a job if there’s a recession.

BRIAN: You have a brilliant track record.

JESSICA: Doesn’t matter. It took me two years to finally land the job I have now.

BRIAN: Stop thinking the worst all the time.

JESSICA: I’m not thinking the worst. I’m thinking logically.

• To read the full one-act ePlay, find purchase link below:

In this one-act eplay, Brian and Jessica are trapped inside their home for months during a global pandemic.  1 Woman, 2 Men.  Drama.

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