Us Against AIDS

by Mary Alice Mark

copyright Mary Alice Mark

Cast of Characters

GRACE: A high school student.

JAN: A high school student.

VINCE: A high school student.

BOB: A high school student.

   SETTING: A high school auditorium.

   TIME: The present.

   AT RISE: The cast enters, carrying cardboard boxes containing props.

BOB: All of this started in Africa-.

VINCE: -Hate -!

GRACE: -And was spread around by promiscuous gay men-.

JAN: -Hate-!

VINCE: -There's no cure! No cure-!

BOB: -I'm so angry-.

GRACE: -And prostitutes-.

JAN: -Hate-!

VINCE: -And junkies-.

BOB: -Hate-!

JAN: -Women will carry the burden of AIDS-.

VINCE: -Hate-!

GRACE: -Like we carry the burden of birth control.

JAN:: I'm so angry!

VINCE: There's no more natural sex.

BOB: I'm so angry!

VINCE: Hate. . . . Hate! Hate!! I'm so angry . . !

GRACE: . . . Why are we doing this?

BOB: It's important.

VINCE: Why us?

GRACE: Obviously our reports were the best.

VINCE: Are we just going to read our reports?

JAN: To an auditorium full of classmates?

and state the facts.

GRACE: I don't understand why an AIDS presentation needs to be

done at all. The information is readily available. We

found it for our papers.

JAN: You're stupid!

GRACE: You're ugly!

VINCE: Ladies! Ladies!

BOB: There's a lot of tension in here, come on let's blow it

away!

GRACE: Oh, come off it!

VINCE: Are we mistaken, or is AIDS important?

GRACE: It's important.

BOB: Then, take a deep breath. . . . Good. Now blow out the

tension in your mind. Good, good. Like blowing out the

candles on a birthday cake.

GRACE: That feels better.

BOB: Good. Once more, a deep breath. . . . Now, blow out the

tension in your body.

VINCE: We got all the candles!

BOB: Good.

JAN: We're going to need ground rules to talk about talking about

this.

VINCE: Let's use the ones we used in gym.

(GRACE pulls a poster out of one of the boxes, shows everyone, and points to each item as VINCE reads it.)

VINCE: Number one: Be honest.

BOB: Do we all know what that means?

(Ad lib responses.)

VINCE: Two: No judgements.

BOB: That's where you've gone wrong.

JAN: Grace, I'm sorry.

GRACE: Me too.

VINCE: Three: Don't censor what you want to say. AIDS is a very

emotional issue and we can't deal with our feelings about it

if we can't if we can't be honest about our feelings.

GRACE: What does this have to do with our presentation?

BOB: Everything. How can we talk to the whole school about it,

if we can't even talk to each other.

GRACE: I see.

VINCE: That brings us to confidentiality. What is said between

us, stays between us.

JAN: Then, what can we say to the other students?

GRACE: Why do we have to talk about AIDS? There are so many

beautiful things-

BOB: -It's a big ugly shadow, lurking, tempting. Drugs, sex and

death-

VINCE: -My family would be very upset, if they knew I was going

to talk to other kids, openly, about sex-.

GRACE: -I'm scared even to be around someone who has AIDS!

BOB: What must life be like, if you catch it?

(Pause.)

GRACE: I'm so scared.

VINCE: That's quite natural.

BOB: AIDS is frightening.

JAN: We all have fears.

VINCE: That's why we've been studying about it.

JAN: And that's why we must share what we know. . . .

GRACE: . . . Confidentiality?

VINCE: Confidentiality. You can address a topic without naming

the speaker.

JAN: For instance-?

VINCE: For instance, "Someone at our meeting said they went for

testing.

BOB: Not, "Bob said he went for testing."

VINCE: Thank you. Four: Use "I" statements.

GRACE: I feel really bad when you treat me as though I were totally insensitive, because I care about this too and I want to help somehow-.

JAN: Wow! What a great I statement.

VINCE: Five: It's okay to pass.

JAN: You don't have to say anything, if you don't want to.

BOB: There's nothing to say about that.

VINCE: Six: Use language you're comfortable with.

GRACE: I'm afraid to use the word, condom. Someone might think

I'm interested in sex. Or, pushing other kids to be active

sexually.

JAN: We'll let Bob talk about latex condoms.

BOB: Did you know that over twenty-five percent of the people

with AIDS are in their twenties?

VINCE: They were probably infected while they were still teens.

GRACE: Of course we know-!

BOB: -Does everybody know?

VINCE: I don't think so.

JAN: That's our job. Which brings us back to the problem of how

to present the information. (JAN searches through one of the

boxes and finds some condoms.)

VINCE: Ms. _______ said we would probably not be allowed to

mention specific bodily parts.

JAN: Then, what are we supposed to say about these?

GRACE: Oh! Jan, put them away! You're going to give innocent

children evil ideas!

JAN: Over half of our teenagers have had a least one sexual

experience by the time they were seventeen-

BOB: -It's closer to eighty percent by the time they're twenty.

VINCE: Our own bodies give us the ideas, Grace.

BOB: We just want to be sure that everyone knows how to stay as safe as possible.

GRACE: What happened to virginity?

JAN: It's a very good choice. A person who doesn't engage in

sexual activity, or use intravenous drugs, would have a very

difficult time catching AIDS-

VINCE:-The HIV virus can't live outside of the human body, and

dies very quickly when exposed to light and air.

GRACE: I would no more stick a needle into these arms, than I

would- . . . -then I would- . . . -would-!

VINCE: -Well, I'm certainly not trying to change your mind.

BOB: Me neither.

JAN: Grace, it's not pleasant-.

VINCE: -Talking about it, does sound like we accept it-.

BOB: -But people use "I" "V" drugs, whether we accept it, or not.

VINCE: And they need to know the risk they run, sharing needles.

JAN: I've been studying this aspect of the AIDS epidemic - . . .

-Junkies. They scare me . . !

VINCE: It's easy to identify some group of people-.

GRACE: -Like those whose names begin with, G-.

VINCE: -And, blaming them, pretend we've solved the problem.

BOB: Well-.

GRACE: -This is supposed to be the most wonderful, romantic time of our lives. Dresses, and dances, and handsome, young men!

JAN: Going to the dance Friday night?

GRACE: Yes, of course.

JAN: With whom?

GRACE: Roger Mendelson!

BOB: And he's not going to suggest some convenient spot to stop-

GRACE: -Don't be ridiculous! If he's very, very attentive, dances

beautifully, and brings me lovely flowers: perhaps, one

kiss, right here. (Touches her cheek.) That's safe, isn't

it?

JAN: Yes, that's safe, and very wise.

GRACE: You know what it's like.

VINCE: Role play!

(VINCE pulls a chair up and sits next to GRACE. They are in a car, on their way home after a date.)

VINCE: SO, did you have a nice time?

GRACE: Oh, yes, it was a lovely evening.

VINCE: You look great.