Page Title

Attic

Here is the opening of my one-act play, Attic, which won the Kennedy Center/ACTF Region IV Short Play
Competition in 2004. For a full copy of this play, please contact Original Works Publishing via www.
originalworksonline.com (Under One-Act Plays), or see my anthology The Twisted Mind of Daniel Guyton
(Poetry and Plays in the Dark Comedy Vein). Above is a video of the production that I took at the University
of Georgia. :O) Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the show!

ATTIC

A Play in One Act
by Daniel Guyton
©2002

----------------------------

WILLIAM
NARRATOR
DEIDRE/CONSCIENCE
FATHER
DOCTOR

(Lights up on the NARRATOR, center-stage and silent.

Behind him

is a

giant

mirror.

The lights

are dim and

somber, and shadows

dance upon

his face. He

moves

downstage slowly, and

addresses

the audience in

low

and somber

voice)

NARRATOR

I was standing over there a second ago.

(Small pause)

Now I’m standing over here.

(He crosses stage right)

I figure if I keep moving, you’ll never see my face. I mean, really see it. Because you can’t see a face
unless you stare forever. And even then, it always disappears. A stubble in the chin, a beam or sparkle in
the eye. I stared for hours once, inside my room, at the mirror on my wall. And my ugly face just stared right
back. I couldn’t see a thing. I wonder if it has a point, you know? Staring at a mirror.

(The mirror cracks in half, and the two sides slowly separate)

Can’t see the WORLD AROUND ME, but when I stare into my eyes, I feel like Nostradamus.

(He snorts, disdainfully)

Read between the lines! I’ve got… wrinkles on my forehead. And bags beneath my eyes. The world is
different from tomorrow. It… seemed… better yesterday. I’ve never swallowed from the gut before. But, my
throat… just couldn’t close.

(He breathes heavily. He stops.)

I hope you like my play.

(He crosses into darkness, stage right, as the mirror completes its separation.

Behind the

mirror

is an attic, highly cluttered, with a mattress on the floor, a tiny

window at the back, and a

single door

stage left. All sorts of boxes, objects,

Christmas trees, skis, etc. clutter up the

space. It is the home

of the forgotten