LOCKING THE STORE
From Poorly Wrapped
Clark is a young man in his late teens or twenties. He is the sales clerk at a gift shop on a small isolated island. Grace, a beautiful customer, has convinced him to give her a free disposable camera, and to wrap it with a roll of wrapping paper from his store. He is smitten with her, beyond rational thought, and does what she asks. He has been wrapping the camera for her, but has been distracted by her beauty. He insists that needs to close out the rest of the world so they can focus on each other.
DETAILS:
Genre: DARK COMEDY/DRAMA
Cast: MALE
Setting: GIFT SHOP
Age range: 13-30 years old
Running time: Around 1.5 minutes
From the play, POORLY WRAPPED
EXCERPT
CLARK
Grace, you’re so beautiful. Maybe I should…look, it’s almost five. I think maybe I’ll just turn that sign over. Turn it over to say we’re closed. Lock the door, maybe? Would that be alright with you? If I did that? I mean, just so we could make sure our time wasn’t interrupted. You’re so beautiful that I just couldn’t, I just really wouldn’t want it to be interrupted. You know? I mean, if someone walked through that door right now, I just, I just don’t know what I’d do. What I’d be able to do. I just…
(moves to door)
I’m going to lock it. To say we’re closed. No one will come here anyway. No one should. No one on this island stays out past 4:00. I’m mean, we’re out. But that’s us. We’re different than all of them, aren’t we? We’re the two people who are different, and I’m going to keep the rest of them out.—END OF EXCERPT
Click below for the monologue, LOCKING THE STORE.
To learn more about Clark and Grace, and to read the entire play, Poorly Wrapped, from which this monologue comes, click below:
When a beautiful woman walks into a local gift shop on a small island, Clark, the sales clerk, is instantly smitten with her. Under this woman’s “guidance,” he goes to extreme lengths to make sure she is satisfied with her purchase. Yet as her demands increase, Clark is torn between his duty to the shop and his growing lust of this stranger.
-This is a dark comedy play with a running time of approximately 20-25 minutes, for 1 male and 1 female, with a minimal set.