THE BEST GENERAL TSO’S
By Tara Meddaugh
Larissa finds a container of leftover General Tso’s chicken in the refrigerator from the last time she and her husband ventured to a restaurant, at the beginning of the covid-19 global pandemic. She discovers the chicken is now moldy and confronts her husband about how they can never have this meal from the restaurant again; it is now permanently closed.
DETAILS
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Cast: Female (male)
Age range: 20s-50s, older teens
Running time: Approximately 1.5 minutes
Setting: A kitchen
Time period: Spring 2020 during global pandemic stay-at-home measures
MONOLOGUE EXCERPT
LARISSA
Babe—look at…look at what I found…It’s… It’s General Tso’s chicken! It was way in the back, behind the melon and those giant bags of nuts. They were blocking the leftovers. This is from…March…it was a Saturday…let me look at the calendar. March 14…I know it was then because it was a week before the lockdown but we already had, like, 500 cases in the county, so I was really nervous going to a restaurant and I was like, “This is the last time we’re going out.”
(pause)
And now…Babe, the chicken is all moldy. Look…The broccoli too. You don’t wanna see?
(pause)
We could have eaten this if that bag of almonds wasn’t blocking it! Why do you keep buying almonds? No one is eating them!
(pause)
And no, Babe, we can’t just order take-out—END OF EXCERPT
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