Genius

A one act play for 11 students to perform in class.

Cast

Except for Linda and Frankie, the names and gender of the cast can be changed without affecting the plot

1. Linda
2. Jenny
3. Apple
4. Joy
5. Bull
6. Frankie
7. Joan
8. Daniel
9. Jacky
10. Teacher
11. Sherman

Scene

On the grounds of a university campus

Props

A couple of bench seats. A basketball

Sound Effects

Supplied off stage as appropriate

Conventions

Full caps text is SHOUTED; italicised text is spoken with emphasis

Curtain rises Linda is sitting on a bench holding her head in her hands. The Teacher comes on stage and walks over to the bench.

TEACHER: Hello Linda. What’s the matter with you; you look worried?

LINDA: Nothing. Nothing’s the matter.

TEACHER: Nothing? You don’t look like that, if nothing’s the matter.

LINDA: It’s nothing really. I just got the results of the IQ test.

TEACHER: That’s great. So, what’s the problem?

LINDA: It’s the results.

TEACHER: Surely, they can’t be that bad. You’re a very bright student so; you should have done well.

LINDA: That’s the problem; I did too well!

TEACHERS: Now, now. Nobody does too well in an IQ test.

LINDA: Well I did. They tell me I’m a genius.

TEACHER: That’s wonderful. I always knew you were smart.

LINDA: But that’s the problem. Nobody likes smart people and I’ll lose all my friends when they find out.

TEACHER: Come now; it’s not as bad as that. People admire people with brains.

(The Teacher sits down on the bench)

LINDA: That’s alright for you to say, but none of my friends like to be shown up.

TEACHER: Who’s going to show them up? It’s not your fault if you get better grades than they do.

LINDA: That’s not what I mean. My boyfriend will hate it if I’m smarter than he is.

TEACHER: Then he’s not much of a boyfriend. You’d be better off without him if that’s what he thinks.

LINDA: No, you don’t understand.

TEACHER: Well, if you’re the smart one then, I guess, you’ll have to work out a way to deal with that.

LINDA: Thanks for nothing.

(The teacher gets up from the bench)

TEACHER: You are what you are Linda. You have the gift of brains; don’t waste it; just make the best use of it that you can.

LINDA: Sorry. Thanks, I’ll try.

(The teacher leaves the stage as Jenny enters from the opposite side)

JENNY: Hi Linda. What’s the go? I saw you having a chat with Teach.

LINDA: Oh! It’s nothing. We were just chatting.

JENNY: I got the results of my IQ test. I did OK; above average. How did you go?

LINDA: OK, I guess.

JENNY: What do you mean; OK? I thought you’d do well.

LINDA: Yeah. I did OK.

(Jenny sits down on the bench)

JENNY: Come on; out with it. What were your results?

LINDA: If I tell you, you promise you won’t tell anyone else?

JENNY: They can’t be that bad?

LINDA: You promise?

JENNY: Yeah. OK, I promise.

LINDA: I’m a genius according to that stupid test.

JENNY: A GENIUS! You got to be kidding?

LINDA: Not so loud; I don’t want anyone to know.

JENNY: But that’s great – isn’t it?

LINDA: No it’s not. If Frankie knows I’m a genius he won’t want to have anything to do with me.

JENNY: That’s crazy. He may not be the smartest guy in the world but he’s great at basketball.

LINDA: Yeah. I love to watch him play.

JENNY: So, what are you going to do?

LINDA: Ah; that’s the problem, isn’t it, “To be or not to be?”

JENNY: Well, you had better go and study Shakespeare and see what his answer is.

(Linda gets up from the bench and starts to walk away)

LINDA: Anyway; I got to go. Promise me you won’t tell anyone.

JENNY: Yeah. I’ve already given you my promise. Don’t worry; it’ll work out OK.

(Linda leaves the stage as Apple, Joy and Bull enter from the opposite side)

APPLE: Hey, There’s Jenny over there.

BULL: Hi Jenny, can we join you?

JENNY: Yeah, sure. Plenty of room here.

JOY: We got our results of the IQ test. We all did pretty good.

JENNY: What’s that mean?

APPLE: We all got a good average. How did you go?

JENNY: Don’t be sticky.

BULL: Aw, come on! It can’t be that much of a secret.

JOY: I bet she didn’t do any good and that’s why she won’t tell us.

JENNY: As a matter of fact, I got above average.

APPLE: There you are; I knew Jenny was a bit of a smartypants.

JENNY: I am not. I can’t help it if I’ve got more brains than you lot.

BULL: Looks like we got a genius amongst us.

JENNY: What? How did you know?

BULL: Well, above average must be pretty close to genius?

JENNY: Oh! Is that what you meant?

APPLE: Why? What did you think we meant?

JENNY: Oh, nothing.

JOY: Oh, no. I don’t think it’s nothing. Something’s going on.

BULL: What are you hiding Jenny? What do you know that we don’t?

JENNY: It’s nothing.

APPLE: Come on! Something’s going on; what is it?

JENNY: I can’t tell you. I made a promise.

JOY: A promise to who?

JENNY: I can’t tell you. That’s the promise.

BULL: If you can’t tell us who; you surely can tell us what?

JENNY: I’m not sure if I should.

APPLE: Come on Jenny. Don’t be coy. We promise not to tell anyone. Trust us!

JENNY: You promise?

BULL: Yeah. We promise.

JENNY: Well, we do have a real, live, genuine genius among us at the Uni.

JOY: Wow! That’s great. Who is it?

JENNY: I can’t tell you that.

APPLE: I bet it’s Linda.

BULL: Yeah, It has to be Linda. She’s always top of the class.

JOY: I don’t know it’s her. She’s pretty dumb in a lot of ways. She never dresses very good and she’s going around with Frankie.

JENNY: And what’s wrong with Frankie? He’s a good basketballer.

JOY: But that’s about all.

BULL: So it is Linda?

JENNY: I’m not saying that. I didn’t say it was her.

APPLE: OK. OK. Don’t get hot under the collar.

(Jenny gets up from the bench)

JENNY: Anyway, I got to go. I’ll leave it with you guys to worry about who it is.

(Jenny leaves the stage)

BULL: What’s going to happen to Linda now if she really is a genius?

APPLE: They’ll probably pack her off to one of those special schools where they just teach geniuses

JOY: I don’t think she’ll like that very much.

BULL: Maybe not but, a genius does what a genius must.

APPLE: Here come Joan and Daniel. Shall we tell them?

JOY: Why not? This could be a bit of fun.

(Joan and Daniel enter the stage and stand next to the other three who are sitting on the bench)

JOAN: Hi guys. What’s the latest?

JOY: We just found out we have a genius on campus.

DANIEL: Well, congratulations are in order then. I’ll accept them humbly!

APPLE: Stop kidding us! The day you get described as a genius is the day I run around the campus naked!

DANIEL: Well, you better start stripping right now cause you’re looking at a certified genius.

BULL: That’s the biggest bit of bull I’ve heard in a long time.

JOAN: Spoken like a true bull artist.

JOY: So, what makes you a genius? If you are, you’ve made sure its been well hidden.

DANIEL: That’s what makes me smarter than you guys. I don’t want to be labelled a smart-arse so, I travel incognito.

APPLE: Boy; look at this, he’s taken to using big words.

BULL: He probably doesn’t even know what it means.

DANIEL: That’s one of my problems, I sometimes have trouble hiding my genius and it just slips out.

JOAN: Yeah, that can be a big problem!

BULL: OK genius; tell us how many other geniuses we have on campus?

DANIEL: That’s not for me to say. We geniuses have ways of communicating that are beyond the realm of ordinary people.

JOAN: He must be talking about telepathy.

BULL: I’ve never heard so much bull in one day!

DANIEL: How I pity yea of such small intellect.

JOY: Oh, how I pity yea of such swollen ego.

DANIEL: Tis not ego my friend; it is the gift that nature has endowed upon but a few.

JOAN: Hey Daniel; come down off that pedestal before you fall down and hurt yourself.

APPLE: How long has he been like this? I hope it’s nothing serious.

DANIEL: Don’t joke about the higher levels of intellect that we, of above average IQ, are endowed with.

JOY: What? You’re only above average? Half the campus is above average. Jenny’s above average.

DANIEL: Ah. A kindred spirit; I must find her and communicate.

(Daniel ups and leaves the group)

BULL: Boy oh boy. Has that gone to his head?

JOAN: He’s been like that since yesterday when he got the IQ results.

APPLE: He probably got the shock of his life when he found out.

JOY: He probably just made a few lucky guesses and got himself a score way above what it ought to have been.

JOAN: Yeah. You could be right; he’s never been all that bright.

(Frankie and Jacky enter the stage throwing a basketball between them and bouncing it.)

JACKY: We just passed Daniel. What’s up with him?

BULL: He thinks he’s a genius because he got lucky with the IQ test.

FRANKIE: I didn’t have much trouble with it. If it was too hard I just left it blank.

JOY: Now there’s the sign of a genius. Why damage your brain trying to work out insoluble problems?

APPLE: (Turning to Frankie) How’s Linda today, Frankie?

FRANKIE: I haven’t seen her yet. I’ve been practising basketball.

JOAN: What about you Jacky; what’ve you been up to?

JACKY: I was practising with Frankie.

BULL: How did you go in the IQ Test?

JACKY: Haven’t a clue. I didn’t bother to check the results.

JOY: Why? Didn’t you expect to do any good?

JACKY: No; it’s not that. They’re just a waste of time.

APPLE: No they’re not. They tell you how clever you are.

FRANKIE: So, who wants to be clever? Life’s all about doing what you like doing and having fun.

JACKY: Yeah; that’s right. If you don’t like doing what you’re doing; why in the hell are you doing it?

BULL: That’s a pretty stupid attitude.

JACKY: That’s not stupid; that’s being smart.

JOAN: You two are going to go a long way in life with that attitude.

JACKY: Yeah; that’s what I reckon. And we’re going to have a lot of fun doing it.

JOY: That’s alright while you’re at Uni but, what’s going to happen when you get out into the real world?

FRANKIE: Not a problem. I’ve already got a contract with a pro basketball team.

BULL: You have?

FRANKIE: Sure have. It’s a 3 year deal to start and, by then, I’ll be up there with Michael Jordan.

JOAN: Boy; have you got some big ideas!

JACKY: If you’re going to get anywhere, you’ve got to aim for the stars.

BULL: Gee, Frankie, I didn’t know you were that good.

FRANKIE: Well, we’ve all got to do what we’re good at. We all have gifts so; we’ve just got to make the best use of what we’re given.

JOY: Since when have you gone into philosophy?

JACKY: That’s not philosophy; that’s just plain common sense.

JOAN: (Speaking to Frankie) What are you going to do about Linda if you go trooping off to basketball for 3 years?

FRANKIE: That’s for me and Linda to work out. She’s a pretty smart lass, and besides, we both have plenty of time to work out what we want.

BULL: We think she got a very high IQ score; she’s probably in the genius class.

FRANKIE: Wow! Is that right? That’s great.

JOAN: Doesn’t it worry you that she might be very clever?

FRANKIE: Why should it?

JOAN: Well……because …….

FRANKIE: It’s always good when you know someone who knows more than you; that way you can learn things.

JOY: You’re really into this philosophy kick; eh Frankie?

FRANKIE: I don’t know what you mean. I don’t know anything about philosophy; it’s just what I think.

JACKY: That’s the trouble with you guys; you don’t know anything about common sense.

BULL: What’s philosophy got to do with common sense?

JACKY: Don’t you mean, what’s common sense got to do with philosophy?

JOAN: Nothing, as far as I know.

JACKY: Well, there you are; a fine example of a negative IQ if ever I saw one!

JOY: Here come Linda and Jenny. See what they’ve got to say.

(Linda and Jenny enter the stage)

JACKY: Hi Linda; hi Jenny; we’ve got a problem here.

LINDA: (Ignoring Jacky and turning to Frankie) Hi Frankie; you’ve been practising, I see.

FRANKIE: Sure have. I was just on my way to see you.

LINDA: Oh; were you?

FRANKIE: Yep; sure was. Just wanted to say congratulations; they tell me you did very well in the IQ test.

LINDA: Oh! Who told you? (Turning to glare at Jenny)

JENNY: I never said a word; I swear.

FRANKIE: What’s wrong with that? I think it’s great. I wish I had a brain like yours.

LINDA: (Turning to Frankie) You don’t mind?

FRANKIE: No; why would I?

LINDA: That’s wonderful. I didn’t know if you would still like me.

FRANKIE: That’s crazy; I’ll always like you just the way you are.

(Linda rushes up to Frankie and puts her arms around him)

JACKY: I think we’ve got a bad case of true love here; let’s get out of it and leave them to it.

(Everybody leaves the stage except Linda and Frankie who remain there with their arms around each other.)

THE END