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
 * Joy
 * 1) Bull
 * 2) Frankie
 * 3) Joan
 * 4) Daniel
 * 5) Jacky
 * 6) Teacher
 * 7) 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