A Short Play

Cast of Characters 

Andrea: A worker ant

Andy: A worker ant

Ansley: A worker ant

Little Girl’s Voice: Voice-over of a female child.

Mother’s Voice: Voice-over of a female adult.

Scene

A picnic in a park.

Time

Summer.

SETTING: A picnic from an ant’s perspective.

AT RISE: ANDREA and ANDY delightfully munch on a giant strawberry, as ANSLEY nervously paces the red and white checkered picnic blanket.

ANDREA

Awh, this is the life!  Fresh air.  Fresh fruit.

ANDY

No queen to report to.

ANDREA

No line to follow.

ANDY

No work to do.  Does it get any better than this?

ANDREA

We should do this more often.  You know, I can’t remember the last time we were all together away from the colony.

ANSLEY

I can.  My aunt Anita got squished.

ANDY

I’m sure we’ve snuck away from the trail since then.

ANSLEY

She bit into a cheese cube and then bit the dust.

ANDREA

Well, you certainly know how to ruin a perfect picnic.

ANSLEY

It’s only a matter of moments before they see us.  Or just as bad, they don’t see us. Remember when Annette was eaten along with a pretzel?  Remember when Antony drowned in the potato salad?

ANDREA

Seeking a better quality of life has its causalities.

ANDY

Yeah, would you rather just carry leaves back to the hill day in and day out?

ANSLEY

If it means staying away from the humans who hate us, yes.

ANDREA

Hey!  We are outside.  We aren’t invading their homes.  They’re invading ours.

ANDY

Yeah, we have every right to this feast.  They bring a bunch of food outdoors and then set it on the ground.  What do they expect to happen?

ANSLEY

It’s not about rights.  It’s about who is bigger and who is stronger.

ANDY

I can carry twenty times my own weight.  I’d like to see that pig-tailed pipsqueak try to do that.

LITTLE GIRL’S VOICE

Ewh!  There’s a bug on my berry!  Yucky!

MOTHER’S VOICE

Don’t worry, sweetie.  Mommy will take care of it.

(BLACKOUT)

(END OF PLAY)

Lane’s plays have been seen at hundreds of theatres from coast to coast in the U.S., as well as in Canada, England, and Australia and are published with The Quotable, Dramatic Publishing, Playscripts Inc., Smith and Kraus, Heuer, Next Stage Press, Manhattan Theatre Source, JAC Publishing, Sterling, San Luis Obispo Little Theatre, Freshwater, Poydras Review and Scene4. She is the recipient of the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Residency Grant, the Montgomery County Arts & Cultural District’s Literary Artist Fellowship, a “Charlie Award”, and a nominee for “Outstanding Playwriting for a New Script of a Play or Book of a Musical” at the Midtown International Theatre Festival, as well as numerous commissions. http://www.StaceyLaneInk.com