Life As We Knew It Adaptation Script

Title: Life As We Knew It

Author:Susan Pfeffer

Setting: Sunroom(both before and after)

Character List:

• Miranda: Grace Greene
• Mom(Laura): Maddeline Lanni
• Matt: Michael Davis
• Johnny: John Jiang 13 Years old
• Peter/ Dad:Jack Shi

Scene 1:

(Opens in sunroom. Mattresses on floor. Shelving or chest to one side. Furnace or something resembling one opposite. Laundrey tub in corner.)

Miranda is curled up in ball with her face not visible to the audience. Sits up pulls book to her lap to read it. Gets visibly frustrated and pushes it onto the floor. Sighs gets up and goes to chest. Rifles through and pulls out bag of chocolate chips. Looks around, tears it open, and begins eating.

Mom: Miranda! (pause. Miranda wipes her mouthly slowly, unrepentedly)

Mom: What do you think you’re doing?! What in the hell is wrong with you?! You know we need to save food- what about your brothers? What about me?

Miranda: What about them? We have fooD and you’re starving us! We’re dying because you’re a goddamn hoarder!

Mom: This is the only way we survive! You are so selfish! What the hell happened to you? We need to save-

Miranda: What’s the point?!(makes hand gesture.Chocolate chips go flying. Both just stand still. All emotion drains from Mom’s face. Miranda pics ups a few and then justs stares waiting.)

Mom: Eat them.

Miranda: What?

Mom: Eat them. You wanted them. Eat them. Pick them up and eat them. They’re yours. I don’t want to see a single chocloate on the floor.

(Miranda bends down and begin eating them as she goes. Some time passes. Miranda stops. She looks sick.)

Mom: Eat them.

Miranda: Mom, I don’t think I can.

Mom: Eat them.

(Miranda finishes them. She looks sick. Mom reaches for bag.)

Mom: Give me the bag. (Miranda hands it over.) This was your food for today and tommorow. You can join us for supper on Thursday.

Miranda: Mom! It was just some chocolate chips!

Mom: I was saving them for Matt’s birthday. (silence) You’ve eaten enough for four people, so your going to skip your next four meals. Maybe then you’ll understand how important food it.

Miranda: I’m sorry. Can you make him something else for his birthday?

Mom: There is nothing else. This food has to last us a long time and we can’t just eat when we’re hungry. We only have a chance if we’re very careful.

Miranda: I’m sorry, I’ll never do it again.

Mom:(nods) You’re a good girl Miranda. Now go, I don’t want to deal with you  anymore.

Scene 2:

(Opens in sunroom with two chairs and a coffeee table with some books stacked on it.)

(Mom sits on couch in sunroom, reading. Miranda walks in sheepishly. Tries to exit into room.)

Mom: How was the math test?

Miranda: It was alright.

Mom: It doesn’t sound like it was all right.

Miranda: I could have done better.

Mom: Uhum.

Miranda: I got an 82.

Mom: Did you study?

Miranda: Enough.

Mom: Well maybe it wasn’t enough. Miranda you’re smart you shouldn’t be so carelss.

Miranda: I know; I’m sorry.

Mom: If you just apply yourself-

Miranda: I do, Mom.

Mom: (sighs) You're a good girl Miranda. Why don't you sit and do homework with me?

Miranda: I've got to go work on that moon paper.

Mom: Ok.

(She exits)

Scene 3:

(AFTER  setup)

(Mom is lying on mattress. Kids surround her. Peter knocks. He enters)

Peter: How are you guys?

Matt: Good. How's the hospital?

Peter: It's alright.

Mom: Do you guys mind if I speak to Peter for a second?

Matt: Sure, mom. (Kids exit)

Mom: How are you doing Peter?

Peter: How are you doing? How's the ankle?

Mom: I still can't pressure on it.

Peter: You shouldn't even be trying. You need to stay off your feet. Are the kids making you work? Do you-

Mom: No they've been great. Don't worry about us. (Silence) How are things down there?

Peter: they're not great, Laura.

Mom: What's happened?

Peter: (silence) Did you find the OFF? There are cases of malaria down at the hospital. You can't ever be too careful. There's been a couple cases of salmonella, so make sure you cook everything, but be wary of leaving the furnace on too long; the fire department's no longer in commission.

Mom: We'll be careful. Peter, what's wrong?

Peter: The flu is making a comeback and no ones strong enough to stop it. It seems to be killing everyone. (He chokes)

Mom: Peter-

Peter: Ashley and Ellen- they're dead.

Mom: I'm so sorry.

Peter: They got the flu. (Mom moves to talk but doesn't say anything) I have to go back to the hospital. It's been very busy.

Mom: Can't you go home?

Peter: No, I don't think I can.

(Peter exits)

Scene 4:

(BEFORE setup)

Game board is on coffee table and Family and Peter sit around it.

Johnny: I'm winning- as usual.

Mom: Johnny- no bragging.

Miranda: Don't worry about it; he'll be crying soon when I beat him.

(They bicker over game. Mom recognized that Peter is standing off to the side awkwardly. She nudges Matt.)

Matt: So you’re a doctor?

Peter: Yep, I work at the hospital down the street.

Johnny: So, you save people’s lives? Do you ever see any of those crazy illnesses where people grow extra limbs?

Mom: Johnny!

Peter: No. (chuckles) It’s pretty standard, but I love it.

Johnny: Cool.

Peter: Yeah, cool. (checks watch) Looks like I have to get home to the twins.( Kisses Mom on cheek)

Mom: Say hi to the girls for me.

Peter: I will.

Scene 5:

(AFTER setup)

Family are all present in sunroom. Johnny is grabbing a can of food from the chest. He pours in into a pot and brings in to the stove. The rest of the family are dispersed around the room. Matt’s on his bed. Miranda and Mom are doing laundry. Johnny stills and looks around the room.

Johnny: How come none of you eat lunch?(silence)

Matt: Not hungry. When I’m hungry, I eat.

Miranda: Same here. (both smile)

Mom: We all eat when we need to. Don’t let what we do stop you, Johnny.

Johnny: No, if you’re all eating one meal a day, then that’s what I should do, too.

All but Johnny: No! (Johnny looks scared and angry and upset)

Johnny: Why?

Mom: Johnny we need to know that one of us is going to stay strong, in case we need them.

Johnny: But that’s not fair. You should eat! I don’t need it.

Mom: You’ve got to eat Johnny. You’re going to be our strong one.

Johnny: I don’t know if I can be the strong one! What if you die? What if you all die? (silence)

Miranda: Then you live. You move and you you’ll be strong enough to live. No one knows whats going to happen. No one knows! Just eay your damn lunch and don’t feel guility.

Scene 6:

Johnny: Matt, this is so cool, did you hear it? Red sox are undefeated!

Matt: Interesting haha, Porcello’s been playing bad the last few outings, glad he finally had a good one today though. What was the score?

Johnny: 5-1 so far. They’re going to take it!

Matt: What inning are we in right now?

Johnny: Bottom 6. We’re up.

Matt: Who’s up?

Johnny: David Ortiz. We got a good chance to go up another run.

Matt: I don’t know about that, his batting average is barely over 3, he’s been in a slump lately.

Johnny: Come on Matt, have faith in your boy

Matt: (giggles and messes Johnny’s hair) I always have faith.

Johnny: Dad promised to take us both to Boston next summer and he said that we could go to Fenway and see the Sox play.

Matt: He took me to Fenway when I was 5 or 6 but I don’t really remember it that well. I just remember going and being under the lights. So beautiful.

Johnny: One day, you will get to watch as I play on the field. I'll be the best shortstop ever! Derek Jeter will eat my dust. I’ll still be the best- a Red Sox legend.

(Mom and Miranda come in. )

Miranda: A red Sox legend? I don’t know.

Mom: Well, I believe in my boy. He’s strong. He’ll make it.

Scene 7:

(AFTER setup)

Matt checks on Johnny and Mom and then goes to grab food. Johnny and Mom asleep on beds. Miranda walks in.

Miranda: I’m going into town. I want to go to the post office.

Matt: What are you hoping to find at the post office anyway?

Miranda: I know its crazy, but how much longer can I last anyway? A week? Two? It’s better this way.

Matt: (silence) But if you can, you’ll come back.

Miranda: If I can. But its all right if I don’t.

Matt: What about Mom?

Miranda: I think this ways better. I mean, what’s the likelhood that I’ll actually be able to outlive her? This way she’ll hope.

Matt: Do you really think you have the strength? To make it there and back?(silence) How are you going to get there? Johnny needs the skis, you can’t take those.

Miranda: I’ll walk.

Matt: Are you planning on saying goodbye?I don’t think you should wake them.

Miranda: Ok. (Miranda exits. Matt goes back to food chest. Suddenly drops everything. Matt slides down to the floor. Blackout.)

Scene 8:

(BEFORE setup)

Family gathered in sunroom. Matt is carrying a bag. He walks to the door and then turn to face his family.)

Johnny: Good luck! You need to tell me all about those college girls-

Mom: Johnny!

Matt: Sorry Johnny; I won’t have any of those stories. (Nods his head obnoxiously and then messes up Johnny’s hair)

Mom: Good thing. I don't want to have to have to send Miranda to supervise you.

Miranda: I’ll be there in a few years though.

Matt: At Cornell?I’m not so sure…( Miranda punches his arm) I’m just kidding. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you in a few years.

Miranda: You’ll call, right?

Matt: Of course. You’ll see me again before you can even miss me.

Miranda: I better.

Mom: I love you.

Johnny: Bye Matt.

Miranda: Love you. See you soon.

Matt: You will;  I promise. (head slowly drops and walks out)

'Life As We Knew It' Seen in a Way Not Yet Determined

After glancing at some of classmates proposals, I feel a little underprepared. I have an idea and I think it is a good one, but it needs to be hashed out more. A lot of decisions revolve around how many people can participate. The text I have chosen to adapt is Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer, which was wildly popular in my seventh grade friend group. It’s a novel of around 330 pages that is written as a diary from the point of view of a girl named Miranda, whose family- as well as the rest of the world- has to deal with the moon falling out of its orbit and the world consequently going to shit. It’s not a traditional sci-fi novel, by which I mean there are no supernatural elements or crazy advanced technology. It’s set in present day, and though I’m not sure if the science is all there, the events that happen seem entirely plausible if the moon was to stop doing what it’s doing. Miranda has an older and a younger brother; they all live with their mom. Life is normal until it just isn’t. They have to fight for food in grocery stores. They have to stockpile and eventually give up their car. They have to give up meals and ration water and oil. The TV is gone; the radio disconnected. They are hungry and isolated by the world that has descended into anarchy. It’s a book about a girl whose story could have been an entirely different one and maybe closer to that of the girls that normally graced the pages of our novels in middle school, but it’s instead a survival story of a family that struggles constantly with how much to sacrifice and when to draw a line where life becomes something worth not living.

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for a very long time and has gone untouched until last night. I reread the last third of it, but I still have to review the beginning. I had opened to a couple of pages before this really powerful scene that takes place between Miranda and her mother. Her mother had been in charge of the pantry and in rationing the food strictly to keep their supply lasting as long as possible. Miranda was fed up and angry and hungry and she finds a bag of chocolate chips in the pantry. She was the one who had thrown them in the cart when everyone went crazy at the supermarket directly post-moon. She feels she has the right to them, so she eats them. She knocks them back without swallowing because she just wants them and needs for them to be hers. Her mother finds her and screams at her before Miranda accidentally spills them on the floor. Her mother goes silent and then makes her pick up every single one and eat it. She eats the entire bag even though she feels like puking and her mother just watches her. When she finishes, her mother tells her they were for her brother’s birthday and then says she is to go without food for the next two days. This is such an unreal scene where Miranda is faced with a woman who is so clearly her mom, but is faced with her talking about life which has circumstances that are unbelievable. This scene shows a shift between them and a settling of them into this new reality where pettiness is not just inappropriate, but simply unacceptable.

There are more scenes that just happen between Miranda and her Mom that I would like to stage. The breakdown and then reconstruction of the relationship between them makes for a compelling storyline within the novel. I think I would like to stage a series of scenes between them and start with the chocolate chip scene. I recognize that this leaves some ambiguity, but I think, if played right (and that is a big IF), it will relay the desperation and otherworldliness to their situation that can be further explained by going back in time and giving flashbacks of  before. To create this separation between before and after, I’d show a clear difference in their living room. The family spends most of the time post-moon in their sunroom because it's more efficient for heating purposes, so I would like the whole piece to take place in that one room. Before’s sunroom would be neatly organized and have chairs and coffee table with magazines, while after would have a matresses on the floor and a laundry tub in the corner. The stove would be functional rather than decorative. Lighting would also be an important factor. Things post-moon are described as grey and I think that the change not only reflects the time switch but the general mood of the moments.

I had been experiencing some mom vibes because of Mother's’ Day when coming up with this pitch, so I chose some scenes with the idea of highlighting the changes in their relationship in mind. But I do also like the idea of having her brothers present. Cutting them out of the script completely would alter too much of the family dynamic. You could perhaps cut it down to one brother, but as much as I appreciate the mother-daughter relationship in the book, there are some strong moments that miranda has with her brothers. There is this one scene toward the end when her older brother and her have this conversation about her going to town. Going to town effectively means killing yourself. It’s awful and heartbreaking, but instead of protesting, her brother asks her not to take the skis because their younger brother was going to need them. There's also this touching moment where things look up for a second when everyone comes together for Christmas to give what they can. The one room set up would still apply if the brothers would included, as would the lighting. This story is filled with powerful moments that create this clear picture of a changing family dynamic that I think can be juxtaposed with each other and used to create emotionally upheaving stand alone scenes.
I think generally I just want to highlight these drastic changes- juxtapositions- that occurred within their family dynamic post-moon. Depending on which route is chosen, the scene could require four people(The two brothers (Johnny and Matt), Miranda, and the mom) or just two (Miranda and her mom.) Everything would take place in one room and though the story is told as a diary, I wouldn’t want any side narration because I think it would take away from the moment happening on set if the audience was thinking about or hearing or just being exposed to Miranda’s reflective point of view. I fell in love with this book many years ago and would love to adapt it slightly and be able to perform it. I think it could be challenging due to his serious nature, but as long as I worked with actors who understand the gravity of the material, I think it would work out very well.

Reluctantly Optimistic

I would give my work on my exams a tentative OK. I knew what I was going into and I felt like I knew what I was talking about, but when I sat down for Paper One, I lost my head for a little bit. I picked my question (Number 1) quickly, but after finishing my outline and writing for about fifteen minutes, I wish I had picked a different question. I think I was too confident in my ability to come up with a design for a scene I hadn't thought about staging. It was a question about a pivotal moment for a specific theme. I chose tradition and focused on showing this shift, especially in Koro who had come to represent tradition, from traditional to faithful. I talked about the scene right before Kahu's mounting of the whale, where the villagers gather on the beach to try and push the ancient bull whale back into the ocean. I showed this shift by focusing on Kahu's invitation of the women to help in the effort. I still think it's a good idea, but it required a lot of moving parts to portray it as I wanted and I think I left out some relevant ones toward the end. I had begun to rush when the proctor started giving us a countdown. My literary analysis and introduction were solid but the justification for some of my later staging ideas was lacking. I think I got something down on paper, but I kind of went black for the last twenty minutes and was working of muscle memory from the things we had done in class. I don’t feel very confident, but I think I did fine. Or at least that’s what I’ve convinced myself of.

I feel much better about the second one. I think literary analysis is more my strong suit and this paper was strongly centered on it. I picked question two which dealt with the use of single words to portray a particular thought to the readers. I was worried about finding enough examples in ‘Arabic Coffee,’ but I just started saying the poem out loud in my head (I’m pretty sure that makes sense) and picked out words that I felt helped portray a feeling or idea beyond its purpose in its sentence. I thought we had been memorizing them to present them, which upset me at the time, but is something I was very grateful for when taking the test. There are certain words you emphasize without thinking about it and all I had to do was ask why and I had Nye’s half of the answer. I had analyzed Dickinson’s “I dwell in Possibility-” over and over again in class and on my own time, so I’m pretty confident in my work regarding her. I really love that poem and answering the question became more fun than it was challenging.

Overall, it wasn’t the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I got a little test anxiety towards the end of the first one, but I managed to finish the second five minutes early. Truthfully, for all I complained and will probably continue to complain, it wasn’t that bad. I was prepared for them and even though I’m going to stress about my grade until I see them in July, I’m confident that I was mostly coherent and sensible, if not intelligent, in my writing.

Notes on Patterns in Poetry and the Lack Thereof

I dwell in Possibility-

I dwell in Possibility – 8

A fairer House than Prose – 6

More numerous of Windows – 7

Superior – for Doors – 6

Of Chambers as the Cedars – 7

Impregnable of eye – 6

And for an everlasting Roof 8

The Gambrels of the Sky – 6

Of Visitors – the fairest – 7

For Occupation – This – 6

The spreading wide my narrow Hands -7

To gather Paradise –6

Notes:

• The first two stanzas have an ABCB pattern. The first is a slant rhyme, but the rhythm is there. Eye and sky are a more direct rhyme.
• Breaking of rhyme scheme in final stanza is significant- keeping pattern to break it- blissful/euphoric
• Meter is steady- flows well even though it doesn’t rhyme- numbers correspond to syllables
• Something not real given structure
• Lines end in dashes- no other punctuation- lines don’t end- corresponding to unreachable, intangible ‘house
• Capitalization- Possibility
• Pauses with dashes- sighs

Arabic Coffee

It was never too strong for us: 8

make it blacker, Papa, 6

thick in the bottom, 5

tell again how the years will gather 8

in small white cups, 4

how luck lives in a spot of grounds. 8

Leaning over the stove, he let it 8

boil to the top, and down again. 7

Two times. No sugar in his pot.8

And the place where men and women 8

break off from one another 6

was not present in that room. 7

The hundred disappointments, 7

fire swallowing olive-wood beads 7

at the warehouse, and the dreams 7

tucked like pocket handkerchiefs 7

into each day, took their places 8

on the table, near the half-empty 9

dish of corn. And none was 6

more important than the others, 8

and all were guests. When 5

he carried the tray into the room, 9

high and balanced in his hands, 7

it was an offering to all of them, 10

stay, be seated, follow the talk 8

wherever it goes. The coffee was 8

the center of the flower.7

Like clothes on a line saying 7

you will live long enough to wear me, 9

a motion of faith. There is this, 8

and there is more. 4

Notes:

• Almost all of her sentences take up multiple lines and not in the sense that her sentences are segmented, but that they are separated and spread up among several lines.
• It’s very prose-like. Reminiscent of an open letter.
• Two stanzas, but not pattern. Separate thoughts. The first stanza sets up the act of making coffee as something significant, which is why I think it’s separated from the rest of the poem. The second stanza is a reflection on  second specific event.
• It’s similar to how the lack of the pattern in the last stanza of Dickinson’s says more than if there was one in the first place.
• The line ends cause pauses and the promise of a follow through keeps you reading.
• The end is just this reinforcement of faith. Coffee is the center of the flower, like clothes on a line, a motion of faith, and a proclamation that there is this and this is more. It reinforces a very similar theme by carrying it throughout so many lines.
• Repetition of ideals through multiple examples is a common pattern, even if it isn’t a very structured one.
• The rhythm changes. There are points where the meter is very steady, but there are times when it jumps up or down. I can’t recognize any consistent rhyme scheme.