Please Rise

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

JOEY

ANTHONY

HOLT

The action of the play takes place in a principal’s office. At rise we see ANTHONY, a high school senior basketball player, and JOEY his coach, sitting in chairs in front of a desk. They await, HOLT, the school’s principal.

They sit in silence, until Anthony attempts to break it.

ANTHONY

How much longer?

JOEY

(Looking at his watch)

Not much longer.

(They sit in silence a bit more, Beat)

When principal Holt walks in, you will be respectful, okay?

ANTHONY

Man, I didn’t do anything wrong.

JOEY

It has nothing to do with that. When principal Holt is in the room, he is in charge. So treat him with respect.

ANTHONY
Yes, sir.

JOEY

Remember, you boys did everything with my permission. So if he asks you any questions that you can’t answer, you tell him it was me.

ANTHONY

But —

JOEY

Just tell him.

ANTHONY

(Pause)

Yes, sir.

(A beat)

Coach Joey?

JOEY

Yes?

ANTHONY

You’re not going to get in trouble or anything? I mean, it wasn’t your fault. It was our idea, not yours.

JOEY

Principal Holt and I have known each other a long time. If anyone can talk to him about what happened, it’s me.

(A beat)

Did you know that principal Holt and I played football together?

ANTHONY

Really?

JOEY

We did, in fact —

(He goes to search the desk and finds a photo)

Here it is. Team photo.

(ANTHONY takes it in)

Abilene Christian 1995. I played QB and he was a receiver, a good one too.

ANTHONY

How come the team has never seen this?

JOEY

We like to keep our work lives professional. We discussed that when I was hired to be the coach here. People would look at us differently if they knew. They would think that the team might get preferential treatment because of it. Some people around the city occasionally recognize that we played at the college, but that’s about it.

ANTHONY

(Still taking it in)

This picture is so crazy. I would have never thought Principal Holt played football.

JOEY

Well, he did. In fact, he was team captain.

ANTHONY

No way.

JOEY

He was. Reminds me of you.

ANTHONY

How?

JOEY

Always getting me in trouble.

ANTHONY
Coach, for real.

JOEY

For real, huh?

(A beat)

Well, he always kept us together. There was game where we were down against this team we had no business losing to. The guys in the  locker room at halftime were about to tear each other part and he comes in and gives one of the best halftime speeches I’ve ever heard.

ANTHONY

What did he say?

JOEY

I can’t remember.

(Seeing Anthony’s disappointment)

Hey, just because it’s one of the best halftime speeches doesn’t mean it’s always memorable.

(Beat)

All that matters is that he united us. He stopped a locker room from tearing itself apart and—

ANTHONY

And you won?

JOEY

Oh no, we lost. Badly, in fact. But, we didn’t lose a game for the rest of the season. The trophy is still the first thing you see when you walk into the Athletic Department office.

ANTHONY

(Reflecting)

How does this apply me?

JOEY

It doesn’t all that much. But parts of it do. 

(At this time HOLT walks in, both JOEY and ANTHONY stand up in attention unintentionally)

HOLT

Sit down, I’m not the damn president.

(HOLT sits at his desk and takes them in)

Okay. Coach Hicks and Anthony Willis in my office. Something I would have never pictured. 

(Seeing the team picture ANTHONY’s hands)

Speaking of picture.

(Gestures toward picture)

JOEY

Oh. I was just trying to show him —

HOLT

Show him something that no one is really supposed to know about. That’s why the picture usually stays in the desk rather than on it.

(Looking at ANTHONY)

But since it’s out in the open. Tell me, your principal was a college football player. Surprised?

ANTHONY
Well, I — 

HOLT

Well, don’t dwell on it long. I wasn’t very good.

(He stands up and puts a hand out)

Please.

(ANTHONY hands him the picture)

Thank you.

JOEY

Mark, I just wanted to say that —

HOLT

Joey, I’ll stop you right there. 

(Pulls out his phone)

My phone just buzzed. It’s another email. Anthony, how many emails do you think I get a day from parents?

ANTHONY

(Hesitant)

I don’t know.

HOLT

Ballpark it for me, Anthony.

ANTHONY
Maybe five?

HOLT

You’re close. About two, maybe three on any given day.

(He unlocks and shows ANTHONY his phone)

How many new emails does it say I have?

ANTHONY

(Quietly)

One hundred eleven.

HOLT

How many?

ANTHONY

One-hundred eleven.

HOLT
One hundred and eleven new emails. That’s not counting the sixty or so that I have already read this morning. All of them with the same theme. Should I read some of them?

JOEY

Mark, please.

HOLT
Don’t. There’s a parent in the hospital and another in Abilene county jail right now. I think my patience has run out.

(He looks through his phone)

“An absolute disgrace. I am ashamed to have my child go here.” “The players should be suspended for their actions.” “Cancel the season.”

(The last email hits the hardest)

Well, coach. Should we “cancel the season?”

(Looks at ANTHONY)

Should I suspend you?

(Silence)

Nothing to say? You boys had everything to say Friday. Joey, did you manage to pick up a copy of the Dallas Morning News this morning?

JOEY

I did not, Mark.

HOLT
Well I did.

(He shows them the copy he brought in)

“Holy Cross Christian Academy football team kneels during national anthem, parents fight, one man hospitalized.”

(Looking at Joey)

The Dallas Morning News. The Dallas fucking Morning News!

JOEY

Mark, your language.

HOLT

Don’t even. I see the way you talk to these boys at practice, Anthony hearing me swear won’t kill him.

(Beat)

This school has been in this paper since it won the national championship and that was in 1950.

JOEY

Mark, don’t bring Anthony into this. I told the boys to do that. They were just listening to me.

HOLT

(A change of tone)

Joey, can you give Anthony and I some privacy, please?

JOEY

Excuse me?

HOLT
I would like to speak with your star quarterback, alone.

JOEY

I don’t really think that’s a good idea, Mark.

HOLT

It’s not much of a request, Joey.

JOEY

(As he gets up, he turns to ANTHONY)

Remember what I said.

(He walks out, they sit in silence a moment)

HOLT
I’m sorry for losing my temper.

ANTHONY
It’s okay.

HOLT
No it’s not. It’s just been a stressful couple of days.

ANTHONY
I’m sorry.

HOLT
Why are you sorry? Your coach says he’s the one to blame, right?

ANTHONY
(Reflecting)

Oh, right.

HOLT
Unless there’s more to this story?

ANTHONY
I —

HOLT
You want anything to drink? To eat? I can get you something from the snack machine.

ANTHONY

I’m good.

HOLT

Okay.

(A beat)

So how did it work?

ANTHONY

Excuse me?

HOLT
I mean, what did coach say to you guys before the game. Did he just say “listen here, we’re doing this” or did he make it apart of the weekly practice? To your credit, if you did practice it you guys kept it well hidden, because I didn’t see anything like that during your practices this week.

ANTHONY

I don’t know.

HOLT

You don’t know? Anthony, you’re the team captain. Surely he spoke to you before the game or during practice about this?

ANTHONY
I just —

HOLT

Or maybe he told you right as you were lining up for the national anthem, but that would be strange considering it looked like you took lead.

ANTHONY

No, I just —

HOLT

Or maybe he wrote it in your gameplan for the week? I see you boys carry those fancy blue books around the school, you boys study those blue books more than the actual books we give you. Is that how he told you the plan for Friday?

ANTHONY
He didn’t —

HOLT
He didn’t what? Write it in the books? Make it part of practice? Tell you —

ANTHONY
He didn’t tell us to take a knee. It wasn’t his idea.

HOLT

Huh, that’s interesting because, maybe not five minutes ago you told me that —

ANTHONY
I know, I lied.

HOLT

You lied.

(A beat)

Look, I know you’re conflicted, but you have to tell me the truth.

(ANTHONY says nothing)

You know, all this talking has made me thirsty, so I’m going to vending machine and get myself a Dr. Pepper.

(As he goes to the door ANTHONY starts to get up, HOLT stops him)

No, you stay here. I’ll only be a few moments. Think about what we’ve talked about.

(HOLT leaves the room and leaves ANTHONY alone. The moment should be awkward as ANTHONY sits in silence contemplating everything that has been said. After the moment is through, HOLT returns)

Did you know that the vending machine right outside the door doesn’t have Dr. Pepper? I had to go to the other vending machine downstairs to get one. But that gave me the opportunity to grab these.

(He shows letters)

ANTHONY
What are those?

HOLT
These are scholarship letters. More specifically, athletic scholarship letters. Even more specifically, your athletic scholarship letters.

(Looking through the letters)

I take great pride knowing that my student athletes succeed at the next level, considering I was one myself. I ask parents to send me copies of any letters they receive from colleges so that we may proudly display them across the school when you graduate.

(Beat)

But, let me tell you, Anthony. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a student have as many scholarship letters come in like you. I mean, there has to be at least ten here, right?

ANTHONY

Something like that.

HOLT
Any of these schools would be happy to have you, but I’m sure being suspended or kicked off the team would raise red flags with some of these coaches.

ANTHONY

Principal Holt..

HOLT

Texas Tech University, Kliff Kingsbury, good guy, but I think don’t he wants any loose cannons on his team.

ANTHONY

Stop.

HOLT
OU, Bob Stoops is a very strict man. I’m sure he doesn’t want athletes with a history of suspensions.

ANTHONY
Stop.

HOLT

The University of Texas! This is a big one, didn’t your father go there? Well, Coach Tom Herman is in his first year, he won’t have time for distractions like you.

ANTHONY

Stop! Shut the fuck up!

HOLT

(A pause)

Well, there’s the fire that everyone talks about.

(A beat)

Who planned the kneel down, Anthony?

ANTHONY

We all did. We planned it together.

HOLT

The whole team?

ANTHONY
The whole team. Together. We talked about it on Thursday and we all agreed during Friday lunch before the game. Coach knew nothing about it.

HOLT

And?

ANTHONY
And we did. I was team captain so I told them that I would take lead and everyone would follow. And they did. We didn’t think that anything would happen.

HOLT
Best laid plans.

ANTHONY
What?

HOLT
“Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” It’s a saying.

(Seeing that ANTHONY is confused)

It’s from Of Mice and Men. The book.

ANTHONY
I haven’t read it.

HOLT

Curious, considering that it was your summer reading.

(A beat)

What would you have me do?

ANTHONY
I don’t know what you mean.

HOLT
Well, I have a star football player organizing what is essentially a silent protest that ended in a parent going to the hospital.

ANTHONY
It wasn’t our fault.

HOLT
I’m not saying it was, but it happened. Parents fight during football games. You boys added some fuel to the fire.

ANTHONY

Any punishment you have for us, the whole team will take it. We talked about it before the game. We took a stand as a team, we’ll take the punishment as a team.

HOLT

I can’t punish the whole team. You’ll be force to forfeit.

ANTHONY
So be it.

HOLT
(Looking at his phone)

A new email. Anthony, you know those officers that patrol the games?

ANTHONY

Yeah?

HOLT
Well, they are refusing to work the game on Friday.

(He puts his head in his hands)

Why did you do it? You don’t know anyone affected by anything the protest stands for. I mean, for god sake’s some of your teammates parents are police officers here in town.

ANTHONY
Do you remember Tavon Smits?

HOLT

I do, he left here to go play for some big school in Dallas, I believe.

ANTHONY

We still text from time to time. He would tell me how different Dallas is and how some nights he actually gets scared at night when he’s driving around. He said that when he was here he never felt unsafe because everyone knows each other. Everyone knew Tavon here. They knew that he would never hurt a fly. But he said he saw his teammates families suffer and he wanted to do something. We texted that both our teams would kneel down in protest. And they did as well.

HOLT

You text him?

ANTHONY
Yeah.

HOLT

May I see?

(ANTHONY agrees and hands him his phone, HOLT scrolls and finds something and reads aloud)

“We see police do us wrong. We see our teachers give up on us and expect us to fail. We’ve always seen this. We’ve seen other schools do this, we need to unite and fall in line.”

(Beat)

Jesus.

ANTHONY
I’m sorry we brought shame to the school.

HOLT

I’m sorry you didn’t tell me before hand.

ANTHONY

I’ll tell the guys that were not playing the game Friday.

HOLT
You will do no such thing.

(Beat)

Not playing the game defeats the purpose of the protest in the first place. I’ll deal with the angry parents, and it looks like I need to make a hospital visit as well.

(Pause)

Anthony, please got get coach Hicks.

(He does and JOEY reenters)

Coach, I thought you said he was a talker, but I sat with him for some time and he barely spoke four words.

JOEY

Well, he had nothing to do with it so I can’t imagine he had anything to say to you.

HOLT
Right.

(To ANTHONY)

Mr. Willis, you’re to be suspended —

JOEY

Mark, this is uncalled for!

HOLT
— for one quarter. For not telling me about the planned protest and cursing at me in my office. Now head off to practice.

ANTHONY
Thank you, principal Holt.

(ANTHONY leaves, JOEY prepares to leave)

HOLT
Joey, sit down.

(He does)

Anthony told me everything.

JOEY

God dammit, Anthony.

HOLT
Hey, language. Not in my office.

JOEY

Oh this is rich coming from “Dallas fucking Morning News.”

HOLT

Well, we all lose our composure from time to time.

JOEY

It’s been years since I heard you curse. Not since college.

HOLT

Working here changed me. Conservative school. I can’t walk around cursing up a storm.

JOEY

You know, I thought this meeting was going to go way worse when you emailed me. I mean, you haven’t emailed me with that tone since —

HOLT

I need you to resign at the end of the year.

(Pause)

JOEY

What?

HOLT

I need you to resign at the end of the year. And I need you to make that announcement sometime before Friday’s game.

JOEY

I… I’m not sure what to say.

HOLT

You say yes. You say that it was your oversight that led to the team to protest and that oversight led to us not being able to protect those in the stands.

JOEY

But you can’t do that. We have support these kids!

HOLT

I do support them! But someone got hurt so other priorities have to take over!

JOEY

(Pause)

It’s funny.

HOLT
What’s that?

JOEY

Isn’t that what the protest about? People gettting hurt?

(Beat)

I know you may not agree with the protest that these boys wanted to do, but you have to see the irony in it, right?

(Beat)

The boys won’t play if I resign because of this.

HOLT

What’s that supposed to be? A threat?

JOEY
I’m not threatening you. I’m just letting you know that the kids won’t play if they found out that I was forced to resign.

HOLT
How about I let you know something. The kids will play because I know know you would never let them throw away this season.

JOEY

(A brief pause)

Dammit…

HOLT
That’s what I thought.

JOEY

I can’t believe —

HOLT

That will be all. Thank you coach Hicks for your time.

JOEY

(He goes to leave, but stops to say)

It’s been a long time since that picture, hasn’t it?

HOLT
(Picks up the team photo)

It has.

JOEY

You know, Anthony asked me about that speech you gave. I told him at the time that I couldn’t remember what you said, but after sitting in the hall for a while it started coming back to me. What was the saying you made after the game? United or something?

HOLT
United we’ll stand, even if we fall.

JOEY
That was it. That was it.

(He leaves)

HOLT

(As JOEY leaves HOLT still has the team photo in his hands. His phone may buzz in his pocket and he checks it again to look at the new emails. He looks at the team photo again and then picks up his phone.)

Ms. Anderson, I need to send an email to all the parents of the school. Email everyone and say that Coach Hicks and myself, after discussing it over the weekend, will take a leave of absence for a few months until the football season is over. We stand by the players decision to protest and Coach Hicks and myself will take the punishment for the violence that occurred that night. We did not adequately prepare for the game and that is our fault. If you have any questions you may reach me by email. Thank you and God bless.

(HOLT gets up and looks at the picture. He folds it up and puts it in his pocket, as he leaves he takes out his phone looks at it and throws in on his desk and leaves his office) 

(Blackout)