Abanoned By Annika Murrell, age 16 4131 Clausen Ave Western Springs, IL 60558 annika.murrell@loop.colum.edu 1-708-267-5411
Abandoned Scene opens on Imogene and Alexandria, sitting on a bench in Disneyland s Discovery Island which shut down in 1999. Scattered around the bench is a popped inter tube, a pair of rotting Mickey Mouse Ears, and a lot of mud.it is late at night present day. Alexandria and Imogene are both wearing T-Shirts, shorts and rain boots up past their knees. It would be cool if the T-Shirts were related to Disney characters. It is not yet night. It s like two thirty. Imogene and Alexandria are both sweaty, and Imogene is clutching a huge bulletin board to her chest, which is decorated with a map of the united states and has several push pins sticking out of in obscure cities. Alexandria: So this is it? Imogene: Yeah. Alexandria: It s gross. Imogene: Well, its been completely abandoned for fifteen years. Alexandria: Yeah, but you wouldn t think Disney would just leave it here. I mean, happiest place on earth? It looks post-apocalyptic. Imogene: The happiest place on earth is in Disney Land. Alexandria: Oh. Beat. Alexandria: Imogene.
Imogene: Yes? Alexandria: Am I going crazy, or is can you hear banjo music coming from, uh, everywhere? Imogene: No, you re not crazy. Disney still runs the electricity and plumbing here. Once about ten o clock hits the lights will come on. Alexandria: How do you know? Imogene: I ve been researching Every ride, every ghost town she might have hit, every road. I have her entire route mapped out to the T. Look, it goes- Alexandria: Imogene, you ve already showed me like nine times. Imogene: No, it s different this time I m closer Alexandria: It s okay, you can show me later. Imogene: Oh. Okay. Beat. Alexandria: Oh, I never found out, did you get that job at Teevana this summer? Because if you did, we could carpool to the mall. I m working at JC Penny. Imogene: I got it, but I didn't take the job. Alexandria: Why not? Imogene: I don t know, I just didn t feel like it. Why do I have to work this summer? Alexandria: Well, I need the money for college. Imogene looks away, hurt. Beat. Imogene: My parents said I should just take classes at the community college for freshman year.
Beat. Imogene: What time is it? Alexandria: Eleven fifty-three. Imogene: Okay. Beat. They listen to old rides creak in the wind. Alexandria: It s weird here. Imogene: It s not. Alexandria: No, it s weird here. I don t understand why they re wasting money playing music and stuff at this place if NOBODY comes here. Imogene: They re keeping it alive. Alexandria: Are they, though? Because I haven t seen a single ride that looks like it s safe to be standing. Imogene: No, they re keeping it alive. It s a little destroyed, but it s still here. It s not some pit in the ground. Alexandria: I don t get why Disney wouldn t just sell the property like any normal company. Weird. Imogene: Maybe it s important to them to keep it. Alexandria: Maybe Walt is buried here. Imogene: You re the one who s weird. Alexandria: We re gonna stumble upon the frozen corpse of Disney s leader. They re like a cult. Imogene: Did you want to come or what? Cause if you re just gonna sit here, and complain, you can leave. I ll figure out how to get home. I don t need you to drive
me. Alexandria: Okay, sorry. It is kind of cool, even if it s creepy. It feels like a haunted house here, except with a lot more birds. Crow noises from here until This was her first stop. Imogene: There are literally thousands of birds in this place. Alexandria: Like those itty-bitty brown things? What were those? Imogene: I think, um, I think those were baby vultures. This puts a bit of a damper on things. Alexandria: Oh. (beat.) This was her first stop, then? Imogene: Yeah. It went: Discovery Island, Six Flags, this knockoff place called Space Adventure Alexandria: But she didn t go to these places when they were, i don t know, OPEN? Imogene: No, Phyllis HATED amusement parks. Alexandria: Then why d she go to all these places? Imogene: The point wasn t that they were amusement parks, the point was that they were destroyed. Alexandria: Ooooooooooh. Even so, it s kind of a weird way to celebrate your passage into adulthood? Hey, I m eighteen now, so I can take a cross country road trip to visit all the ghosts of American Entertainment Creepy. Imogene: Yup. Alexandria; And the pictures? She s leaning up against this crumbling, rotted fence with this witty smile and the peace sign? How d she take that, anyway? Did
she drag along a friend and just make them take her picture every stop? Imogene: I don t know. Alexandria: Can I see the other pictures? Imogene reaches into her bag and silently hands them to Alexandria. Alexandria: Amusement Park, amusement park, amusement park, amuse-what s THAT place? Imogene: That s a toy factory that burned partway down. The police said it s somewhere in Kansas. Alexandria: Dang, how far did she go? Cause, i didn t know you before she..um.. Imogene: Yeah. Alexandria: Yeah. Imogene: Anyway, We don t know. The last pictures she sent were from Minnesota. Alexandria: Oh. Beat. More creaking noises. Imogene: Did you want to look around more, or are you too weirded out? Alexandria: What else is there to see? A couple broken picnic tables? Or the offices again? Imogene: There s a water-slide over that way. Doesn t work though. They cleaned out the water when the place got shut down. Alexandria: More researching? Imogene: Actually, I ve been here before. Alexandria: What? When?
Imogene: When I was six. Phyllis took me after she got back from the DMV on her birthday. Told my parents we were going to the mall and went here instead. (Suddenly) What time is it? Alexandria: Eleven fifty-seven. Imogene: Okay. Imogene gets up and walks downstage. Imogene: We stood over by the water slide and she said that thing I always say. Alexandria: About abandoning childhood? Imogene: You don t abandon childhood, childhood abandons you. Alexandria: I don t get that, it s like- Imogene: She said it happens three times. Beat. Alexandria: Imogene? Imogene: The first time is when you get your drivers liscence. Alexandria: Imogene? Did you fail drivers ed on purpose? Imogene: The second time is when you get a job. Alexandria: I thought you didn t want the job at Teevana. Imogene: The third time is when you turn eighteen. There is no way to run from age. They are both silent. The wind swirls through the leaves. Imogene: Anyway. We should probably be on the road by one if we want to make it to New Orleans by about one pm. Alexandria: New Orleans? One pm?
Imogene: That s including bathroom stops and stuff. Alexandria: But why are we going to New Orleans? Imogene: Well, Phyllis clearly isn t here, and if you had let me explain the map, you d know that the next place she went was Six Flags in New Orleans. Alexandria (almost uncomprehensive): Wait, what? Imogene: It s a small world, Alex. She s got to be somewhere. Alexandria: Are we looking for her body? Imogene: No We re looking for HER Alexandria: WHAT? Imogene: Yeah Alexandria: Oh my god, did you think we were gonna find her? Imogene: YES What did you think i meant by Let s go find Phyllis? Alexandria: I don t know, that we were going to pay our respects or something? Imogene: SHE S NOT DEAD YOU IDIOT Alexandria: IMOGENE, YOU HAVEN T SEEN OR HEARD FROM HER IN TEN YEARS WHAT ELSE COULD HAVE HAPPENED? Imogene: SHE S NOT DEAD ALEXANDRIA: THE POLICE GAVE UP THE SEARCH WHEN YOU WERE NINE Imogene (more desperate than angry): SHE S NOT DEAD Alexandria: OF COURSE SHE IS GOD, I FED YOUR FANTASY WORLD FOR YEARS Imogene: IT S NOT A FANTASY WORLD, IT S REAL
Alexandria: OH, GROW UP, IMOGENE Imogene takes this last one like a slap in the face. She physically turns away as if the words had stung her, and then she looks at Alexandria. Imogene: Grow Up? Did you jus tell me to grow up? Why the hell would I want to do that? I mean, Alex, We ve been sitting here all night, I thought that you would understand this place. I thought you would get it, you know? But you kept saying this place is weird, it s weird, it s so weird. It s not WEIRD. It s a Fantasy World, sure, but it s a REAL Fantasy World. I mean, is that so hard for you to see? Maybe Walt Disney is buried here, like you said. Him and and the childhoods of millions of little kids. You can t just bulldoze something like that and sell the property. Alexandria: I don t understa- Imogene (shouting over the end of the line): YOU BULLDOZE over a place like this and you just destroyed the kids, the little girls who wore pigtails and dresses, and the boys in overalls and the babies with no hair and the shy kid who just hangs on his blanket all the time. They re all still out there, Alex. They re just, lost. I mean, every adult I know tells me that they wish they were still the way they were as kids. They say that the ACT is a waste of time and that you don t HAVE to have a date to the prom and that you should follow your dreams and it s okay not to understand dirty jokes AND THEN THEY TURN AROUND AND DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE. Aren t adults just kids who have grown up? Is growing up losing your kid? I feel like the Fantasy Land is crumbling, Alex. It s broken down and overgrown and dirty, but you can still stay there, right? You just have to find
it. WHERE ARE THE KIDS EVERYONE USED TO BE? WHERE ARE THEY, ALEX? WHERE IS PHYLLIS? WHERE THE HELL AM I? DAMN IT, PHYLLIS, COME BACK I WASN T DONE YET I WASN T DONE BEING A KID Imogene takes the photographs and rips one in half, then she just throws them down in the mud. She collapses on the ground and sits there. A couple beats. Alexandria checks her watch. Alexandria: It s twelve. Happy eighteenth birthday. Imogene: Yeah, whatever. A few more beats. Alexandria; Do you need me to leave, or? Imogene: Yeah, but do me a favor first. Alexandria: What? Imogene gets up and pulls a disposable camera out of her backpack. She tosses it to Alexandria and stands by the fence. She gives a witty smile and makes a peace sign, exactly like her sister s picture. Imogene: Take my picture. Alexandria: I don t think Imogene: Just do it. Blackout on a skipping, broken track of It s a Small World.