By Stephen Guschov Performance Rights It is an infringement of the federal copyright law to copy or reproduce this script in any manner or to perform this play without royalty payment. All rights are controlled by Encore Performance Publishing, LLC. Call the publisher for additional scripts and further licensing information. The author s name must appear on all programs and advertising with the notice: Produced by special arrangement with Encore Performance Publishing. PUBLISHED BY ENCORE PERFORMANCE PUBLISHING encoreplay.com 1998 by Stephen Guschov Download your complete script from Eldridge Publishing http://www.95church.com/playdetails.asp?pid=1856
-2- STORY OF THE PLAY THE PRODIGAL tells the story of Daniel Harvey, the youngest son of fast food magnate Horace Harvey. Daniel has worked for his father s company, Harvey s Hamburgers, for his entire life, but grows resentful of his father s control over him and decides to cash in his corporate stock and quit the company, which devastates his father and angers his older brother, Samuel. Daniel heads to Atlantic City and gets caught up in a hedonistic lifestyle before his world crashes down around him. When he is at his lowest point, Daniel meets a stranger on a bench along the Boardwalk, and the stranger exhorts him to return to his father and brother and reconcile with them. THE PRODIGAL occurs during the Christmas season of the present day and encompasses themes of love, forgiveness, and redemption. About 45 minutes. CHARACTERS (5 m, 1w, 4 or more extras.) HORACE DANIEL SAMUEL MICHAEL CROWD PERSON 1 CROWD PERSON 2 CROWD PERSON 3 TIFFANY THUG 1 THUG 2 PASSERBY1: (Male, middle age.) PASSERBY2: (Female, middle age, wife of 1.) PASSERBY3: (Female, young.) PASSERBY 4: (Male, young.) GABE WENDY TIME - The present. PLACE - Various.
-3- ACT I Scene 1 (It is the Christmas season of the present day in New York City, and the initial scene of the play occurs inside the office of Horace Harvey, the President and CEO of Harvey s Hamburgers, Inc., a fast-food giant. Have A Harvey! is the corporate slogan, and it is one of the most familiar and wellknown phrases across the globe. Horace Harvey s office is large and spacious, perfectly fitting for the corporate lion that he is. The walls of the office are lined with framed photographs and honorary degrees awarded to him. One of the photos shows Horace with the President of the United States, each smiling and holding up a Harvey s Humungous burger for the camera. Another photo shows Horace, who is a widower, with his two grown sons, Samuel and Daniel, each of whom are executives with the company. On this afternoon HORACE HARVEY is seated behind his desk in an enormous, black executive leather chair. He is puffing on a cigar and talking on the telephone. His younger son, DANlEL, sits in front of him.) HORACE: (On phone.) Milt, I think it s gonna be a great match for the both of us. Your Happy Mouse movie should be a big hit with the kids this Christmas, and I m really glad that Harvey s is getting the merchandise tie-in. I can see legions of little tykes dragging their parents into Harvey s to order a Harvey Half-Pint burger and a Happy Mouse windup toy. They ll watch your movie and then buy our burgers! It ll be great! You know you never would ve done this well if you d gone with Boffo Burger! (HORACE listens for a moment as Milton Chesney, CEO of Milton Chesney Films, Inc., talks on the other end of the line, and then HORACE bursts out laughing.) Well, you know what I always say, Milt: In the world of Happy Mouse, you re the Big Cheese! (HORACE laughs some more.) Okay, Milt, we ll overnight a rough cut of the TV commercial to you. Let me know what you think. Talk to you later!
-4- (HORACE puts down the phone, takes a long puff on his cigar, and blows out a billowy cloud of white smoke. He then leans back in his chair, folds his hands behind his head, and smiles broadly at DANIEL who s been sitting by quietly during the entire phone conversation.) HORACE: Danny boy, when I flipped the first Harvey s burger thirty years ago, I would ve been happy with one successful store. Now look at all this! (Sweeps his hand across the room.) Franchises across the globe, burgers with the President, honorary degrees from Harvard Business School, guest spots on Larry King-the works! The works! (Takes another puff on his cigar.) DANIEL: (Leaning forward in his chair.) Dad -- HORACE: But you know what the best part of all this is, Danny? (Leans forward in his chair.) It s doing it with you and Sam. (He wheels his chair around and points at the picture of himself with his sons.) I m not gonna be at this racket forever, Danny, and lemme tell you that nothing - I mean nothing - makes me happier than knowing that Sam and you will be taking over the company. DANIEL: (More forcefully.) Dad -- HORACE: I m going to groom you to be the Baron of Burgers! DANIEL: (Voice rising.) Dad -- HORACE: The Pharaoh of Fries! DANIEL: Dad! HORACE: (Throwing his hands in the air.) The Sultan of Shakes! DANIEL: (Looking down.) Dad, I quit the company. HORACE: (His jaw drops and he stares at Daniel in disbelief.) What? (HORACE gets up out of his chair and walks to the front of his desk and leans against it, just a couple of feet away from DANIEL.) HORACE: (Cont d.) What?
-5- DANIEL: (Looking up at his father.) I quit the company, Dad. I don t wanna work for Harvey s Hamburgers anymore. (DANlEL looks down again.) HORACE: (Dumbfounded.) Why? What happened? What are you talking about? DANIEL: (In a sharper tone.) Look, Dad, I ve just had it. I ve had it with this business! I just don t care anymore! I mean, we sell hamburgers for heaven s sake! Hamburgers! So what! (More emphatically.) So what! HORACE: (Louder.) But it s a business! It s our business! You re a Harvey! Harveys sell hamburgers! DANIEL: (In a softer voice, yet more forcefully.) Well, this one doesn t anymore. HORACE: But why? Why? Aren t you happy here? I can t believe what I m hearing! DANIEL: (Standing up and moving around the office.) Look, Dad, you have to understand this: I just don t care anymore! I don t care about hamburgers or french fries or advertising budgets or movie tie-ins or nothing! I don t care! It means nothing to me! (HORACE looks downcast. DANIEL is slightly calmer.) DANIEL: (Cont d.) Dad, listen to me. This business is fine for you. But you have to understand - it s not for me. No more. I m sick of the people and the board meetings and always trying to be a step ahead of the competition. I m sick of those MBA geeks out there (He jerks his thumb toward the door.) who look down on me because I m the boss s son. You know it s true, Dad. You know they do it! They think they re so superior because they ve got three letters after their name. Don t they realize what they re doing? Don t you realize what you re doing? You re selling hamburgers! Hamburgers! It s so meaningless, Dad! Can t you even realize that? HORACE: (Despondent.) I... I just don t know what to say. DANIEL: Then I ll say it. For thirty-three years you ve ruled my life, Dad, and I ve had it. It was your decision for me to go to Deerfield, not mine.
-6- DANIEL: (Cont d.) It was your decision for me to go to Harvard, not mine. You were the one who told me -- practically ordered me! -- to plan for a life in the hamburger business. Did you ever give me a say in anything? No. Did you ever care how I felt-whether I even wanted to do this? No. Never! HORACE: (Pleading.) Danny, listen to me- DANIEL: No, Dad, no! You never listened to me before, so now you re going to. I m finished with Harvey s! I m cashing in my stock and I m leaving. I ve had it with always being the nice, proper Harvey kid. It s over! I don t care if I never see another pinstriped suit in my life again! (DANIEL laughs.) You know who wears pinstripes, Dad? Only businessmen and prisoners, that s who! (DANIEL pauses and sneers.) Is there really a difference? HORACE: But what will you do now, Danny? Where will you go? Do you have any idea? DANIEL: Oh, Dad, that s just the beauty of it! I don t know. I have no idea. I have no plans. But for the first time, I m leading my own life. Whatever happens will be my own idea, (Jabs himself in the chest.) my own plan, and not something forced on me! After thirty-five years, it s about time I got out there and lived for once! (He turns and heads out of Horace s office. He looks back, with just a touch of sadness.) Dad, goodbye. (HORACE is speechless, and does not even look at Daniel or respond to him. Just as DANIEL is leaving, his older brother, SAMUEL, enters. Samuel is thirty-eight, serious minded, with none of the wanderlust which his younger brother has suddenly exhibited in the prior moments. Samuel is a perfect fit in the corporate hierarchy at Harvey s Hamburgers, and he yearns for the day when he will be running the company, and has done all he can to prepare himself for that time. Daniel and Samuel look at each other without saying anything as Daniel leaves the office and Samuel enters. Samuel notices Horace looking disconsolate, but has other business matters to discuss.)
-7- SAMUEL: Dad, here s my report on the international franchises. I m tellin ya, the Pacific Rim is a gold mine... (SAMUEL observes that HORACE is paying no attention to him but rather, is looking down at the floor, expressionless.) Dad? Dad!? HORACE: (Without looking up.) Danny just quit the company. SAMUEL: (Stunned.) What? END OF SCENE
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