BACK COVER

A PLAY
BY
EMILY HAGEMAN

STAGE PARTNERS
WWW.YOURSTAGEPARTNERS.COM
 Back Cover by Emily Hageman

Back Cover Copyright © 2019 Emily Hageman

All Rights Reserved.

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Cast of Characters
(Seven women, three men.)

MADISONNOW, 30-45, world-wise and well-put together. Sarcastic and self-

deprecatory.
MADISONTHEN/ELLIE, 14-18 (do not list Ellie in the program), innocent and hurting.
Curious and intelligent.
JESSICA, 14-18, sincere and sharp. Wise beyond her years.
MOM, 30-45, goofy and embarrassing, but extremely empathetic.
DAD, 30-45, broken and well-meaning.
MATT, 16-19, humble, silly and genuine.
KATIE, 14-18, silly and outgoing.
ALYSSA, 14-18, sarcastic but perceptive.
FATHER, 30-45, tender and grieving.
MRS. LEE, 35-50, wise and challenging.

Setting & Time

New York City: past, present, and future.

Author Notes
“Back Cover” may be performed by all teen actors, or it may be performed by all
adults playing teens. As long as there is no exaggerated affectation of youth, the
playwright is satisfied. Creative staging is encouraged. Be plentiful with symbolism.
Color should be used frequently to symbolize characters. Purple for characters who
are looking to the future (MadisonNow, Jessica, Dad, Katie, Alyssa, Matt, and Mrs.
Lee) and black for characters trapped in the past (Mom, Dad, and MadisonThen).

Directors are encouraged to be creative with their staging. MadisonNow is a narrator

who flows in and out of the story. There is a great deal of “mirroring” in this story
that can be shown beautifully through blocking. Create gorgeous symmetrical stage
pictures. The author envisions that the stage left side could be used for when

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characters make the choice to focus on the future and the stage right side could be
used for when characters choose to look focus on the past.

But, of course, anything goes. Please enjoy.

Cutting
There is also a 32-minute version available for competitions, if a tighter time frame
is needed. Contact info@yourstagepartners.com for details.

Acknowledgments
Back Cover was originally performed at Siouxland Christian School on December 2,
2017. The director was Emily Hageman, and the cast was as follows:

MADISONNOW……………………Mikellie Grant
MADISONTHEN……………………Sarah Goetsch
JESSICA………………………………..Rachel Pirrie
MOM………………………………..Rachel Nelson
DAD…………………………….Trenton Armstrong
MATT………………………………..Austin Yanney
KATIE…………………………….Riley Doenhoefer
ALYSSA……………………...Gwenyth Hoogendyk
FATHER……………………………Jack Etherington
MRS. LEE…………………………………Erin Spake

Dedication

Back Cover is dedicated with love to Mikellie, Sarah, Rachel P, Rachel N, Trenton,
Austin, Riley, Gwenyth, Jack, and Erin for their courage, honesty, and kindness. This
play surely would not be what is without the love and work that you ten put into it.
Thank you for performing it many times (MANY times) with such energy, focus, and
truth. I love all ten of you more than I can say, and am so grateful that the pages of
your stories touched mine.

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BACK COVER
BY EMILY HAGEMAN

(At Rise: Two rehearsal cubes are set stage right and stage left. MADISONNOW
stands center and MADISONTHEN sits on the stage right box.)
MADISONTHEN: I hate New York City.
MADISONNOW: When I was fourteen years old, I filled up an entire notebook
writing one thing over and over and over again:
MADISONTHEN: I hate New York City.
MADISONNOW: Maybe I knew somewhere in the back of my head that I didn’t
hate the actual city itself. I just hated everything that it wasn’t. It wasn’t home
and I had determined that it never would be home.
(MOM sits in the front seat of a car with MADISONTHEN.)
MADISONNOW: When I was fourteen years old, I spent a lot of time determining
what I would be and what I wouldn’t be. I watched a lot of TV and I knew I
didn’t want to be the typical, surly teenage daughter. So my hormones and I
went to war.
MOM: Honey, honey, look! A special on blueberry pancakes! You love blueberry
pancakes! We’re stopping—we’re stopping and eating as many blueberry
pancakes as we can!
MADISONNOW: You can probably guess from my mother’s ravenous desire to
please me that the divorce had been bad.
MOM: I hope they have streusel on top just like you like. And let’s order coffee!
(MOM and MADISONTHEN rearrange the boxes like a diner booth.)
MADISONNOW: I was the most miserable, self-pitying teenager who has ever lived.
Doctor Phil would have loved me.
MOM: Extra cream and sugar for me! Ooh, I’m so bad!
MADISONNOW: I was raised to pretend.
MOM: Mmm, these pancakes are to die for. You have to try them, honey.
MADISONNOW: Mom told me that we were moving because she had a great job
opportunity. It’s funny how sneaky adults think they are.

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MOM: I could live off of pancakes.

MADISONNOW: And when I was fourteen years old, I pretended like everything
was fine with me.
MOM: Should we get more coffee? It’s so good, especially for a diner!
MADISONNOW: Mom didn’t know what had happened the night before when I’d
said goodbye to Dad.
(DAD enters and takes MOM’s spot.)
MADISONTHEN: Dad, I really don’t want to go.
DAD: I know, honey, I’m going to miss you.
MADISONTHEN: No, Dad, you don’t understand. I can’t go. I’ll die if I have to go.
DAD: Honey, you won’t die—
MADISONNOW: The condescension was what made me explode in all my
hormonal glory.
MADISONTHEN: I’m not kidding. I can’t go. I don’t want to go. It’s not fair. Dad, if
I have to move, I am going to die. Please, Dad, let me stay. Please.
DAD: Honey—
MADISONTHEN: Please, Dad, please! Please.
MADISONNOW: To me, it wasn’t dramatic. I really did feel like I was dying. When
I left my hometown, I wasn’t going to be me anymore. I was going to be
someone else. I didn’t want to be anyone else—I didn’t want the old me to die.
(MOM and MADISONTHEN are back in the car.)
MOM: Only an hour away, honey! Are you excited?
MADISONNOW: For everything that it was and everything that it wasn’t:
MADISONTHEN: I hate New York City.
MOM: We’re here! Wow, look at that skyline! So beautiful—we’ll have to go down
and see the city later! Wouldn’t that be fun, Mads?
MADISONTHEN: We didn’t have time to set up my bed, so I get to sleep on a
mattress. I told mom that it was fine because I didn’t know how to tell her how
much it wasn’t.

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MADISONNOW: When I was fourteen years old, I laid in my room and cried. I
found out ten years later that my mom was crying in the next room. This wasn’t
what either of us wanted, but divorce was a thing that happened to almost
everyone and you only got so long to cry about it. You could cry over grandpa
dying, but not over Dad choosing the family he liked better.
DAD: That’s not what it is, Madison—
MADISONTHEN: Then what is it, Dad?
DAD: It’s something I have to do.
MADISONTHEN: It’s something you have to do for you, Dad. What about me? Am
I just supposed to disappear? Do you just want to start over—do things the way
you really wanted?
DAD: Mads—
MADISONNOW: I still hate that nickname.
MADISONTHEN: I hate you. You’re so stupid.
DAD: Madison—
MADISONTHEN: Go ahead, go off to your new family. I hope it’s better. I’ll never
talk to you again.
MADISONNOW: Does anybody else ever look back at themselves and cringe?
DAD: Madison, please, I want to keep having a relationship with you.
MADISONTHEN: Well, that’s not going to happen. Bye, Dad.
MADISONNOW: When I was fourteen years old, I thought words were just words.
I didn’t know how much they could scar.
DAD: Mads, wait!
MADISONNOW: I was so angry and so determined not to show it. I decided that
the best target for my rage would be an unmoving object—the apartment itself.
There was nothing wrong with it except for the fact that it was smaller than my
house, older than my house, and, well, generally not my house.
MADISONTHEN: This morning, there was a mouse in the bathroom. He just sat there
and looked at me like I was the one invading his space. So I decided I’d go to
the bathroom later since he obviously had claim there.
MADISONNOW: Of course, Mom tried to make it into something cool.

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MOM: It’s like a spooky old haunted house! Ooh, I’m the ghost of Christmas past!
Boooooo!
MADISONNOW: Because everyone fourteen-year-old girl wants to be Ebenezer
Scrooge.
DAD: (On phone:) Hey, Mads, this is…well, I guess you probably know who it is.
Call me when you get a chance, okay?
MADISONNOW: In an effort to avoid my real problems, I started exploring. There
were all kinds of nooks and crannies in the apartment. Most of the time, there
were just dead spiders and mouse droppings. It got boring quickly. But then, I
pulled away the loose paneling above my bed.
(MADISONTHEN pulls a shoebox out of the rehearsal cube.)
MADISONNOW: When I was fourteen years old:
MADISONTHEN: I found a shoebox in my wall.
MADISONNOW: Everyone says that they grow out of that stage where they get
excited about finding buried treasure, but that’s just because they never find
anything. It was one of the most magical moments in my life. I almost didn’t
want to open it, afraid that it was maybe a puppy’s coffin or something. But I
did because—well, of course I did.
(MADISONTHEN opens the shoebox and takes out eight letters. Each one has a
clear date written on it in black marker. August 18, August 20, August 25, August
28, September 2, September 4, September 7, September 10.)
MADISONNOW: It was August 18.
MADISONTHEN: I literally found a shoebox full of letters in my wall.
MADISONNOW: It confirmed what I already had suspected:
MADISONTHEN: New York City is weird.
MADISONNOW: They could have been nothing, but somehow, I knew I was
holding something remarkable in my hands—or maybe I only think that
because I know now that I was. But regardless, when I was fourteen years old,
I found a shoebox in my wall full of envelopes with dates on them—and I
opened the first one.
MADISONTHEN: (Reading:) I hate New York City.
JESSICA: I hate New York City.

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MADISONNOW: I devoured the rest of the letter like my life depended on it.
JESSICA: I feel bad saying it because I know neither of us want to be here, but we
didn’t have a choice. There was nothing left for us in Rockport except a
reminder of the way things used to be. But seriously, I hate everything about
New York City. But my father says that things can change. He says that
everyone has the power to change the course of someone’s life with small acts
of goodness. And he says even though we might not be able to change New
York City, New York City won’t change us. I believe him, I really do, but still:
JESSICA & MADISONTHEN: I hate New York City.
JESSICA: Less than a month till school starts. I hope everyone back in Texas sending
me good vibes like they told me they would. I’m going to need them. Sincerely,
Jessica Walsh.
MADISONNOW: I read the letter once—and then I read it again. The next morning,
I couldn’t stop myself—I read it again. I looked at those words—my words—
JESSICA & MADISONTHEN: I hate New York City.
MADISONNOW: But I saw what Jessica was doing with them. For the first time—
and certainly not the last time—I admired her so much and wondered how she
did it.
MADISONTHEN: We might not be able to change New York City—
JESSICA: —but New York City won’t change us.
MADISONNOW: She made it sound so easy—like it was a choice. But I was a little
ball of feelings—and I let them control me.
JESSICA: My father says things can change.
MADISONNOW: Yes. Yes, they can.
DAD: It’s something I have to do.
JESSICA: Small acts of goodness—
MADISONNOW: But I wondered what Jessica thought about big acts of badness.
(MOM and DAD are fighting.)
MOM: I don’t want you to go.
DAD: I have to—
MOM: You have a family, Michael, what about Madison?

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DAD: I don’t know what to tell you. I feel like—I don’t have enough oxygen here.
MOM: I’m sorry that we aren’t enough for—Madison, you’re supposed to be in bed.
MADISONNOW: Nothing was the way that it was supposed to be.
JESSICA: Things can change.
MADISONTHEN: Please let that be true.
MOM: Let’s get brunch!
MADISONNOW: I could have just torn open the rest of the letters, but something
made me want to wait for the next one. I felt like I could breathe.
DAD: (On phone:) Hey, Mads—your mom says you got in safe. Glad to hear it! Just
call back if you feel like it, no pressure. Love you.
MADISONNOW: August 20 came and I tore open my new letter, eager to learn more
about my new friend.
JESSICA: It’s weird, but TV pretty much got New York City right. It’s big and loud
and brassy, but I have to admit, it’s kind of fun. We went to Times Square today
and took a picture with a weird Elmo knockoff. He smelled bad, but it was still
fun. My father seemed a little more like himself today.
FATHER: Wanna get pizza, Jess?
JESSICA: I haven’t seen my father eat a full meal since my mother got sick.
FATHER: I’m going to have heartburn for days, but it’s worth it.
JESSICA: I know my father is nervous about his new position, but he never says
anything. I used to think that that was admirable, but now it just makes me hurt.
FATHER: She would have loved this. All the lights.
JESSICA: I miss her so much. Sincerely, Jessica Walsh.
MADISONTHEN: Jessica’s mom died.
MADISONNOW: My dad was gone too, but he was on the other end of a phone.
JESSICA: I miss her so much.
MADISONTHEN: I miss him so much.
MADISONNOW: It reminded me of something that my Mom had said after my
grandma had died.
MOM: Honey. Nobody is ever ready to die, but it’s not a matter of being ready.

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MADISONNOW: I knew what Jessica would tell me to do.

JESSICA: It just makes me hurt.
MADISONTHEN: He just makes me hurt.
MADISONNOW: I wish I could say that I called him right then and there and set
things right, but I told myself that I was too tired.
DAD: Just call back if you feel like it—no pressure.
MADISONTHEN: I’ll call him. Later.
MADISONNOW: I’ll be honest—I don’t remember the days between the letters.
Once I started to get to know Jessica, all I wanted to do was keep reading her
letters. She was like the wise older sister I’d never had—and the mom that I
wanted.
MOM: You want to go get hot dogs? There’s the coolest little stand outside today!
MADISONNOW: School was coming and I was scared. I followed Jessica’s story
and hoped that it would be my own.
(MADISONTHEN is reading the August 25 letter.)
JESSICA: We had senior orientation today. It was better than I thought it would be. I
wasn’t the only new kid, there was this boy.
MATT: New York City is crazy, huh? Where are you from?
JESSICA: Texas.
MATT: (In a southern accent:) Ah, Texas. Git along little doggies and all that?
JESSICA: Yes, I actually come from a long line of dog ranchers.
MATT: Oh, of course, the favored profession down there.
JESSICA: Where are you from?
MATT: Canada.
JESSICA: (Stereotypical Canadian accent:) Oh, Canada, eh? Maple leaves and
hockey and all that, eh?
MATT: You literally just described me perfectly. That was kind of scary.
JESSICA: I’m Jessica.
MATT: Matt.

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JESSICA: (In her letter:) He’s cute—

(As MATT is exiting, he looks back at JESSICA and she looks at him.)
JESSICA: —but I’m not holding my breath.
MADISONTHEN: I would die if a cute boy talked to me.
MOM: Time for orientation, honey!
MADISONTHEN: Orientation: also known as literal torture for the antisocial.
MADISONNOW: But the fact that Jessica had gone to orientation and come out in
one piece made me think that maybe I could handle it too.
MOM: Their history teacher here is supposed to be great. Isn’t that awesome, honey?
You love history.
MADISONNOW: I’d enjoyed my most recent project on Harriet Tubman and now I
was a bonafide Ken Burns.
MOM: We’ll make sure to meet her. This is so exciting, honey!
MADISONNOW: Exciting was one word for it. Petrifying was another.
(KATIE and ALYSSA enter.)
KATIE: Hey, you’re new, aren’t you? I think you’re in history with us.
ALYSSA: Katie, you are so aggressive.
KATIE: Come on, she looks lost—can we help show you around?
MADISONTHEN: Yeah, that’d be cool.
MADISONNOW: I was terrified to put myself out there, but I remembered how easily
Jessica had interacted with Matt. Maybe if I just was brave, I could feel brave.
KATIE: It is so nice to see a new face here. Some of us have been going to school
together since kindergarten. I am so sick of seeing the same people every day.
ALYSSA: Thanks a lot, Katie.
KATIE: Oh, stop being so sensitive. Okay, this is Mrs. Lee’s classroom. She is the
best.
ALYSSA: Even if her tiny room makes you want to die of claustrophobia.
MADISONTHEN: She’s the history teacher?
ALYSSA: Yeah. We always sit in the front because we’re cool.

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MRS. LEE: Welcome to Freshman History. I am really excited to begin the semester
with you. I hope that you take the time to familiarize yourself with the syllabus,
but I’d like to draw your attention to the second page. We will be presenting a
project on the first Friday of the school year so I’d like you to begin work now.
KATIE: Oh boy. The 9/11 project.
ALYSSA: The joy of every freshman’s existence.
MADISONTHEN: What is it?
KATIE: Every year, Lee has the freshmen do a presentation on 9/11. I was kind of
hoping she’d retire it this year.
ALYSSA: Parents usually give a lot of backlash since the material out there is really
disturbing.
MADISONNOW: I found myself looking forward to the project, though I never
would have admitted it. I had dignity.
MADISONTHEN: It’s due that Friday? But school starts on Tuesday!
KATIE: Lee is awesome, but she’s brutal.
ALYSSA: A rare combination.
MADISONNOW: Before I went home, Katie and Alyssa gave me their numbers to
text. In a weird way, I felt like Jessica was proud of me.
JESSICA: New York City won’t change us.
MADISONNOW: But it was changing me. For the better.
(MATT is on the phone. He is expecting JESSICA to answer. FATHER answers.)
MATT: (Eagerly starting a joke:) Knock, knock.
FATHER: Excuse me?
MATT: Oh, I, uh—
FATHER: Who is this?
JESSICA: (In her letter:) Matt must have gotten my number from the directory. Is it
bad that I let him squirm?
MATT: I was calling for Jessica, Mister, um, Mister—sir—
FATHER: Walsh.
MATT: Sir Walsh—I mean, Mister Sir Walsh—

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FATHER: Jessica isn’t available. And you are?

MATT: Matthew. Matt. From school. And—Canada.
FATHER: Matthew Matt From School and Canada.
MATT: Yeah, that’s the title the queen gave me when she knighted me, heh heh…
(MATT has failed at humor. No laugh from FATHER.)
JESSICA: (In her letter:) This boy.
FATHER: Can I help you?
MATT: I was hoping that I could, um, well, we could go out on September 2nd. I
mean, not like—go out go out, just like—I mean, not that I wouldn’t go out
with—uh, just hang out, uh, check out Time’s Square.
FATHER: Time?
MATT: Yeah, Time’s Square—
FATHER: No, what time.
MATT: Oh! After orientation. Maybe a few hours? Just enough time to commit a few
petty crimes, heh heh…
(More humor failure.)
MATT: I’ll have her home by five. Sir. Mister.
FATHER: Yes, you will.
MATT: So we can—?
FATHER: Home by five. And when you bring her home, come inside so I can meet
you.
MATT: Yeah, of course, I will. Okay, I’ll let you go, you probably want to go clean
your shotgun for when you meet me, heh heh…
(Nothing from FATHER.)
MATT: You know, cuz you’re like—a protective scary dad and I’m like—I’m a—I’m
a—
FATHER: You’re a what?
MATT: Nothing! I’m a nothing! Bye, love you!

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(MATT hangs up and dies of embarrassment. FATHER starts to exit and sees
JESSICA who has been listening. FATHER clears his throat awkwardly.)
JESSICA: Go get ’em, Dad.
(FATHER is trying to be stern, but failing. They crack up. JESSICA pats his shoulder
as he passes by.)
JESSICA: So. Matt and me, September 2nd. I could think of worse ways to spend a
day.
MADISONNOW: A day with friends on September 2nd. Sounded fun.
(KATIE, ALYSSA, and MADISONTHEN are texting.)
KATIE: I’m free on September 2nd. See you then! Thumbs up emoji, smiley face
emoji, lifting hands emoji.
ALYSSA: Ew, stop sending emojis, Katie.
KATIE: Arrow emoji, poop emoji.
ALYSSA: Mature.
KATIE: That’s you. You’re the poop.
ALYSSA: K.
MADISONNOW: Katie and Alyssa were so different from my old friends, but I was
glad they were. They were so—unapologetically themselves. I wanted so badly
to be around them because I wanted that to rub off on me. Maybe they could
show me how to stop cringing my way through life.
(KATIE sprints into MADISONTHEN’s space. ALYSSA follows after, annoyed.)
KATIE: Mads, I like your apartment!
ALYSSA: Katie, good grief, do I need one of those leash-backpacks for you?
KATIE: I’d just take it off! Easy!
ALYSSA: Congrats, you’re smarter than a backpack.
KATIE: So who lives here?
ALYSSA: Madison does, duh.
KATIE: No, like—your mom or dad or grandma or whoever? Or are you being raised
by monkeys or something? No judgment, I think that’d be awesome.

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MADISONNOW: In Galena, you didn’t have to ask, everyone had a Mom and a
Dad. I felt relieved.
MADISONTHEN: Just me and my mom.
KATIE: Coooooool. It’s just me and my dad—and we live in this teeny tiny little
house, it’s like the size of this place, but it’s its own separate building which is
cool I guess. And it’s suuuuuuuuper old, just like your apartment!
ALYSSA: Katie, you are the rudest person who ever lived. Don’t tell her her apartment
is old.
KATIE: Well, it is! I think somebody died in my house. There’s a weird brown stain
on my carpet. I bet it was murder!
ALYSSA: Okay, you are ridiculous. This is why we don’t have any friends, Katie.
Madison already thinks we are insane.
MADISONTHEN: Well, maybe just a little.
ALYSSA: Just wait. This is just the beginning.
MADISONNOW: So different. I loved them.
KATIE: Let’s go eat pizza and try to get faaaaaaaaaaat!
MADISONNOW: I’d never had friends who I actually wanted to be around.
(JESSICA is trying to figure out what to write in her letter. She keeps crossing things
out.)
JESSICA: Matt is…
MATT: There’s a lot of homeless people around here.
JESSICA: Matt and I hung out today and he…
MATT: Hey, hang on one second?
JESSICA: When Matt and I hung out today, he bought a homeless guy a sandwich
and a bottle of water.
MATT: Sorry to make you wait. Want to rent bikes?
JESSICA: He didn’t make a big deal out of it, he just did it.
MATT: I can pop a serious wheelie.
JESSICA: He didn’t even check to make sure I saw it.
MATT: And ride with no hands.

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JESSICA: This boy.

MATT: Jessica?
JESSICA: Bikes. Yeah, that sounds fun.
MATT: Cool.
JESSICA: Matt is…
MATT: You coming?
JESSICA: I’m just gonna end the letter here.
MADISONNOW: I was starting to really like different. It wasn’t nearly as scary as I
thought it would be. I remember just wanting to be the best person I could
possibly be, which meant that I was going to have to do something that I really
didn’t want to. But I had to. I felt like Jessica and Matt and her Father were
looking over my shoulder now. I had to do this.
DAD: Hey Mads, was hoping I might catch you—
MADISONTHEN: Hey Dad.
DAD: Oh. Hey, Mads! I—didn’t think you’d answered.
MADISONTHEN: I’m mad at you.
DAD: I know.
MADISONTHEN: I can’t—forgive you. Not right now.
DAD: I’m sorry, but I have to—
MADISONTHEN: Dad, just—no excuse is going to make it better. Because I get that
you’re a person and you have to live your life and stuff, but—in my life, you’ve
only ever been one thing to me. And you just—basically told me that you don’t
want to be that any more.
DAD: Mads, it’s a lot more complicated—
MADISONTHEN: I know, I know—it is, but it isn’t. You made a commitment when
you married mom and when you had me and you just decided that what you
wanted was more important than both of us.
DAD: Mads, you have to understand, I’ve been living my whole life—

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MADISONTHEN: Dad, I don’t have to understand. I’ll never understand. I hope I

don’t do to my family what you did to mine. But Dad, you’re—the only Dad I
have and I won’t hate you forever. I just need time, okay? Just a little bit of time.
(Pause.)
DAD: Okay, Mads.
MADISONNOW: It was what Jessica would have done. But because I wasn’t nearly
as brave or as brilliant as her, I cried deep into the night after we hung up.
Jessica had taught me that admitting that you were hurting was the most
powerful thing a person could do.
JESSICA: I knew it was going to be a hard day the moment I opened my eyes this
morning. I don’t know why today specifically, but all I know is that the Mom-
shaped hole inside my chest yawned so big that I thought it would swallow me.
I wanted to put it away, I wanted to pretend like I didn’t feel anything at all,
but…
MATT: Hey, you okay?
JESSICA: No.
MATT: No?
JESSICA: No.
MATT: Did I…do something?
JESSICA: (In her letter:) I knew if I told him, he’d look at me differently. (To MATT:)
My mom died a few months ago.
MATT: Oh. Really?
JESSICA: Yeah, and some days are just…empty.
MATT: What was she like?
JESSICA: (In her letter:) She was so many things, it was easier to describe what she
wasn’t like. (To MATT:) She was brave and kind and funny and—she was
everything I ever want to be.
MATT: Well, you’re—doing a good job. Of being like her.
JESSICA: (In her letter:) This boy, this man who always knew the right thing to say.
(To MATT:) Thank you.
MATT: Thank you.

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JESSICA: For what?

MATT: A lot of things.
JESSICA: (In her letter:) Matt is…
MATT: What do you want to do today?
JESSICA: I just want to—be around you.
MATT: Well, I don’t want to brag, but I’m kind of an expert in being around.
JESSICA: (In her letter:) Matt is…
MATT: Thanks for telling me, by the way. I’m—honored you did.
(JESSICA has no way to describe him. So, smiling, she finishes the letter.)
JESSICA: Sincerely, Jessica Walsh.
MADISONNOW: I had never been taught to be honest.
MOM: I just thought it was time we moved, you know? I don’t want you to spend
your own life in Galena, pfft, it’s so boring around here!
DAD: This has nothing to do with your mom and you, Mads, I just—have to.
MADISONNOW: I’d learned that the best way to solve your problems was by
running from them.
MOM: So, long story short, we’ll be moving to New York City in August!
DAD: And I’ll still come to all your concerts and games, Mads, it’ll be just like
normal.
MADISONNOW: I had never realized that there was so much beauty in finding the
good right where you were standing.
MADISONTHEN: My parents got divorced.
KATIE: Random alert.
ALYSSA: Is that why you came out here?
MADISONTHEN: Yeah.
KATIE: Mine too. When I was seven.
ALYSSA: I was twelve.
MADISONTHEN: It’s horrible.
KATIE: Yeah.

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MADISONTHEN: Still hurts.

ALYSSA: Yeah, for me too.
KATIE: Everybody’s parents get divorced nowadays so it’s supposed to be normal,
but it doesn’t feel normal.
MADISONTHEN: No.
ALYSSA: No way.
MADISONNOW: For the first time, I let my friends see me. It was terrible—but it
was so wonderful.
ALYSSA: Hey, thanks for being so honest today, Mads. If you ever want to talk, just
hit us up.
KATIE: Three thumbs up emojis, two heart emojis, one girl with brown hair emoji.
ALYSSA: You are a scab on society.
KATIE: Hashtag blessed.
(MADISONTHEN has September 7.)
MATT: I think “new kid orientation” was supposed to get us excited for our new
school. Did you feel like they were trying to convince us that school isn’t really
that bad?
JESSICA: Judge me all you want, but I like school. Especially history.
MATT: And why do you like history?
JESSICA: It’s a story. It’s a narrative. It shows a lot about the human condition and
human nature. I think you can learn a lot from history.
MATT: Like how to not repeat it?
JESSICA: That’s the cliché, but it’s true.
MATT: Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. No big deal, just some
Winston Churchill.
JESSICA: That was actually first written by George Santayana in 1905.
MATT: Wow. I am way out of my depth here.
JESSICA: No, but—seriously. It’s incredible—humans don’t change. Their nature
doesn’t, at least. If we don’t decide to be different, then we will continue to do
the same horrible things again. We’ll learn to hate people because they are

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different than us. That’s really the theme of history—fear of the unknown. We
focus on the things that make us different as opposed to the things that make
us the same. Understanding history is understanding that things are not set in
stone and no one is a slave to their circumstance.
(JESSICA turns back to look at a stunned MATT.)
JESSICA: (A little embarrassed:) You know?
MATT: Uh. Wow. I am seriously out of my depth here.
JESSICA: But you know, right?
MATT: Yeah. Yeah, of course. Man, you’re brilliant.
JESSICA: (In her letter:) I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way he said it. I can’t stop
smiling.
MADISONNOW: He didn’t tell her she was pretty.
JESSICA: This boy. This man.
MADISONNOW: This was so much more.
JESSICA: Most guys are dumb, but Matt is…
(As MATT is exiting, he turns back to look at her. They smile at each other.
JESSICA, beaming, finally chooses her word for him.)
JESSICA: …Matt’s okay.
MADISONNOW: I couldn’t stop thinking about what Jessica had said about history.
It had never occurred to me that I could shape my story could be whatever I
wanted it to be—and I could be whatever character I wanted.
MOM: Hey, honey! How was your first day of school?
MADISONTHEN: It was okay. I only got lost twice.
MOM: Better than my first day last week. I thought the boardroom was the bathroom!
MADISONNOW: I wondered when my mom and I would start telling the truth.
MADISONTHEN: Do you like your new job?
MOM: Oh, yeah! It’s fun and crazy busy! Papers, papers, papers! But you know me,
I’m a filing fiend.
MADISONNOW: I was ready, but Mom wasn’t. And that was okay.
MADISONTHEN: Mom, you’re ridiculous. I love you.

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MOM: (Genuinely touched:) I love you too, sweetie.

MADISONNOW: I was starting to love who I was—and there was only one letter to
go. What would be the last door that Jessica opened for me?
(MADISONTHEN has September 10.)
JESSICA: I just read all my letters from last year. When I read that words of that
Jessica, I want to go back in time and tell her so much. But I know she wouldn’t
listen. I can’t exactly blame her. Besides, she deserves the calm before the
storm.
FATHER: Hey Jess.
JESSICA: Hey. You want to talk?
FATHER: About?
JESSICA: Your first day back at work tomorrow.
FATHER: Oh. Well.
JESSICA: Are you nervous?
FATHER: Yeah.
JESSICA: You can talk to me.
FATHER: It’s going to be a hard first year without her.
JESSICA: I know. Nothing feels the same without her.
FATHER: The thought of settling into a new normal feels so disrespectful. And
besides, I don’t want a new normal. I just want my old normal back.
JESSICA: She was the best person I’ve ever known.
FATHER: And I know that she wouldn’t want us to keep mourning her forever, but—
I can’t stop. She was color and now, the world feels black and white.
JESSICA: Sometimes, when I wake up, for a moment, I forget that she’s gone. Or
something happens and I think, I can’t wait to tell mom—and that’s the worst.
FATHER: Yeah. All the time. Before I met her, I was lost and now—I feel lost again.
JESSICA: You know what she’d say, right?
FATHER: (Fond:) That’s enough sunshine, Prince of Denmark.
JESSICA: She wanted you—us—to be happy.

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FATHER: “Be happy, don’t be Hamlet.”

JESSICA: I still think we should trademark that.
FATHER: Some days, it’s hard to look at you, Jess, because—right now, everything
you just said, you’re her.
JESSICA: Talk about setting the bar high.
FATHER: You’ve already passed that bar, Jess. You are growing up to be the most
remarkable young woman.
JESSICA: Daaaaad.
FATHER: I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.
JESSICA: Okay, soooo, since you like me so much right now, tomorrow they are
doing this “retreat” thing at our school so they won’t have classes. Do you think
maybe I could come with you? Help you get set up at the office?
FATHER: Jess, I don’t want you miss school.
JESSICA: Dad, they aren’t doing classes or anything, just—mixer games and stuff.
FATHER: Just for the morning.
JESSICA: Just for the morning. Oh, and can Matt come? His parents are calling him
out tomorrow too and he can carry boxes for you and stuff.
FATHER: You’ve been spending a lot of time with this Matt guy, huh?
JESSICA: Yes, he’s my really good friend.
FATHER: Oh, “friend?”
JESSICA: Yes, friend! You are even less subtle than mom.
FATHER: Ooh, that hurts.
JESSICA: Love you.
FATHER: Love you too, Jess.
MADISONNOW: When I finished that last letter, I felt a little empty, but there didn’t
need to be more. Jessica had shared parts of her life with me and that was
enough. I put the last letter away and got back to work on my project. Katie
and Alyssa weren’t kidding, the eye-witness accounts were horrible. When I
was fourteen years old, I listened to a recording of someone terrified and
sobbing into a phone.

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MOM: Mads! I’m ordering pizza! Double anchovies, right? Ha ha ha!

MADISONNOW: I had always loved history, but I didn’t know much about 9/11.
The more I learned about it, the more real it became. That’s the problem with
loving history—sometimes, you accidentally live it.
(For the next section, the voices of others overtake MADISONTHEN as she reads,
overlapping her. Once they are finished reading their quote, they continue to
silently repeat their quote as the next quote begins. After all the quotes have been
read, KATIE, DAD, MOM, MATT, and ALYSSA all speak their quotes, starting soft
and getting louder until it is a cry of human despair that is stopped by
MADISONNOW. As the people she knows and loves acts these quotes,
MADISONTHEN lives them, seeing what they describe.)
MADISONTHEN: Yin Liang, 40th floor. “At around 8:46 AM, I heard a low-pitched
"Bom" noise, then the floors starts moving, it swings back and forth slowly, like
floating in the air. We are quite alarmed, (KATIE starts to read with her.) We
all sensed immediate danger, after a moment of silence…”
KATIE: “ …We all sensed immediate danger, after a moment of silence…” People
stand up and keep looking around for a clue, shouting “What happened ?”…
Our managers are telling everyone to leave the building immediately… Some
people are still startled, they are still asking “What’s going on? What
happened?” We shouted back “Get out of the building NOW!”
MADISONTHEN: Michael Wright, 81st floor. “All of a sudden, there was the shift of
an earthquake. The way I can best describe it is that every joint in the building
jolted. You ever (DAD starts to read with her.) been in a big old house…”
DAD: “…been in a big old house when a gust of wind comes through and you hear
all the posts creak? Picture that creaking being not a matter of inches but of
feet. You’re thinking, Gas main. It was so percussive, so close. I opened the
door, looked outside, and saw fire.”
MADISONTHEN: Adam Oestreich, 24th floor. “I ran to the other side of my office
and saw fire raining down. Parts of the building was falling and (MOM starts
to read with her.) on fire along with paper and other things…”
MOM: “…on fire along with paper and other things. We had to look way up because
the plane hit in the higher floors. The impact hole was huge—it looked like ten
stories were burning. The fire seemed to crawl around the tower. The winds
were so high it caused the smoke to spin in a large swirl.”

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MADISONTHEN: Jeff Birnbaum, South Tower. “When we got to about fifty feet from
the South Tower, we heard the most eerie sound that you would ever hear. A
high-pitched noise (MATT starts to read with her.) and a popping noise made
everyone stop…”
MATT: “…and a popping noise made everyone stop. We all looked up. At the point,
it all let go. The way I see it, it had to be the rivets. The building let go. There
was an explosion and the whole top leaned toward us and started coming
down.”
MADISONTHEN: Constance LaBetti, 99th floor. “So I stood up, and I just turned my
body towards the window, and I could see the big airline coming straight
towards us. I just stood frozen. I couldn’t move. I could see it coming closer
and closer… (ALYSSA begins to read with her) I could see the cockpit…”
ALYSSA: “…I could see the cockpit. I could see inside the cockpit, the tinted
windows of the cockpit. That’s how close I was. And then it just bellowed into
Tower One. And for a moment, just for that moment, I was almost sighing of
relief, until I realized all those people that had just been killed in that tower.”
(KATIE, DAD, MOM, MATT, and ALYSSA begin to repeat their quotes in growing
intensity and terror.)
MADISONNOW: And then, suddenly—
(EVERYONE falls immediately silent.)
MADISONNOW: I remembered something.
MADISONTHEN: No.
MADISONNOW: Something pulled at my conscious. Gently, at first, and then harder
until panic began to seep into my every pore. No. It couldn’t be. I was wrong.
MADISONTHEN: No. No.
(The world begins to swirl around MADISONTHEN as she tries to remember.
Maybe the actors begin to fill the stage, walking across and ignoring her. Maybe
memories battle to be heard. Create chaos.)
MADISONNOW: But I began to remember little things. Scraps of something that I
thought didn’t add to a narrative. Pieces of some terrible puzzle clicking
together.

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MATT: That’s where your dad’s going to work? You know they threw that spire on
top literally just to make it the tallest building in the world. So weird.
MADISONTHEN: No.
FATHER: It’s just going to be a much bigger deal than my last job, you know? Of
course I’m nervous. It’s in one of the most important buildings in New York
City. The crown jewel of the skyline.
MADISONTHEN: No. Please.
(MADISONTHEN runs for the shoebox and begins to dig through it.
MADISONNOW watches her, knowing. When JESSICA speaks, the world stills
immediately around MADISONTHEN.)
JESSICA: I’ve heard that when there’s a lot of wind, the building will actually bow
and sway like a precarious metal kite.
MADISONTHEN: Please, please, no.
JESSICA: Eight years ago, there was a bomb in the building. I don’t think my father
knows and I’m not going to tell him.
(MADISONTHEN takes out the September 10 letter.)
MADISONTHEN: September 10, 2001.
JESSICA: He’s scared of heights.
MADISONNOW: I had always loved being right.
MADISONTHEN: No, please—please, no—
(MADISONTHEN grabs her laptop and begins clicking furiously.)
MADISONNOW: I had seen the casualty list. It was so long—I could hardly stand to
look at it, but in that moment, I had to look at it because I had to know I was
wrong. Jessica and Matt and her Father had gotten out—because if they hadn’t,
if they hadn’t, if they—
MADISONTHEN: Jessica Renee Walsh.
MADISONNOW: My Jessica. There was a man’s name with the last name Walsh
right by hers. And there were so many Matthews. So many. It had to be wrong.
I couldn’t accept it. Jessica’s story was one of goodness and light and beauty
and hope and—that couldn’t be the end. It couldn’t.
MADISONTHEN: No, no, no—

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JESSICA: New York City wouldn’t—

MADISONNOW: What kind of a sick joke was this? What kind of disgusting world
punishes someone who didn’t do anything wrong? What kind of horrible planet
did we live on that other humans could decide when to end someone’s life—
and for what? For what? What right did they have to take her life away?
MADISONTHEN: No, no, please.
MADISONNOW: How could a world with a girl like Jessica have this inside it too?
MADISONTHEN: The world can’t be like this. It can’t. The world can’t be this dark
and terrible.
MADISONNOW: I felt like I was dying. No, I felt like I was dead.
MADISONTHEN: People can’t be this evil. If the world is this evil, I can’t live in it. I
can’t.
MADISONNOW: When I was fourteen years old, I imagined someone I loved and
admired burning to death.
(MADISONTHEN chases after JESSICA, who exits without emotion.)
MADISONTHEN: No, no, please, no!
MOM: Mads?
MADISONTHEN: Go away.
MOM: Honey, Mads, are you okay?
MADISONTHEN: (Tearfully:) Mom.
MOM: Honey, honey, what happened? Is it school? Did something happen?
MADISONNOW: Something happened sixteen years ago.
MOM: Honey, tell me. Please? Please? Is it about Dad?
MADISONNOW: I told her everything. I didn’t want to because I was sure my goofy
mom knew nothing about pain and loss and heartache, but I had to tell
someone. But my mother sat next to me and read every letter.
MOM: Wow.
MADISONTHEN: Are people really this evil?
MOM: Honey, there is so much evil in this world. It can blacken hearts and minds
and people do horrible things because of it. But people are just people.

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MADISONTHEN: None of it had anything with Jessica or Matt or her dad. They died
for nothing.
MOM: No, honey—
MADISONTHEN: —they died for nothing. All those people. Nothing.
MOM: No, honey, they didn’t. Everyone’s story means something.
MADISONTHEN: Jessica never got to finish her story. Mom, I’m not doing this 9/11
project. I’ll do a project on something else. I can’t do it. Please. Please don’t
make me do it. Please email Mrs. Lee.
MOM: (Torn:) Is that what you need, honey?
MADISONTHEN: Yes, mom. Please.
MOM: Okay, sweetheart.
MADISONNOW: At school the next day, everything felt hazy. Jessica was dead—
and so was I.
MRS. LEE: Madison, do you have a moment?
MADISONTHEN: Yes, Mrs. Lee?
MRS. LEE: I understand that you would like a different project for tomorrow. You
understand I cannot offer an extension?
MADISONTHEN: Yes, ma’am, I understand.
MRS. LEE: I read your outline—you have a lot of excellent research already. May I
ask why you are switching projects?
MADISONNOW: I would discover later that my mother had told Mrs. Lee
everything. At the moment, I just assumed that she—like all adults—was
omniscient.
MADISONTHEN: I knew someone.
MRS. LEE: Who was in the building?
MADISONTHEN: Yes.
MRS. LEE: Someone you loved and admired very much?
MADISONTHEN: Yes.
MRS. LEE: Then why don’t you tell their story?

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MADISONTHEN: Because she didn’t have a story—it was just starting and someone
ended it.
MRS. LEE: Her story didn’t end.
MADISONTHEN: Yes, it did.
MRS. LEE: No, her story is your hands now. You can decide if it ends with you or if
you pass it on.
MADISONTHEN: She’s dead. That’s the end.
MRS. LEE: Do you think her story is important?
MADISONTHEN: I can’t.
MRS. LEE: Why not?
MADISONTHEN: I’m afraid.
MRS. LEE: Of?
MADISONTHEN: My story ending before I’m ready.
MRS. LEE: Have you ever read the back cover of a book before?
MADISONTHEN: Yeah.
MRS. LEE: Does it tell you everything you need to know about a book?
MADISONTHEN: Well, no.
MRS. LEE: No. It’s what’s inside the book that’s most important. Our stories only end
when the power of our influence dissipates. We aren’t a billion separate
hardcover books, not touching each other—we are stacks of papers, flowing
endlessly in and out of each other. Her story is part of your story. We are not
the things that happen to us, Madison, we are what we do and who we are in
here. (MRS. LEE gestures to her heart.) So I ask you again, do you think her
story is important?
MADISONNOW: Jessica was dead, but I felt her hand on my shoulder. My friend.
MADISONTHEN: Yes.
MRS. LEE: Then you must tell it.
MADISONNOW: So I did. It took me the whole night, but I did. When I was fourteen
years old, I stood up in front of my freshman history class and told a story about

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a girl who I had never met, a girl who had died terribly, but a girl who had left
an indelible mark on my soul.
JESSICA: Everyone has the power to change the course of someone’s life with small
acts of goodness.
MADISONNOW: Each year, I read the words of my Jessica and hold them closer to
my heart—but I have never, ever been able to let go of the most profound
feeling of loss—a childish sense of entitlement that I deserved to meet her. But
Jessica taught me that life isn’t about what we deserve. And besides, I think I
was meant to find those specific words of hers. They met me right where I was
and pulled me from a pit that was darker than I ever had to know.
(ELLIE enters. She is MADISON’s daughter. ELLIE must be played by the same
actress as MADISONTHEN.)
ELLIE: Mom, my feet hurt.
MADISONNOW: This is Ellie. She’s fourteen years old.
ELLIE: Can we please sit down for like five seconds?
MADISONNOW: My girl. She’s hurting and she’s hiding it. Her father and I were
unhappy. We left each other.
ELLIE: I’m just gonna text Amelia.
MADISONNOW: She doesn’t care if people like her for who she really is, she just
wants to be liked.
ELLIE: Amelia and her dad are going to dinner at Steamboat’s. I’m jealous.
MADISONNOW: We come to New York City every year.
ELLIE: What do fallen arches feel like?
MADISONNOW: And she hates New York City.
ELLIE: Mom, I think my arches fell.
MADISONNOW: I had wanted to tell her Jessica’s story when she turned fourteen,
but I didn’t know that her life would be so closely mirroring mine. Here we are
at the 9/11 memorial and I can’t say a word.
ELLIE: What do you think dad’s doing right now? Do you think he’s with his
girlfriend?

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 Back Cover by Emily Hageman

MADISONNOW: I know she feels like she is going to die. I remember. And then,
there was Jessica. She helped me understand that you can feel like you’re dying,
but you don’t have to die.
ELLIE: What are you looking at, mom?
MADISONNOW: My eyes are always drawn to her picture. My first and truest friend.
I hope you know, Jessica, somehow. Let me thank you one last time.
ELLIE: Mom?
MADISONNOW: Honey, come here, I want to show you something.
ELLIE: Jessica Renee Walsh. Who is she?
JESSICA: Understanding history is understanding that things are not set in stone and
no one is a slave to their circumstance.
MADISONNOW: When I was fourteen years old, I found a shoebox full of letters in
my wall belonging to Jessica.
(JESSICA looks at MADISONNOW. Their eyes meet. They smile.)
MADISONNOW: This is her story.

End of Play.

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 Back Cover by Emily Hageman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

EMILY HAGEMAN is a music and theater educator currently residing in Sioux City, Iowa. Her
plays have seen production with Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival,
Heartland Theatre Company, A Light in Dark Places, the Red Eye 10s International Play
Festival, Eden Prairie Players, Midwest Dramatists Convention, the Growing Stage Theatre,
Theatre Evolve, Spokane Stage Left, Iowa State University, and Gi60s. Her plays are being
constantly workshopped by the magnificent high school and middle school actors at
Siouxland Christian School.

ABOUT STAGE PARTNERS

Stage Partners was founded in 2015 by two internationally-produced playwrights who
wanted to serve young artists and audiences around the globe.

The two playwrights, Jason Pizzarello and Morgan Gould, felt that finding high quality
material for school, community theater, or performance groups shouldn’t have to be so
complicated. Why should it be so difficult to search, select, and order plays to perform?
And why should teachers, artistic directors, and group leaders spend time and money or-
dering and reading plays that they ultimately don’t choose to produce? How can one de-
cide to produce a play he or she hasn’t read? How can anyone be sure that the play fits his
or her community guidelines, artistic standards, and producing capabilities? Stage Partners
removes that guesswork.

READ THE COMPLETE TEXT OF EVERY PLAY FOR FREE at

www.yourstagepartners.com

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