Depression

Zach Tretter

Zachary Tretter 2015

Depression:
Note to director: Teach the lesson of Gratitude wonderfully.
Character List:
JONAS main character; struggling with depression
THE MIND resembles JONAS consciousness
Setting:
Scene 1 JONAS Bedroom
Scene 2 BLANK STAGE
Scene 3 BLANK STAGE/JONAS BEDROOM (DAY + NIGHT)

Zachary Tretter 2015

Scene I
BLACKOUT
There is a low rumbling along with soft hums of low note
(preferably G or G2 below middle C)
Voices emerge like a schizophrenic episode; words overlapping
each other.
MIND (O.S.)
I cant be here, I have to
go!
I dont care...I dont care!
Why does it have to be me?!
Why me?
Pathetic.
Useless.
I suck.
They suck, nobody... nobody
cares/understands.
(uproarious mess)
I want it to go away.
I want to die.
Last line earns an ear splitting silence. The phrase
reverberates. There is an echo, returning, but painfully long.
LIGHTS UP on JONAS ROOM.
There is a normal, middle-class earned bed stage right; behind
it a door. There is a window with visible trees.
It is daytime; peacefully broken.
JONAS door opens; he comes in with a backpack hanging off his
shoulder.
Zachary Tretter 2015

BLACKOUT
LIGHTS UP on JONAS sitting on the furthest side upstage facing
the audience. Hes been weeping. The redness under his eyes is
fully evident. Echoes of thoughts reverberate softly in the
background.
JONAS looks out his window. It is daytime; the afternoon.
The echoes become quiet; they decrescendo.
JONAS
(defeated)
I wish these thoughts would
get out of my head.
A very quick suction noise erupts. A character dressed in a
suit comes out from behind JONAS in a post-drunk, hangovernostalgic way. He is THE MIND, the physical representation of
JONAS consciousness.
MIND
(stretching;mumbling)
All right here we go.
JONAS isnt far from completely losing it.
JONAS
What the hell?! Who are you?
Beat.
MIND
Jonas, I am your thoughts.
JONAS leaps back in his bed.
JONAS
My thoughts? What do you mean
my thoughts?
MIND straightens out his suit.
MIND
Well, you see, Jonas, you did
just question the universes
physics in such a genuine
Zachary Tretter 2015

fashion that my existence

simply came to be. You see a
lot happens when youre a
genuine human being Jonas.
Beat.
JONAS
What the hell are you talking
about? Who the hell are you
and why are you in my room?
Jonas is fumbling for a baseball bat in the middle of his room,
a couple feet from THE MIND. He raises it. The Mind holds his
hands forward and pulls back, personifying fear.
MIND
I am your mind, Jonas. I am
the thoughts you wished from
your head.
(beat)
Stop shaking,(and twitching),
its alright.
Jonas lowers his stroke height.
MIND
Youre in a situation, now
werent you Jonas? Youre
very confused.
JONAS
(still noticeably
frightened)
I think Im perfectly aware
of that right now.
MIND
I mean, youre depressed.
Beat.
JONAS
Im not in anyway-

Zachary Tretter 2015

MIND
(stern)
Jonas...listen. I am your
thoughts; an extension, more
or less, the foundation of
your consciousness. I know
you know its hard to submiss
and admit, but youre in
trouble. You want to die. You
thought it.
(beat)
You literally put the words
in my mouth.
THE MIND motions the quote unquote around the word mouth.
JONAS is silent. He is slowly realizing the humiliation.
MIND
You never thought anybody
would know. You never
treated us like us before,
right?
JONAS slips out of his reflective state and naturally goes into
denial.
JONAS
(I...) I dont know what
youre talking about.
MIND
Like I said before, I am
separate from you. I am the
emotion without emotion. The
bare, raw, and ever present
truth; I am The Mind.
JONAS shows signs of understanding, but dismisses the ideas
stubbornly.
JONAS
You arent making any sense
at all.
Beat.

Zachary Tretter 2015

MIND
Jonas.
JONAS
I would like it, if you could
leave, or go back in my head
or whatever, just leave me
alone.
MIND
(plainly)
Im sorry, Jonas, but thats
impossible.
Beat.
JONAS
(aggravated)
Get the hell out!
MIND
Alright, Jonas.
THE MIND leaves out of the stage right door.
silence.

There is a brief

THE MINDs voice comes booming in from everywhere.

MIND(O.S.)
(booming)
Is this better Jonas?
JONAS leaps up in complete terror.
JONAS
What the hell?!
MIND
Jonas, we are going to have a
talk no matter what so its
best you just accept whats
going to happen and just make
the best of it.
JONAS
What if I dont want to?

Zachary Tretter 2015

MIND
Free will, as with
everything, is a general
concept; you cant escape
from your own thoughts,
Jonas.
There is more silence. JONAS is beginning to understand.
MIND (contd)
May I come in?
JONAS
I guess.
THE MIND enters through JONAS door, stage right.
THE MIND stands still looking at JONAS. He straightens his
shoulders.
MIND
Do you understand now?
JONAS
I think so.
MIND
Good Jonas, youre on the
first step.
(generically)
Why have you been thinking of
death as the solution to your
problem?
JONAS starts reflecting.
JONAS
Dying ends the problem;
(beat)
you cant feel anything
anymore.
MIND
Let me ask you this. Do you
know what it feels like to
die? To lose touch, feel,
thought?
Zachary Tretter 2015

Beat.
JONAS
All I know is I wont be and
the suffering stops.
MIND
(louder)
No, you dont Jonas. Youll
never know what it is to
exist in a realm of nothing.
Think outside your senses,
Jonas.
JONAS
How can I do that?
MIND
Well, actually, you cant.
thats the twist to it;
youll never know at all.
Have you ever thought of what
you would feel slowly dying;
dying at all? The simple
torture.
There is a beat. JONAS fades in.
JONAS
Thats why I wouldnt hang
myself, no.
MIND
(taken aback)
Why not, Jonas?
JONAS
Its too slow, its painful.
MIND
More painful than what youre
feeling right now?
JONAS makes eye contact with THE MIND.
JONAS

Zachary Tretter 2015

Its physically painful; I

dont know how you would ever
know about that.
(mockingly)
Youre just The Mind.
MIND
Just the mind? I control
everything, Jonas. You know
what, I can control all of
your involuntary actions and
processes.
JONAS faces THE MIND.

He looks noticeably uncomfortable.

JONAS
My involuntary actions?
MIND
Breathing, blood flow, your
heart beat.
JONAS
(realizing)
You mean, you could, just
shut me down? Turn me off
like a light switch?
MIND
Yes, Jonas, thats exactly
what Im talking about.
Beat.

JONAS is still noticeably uncomfortable.

MIND (contd)
Let me ask you this, do you
want it to end? If I had the
power to do it, which I do,
would you want me to end it?
JONAS
(hesitant)
...Yes, I...I think I...

JONAS is faced with the option; genuinely remorseless.

snaps his fingers. JONAS jolts anxiously.
Zachary Tretter 2015

THE MIND

MIND
Just like that, you can just
go...blank.
There is more silence.
MIND (contd)
Jonas?
(beat)
Youre conflicted.
JONAS
I just never... the
opportunity.
MIND
The opportunity. Chance.
Knowledge plus opportunity.
Do you want this?
A longer beat.
JONAS
I dont know.
MIND
Its natural not to want to
die, Jonas. Nobody wants to
die, or kill themselves. You
just feel that you should be
dead, and that its the right
thing to do.
JONAS
I shouldnt have to feel this
pain?
MIND
Well, yes and no. You
should.
JONAS
(shocked)
What?
MIND
Zachary Tretter 2015

Without it you wouldnt

actually know happiness. You
cant genuinely feel one
without the other. Its
natural to feel this way.
JONAS
How is it natural?
MIND
Humans are conscious beings
of action; always
legitimately doing something.
Responding, reacting, just
like all life. Your response
is the most important in this
relationship. Its how you
react that is confusing,
especially at adolescence,
Jonas, when you are just a
fraction of who you are and
who you want to be.
JONAS is taken aback; confused.
JONAS
How do you know this?
MIND
How do you know this is the
real question. If you dug
deeper and opened up you
horizons, youd see what you
see now.
JONAS
So what you are telling me is
that you are telling me this
because I dont want to die
on the inside, in reality?
THE MIND is processing what JONAS just said.
MIND
(hesitant)
Yes.

Zachary Tretter 2015

JONAS crosses his arms.

JONAS
So youre a reaction? A
response? A survival
response. Its me talking to
myself in its most ordinary
form.
MIND
We are all the same in more
ways than we are different,
Jonas, as with everything.
JONAS
(angry; angsty)
So your just a response
trying to save me from myself
when I know how I really
feel!
MIND
No, Jonas, you are mistaken.
JONAS
(upset)
No, the fact that you cant
give me the answers already
proves that we are different.
I am right and you are just
engrained thought!
MIND
I have a lot more control
than you have, Jonas,
remember? I am you, your
subconscious, your instinct.
I am you when you sleep,
dont you get it?
JONAS
This is all a lie. You dont
want me to die because you
just want to save yourself.
MIND

Zachary Tretter 2015

No, Jonas, we are both

selfish, naturally; you dont
want to die either.
JONAS
(quieter; mumbling)
But I do.
MIND
What?
Beat.
JONAS
What if I do?
There is a long beat.

THE MINDs stern face relaxes.

MIND

Alright, Jonas.
BLACKOUT
SCENE II
The area is black; white, nothing except for JONAS sitting
center stage. He is surrounded by nothing. He wakes up and
looks around; looks everywhere. He finds and sees nothing.
Everything is blank. JONAS shouts.
JONAS
Hello?! Anyone?!
Theres a painful silences that can last up to 1:01mins.
MIND speaks ominously.

THE

MIND
Jonas.
JONAS jumps up and looks everywhere for where the sound came
from.
JONAS
Where are you? Where the hell
am I?
MIND
Zachary Tretter 2015

Youre in nothing. As of
now, you arent anything.
JONAS
Am I dead?
MIND
No, you arent dead. You are
still conscious, arent you?
JONAS
Where am I?
MIND
Youre where weve always
been.
JONAS
(frustrated)
What the hell, no were not!
(beat)
I thought you were going to
kill me? Why didnt you?
There is another long beat.

The mind sighs subtly.

MIND
You know, theres a lot you
dont notice, Jonas.
JONAS
What do you mean? Of course
not, I cant see a damn thing
in here!
MIND
Back in your room, even,
there was a lot you didnt
notice at all.
JONAS
What? I know what my room
looks like.
A tree (the one outside JONASs window) suddenly rolls on to
stage left (where it was in Scene I).

Zachary Tretter 2015

JONAS
Whats a tree doing here?
MIND
Do you recognize this tree?
JONAS
It just a tree, there are
millions of trees in the
world, how could I recognize
this one?
Short beat.
MIND
So you dont recognize it?
JONAS
No!
MIND
This tree is right outside
your bedroom window. Youve
lived by it and watched it
grow your whole life.
JONAS
Why would I pay attention to
a stupid tree?
MIND
Well, why would you pay
attention at all?
(inhale)
Listen Jonas, youre not
paying careful attention to
whats surrounding you.
Youre living in a bedroom
where you have so much
potential to do incredible
things.
JONAS
Theres nothing to do that I
want to do.
MIND
Zachary Tretter 2015

You dont understand the

infiniteness of your
knowledge, let alone, your
consciousness.
Beat.
JONAS
(defeated)
What the hell.
MIND
Jonas, your distracting
yourself with temporary
things and attitudes. There
is so much to know and
experience that you dont
even know exists.
JONAS puts his head in his lap.
JONAS
I, just, dont want to feel
this way forever.
MIND
Nothing lasts forever, Jonas,
this feeling is only
temporary. Anything else is
mortally debatable.
The stage pieces of the bedroom (Set: Scene I) are seamlessly,
smoothly, and subtly placed. JONAS lifts his head and looks
around his familiar room.
JONAS
(hesitant)
Where do I start?
MIND
You already have, Jonas, and
you always will; everyday,
try to find something
different; something new,
because its always out
there, and always going to be
out there. Gratitude for
Zachary Tretter 2015

this knowledge and

environment; Acceptance of
this daily opportunity.
Everything always changing.
(echoing; mashing)
Enjoy the entertainment of
life, indulge in every
possible detail, question,
existence. Jonas, there will
never be a time where you
dont have the choice to
change, accept, and be happy.
Choose to be grateful. Choose
to accept. Forget who you
think you are and become
yourself.
JONAS stands and looks at the room that surrounds him.
BLACKOUT
SCENE III
LIGHTS UP JONAS is in his bed. He sits up and looks outside
at the clear and softly lit day. He steps off his bed and
slowly, almost silently, walks to his window. He looks at the
tree, he observes it. Echoes of THE MINDs voice and his prior
monologue distill. The sounds of spring bugs and the soft
tweets of birds float in the atmosphere. The warm, golden light
of a sunset falls on JONASs face. The orange glow is
complemented by a Bb major chord sequence on strings (Bb, F, Eb,
Bb ; 4/4 preferred) that creates and audible gaining and rising
tone. The music fades as the natural light fades into black.
This sequence should last no more than 5:05mins.
FADE OUT
Starry lights FADE IN. JONAS is still at the window; arm
supporting head, showing his tiny expressions of fatigue.
is no music, only crickets. THE MINDs voice echoes.
MIND(O.S.)
Opportunity to change. The
ability to react; to want to
take action, the will to
progress.

Zachary Tretter 2015

There

JONAS takes a final; genuinely satisfying look at the stars.

THE MINDs voice mixes with JONAS off-stage.
MIND (contd)
(clearer)
There will always be more to
this than we will ever know.
Its natural to always wonder
what else there is.
Bb chord emerges and then fades out with whatever remaining
light there is.
FADE OUT
THE END

Zachary Tretter 2015