The Author's Voice
By Richard GreenbergGene is a deformed "gnome" who has been taken in by a gorgeous and charming bachelor named Todd, on the condition that Gene will write, and Todd will pass of Gene's work as his own. Gene is forbidden to leave the apartment, and after he reveals to Todd that he has done so, Todd beats him until he runs away and hides in the closet. In this monologue, Todd is trying to apologize to Gene.
TODD:
My life isn't good. You think it is, but it's not. Once it was, but it's not anymore. I used to be made happy by... stupid things. Parties! People around me! I was vain. I was a peacock. I looked in the mirror so hard I didn't recognize myself. I didn't recognize anything. I forgot why I did things. I got scared, Gene! I got scared outside, I got scared in my room. I didn't know where I was half the time. I wanted to drown, I wanted to be covered over... Then I found you.
Make me famous, Gene. I want to be famous. People will photograph me and write about me. I'll study how they see me and live inside it... Fame will be a kind of home. But I need you to get it for me. Only they can't ever know it's you, they can't know it's you, if they ever see you, it will die...
It panics me when you leave and it panics me when you're here. You're the whole problem of my life, but without you I don't have any life at all. I'll give you what you want. I won't deny you anymore. Anything I can, I'll give you.
Order The Author's Voice as part of Three Days of Rain & Other Plays from Amazon.
This monologue brought to you by The Monologue Database.