Caught in the Middle: A Scene

"Olivia Zenor 1923" by puzzlemaster is licensed under CC BY 2.0

 This is a scene from a play that I'm working on. 

The main character is a young adult and a survivor of sexual assault by a priest.

AGNES sits on a chair center stage with a laptop on her lap, reading what's on the screen. As she reads, a spotlight highlights people on stage right and left as they speak their piece. They're the people behind what's she's reading. 

(A MAN steps out stage right. He's wearing a tweed coat with elbow patches, carrying a few books-- think stuffy professor) 

MAN: The problem with the current crisis of abuse and scandal in the Church lies with corrupt bishops. We no longer have truly strong and morally sound leaders who have the courage to enact the reforms needed to defend the Church from rot from within. 

AGNES: I can't argue with that. 

MAN: The current decline in the Church is because of infiltration by the homosexual agenda! The rampant abuse we see of our altar boys and seminarians is all traceable to homosexual bishops letting sexual perverts through our seminaries. If we only had a pope who had the strength and conviction to expell these corrupt clerics we could save the Church, but since the current pope is more concerned with the environment and being nice to people, we're trapped on a wide road into the gaping maw of hell. 

AGNES: (looks up from her laptop and addresses the audience) Wait...I'm not a dude. I mean, I was wearing baggy jeans and a t-shirt at the time, maybe that gave off guy vibes? Is that what we're going with here? I'm relatively certain Fr. Stan wasn't gay. I mean, I could be wrong, but it seems like that whole situation would have been pretty hard to fake if he was batting for the other team. 

(AGNES goes back to her computer. On stage left, a WOMAN steps out. The WOMAN is dressed in loose pants with a loose, flowing, brightly colored tunic type shirt over it. She has a large cross pendant on, and a gauzy scarf draped around her neck and hanging down on either side of it).

WOMAN: (With a air of extreme empathy) We need to listen to the voices of victims. If we want to heal this wound, we need to let those who have been hurt change and dictate how we must respond to them. We have to give them back their power. 

AGNES: Ok, this sounds better. 

WOMAN: For far too long, the Church has been largely deaf to the voices of half of her members. We need to introduce the voices and opinions of women into the decision making sphere if we want to move forward into the future with compassion and integrity. 

AGNES: Finally! Maybe I'll  find something on why female victims of clerical abuse tend to be so invisible!

WOMAN: don't see victims in terms of men and women. I see them all as people. 

(There is a pause)

AGNES: Maybe not. 

MAN: We need to support priests like Fr. Pretre DeMomenta, who are standing up against the corrupt members of the Church hierarchy! Donate to his legal fund here to help him in the fight against being removed from his parish by his bishop! 

AGNES: Don't priests take a vow of obedience to their bishop? If he isn't being asked to do something immoral, shouldn't he do it? 

WOMAN: When it comes down to it, this is due completely to the fact that all the priests are MEN. If we had women clergy running things, we wouldn't have the abusive MESS that we have today!! An organization led only by men is inherently abusive: women are naturally better able to empathize with the downtrodden. The abuse that happened against this poor girl would never have occurred if it was a woman in that confessional. 

AGNES: There have never been any abusive or narcissistic women? What was that whole Mommy Dearest movie about? I'm pretty sure abusive assholes come in both genders. 

And, I mean...lesbians are a thing. If same sex abuse is happening now, wouldn't it happen with women too?

MAN: Oh, this priest is being layicized for an alleged rape? At least he wasn't sleeping with another man or a teenage boy. It's a natural inclination to want to procreate with a woman, it should be forgiven more easily. 

(A moment of stunned silence) 

WOMAN: The problem in the Church is bishops and priests who are too patriarchal, cold, strict, and legalistic!

MAN: The problem in the Church are bishops and priests who are too feminine, weak, and cowardly!

(AGNES suddenly slams the laptop shut. Both spotlights to her left and right go out at the same time, leaving her alone on stage. She stands up, putting the computer on the chair behind her.)

AGNES: I need a break from this.

(She EXITS).

END SCENE.