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Love in the Time of Coronavirus is a provocative interracial Romeo and Juliet set during the period between the onset of the pandemic and the death of George Floyd.  Although presented as a comedy, the play's central thematic focus is the issue of racial inequality. Two high school juniors must overcome social differences, parental objections, and the COVID lockdown in order to pursue their relationship.  As their passion blossoms, the play examines the emotional conflicts and altered family dynamics triggered by the fledgling love affair.  Overshadowing this romantic drama is a looming tragedy, and the chorus of that tragedy is crying out for racial equality, social justice, and respect for the value of human life on behalf of the victims of bigotry, police violence, and a lethal virus.  Each of the five characters (two adults and three teenagers) struggles to cope with the health crisis and searches for some kind of answer to the shocking display of police brutality that was broadcast around the globe.  The play conveys a sense of the upheaval, as well as the awakening, that reshaped society in an era of radical transformation and tragic loss.  The play’s cathartic denouement portrays the personal and political maturation of the three teens as they assert their self worth and challenge the power and prejudice of the older generation. 

SCENE 5

LOCATION:  Claire’s House/High School Shed

Lights up stage right.  CLAIRE is standing center stage and facing stage right.  DIANNE and GERRY are standing stage right and facing CLAIRE.  CLAIRE is wearing a mask and a backpack.  DIANNE has her hands on her hips.

DIANNE:  No, you may not!

CLAIRE:  You’re being ridiculous!  Kids don’t even get it.

DIANNE:  That’s not true, Claire.  And even if teenagers are more likely to be asymptomatic, that does not mean that they aren’t carrying the disease and spreading it to others.

CLAIRE: (lowers her mask below her chin) But all my friends are still getting together.  They’re forming pods to do online school and they have small study groups.  Can’t I at least go to Chelsea’s house to do homework?  Her mom said I can come.  Why do you have to be such weirdos?

DIANNE:  I don’t care what other people are doing.  I don’t care what other people’s parents think is OK.  Other people’s parents don’t work in a hospital.  They don’t know what’s going on over there.  Chelsea’s mother doesn’t see what I get to see every day, another patient dying of this disease.

CLAIRE:  If it’s so dangerous, then why are you and Daddy still going to work?

DIANNE:  Because it’s our responsibility.  We both perform essential services.  Visiting your friends is non-essential.  And if it were up to me, your father would be closing the store as well.

GERRY:  We wouldn’t have enough to live off.

DIANNE:  You could transition to an online business, like everyone else.

GERRY:  A local hardware store is dependent on walk-ins.  Online they just order from Home Depot.  Not that I’m getting any walk-ins, now that we’ve sold out every cleaning product in the store.  Can’t restock any inventory; everything’s on back order.  Place is like a ghost town.

CLAIRE:  Well then after I finish my homework I’m going for a run.

DIANNE:  Are you forgetting that you have an underlying medical condition?

CLAIRE:  I haven’t had an asthma attack in like ten years.

DIANNE:  It’s still a risk factor.

CLAIRE:  I promise I won’t eat any macadamia nuts.  Can’t I at least go for a bike ride?  It’s unhealthy to sit in the house all day and never get any exercise.

DIANNE:  All right.  We’ll order a stationary bike.

CLAIRE:  I hate you.  I’m the only one in my whole school who never gets to see any friends. (exits stage right)

GERRY:  Those bikes aren’t easy to come by these days.

DIANNE:  She can always do calisthenics.  You know, jumping jacks.

Dianne executes two jumping jacks.

GERRY:  Good answer.

DIANNE:  So guess what?  We found out today that administration has agreed to accept any patient in Stearns County who cannot be accommodated at their local community hospital.

GERRY:  Are you kiddin’ me?  It’s gonna be a zoo.

DIANNE:  Don’t worry.  They know what they’re doin’.

GERRY:  Yeah?

DIANNE:  Oh yeah.  They’ve got it covered.  I mean, don’t get me wrong.  We still don’t have enough personal protective equipment.  We still don’t have enough test kits.  We still don’t have enough ventilators.  And we definitely don’t have enough staffing.  But they have ordered a second tent.

GERRY:  Another triage tent?

DIANNE:  Oh no.  This one’s goin’ in the back.  To handle the overflow when the mortuary in the basement fills up.  And they’ve got some refrigerated trucks comin’ in.  Help keep the smell down in the summer.  Yeah, it’s gonna be quite a show.

Lights down stage right.  DIANNE and GERRY exit stage right.  Lights up stage left.  WILLIAM and GOODIE are sitting on a table that has a polyurethane foam pad on top of it.  They are sitting at either end of the table, so they are several feet apart.  WILLIAM is holding a vape pen and GOODIE is holding an unlit joint.

WILLIAM:  No, not short.  Not a crew cut or a military cut.  I’m talkin’ bald as a billiard ball. (holds out his free hand, palm upward) Like the palm of my hand.  That’s how much hair she got on her head.

GOODIE:  That’s pretty radical.

WILLIAM: (takes out a lighter) You want me to light that?  I brought it so we wouldn’t be vapin’ on the same pen.  Safety first, you know.

GOODIE:  I’m already high from your second hand smoke.  Not much air circulation in here.

WILLIAM:  So you don’t like the new headquarters?

GOODIE:  Not bad.  Kinda cozy.  It is a storage shed.  How’d you get in here in the first place?

WILLIAM:  What can I tell you?  Lock’s broken.

GOODIE:  How did it get broken?

WILLIAM:  I don’t know but if we put it back on the latch when we leave, it looks like the shed is locked.

GOODIE:  So what’s Mary gonna...

WILLIAM:  Din’ I tell you?  Her name ain’t Mary no more.  Now she’s M’Chelle.  Michelle without an I.

GOODIE:  That’s what I’m gonna change my name to!  Jean Michel, after Jean Michel Basquiat.

WILLIAM:  Well that’s very Francais, Goodrich.  Not sure your momma’s gonna be too happy about that. (ignites his vape pen and takes a drag)

GOODIE:  He was part Haitian.  And I’d rather be named Mary than Thurgood. (pedantic, nasal female voice) You’re named after the first African American justice of the Supreme Court, and you should be very proud of that fact. (regular voice) I bet Olivia’s wiggin’ out too.

WILLIAM: (exhales) That’s nothin’.  Wait ’til my father figures out why she ain’t got no boyfriends.  But them two just picked up right where they left off, arguin’ about the politics and the religion and such.

GOODIE:  What’s her major, your sister?

WILLIAM:  Uhh, urban planning, I think.

GOODIE:  That’s a major?  What do they do, sit around drawin’ maps?

WILLIAM:  It takes a lot of work figurin’ out how to design a city.  You know, first you gotta find a garbage dump or some toxic waste site and that’s where you build the projects and then you put all the niggas there and then once you got your ghetto you need to separate it with a big highway or some railroad tracks or dig a moat around it if you have to so long as you keep ’em away from the white folks over in the nice part of town.  So yeah they got a whole department just to learn how to do that.

GOODIE:  Uh huh.

WILLIAM:  Oh and check this out.  My mom wouldn’t even let her into Grandpa’s room for two weeks after she got home.

GOODIE:  That’s like Claire’s mom!  No one’s allowed in or out of the house.  That’s how freaked out she is.

WILLIAM:  See now I wouldn’t stand for that shit.  Sounds like you got yourself a real momma’s girl.

GOODIE:  She said she might try and sneak out.

WILLIAM:  You think she’s a virgin?

GOODIE:  Hey I don’t mind teaching.  But what difference does it make if I’m never gonna see her?

WILLIAM: (looks at GOODIE askance) Yeah, I’ll bet you’re a real good teacher.  I don’t know what you see in that girl.  Me?  I need ’em with some meat on them bones.  She’s such a puny little thing.  I bet my titties are bigger than hers.

WILLIAM starts to put his vape pen to his mouth.  GOODIE gets up, approaches WILLIAM, and tries to pull up his shirt.

GOODIE:  Oh yeah?  Let’s have a look.

WILLIAM fends GOODIE off with his free hand.

WILLIAM:  Whoa!  Easy boy.  Jean Michel!  Stoppez vous, s’il vous plait.  I’s only kidding.  JK.  JK.  JK.  And where’s your mask?  Social distancing, nigga!  Safety first.  Don’t make me kick you out my bubble.

GOODIE:  You talk too much, boy.  Don’t be running your mouth if you can’t back it up.