Samantha Oty is a graduate of Radford University (B.S. English; Technical Editing and Writing) and The George Washington University (M.P.S. Publishing; Editorial/Marketing and Promotion). Her first play, Demolition Lovers, was written during her sophomore year of high school and won the 2010 New Voices playwriting contest. She has been writing ever since. Her plays have been produced at MadLab Theatre, Northern Kentucky University, and The Pharmacy Theatre. Her play New Year's Eve at the Stop-n-Go was adapted into the indie film Turbo Cola by Covert Productions and went on to win several awards in the 2022 film festival cycle, including Best Film at the 2023 Film Threat Awards. When not working on new plays, Sam is half the team behind the Real Horrorshow Podcast and one of the founding members of Postcard Press. She lives in Virginia with her husband and cat, and she may or may not actually be two ten-year-olds in a trenchcoat.

three little birds

Characters:.

Young Danny: 12, M. Ambitious Young Margot: 12, F. Eager.
Danny Hart: early 30s, M. A punk-rock star living in the shadow of his past success. Falling apart at the seams.
Margot Thompson: early 30s, F. A photographer still in love with her most famous subject.

Setting:

In the past, Danny’s childhood bedroom.

In the present, grungy hotel room. Maybe it’s purgatory. Maybe it’s Danny’s own personal hell.

Time:

The beginning and end of Danny’s career.

Scene I

1978. A black stage. YOUNG DANNY sneaks back into his trailer bedroom with his guitar.

YOUNG DANNY
(whispering) Hey, wake up.

YOUNG MARGOT is asleep in his bed. She wakes up, startled, as though she forgot where she was.

YOUNG MARGOT
Oh.
Hi.
How was it?

YOUNG DANNY
Awesome.
Look at this shit.

YOUNG DANN pulls a wad of cash from his pocket.

I think I might actually be good at this.

YOUNG MARGOT
I told you.

YOUNG DANNY
Did they notice I was gone?

YOUNG MARGOT
Nope. Never even checked. I told you pillows would be fine.

YOUNG DANNY sits on the bed with her and starts counting the money.

What’re you going to do with all that?

YOUNG DANNY
I dunno. Maybe buy a car when we turn sixteen.

YOUNG MARGOT
You can buy a new guitar.

YOUNG DANNY
Or get you a better camera.

YOUNG MARGOT
I like my camera.

YOUNG DANNY
But I can get you a better one. Give me a month.

YOUNG MARGOT
Okay.

Pause.

YOUNG MARGOT picks up the money and fans it out. It’s more cash than she’s seen in her short life.

You’re really lucky.

YOUNG DANNY
I don’t think so.

YOUNG MARGOT
You have a real talent.

YOUNG DANNY
So do you.

YOUNG MARGOT
But you’re going somewhere.

YOUNG MARGOT waves the cash in his face.

YOUNG DANNY
I’ll take you with me.

YOUNG MARGOT
Yeah.

YOUNG DANNY
Anywhere. I don’t want to go anywhere without you. And you’ll never want to look back because I’ll buy you a big house. Five bedrooms, minimum. Pool. It’s going to have everything you’ve ever wanted.

YOUNG MARGOT
Can it be pink? Like Barbie’s Dream House? Just like the one I wanted for Christmas? But with a slide that goes from the bedroom straight into the pool?

YOUNG DANNY
It can be whatever color you want it to be. And it’ll be better than Barbie’s Dream House.

Pause.

Chirps come from under the bed.

Crap.

YOUNG MARGOT
What’s that?

YOUNG DANNY
It’s--uh--nothing.

DANNY pulls a shoebox from under the bed.

YOUNG DANNY
(to the box) Hey, dummy, you can’t knock the lid off or they’ll hear you.

YOUNG MARGOT gets down on the floor with him.

YOUNG MARGOT
A baby bird?

YOUNG DANNY
Yeah, I found her on the sidewalk the other day. I think she fell out of her nest. Can you get me that can over there?

YOUNG MARGOT does as she’ s told, glancing inside the can.

YOUNG MARGOT
Ew.

YOUNG DANNY
Not ew. Birds need worms to eat so they can live.

YOUNG DANNY drops a worm into the box.

YOUNG DANNY
I want to give her the best shot she has at living. She didn’t ask to fall out of her nest.

YOUNG DANNY’s not really talking about the bird. YOUNG MARGOT wraps an arm around his shoulders.

They watch as the bird chirps.

YOUNG DANNY
They always chirp so their mama can find them. Birds were the first songwriters, you know?

YOUNG MARGOT
Really?

YOUNG DANNY
Yeah.

YOUNG DANNY grabs his guitar off the bed and starts playing a few chords.

YOUNG MARGOT takes a picture.

YOUNG DANNY stops playing.

YOUNG MARGOT
What’s gonna happen to it?

YOUNG DANNY
I dunno.

YOUNG MARGOT
Do you think it’ll be okay?

YOUNG DANNY
Yeah…she’s gotta fly to Nevada, where the skies go for miles and miles.

YOUNG MARGOT
Will you go with her?

YOUNG DANNY
Not yet…not until I finish the song.

Pause.

Can I kiss you?

YOUNG MARGOT
No…you’ll just ruin it.

Black out.

End scene.

Scene II

Somewhere in Nevada, DANNY, all grown up, is in a shabby hotel room. He’ s drinking and empty bottles are scattered around the room. He’ s been on this bender for a few days now. Amongst the bottles is a large Christmas present.

He’s singing a song to himself. Something a sad cowboy would sing on his last night before the gallows.

As he nears the end of his song and the bottom of the bottle, he takes out the revolver he bought years ago.

He sets the bottle down and loads the gun with a single bullet and spins the barrel.

He puts the gun to his temple and pulls the trigger.

Nothing.

The pounding stops.

He sets the gun down and opens the door to let MARGOT inside.

MARGOT
You’re still alive. I thought--

DANNY lights a cigarette, unbothered.

What the hell is going on?

DANNY
It’s Christmas.

MARGOT
I know.

DANNY
I didn’t want to spend it alone.

DANNY gets the large gift and hands it to her.

DANNY (CONT)
I got you a present.

MARGOT
I don’t want it.

DANNY
Then why are you here? You want something from me. You always want something from me. Everyone always wants something from me. Jesus, I drove to every Goodwill I could find to get that for you. Least you could do is open it.

MARGOT
I thought you were going to be dead.

DANNY
Almost was. Now, do a dying man a favor and open your damn present.

MARGOT doesn’t have an answer. She unwraps the gift. A Barbie Dreamhouse. She’ s a little perturbed by the unveiling.

MARGOT
Danny…

DANNY
Sorry, it’s not the real thing, but the elevator still works.

He demonstrates.

MARGOT
When did you get back to the States?

DANNY
I landed in Chicago two weeks ago, then I drove out here, running a few errands here and there.

MARGOT
You didn’t call when you were in Chicago? I would have picked you up from the airport.

DANNY
I believe you said, “I never want to talk to you again.” Or am I confused? Things--things aren’t as clear to me anymore.

MARGOT
I was mad that night. At you. At her. At the baby. But I would have picked you up if you called.

DANNY
I know.
It’s why you’re here now, right?
You want to take care of me?
Save me from myself?

MARGOT
Only if you want me to.

DANNY
Hmm. I don’t even know what I want. Thought I did but here I am, drunk and almost out of cigarettes.

Without hesitation, MARGOT hands him a pack of cigarettes from her pocket.

DANNY (CONT)
Margot, Margot, Margot…how have I made it this far without you? My saving grace. My hero.

MARGOT
Enabler.

DANNY
Enabler. What does that mean?

MARGOT
I enable the habits that are killing you.

DANNY
Yet here I am.

MARGOT
Here you are.

Pause.

DANNY
Did you bring a camera?

MARGOT
Huh?

DANNY
You always have your camera with you.

MARGOT
Oh…no. I didn’t. I didn’t know what I was going to find when I got here.

DANNY
Disappointed?

MARGOT
No. I’m glad you’re alive.

DANNY
I’m sorry.

MARGOT
It’s fine. We weren’t really doing anything for Christmas…not a lot of family these days.

DANNY
I know. And I think you’re the only one from the old crew still in Chicago.

MARGOT
Yeah. Chris moved to LA a couple years ago.

DANNY
You still talk to Chris?

MARGOT
As much as I can. He worries about you.

DANNY
Right.

MARGOT
We all do.

DANNY
Right. Worried that they’re going to find their cash cow in a drainage ditch after drowning in his own vomit.

MARGOT
Actually, I think that would be better for us. I could do a whole gallery around it with never-before-seen photos and Chris could probably sell some old demos. Really reignite passion for Midwest Mourning.

DANNY
Glad you’ve thought this through.

MARGOT
You’ve talked about dying young since we were twelve.

DANNY
Well, I’ve fucked that up. Too old for the 27 Club. Too unaccomplished to take over the 24-hour news cycle. Maybe if I could write more than one hit song.

MARGOT
You have a lot of good songs.

DANNY
None like “Burned Sugar” though. That was a fucking masterpiece.

MARGOT
No one could get you to write a song quite like Lillian.

DANNY
Yeah. She’s a real muse, all right.

MARGOT
You know you misspelled that, right?

DANNY
What?

MARGOT
It’s “burnt” not “burned”. With a ‘T’.

DANNY
Fifteen years, and you’re just now letting me know.

MARGOT
I thought you did. Who am I to question artistic genius?

DANNY
God, they must think I’m an idiot.

MARGOT
If they thought that, they would have never bought into whatever you were selling.

DANNY
How do you do that?

MARGOT
Do what?

DANNY
Every time I put myself down, you find some way to lift me back up. How?

MARGOT
Because you’re my friend and someone needs to believe in you.

DANNY
Sometimes I wonder what life would have looked like if we never met.

MARGOT
That’s grim.

DANNY
It’s fun to think in what-ifs.

MARGOT
I don’t think I would have ever left the trailer park. I’d still be at the Stop-n-Go. Maybe I’d have my associate's degree…so there’s that.

DANNY
You’re doing fine without a college degree.

MARGOT
So are you.

DANNY
So am I.

Pause.

I think about it a lot because a world without you means a world without music.

MARGOT
Really?

DANNY
All those nights you spent covering for me…it meant something.

MARGOT
It meant something to me too.

Pause.

DANNY
I wasn’t taking advantage of you?

MARGOT
You were, but I still liked the idea of helping you find your greater purpose.

DANNY
My greater purpose. You know what’s bullshit? When you’re twelve playing in basements and bars, they call you a prodigy. The best there ever was. Then suddenly you’re thirty and you’re like any other loser who can’t get a song on the radio,

MARGOT
Okay.

DANNY
It’s been building. Honestly, I think it’s been building since that night. When we decided to leave for Chicago?

MARGOT
When Lillian just left with that other guy--

DANNY
Yeah, yeah, right after I declared my love for her in front of literally everything and everyone?

Bitch.

MARGOT
You were a wreck.

DANNY
I did my first line of coke that night.

MARGOT
I didn’t realize--

DANNY
I know. I tried to hide it from you. Really.

MARGOT
I know you did, and that must’ve been really hard.

DANNY
Yeah. I just wanted to be the kind of man worthy of someone like you.

He sits on the bed next to her and takes her face in his hands.

DANNY
I missed this face. Is that okay to say?

MARGOT
I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re doing.

DANNY
I think we’re saying goodbye.

MARGOT
Didn’t we already do that?

DANNY
Yeah. But this time it feels more…serious.

MARGOT
How?

DANNY
We’re in Nevada.

MARGOT
That doesn’t have to mean anything.

DANNY
But it does. I’m here. The desert is over there. It’s just like I planned.

MARGOT
Change the plan.

DANNY
I think I’m ready.

MARGOT
Well, unready then.

DANNY
I humiliated myself in Germany and I’ve been a joke in the States for years.

MARGOT
Who cares? Other artists have come back from worse.

DANNY
There’s a constant screaming in the back of my skull and I want it to stop. I drink and it gets louder. I get high and it gets meaner. I can’t remember the last time I got a good night’s sleep. I just want it all to stop. I want it to be quiet.

MARGOT
There are other ways to get it to stop.

DANNY
Like what? Therapy? Medication?

MARGOT
Yes.

DANNY
I can’t.

MARGOT
Why?

DANNY
Because…what if I get help? Sober up…and I’m not good anymore?

MARGOT
What?

DANNY
What if getting help and being happy means that I can’t write anymore? Can’t create music? Can’t be an artist? What happens to me then?

MARGOT
You’re being ridiculous. You’re not an artist because of your mental illness, you're an artist because you make art--

DANNY
About being mentally ill.

MARGOT
About love.

DANNY
Heh.

He takes a sip of whatever bottle is closest.

MARGOT
And, to be honest, you haven’t been good for a long time.

DANNY
Finally. Honesty.

MARGOT
But you could be good again.

DANNY
I don’t know how. There’s never been another ‘Burned Sugar’.

MARGOT
Then stop trying to write another ‘Burned Sugar’. Try something new. Something real. That’s why we loved your old stuff. That’s why we loved you.

DANNY
Past tense.

MARGOT
What?

DANNY
“Loved.” It’s past tense. I may not know how to spell, but I know when something is stuck in the past. Me. I’m stuck.

MARGOT
Maybe you just need to find a new muse. You spend every night singing songs about your exes, your past friends, your past. No wonder you’re stuck.

DANNY
What future? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m alone. I can see the words. Hear the melody. But I can’t reach them. It’s like they’re stuck in a fog that I can’t break through and the melody is garbled underneath the screaming in my mind.

Pause.

Before, I had you. I had Lillian. And after you, I had Naomi. You could pull me through the fog and find the words. I have no one to pull me anymore.

MARGOT
That’s not true. And I’m not the only one who cares about you. Everyone who’s ever known you cares about you. What about Gracie?

Pause.

How is Gracie?

DANNY is struggling to light a cigarette.

DANNY
Hm?

MARGOT
Gracie? How is she?

DANNY
I don’t know. Naomi won’t let me see her. Bitch.

MARGOT
You almost married her, though.

DANNY
Yeah, well, nothing shows a person’s true colors faster than having a kid. Gracie’s born and suddenly I’m not good enough? She didn’t complain when I brought her backstage.

MARGOT
Well, it’s a little different, you know? Planning for a baby with a guy…versus actually having one.

DANNY
You’d know all about that wouldn’t you?

Pause.

MARGOT
She probably has her reasons. That’s all I’m saying.

DANNY
Being a bitch.

MARGOT
Still, you asked her to call me. And she did. So, she can’t be that bad, can she?

DANNY
No. She can’t be that bad. Is that what you want to hear?

MARGOT
Yeah. Yeah. That’s what I want to hear.

DANNY
Look. You don’t know Naomi like I do--

MARGOT
Did you even know her?

DANNY
I knew enough. Fuck.

I don’t want to do this.

I don’t want to be like this.

MARGOT
Then stop.

DANNY
I can’t.

MARGOT
She can’t be that bad, otherwise you wouldn’t have called her.

DANNY
I needed her to call you because I knew you wouldn’t answer if it was me.

MARGOT
You could have asked Chris.

DANNY
Chris won’t answer my calls either. Naomi’s the only one who answers my calls.

MARGOT
Because she cares about you.

DANNY
Because she wants my money.

MARGOT
She’s raising your daughter.

DANNY
Don’t throw that in my face.

MARGOT
I’m not.

DANNY
She does it enough.

MARGOT
I said I’m not.

I don’t even know why I came here, all we’re going to do is spin in a circle--

Going over the same arguments again and again and again and again and again and again.

DANNY

Overlapping.

and again and again and again and again and again.

MARGOT stops.

and again and again and again.

Don’t you think I know that? I have to live in my own head every single second of every single day. And you know what? All I hear is screams. I wake up and there’s screams in the back of my head, and I need to drink so I don’t have to listen to them. But they’re always there and I don’t know what to fucking do about it. How am I supposed to be a father when there’s no room for me in my own brain? How am I supposed to keep existing?

MARGOT wraps her arms around him.

Finally, they kiss.

DANNY
Sorry.

MARGOT
It’s fine.

MARGOT sits up, upset about letting herself get pulled back into him.

He continues to lay on the bed.

DANNY hums, unbothered.

MARGOT
What happened to that bird?

DANNY
What bird?

MARGOT
There was a bird--a baby--you were hiding it under your bed.

DANNY
Oh yeah.

MARGOT
What happened to it?

DANNY
I don’t remember.

MARGOT
Did it die?

DANNY
I don’t remember.

MARGOT
You said it would fly to Nevada.

DANNY
Did I?

MARGOT
I think so. I think I remember it.

DANNY
I haven’t found it yet. Maybe it’ll find me when it’s ready?

Pause.

DANNY (CONT)
It scared me to think of a future
without you and when you were mine,
there were moments when I would look at you
watch your every move and just think about
slitting your throat and watching you bleed out
or wrapping my hands around your neck
until there’s no more air in your lungs
then I’d bury you in a place only I could find.
That way you couldn’t leave me.
And you would always be mine.

MARGOT knows she should be horrified , but she just gives him a sad smile.

MARGOT
And now?

DANNY
Now I’m just looking at you. I missed your face.

Pause.

MARGOT
I used to think it would be easier to love you if you were dead. You would be young and beautiful forever. In our heads, you could be whatever we wanted you to be. So many different Dannys could exist if you were dead. A Danny who won the Grammy. A Danny who raised his daughter. A Danny who loved me until the end.

DANNY
I’m sorry that I never got you a real dream house.

MARGOT
It’s okay. I haven’t wanted it in a long time.

DANNY
Now what?

MARGOT
Buy it for Gracie. Write a new song and buy her the best dream house on the market.

DANNY
What about us?

MARGOT
There is no us. There’s a you. And there’s a me. And once upon a time we could be us, but we’re broken now. And no amount of glue is going to put us back together.

DANNY
Of course there’s an us.

You wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t.

I wouldn’t have called you.

It’s always been us.

It’s always going to be you and me.

MARGOT
No. It’s always been you. Everything you ever did…everywhere you went…I followed. It was always for you. It was never for us. It was never for me. Because ever since I met you, all I wanted was for you to love me.

DANNY
I do love you.

MARGOT
When did you realize I wanted to be a photographer?

DANNY
You were always taking pictures.

MARGOT
Pictures of you. Of your shows. And of the world beyond the stage. Shit, my first gallery was dedicated to you, Danny. Everything I am is because I loved you.

DANNY
That’s not true. You’ve done great since I left.

MARGOT
Then why do I feel like something’s missing?

DANNY
I don’t know.

MARGOT
I was so focused on you…I don’t think I ever took the time to find myself. And even now that I have…there’s still a huge hole in my heart where you belong.

She looks at the palms of her hands. Empty. She didn’t bring a camera.

MARGOT
What am I without you?

DANNY
Everything.

MARGOT
To whom?

DANNY
To me. That last night--at your gallery opening--I was forced to look at myself the way you did. The vestige of a dying movement--dying beneath all the pressure of trying to keep the music going. And I didn’t like it. You’ve always seen me for what I was, and I don’t think I valued that until it was too late. But, Margot, you’re everything to me.

MARGOT
Maybe I shouldn’t be your everything anymore?

Beat.

DANNY
Do you ever think about our baby?

MARGOT
There was never a baby.

DANNY
You were pregnant.

MARGOT
I was pregnant. But there was never a baby. Just a clump of cells hell-bent on ruining my life.

DANNY
Don’t talk about him like that.

MARGOT
It wasn’t a him. It wasn’t anything.

DANNY
It was something.

MARGOT
An idea. Maybe?

DANNY
So do you think about him?

MARGOT
No. What would be the point? My thinking about it isn’t going to change anything.

DANNY
Do you think I’m a bad father?

MARGOT
I don’t know. I’ve never seen you be a father.

DANNY
I tried so hard not to be like mine that I became worse…I think.

MARGOT
Don’t do that to yourself.

DANNY
It’s true.

MARGOT
You never hurt Gracie. You never hurt Naomi.

DANNY
Not physically.

MARGOT
You still have time to make things okay.

DANNY
Yeah.

MARGOT
When did you know you were in love with me?

DANNY
I don’t know. Maybe I was born with it?

Maybe it was written into my DNA to love the girl who wears white to punk rock shows?

I can’t.

I mean it.

It feels like you were made for me.

And that I was made for you.

We were always meant to be.

MARGOT
I know when I fell in love with you. After my dad died and I threw myself at you. You refused. Even though you’d been trying to get with me for years. Why?

DANNY
It wasn’t right.

MARGOT
So you waited?

DANNY
I didn’t want to take advantage of you.

MARGOT
I loved you then.

DANNY
And now?

MARGOT
It feels like a lifetime ago…

DANNY
It wasn’t all bad though, right?

Some of it was good?

MARGOT
A lot of it was good.

DANNY
Come back to Germany with me.

MARGOT
Danny--

DANNY
We’ll figure it out.

MARGOT
I have a life here. Someone I love.

DANNY
But it’s you and me. Us.

MARGOT
Danny…A lot of it was good…but I wish there was a way to erase you from my heart. To fill the hole that you left. So much of my life has been trapped in your orbit, and I’ve been so much better outside of it. Please don’t make me go back.

DANNY doesn’t say anything.

MARGOT (CONT)
I’m going to leave now, and I don’t want you to call me again. I don’t want Naomi to call me.

DANNY nods.

MARGOT (CONT.)
I need you to let me go.

DANNY
Okay.

She reaches for the doorknob.

DANNY
Can I kiss you?

MARGOT
Why? It’ll just ruin it.

MARGOT pulls the door shut behind her.

DANNY picks up the revolver. Once again, he places it against his temple.

Click. Nothing.

He sets the gun down and picks up his guitar.

BLACK OUT as he starts playing the chords of his new song.

the end.