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Conrad A. Panganiban

Conrad A. Panganiban

playwright | conradap@gmail.com

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The Incredible Incendios

Posted on 05/02/202305/02/2023 by Conrad

Image by mairinha from Pixabay

Download the PDF Script

The Incredible Incedios
A Combustible 10-Minute Betrayal
Play Performed Under A Big Top
By Conrad A. Panganiban

CAST OF CHARACTERS
Zoe Incendio: 19. Female. The Fire Bender of The Incredible Incendios. More than dreams of fame, she needs to leave a legacy. She is the Focused Dreamer.
Max Incendio: 19. Male. The Fire Starter of The Incredible Incendios. Zoe’s fraternal twin brother. He is content with having things stay the way they are. He is the Pragmatic Stalwart.
Dio (the flame): Forever the kid at heart with no age who’s only intention is to be Max and Zoe’s friend ever since the twins found them at the orphange where they grew up. They are the Carefree Ethereal Being.
The Ringmaster: 30s. Male. The Ringmaster of Cirque du Marvelle. He’s not only the holder of exquisite show master’s charm only matched with his unquenchable need for fame and fortune, but also a keep of a secret that will turn The Incredible Incendio’s lived upside down. He is the Opportunistic Realist.

SETTING
This 10-Minute Circus Adventure takes place in the present on a single stage under the Cirque du Marvelle Big Top Tent.

PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTES
Let your imagination run free with how DIO will represent fire. Whether it be the actor carrying red, orange, and yellow ribbons to wearing a fire colored jumpsuit while on a skateboard, the idea is to be imaginative, fun, and safe! DIO is the wondrous side of fire which we know could instantly ride into the dangerous.
Inspired Spotify Playlist – Dark Circus Core: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0LtZIDWiq2BDE1wyr4z6OP?si=e29d5ff8093144be

A drumroll is heard as the lights come up on THE RINGMASTER wearing a red coat and the traditional a black top hat.

THE RINGMASTER
Ladies and Gentleman. Children of all ages and everyone else under the Cirque du Marvelle Big Top, we require your utmost attention in wondrous silence as The Incredible Incendios perform the most death defying finale of all death defying finales.

Drumroll continues as lights up on MAX, ZOE, and DIO, The Incredible Incendios, as they perform the finale of their fire act: MAX starts a fire made up of their childhood friend, DIO (the flame), and ZOE bends DIO in various directions before all end the trick in a furious flourish.

THE RINGMASTER
(With hands outstretched)
The Incredible Incendios!

THE RINGMASTER starts the applause for the audience to join him.

ZOE does an over-the-top bow as MAX and DIO simply look at each other, shrug, and take their bows.

THE RINGMASTER
If you thought that was impressive, remain in your seats for the next seven minutes when The Incredible Incendios return to this very stage to Wow you once again to perform their act for the Very Last Time! Thank you!

Lights come up to reveal the end a stunned

MAX and DIO at hearing this news for the first time.

THE RINGMASTER
Great job, kids! Get some rest. We have a lot riding on this, Zoe. They’re here.

THE RINGMASTER exits.

MAX
What’s he talking about?

ZOE
He just wants us to get some rest before our next act, Max.

DIO
Did The Ringmaster say our next act? Or our last act? Cuz, I don’t remember ever getting a memo?

MAX
You mean something like an official memo about our next act being

MAX & DIO
Our last act?

ZOE
Dio, can you give me and my brother a minute?

DIO
Not if it’s about our last act.

MAX
Dio, why don’t you practice that dream ending you’ve been talking about and I’ll convince my sister to add it into the finale.

ZOE
Wait! What? Add WHAT in?

MAX
(to ZOE)
Did you still wanna talk?

ZOE
(begrudgingly)
Yes.

MAX
(to DIO)
Make it big!

DIO
YESSS!!! I won’t let you down!

DIO exits happily!

ZOE
Make what big?

MAX
Nothing bigger than what you have to tell me! Spill the peas, what did The Ringmaster mean about our last act being our last act?

ZOE
Well, it’s more like… your… last act.

MAX
What?!

ZOE
You’ve been saying that you need a break

MAX
Like a vacation

ZOE
You’ve been so distant

MAX
Just to Disneyland!

ZOE
Like you’re not here

MAX
You know how much

ZOE
And you know how much-

MAX
Splash Mountain means to me!

ZOE
This show means to me!

ZOE
And then he asked me if I wanted to have my own spot.

Pause.

MAX
What just happened?

ZOE
Max. Ever since we found Dio and joined the Cirque, this had been our lives for the last 10 years. And I didn’t need to be your twin to see that your heart just into this anymore.

MAX
What are you talking about? I’m still here. You? Dio? The three of us performing

ZOE
You’re just going through the motions, Max. That’s not show business.

MAX
I can’t always be “on” like you, Zoe! You’ve always been more like The Ringmaster. But me? I just start the fire and you bend them. That’s our act! What else is there?

ZOE
Being the best! You need to do more than just snapping your fingers and Dio comes alive.
You need to be more than that just… you.

MAX
What’s wrong with just being me?! I’m awesome. I start fires!

ZOE
Dio’s the fire! You just throw him at me and watch me do all the work. And then the rest of the time, all you want to do is watch YouTube all day

MAX
I tried to show you that one video of the cat named Tiger that had 15 babies! It had 15 million views!

ZOE
Max, haven’t you ever thought about what we’re going to be when we grow up?

MAX
Grow up? What’s wrong with just coasting on this path until we get there?

ZOE
I… That’s not me. Don’t you want to be famous?! We perform for all these people and all I could think about is wanting people to know my name long after I

MAX
Go up in flames?

ZOE
That’s exactly what I want. I want to burn the memory of me bending flames to stay with each person that sees me. Like a reincarnated legacy passed through generations.

MAX
What about what we created when we were kids? After I found Dio in the fireplace and we started playing catch with him to make all the other orphans laugh, between the oos and ahhs, to forget where or who we were… like that time with Ms. Morrible.

ZOE
I can still hear her shrill voice calling us Freaks.

MAX
But we got her good, didn’t we? Even after The Ringmaster heard about what we did to her and took us away to live here, it was always just supposed to be US. What did you say? “Doing our tricks for others was all you ever dreamed of.”

ZOE
It’s just not enough anymore.

MAX
You mean, we’re not enough anymore?

ZOE
The Ringmaster is starting a new circus and he wants me to be its star. But I needed to tell… ask… you first… and he needs the answer after our last act because there’s some investors in the audience… I need this, Max.

Enter DIO excitedly runs back in.

DIO
Yeeeeeehoooooooo!!!!
I got it! I got it, Max!!!! You won’t believe what I could do, Zoe!

MAX
Is it something that would burn the memories of our last act into whoever sees it?

DIO
Our last act?

MAX
(to DIO)
How would you like to take a vacation, Dio, while Zoe tries something a little different on her own?

DIO
As long as it’s not Splash Mountain. I don’t do well with splashes.

MAX
We’ll talk about where later, but just for now, let’s see our sister be more than she’s dreamed of being.

DIO
As long as I could just keep being me… and Zoe’s happy, it’s all fire with me.

ZOE gives MAX a hug.

ZOE
Thank you! Thanks, Dio. You don’t know how much this means to me!

MAX
Go tell him your decision and we’ll be here waiting.

ZOE
Thanks.

ZOE runs off.

DIO
So it’s really our last act?

MAX
It’s not just going to be our last act… (with something sinister in his voice) It’ll be the last act for all of them.
Show me what you came up with.

Exit DIO and MAX.

Enter THE RINGMASTER with drums rolling.

THE RINGMASTER
Ladies and Gentleman. Children of all ages and everyone else under The Cirque du Marvelle Big Top, we require your utmost attention in wondrous silence as The Incredible Incendios perform the most death defying finale of all death defying finales… for the last time. Shhhhhh…..

Lights up on MAX, ZOE, and DIO. As they are about to perform the finale of their fire act, ZOE strikes a ready pose, while MAX says…

MAX
Now Dio!

MAX and DIO unceremoniously sit on the ground and the drumroll ends.

ZOE
(in a loud whisper)
Max! Dio! What are you doing? Get up! Get up!

DIO
And do what? Leave me too? Max told me about your plan with The Ringmaster!

ZOE
Don’t do this to me!

MAX
Who’s doing what to who?

Enter THE RINGMASTER.

THE RINGMASTER
Ladies and Gentlemen, in true show fashion, The Incredible Incendios are showing off their mastery of tension!
(in hushed anger to MAX and DIO)
What are you doing, you little Freaks? Get up and finish your act!

MAX
So you can get rid of us?

THE RINGMASTER
Who said that I needed you in the first place?!

THE RINGMASTER does a flourish with his hands which summons up DIO to move towards The Ringmaster.

DIO
Whhoooooaaaaa!!!

MAX
How are you…?!

THE RINGMASTER
You mean, this?

With another flourish, THE RINGMASTER makes DIO move around the stage… like he’s the one bending the flame.

THE RINGMASTER
Or like, this?!

THE RINGMASTER suddenly shifts his body to throw DIO into MAX causing him to fall and get burned!

MAX
Ahhhhh!

ZOE
Max!

ZOE runs over to MAX to check on him.

THE RINGMASTER
You’re not the only ones in this family who can start or bend fire.

ZOE
What did you do!?

THE RINGMASTER
You stupid Freak! Just like your mother. She wanted to leave this business too, but after her tragic high-wire accident, I left you both at that orphanage… that is until I found out that you both inherited my powers.

MAX
And groomed us to be your ticket to fame?!

THE RINGMASTER
Don’t forget about the fortune part too… until you ruined it!

Another flourish from THE RINGMASTER.

DIO
Whoa! Not again!!!

DIO crashes into MAX causing another fall.

MAX
Arghhhh!!!

ZOE
Stop it!

THE RINGMASTER
Stop what? They’re the ones getting in the way of what you want!

THE RINGMASTER does another gesture to send DIO to hover near ZOE.

THE RINGMASTER
Finish them and you can have everything you’ve ever dreamed of!

ZOE
All I ever dreamed of…? Dio, forgive me.

ZOE does a flourish and sends DIO to run into

THE RINGMASTER causing him to fall.

DIO
Ooo! I didn’t mind that at all!

ZOE helps MAX up.

ZOE
(to Max)
Are you okay?

THE RINGMASTER
What are you doing?!

ZOE
Thinking about all we’ve ever dreamed of.
(to Max)
Remember that time when Ms. Morrible…

MAX
I’m way ahead of you.
(to Dio)
Hey Dio! It’s time for the finale you always wanted to do!

DIO
Let’s Go!

MAX does a flourish that sends DIO to ZOE for DIO to create a super flame which is sent to THE RINGMASTER who in complete fear gets up and runs off stage followed by DIO. A bolt of red flashes bright from where they exited followed by a…

THE RINGMASTER (O.S.)
NOOOOOoooooooooooo…..

Pause.

MAX
Now, that was a finale to end all finales.

ZOE
Yeah.

MAX
I’m sorry that I ruined your dreams.

ZOE
I’m sorry that I almost ruined you.

Enter DIO.

DIO
Wheewww… well that guy is ruined… but at least we got a souvenir.

DIO gives The Ringmaster’s Top Hat to MAX.

ZOE
I guess without a Ringmaster, we really did have our last act.

MAX
Or maybe not?

MAX holds out the Top Hat out to ZOE.

MAX
Ready to start a new dream?

ZOE takes the hat and puts it on for size.

ZOE
Ladies and Gentlemen and Children of All Ages…

Blackout.

END OF PLAY

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Headshot of Conrad A. Panganiban

Conrad A. Panganiban (he/him/his) is an award-winning Filipino American playwright representing the San Francisco Bay Area. His plays include Daryo’s All-American Diner, Welga, and River’s Message. Conrad’s work has been produced by Bindlestiff Studio, The Chikahan Company, CIRCA Pintig (IL), the MaArte Theatre Collective, and CATS (Contemporary Asian Theatre Scene) . Awards include: Best Play of 2023, Daryo’s All-American Diner (BroadwayWorldAwards Chicago), Best New Play, Daryo’s All-American Diner (Chicago Reader, Best of 2023), Susan Fairbrook Playwright Fund Awardee (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), 2023 New Voices in Comedy Writing Fellowship (Killing My Lobster), James Milton Highsmith Award Winner (SFSU), National Ten-Minute Play Festival Finalist (Actors Theatre of Louisville), and Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi-Finalist (Playwrights Foundation). Resident Artist: Bindlestiff Studio. Member: Dramatist Guild of America, and Theatre Bay Area. MFA, San Francisco State University. @consplayspace

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Scripts on this website are copyright protected and may not be reproduced, distributed, disseminated, altered or performed without the author’s prior written permission. conradap@gmail.com

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The work on conradpanganiban.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Pixabay.com

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