Photo: R. J. Tolan

Clare Barron is a playwright and actor from Wenatchee, Washington. Her plays have been produced by Page 73, Woolly Mammoth, Clubbed Thumb, and The Bushwick Starr, and will appear at Playwrights Horizons and Steppenwolf in 2018. She is the recipient of an Obie Award, the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award at The Vineyard, and the Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship. Barron was also the co-winner of the inaugural 2015 Relentless Award established in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman for her play Dance Nation. She lives in Brooklyn.

An excerpt from Baby Screams Miracle

CYNTHIA
Kayden, come here. Do you know who I am?

KAYDEN
Aunt Cynthia

CYNTHIA
­No, I’m your sister. Sister Cynthia. Because your mommy and daddy had me when they were very, very young. And then they didn’t really want me like they wanted you, so.

So you know what that means? That means you’re a very lucky girl. And that means you have a big sister. And right now, I know it feels like I’m more of a mommy than a sister, but one day we’re gonna both be grown-ups and we’re gonna talk about grown-up
things and we’ll be like sisters. I’m excited for that. I’m excited for that to happen.

(Kayden looks at her.)

CYNTHIA
Your mom and dad are pretty nice now, huh?

(Kayden nods.)

CYNTHIA
That’s good.
They don’t yell at you or—

KAYDEN
Sometimes they yell

CYNTHIA
Well, yeah, sometimes they have to yell.
They take you to the park and the ice-skating rink…

KAYDEN
Dairy Queen

CYNTHIA
Oh yeah? That’s good. That’s cool.
They let you go to the bathroom whenever you need to?

KAYDEN
Yeah

CYNTHIA
That’s good.

(Kayden looks at her.)

CYNTHIA
You’re very shy, do you know that? I think your mommy and daddy think there’s something wrong with you but I just think you’re shy and quiet. Do you think that’s true?

KAYDEN
I don’t know

CYNTHIA
You shouldn’t be shy. Being shy doesn’t get you very far in life. You have to put yourself out there, you know. You have to stand out. People say it’s the shy, nerdy kids who come back and get revenge later in life, but they’re wrong. It’s the kids with charisma, you know what I’m saying? The homecoming queen. That’s who you want to be. That’s who dominates everyone else from the time she’s born until the time she dies. It’s true.

(Pause.)

Come on. Let’s practice. I say dance, you dance. Got it? I say dance, you dance. Okay. Dance.

(Kayden doesn’t move.)

CYNTHIA
You have to dance. You have to move. You have to not be afraid to make a fool of yourself. Come on. Dance. Dance. Dance, Kayden. Dance.

(Kayden doesn’t move.)

CYNTHIA
Give me your shoes.

KAYDEN
What?

CYNTHIA
You didn’t dance. Now you have to give me your shoes.

(Kayden takes off her shoes and gives them to Cynthia.)

CYNTHIA
Okay. Let’s try this again. Dance. I want you to dance. Come on. I don’t care how you dance. I don’t care how well you dance. Just move. Just moooove, god dammit. Do something.

(Kayden doesn’t move.)

CYNTHIA
Give me your pants.

(Kayden takes off her pants and hands them to Cynthia.)

CYNTHIA
I bet you feel pretty silly without your pants. And it’s cold outside. And another storm is coming soon. And you’re going to be without your shoes and without your pants and who knows what else. So you better dance, don’t you think?

(Kayden bends at the knee a little bit—up and down.)

CYNTHIA
Are you dancing? I can’t tell. Is that dancing?

Read more from the 2017 Whiting honorees.