Historical Drama · 3 min
The Carpenter.
Behind a tobacco barn at dawn, an enslaved man risks everything by asking a visiting carpenter for the one thing he cannot safely name.
The roles
GABRIEL WARD
Mid-30s. Enslaved on a tobacco property in the rural South, 1840s. Secretly literate — his mother taught him before they were separated. Speaks with careful formality because a wrong word could kill him. Has a wife and children he hasn't seen in nine years.
LARS HENRIKSEN
Late 40s. Norwegian traveling carpenter. Hired to repair the barn door. Has no stake in the system and no interest in trouble. Uncomfortable, practical, trying to finish his contract and move north.
The Carpenter · Historical Drama side · memorlined.app
(Behind a tobacco barn. Dawn. Cold, wet air. GABRIEL WARD crouches by a water pump, filling a bucket. He watches the back of the main house. LARS HENRIKSEN comes around the corner of the barn carrying a saw and a length of wood.)
LARS HENRIKSEN
You're up early.
GABRIEL WARD
Mister Harwell's horses need water before he wakes.
(setting the wood down)
LARS HENRIKSEN
I'm supposed to measure the barn door. The bottom's rotting out.
GABRIEL WARD
I noticed.
LARS HENRIKSEN
The whole frame needs replacing. But he only wants the door.
(LARS pulls a knotted measuring string from his pocket. Stretches it against the wood.)
GABRIEL WARD
You're here through the month?
LARS HENRIKSEN
Two more weeks. Maybe three if the door takes longer than it should.
GABRIEL WARD
Where after?
LARS HENRIKSEN
North. Richmond. There's work.
GABRIEL WARD
Richmond.
(GABRIEL finishes filling the bucket. Doesn't pick it up.)
LARS HENRIKSEN
Something you need?
GABRIEL WARD
Can I ask you something?
LARS HENRIKSEN
Depends.
GABRIEL WARD
You receive mail in town? At the general office?
LARS HENRIKSEN
I pick up letters there. When there are letters.
GABRIEL WARD
Could you send one?
(LARS stops measuring. Looks at him.)
LARS HENRIKSEN
What kind of letter?
GABRIEL WARD
The usual kind.
LARS HENRIKSEN
Written by who?
(GABRIEL says nothing.)
LARS HENRIKSEN
You can write?
(GABRIEL looks toward the main house. Then back.)
GABRIEL WARD
My mother taught her children before we were sold. That was a long time ago. I've been here nine years.
LARS HENRIKSEN
That's—
GABRIEL WARD
I'm not asking for much.
LARS HENRIKSEN
You're asking me to mail a letter from someone who isn't supposed to write them.
GABRIEL WARD
I'm asking you to put a piece of paper inside another piece of paper and hand it to the clerk. That's what I'm asking.
(LARS coils the measuring string. Puts it back in his pocket.)
LARS HENRIKSEN
If Harwell found out—
GABRIEL WARD
He won't hear it from me.
LARS HENRIKSEN
He hears everything. The overseer watches. You know that.
(A rooster crows behind the main house. GABRIEL picks up the bucket.)
GABRIEL WARD
You're leaving in two weeks.
LARS HENRIKSEN
Maybe three.
GABRIEL WARD
Either way. You leave. I don't.
(Pause.)
LARS HENRIKSEN
Who's the letter going to?
GABRIEL WARD
A man in Pennsylvania. A shopkeeper. He knows me from before.
LARS HENRIKSEN
Before.
(LARS looks at the barn door. Runs his thumb along the rot.)
LARS HENRIKSEN
I could lose the contract. Harwell talks to people in Richmond.
GABRIEL WARD
I understand.
LARS HENRIKSEN
I'm not from here. I don't know how things—
GABRIEL WARD
You know enough. You know what this place is.
(LARS doesn't answer.)
GABRIEL WARD
I had a wife. Two children. I haven't seen them in nine years and I don't know if they're—
(He stops. Picks up the bucket. Water sloshes over the edge.)
GABRIEL WARD
Forget I said anything.
LARS HENRIKSEN
Wait.
(GABRIEL stops.)
LARS HENRIKSEN
I'm not saying yes.
GABRIEL WARD
I know.
LARS HENRIKSEN
If I did. If I were to do this. How would you get the letter to me?
GABRIEL WARD
The barn. Under the loose board by the south wall. You're replacing the door. Nobody would think twice.
(LARS looks at the barn. Then the main house. Then Gabriel.)
LARS HENRIKSEN
What's the shopkeeper's name?
GABRIEL WARD
Jessup. Elias Jessup. Harrisburg.
LARS HENRIKSEN
And if he writes back?
GABRIEL WARD
He won't write here. He'll know what to do.
(A door opens at the main house. Both men tense.)
LARS HENRIKSEN
I need to measure this door.
GABRIEL WARD
And I need to water the horses.
(GABRIEL carries the bucket toward the stable. LARS kneels at the barn door with his measuring string.)
Print it for class, or open it in the app: every role in this side is playable, and the other side of the scene gets a reader. Cast a voice against your part in the Audition Room, then run it until the lines are yours.
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