Play Right

Manfred Smith suffers from bipolar disorder which makes his life chaotic enough, but when the school play is dumped in his lap, his anxiety and depression increase, drive him to drinking and behaving in ways that are inappropriate for a school teacher. He refuses to give the lead to a girl who has alway been the star of the show. Unfortunately, the girl's mother is a school board member who begins a concerted effort to get Smith fired. An acrimonious breakup and a serious case of unrequited love drive him into despair and increases his dependence on alcohol. It doesn't help Smith that he wants to escape the drudgery of teaching with his great writing -- which really isn't that great. When he shows up drunk at one of his play performances, punches a friend who dares to be with the girl he wants but who doesn't want him, and steals some fantastic poetry from a one-night stand, he loses his job and tries to commit suicide. The ending is ambiguous. Does the girl whom he rejects, but still stands by his side, help him to recover fully and celebrate with him as he finally writes a successful, critically acclaimed play, or are these wishes simply the hallucinations of a dying man? The decision is left to the audience. In the feedback that I received on his script from Bluecat (which I can forward to anyone interested in this screenplay) was that the characters are very well drawn.