September 18, 2026 · daily scene
The Deposit
Given circumstances
- Character
- Tenant
- Setting
- A parking lot behind your building, late afternoon, moving truck idling.
- The moment before
- They handed you an envelope. You opened it. It's $200 short of half the deposit.
- Scene partner
- Your roommate of three years, keys in hand, standing by their car
Direction
Start generous, like you're going to let it go. The shift comes when you realize they planned this—counted on you absorbing it. That's when the generosity hardens.
Script
No, I see it. It's just—the deposit was eight hundred, so half would be four, not two.
(listening)
I know the rug wasn't your fault. But they're taking it out of our deposit, not yours, and I'm the one who has to call them and—
(they cut you off)
You know what? Fine. Keep it. Add it to the Venmo requests you've been meaning to get to and the grocery runs you'll pay me back for.
I'm not doing this anymore. I really hope the new place works out.
Written for Act It Up. Free to rehearse and perform for practice, classes and self-tapes.
Record this scene with a teleprompter and a scene partner who reads the other lines.
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