October 25, 2026 · daily scene
What's Under the Mask
Given circumstances
- Character
- Older Sibling
- Setting
- Your front porch, bowl of candy in your arms, motion sensor light flickering.
- The moment before
- The doorbell rang. You opened the door expecting kids. This one is alone, and they haven't moved.
- Scene partner
- A trick-or-treater in a pale mask, standing at the bottom of your porch steps
Direction
Keep your voice friendly at first, like you're talking to a child. Let the unease creep in only when they don't respond the way they should.
Script
Hey there! Cool costume. What are you supposed to be?
(silence)
Okay, strong silent type. I get it. Here, take two.
TRICK-OR-TREATERI've been waiting for you.
What? No, I think you've got the wrong house. I don't—
TRICK-OR-TREATERYou know what you did last October.
I need you to leave. Right now. I'm closing the door.
TRICK-OR-TREATERYou closed it on me last year too.
Wait. That mask. That's Danny's mask. I sent him out alone last Halloween. I said he was too old to need me.
(beat)
Danny? Take it off. Please. Just — let me see you.
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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