The Synth Machine

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ACT 1:
Intro:

BEN:
The Brain; a super computer capable of running millions of processes
through our heads all throughout the day. In my life, people have conquered the far
depths of the ocean, as well as the known universe; but unlike those the Brain is
the last frontier for man. That’s where my parent’s come in, geniuses in their field
of science. My Mother, Deborah, a psychoanalysis, as well as a Doctor in the study
of the subconscious. This is my father, Brandon, the top in his field into the study
of “Brain Engineering”, like a neurosurgeon, but he wants to be able to program
the brain, not just fix it. Then there's me, my name is Ben. I am just starting
Freshman year, and I have yet to make a single friend; It’s mostly due to the fact
that I'm homeschooled and my parent’s act like I'm made of glass. I don’t blame
them I guess, I have an extremely rare heart and brain condition; what happens is
when my heart rate exceeds a certain point I have a very high chance of having a
stroke, then a coma. I found this out when I had a girl kiss me during a dance in 5th
grade, I proceeded to fall on her and drool on her dress; let’s just say we're seeing
other people now. That's what my parent’s tell people why I'm homeschooled, but
it’s mostly because my mother won't let me leave her side. She’s like a helicopter
mom, but she’d be the Helicarrier out of them. My parent’s actually started their
research because of me, they want to cure my condition. They built this machine
they think could fix me, the “Subconscious, Yobibyte, Nerual, Transmission,
Hub” or “Synth Machine”; They have yet to make it work; They claim it will be
able to help people who are in coma’s be able to communicate, as well as go
through therapy on a deeper level. However, that won’t matter much for me now,
because today is going to be the worst day of my life, because grandma just got off
the phone with me, grandpa didn’t make it through the surgery; and now I have to
tell my parents; but on top of that I die today

(Ben set’s down the phone and the scene begins, Light’s Fade up)

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 Scene 1: Dinner Time

(Interior, Dining room, Late night)

BRANDON:
Pass the salt. Can you pass the salt please?

DEBORAH:
I don’t know can I?

BRANDON:
May you please pass the salt?

DEBORAH:
Why? Is the way I made it require more salt?

BRANDON:
Well burnt chicken usually needs something to go with it

DEBORAH:
How was your day Ben?

BEN:
Well actually that’s the thing…(Gets cut off)

BRANDON:
I thought you said these were bone-less?!

DEBORAH:
I said there weren’t bones, if you’d listen better you’d know that

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 BRANDON:
What do you mean, when we called I asked specifically for boneless you know I
hate bone!

DEBORAH:
Oh do you? What a shame (Pause) What were you saying Ben?

BEN:
I was gonna say grandma called and..

(Brandon spills some water)

BRANDON:
Dammit

DEBORAH:
Last I checked the carpet doesn’t need to be watered Brandon

BRANDON:
That’s it, i can’t do this anymore. You are driving me up the wall today Deborah

(Musical que that begins song, Song must have deb saying she never had time to
update NERD; Ben enters Coma)
-------Music Segment---------
DEBORAH:
Oh god my baby!(She begins to freak out)

BRANDON:
You need to relax, we need to take him to the lab

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 Scene 2: SYNTH Machine

(The parents pick up Ben and place him on the lab table)

DEBORAH:
Give me his respirator

BRANDON:
It’s gonna be okay bud, just hold in there

DEBORAH:
NERD, run a scan of Ben

NERD:
Scanning...X-ray evaluation processing...Ben appears to be in a stage three deep
sleep coma

BRANDON:
What do you mean stage three? That’s a permanent coma; Deb, I thought this was
fixed

DEBORAH:
Well clearly you didn’t fix it

BRANDON:
NERD, explain a procedure to fix this

NERD:
In order for Ben to regain motor functions, his brain will need to reach a calm
state, which he can’t do currently while in a state of distress. Failure to resolve
would result in a permanent coma for Ben

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 DEBORAH:
What do you mean distress? He was perfectly fine during dinner

BRANDON:
Yeah

NERD:
His neurological bank states his mental break occurred very recently, Which would
suggest it was during dinner

BRANDON:
You think it was the divorce thing?

DEBORAH:
We don’t have time to debate what caused it, we need to activate the SYNTH

BRANDON:
But it isn’t ready yet, this is our son!

DEBORAH:
Don't worry,I made it myself. I know how to take care of my child

BRANDON:
That's my point..

(Music cue 1. Duet with both Brandon and Deb where they begin to sing as a piano
riff plays behind them)
------Music Segment------

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 Scene 3: SYNTH/NERD

(The sound of technology echoes throughout, Both parents finish entering the
machine and walk up to a Host like figure waving for them)

NERD:
Hello and welcome into the SYNTH Machine, It is a pleasure to finally meet you
both

DEBORAH:
Wait, your NERD?

NERD:
Indeed, Since you are in the SYNTH machine I am able to create a figure to
resemble...me

DEBORAH:
Wow, that’s amazing; I can’t believe it worked

NERD:
Statistically speaking there was only a 10 percent chance of success in entering the
machine and only 2 percent chance entering alive

BRANDON:
Excuse me? Deb, did you know those statistics?

DEBORAH:
That's not important, NERD how do we find our son?

NERD:
You will need to achieve neurological stability before you can help Ben

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 BRANDON:
Meaning?

NERD:
Your brains are not in the right place to enter Bens

DEBORAH:
We’ll how would we fix that?

NERD:
You would need to resolve whatever is causing such strain in your brain

BRANDON:
NERD, i’m telling you now, There is no way that is gonna happen; what's our plan
‘B’?

NERD:
I’m afraid that is your only course of action

DEBORAH:
What? Ugh, just my luck, the only thing that can help my baby is dealing with the
bigger one here

BRANDON:
I have ears ya know; NERD, say we wanted to try to resolve the issue with us, how
would we even begin? Do we like shake hands or something?

NERD:
If you would like i could explain the process but i am only programmed to do so in
song

Brandon:
Excuse me, what?

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 DEBORAH:
What? I was having wine and watching Disney when I wrote his Code.

BRANDON:
Okay, NERD, Go ahead

(NERD excitedly begins the musical number looking into Brandon’s eyes/ Song
Ends)
-----Music Segment-----
So, how does it work?

NERD:
Thats...thats what the song was for

DEBORAH:
He always tunes out singing, on one of our first dates we went to see the little
mermaid; slept through the whole thing

BRANDON:
It’s not my fault Musicals are boring

NERD:
(Looks at audience, “Get a load of this guy”)
Just follow me
(Exits off stage)

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 Scene 4: Ben’s Dream

BEN:
Hello? Is anyone here? Mom? Dad?
-----Music Segment-----
(Vision’s of his mother and father appear, however they cannot see ben, they
recreate what happened at the dinner table, however, they are muted while arguing,
Ben begins to sing and change the world to his dream/ Song Ends, Fade to black)

(The Nerd views the ending of the scene)

Scene 5: Parent Split

NERD:
We have arrived

DEBORAH:
Where are we

BRANDON:
For something you made, you’d think you would know where we are going

DEBORAH:
I’m sorry when was the last time you created code that would physically manifest
around you? Oh, that's right; never

NERD:
(To Both parents, with a full smile)
I’m uncomfortable now; We have arrived at the entrance for Ben’s…
(NERD freezes in place, glitching)

BRANDON:

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What's happening?

DEBORAH:
Hey, Nerd are you okay?

NERD:
(NERDS arms are frozen, he stutters then resumes)

...Cerebral Hub. Ben is located beyond these borders

DEBORAH:
Are you okay? What was that hiccup

NERD:
(Pause)
I’m..Unsure

BRANDON:
Now the machine doesn’t even know what’s going on...This is just great deb, just
great

DEBORAH:
You know what Brandon this is not the time for your attitude, my baby is lost
somewhere in here and I gotta find him

BRANDON:
“I”, you mean we?
(Pause)

NERD:
I think it would be important to note..

(Cut off, mimicking the beginning scene)

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 DEBORAH:
It’s we now? I thought you wanted a devorce

BRANDON:
I haven’t heard any objections from you, so i’m not the only one to blame here

DEBORAH:
There you go pushing responsibility somewhere else

BRANDON:
What is that supposed to mean

NERD:
I would like to state my personality functions are…

DEBORAH:
What I mean, is that you always push the responsibilities on me; For our son, for
our work; who do you think keeps our family afloat?

BRANDON:
That’s a lot of talk for the person who won’t do any activities with our son; I’m the
one who took him for his first bike ride, I'm the one who took him to school, I took
him to baseball practice…

DEBORAH:
He didn’t even like baseball!

(The arguing fades low, while the nerd enters a spot)

-----(Possibly song)-----

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 NERD:
What am I feeling? I feel doubt, in all that i’ve known i’ve never felt like this; Like
when you send a risky text then it’s just that typing bubble for 30 minutes, Or when
you don’t remember if you closed all the tabs on your laptop and you already lent it
to your nephew..
(Laughs, Pauses)

BRANDON:
You okay there bud? Your talking to yourself

NERD:
Ugh? Oh, Never felt better!

DEBORAH:
Alright, enough messing around; I’m gonna go get my baby
(Deb walks into invisible wall)
What's going on?

NERD:
Readings say that you cannot enter the hub until you resolve your internal
conflicts; I should also warn you, we are on the clock, so we need to hurry.

BRANDON:
So your saying we can't help ben unless me and deb fix what's wrong with us

NERD:
Yes, “you can't help ben unless you and deb fix what's wrong with you”

BRANDON:
Are you mocking me?

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 NERD:
No, I’m just making sure that everyone here got the gist of the stakes at this point
in the story (4th wall break)

DEBORAH:
What are you talking about

NERD:
(Laughs, ignores Deb)
To resolve those issues we will be exiting Ben and entering each of your minds
separately, beginning split in 5..4..
---Music Segment----
(Music begins for act 1 finally)
- END ACT 1 -

- ACT 2

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 Scene 6: Grandpa

BEN:
Hello, who are you?
(Ben walks closer till he sees his grandpa)
Grandpa!

GRANDPA:
Hey bud, Long way from the suburbs I see

BEN:
How, How are you here? Grandma called, was she wrong?

GRANDPA:
No, she was right

BEN:
Then how are you here? Are you real?

GRANDPA:
Well no technically, but your mother created an A.I personality of your grandpa
that had most of his memories and his emotions

BEN:
Oh, so you had his thoughts too?

GRANDPA:
Yes I do

BEN:

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Can I ask my grandpa something?

GRANDPA:
Sure, bud

BEN:
What is the point of going through life? Like, it seems to be mostly fighting and
homework

GRANDPA:
That's not true, that’s not life at all

BEN:
It isn’t?

GRANDPA:
Did I ever tell you about my life?

BEN:
No you haven’t

GRANDPA:
Come, sit with me

(Music begins, light hearted and upbeat/ Song Ends)

BEN:
Thank you grandpa, I’m gonna miss you

GRANDPA:
I’m gonna miss you too, bud
Scene 7: Dad

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 (Brandon Enter’s screaming, “like a little girl”, while still frozen)

BRANDON:
Ahhhhhhh! Ahhh? Ben? Where are you? NERD? Hello?

FATHER FIGURE:
(NERD in a suit)
Hello Son

BRANDON:
Dad?

FATHER FIGURE:
Brandon come here this instant, You call this a Robot Arm? It’s pathetic! When I
was your age I was constructing full cars, mech’s even. Those beautiful inventions
of mine now reside in the smithsonian. What have you made?

BRANDON:
I’ve been working on a new robot that..

FATHER FIGURE:
Then where is this robot?

BRANDON:
I haven’t actually got it to work yet

FATHER FIGURE:
So typical of you, failing. I had hoped my creations would be my legacy, but it
seems a failure of a son is all I will have
(Music begins, Duet between Father.F and Brandon/Song Ends)

BRANDON:

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I love you so much Ben, Don't worry i’m coming for you

Scene 8: Mom

(Deb Enters screaming very similar to Brandon)

DEBORAH:
AHHHH! Hello? Ben? Sweetheart? Mommas on her way

(Nerd dresses up like deb and recreates a memory from her life)

NERD:
(Doing Impression of Deb, holding baby ben)

Hello little Ben, Mommas gonna set you down here while I work, okay?

---Music Segment---
(As deb is working she spills toxins in the lab and it spills onto Ben, Music Begins,
Song ends, Fade to black)

Scene 9: Reconnection

(Both parents re enter in front of the hub)

BRANDON:
We did it

DEBORAH:
Can we see Ben now?

NERD:
According to my readings your internal scans still show conflict.

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 BRANDON:
God, I can't stand this anymore; we would never have been in this situation if you
had just passed the salt and not started a fight

DEBORAH:
Are you being serious right now?!

NERD:
My programming is showing errors across the board, this may result in a shutdown

BRANDON:
Are you serious?!

DEBORAH:
What’s happening?

NERD:
It doesn’t matter, you guys wouldn’t get it..

DEBORAH:
Do you need to tell us something

NERD:
I mean I got some stuff going on, but you know, it’s like whatever

BRANDON:
What's wrong NERD?

NERD:
The window to save Ben is closing fast

DEBORAH & BRANDON:

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 How soon!?

NERD:
Let me check (Checks watch) Ahh!; I mean, okay, we still have time, so let’s
resolve this.

DEBORAH:
How much time is left?

NERD:
Three minutes

BRANDON:
Can you do anything?

NERD:
I could show you Ben, but he won’t be able to see you

DEBORAH:
Sure, do it
(Ben enters)
Hi, it’s gonna be okay Ben

BRANDON:

-------------(Fixed ^ as of 5-13-20)------------
-------------(Needs Fixing V )------------------

Scene 10: NERD Battle

(Both parents enter with NERD standing in the way)

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 NERD:
I Cannot allow Viruses to enter

Brandon:
We’re not viruses!

Deb:
It’s me NERD, ya know the women who made you?

NERD:
I am only authorized to allow entry to those who can defeat me

Brandon:
Defeat you? We gotta fight that thing?

Deb:
(Head in hands)
no..

NERD:
A Singing Battle

Brandon:
Did you program all of him while drinking wine?

Deb:
Maybe?

(NERD hit’s a Elvis pose and the music begins, as the parents begin to lose Ben
enter’s and helps the parents defeat him, Song ends)

Deb:

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How did you find us?

Ben:
I was just walking when I heard you guys singing and i assume it was because of
the sing off mom programmed

Brandon:
You knew she programmed that?

Ben:
Yeah, she programmed all of NERD when she was watching The little mermaid
with me
(The family hugs)

NERD:
Shutting down in 30 seconds

Deb:
We gotta get out of here, Ben you gotta wake up

Brandon:
You got this Bud, we love you

(Ben concentrates really hard, blackout, Becomes lab)

Scene 11: Return

(Ben awakes on the table with his respirator and hugs his parents)

Brandon:
What do you say we go finish dinner?

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 Deb:
I’d love that

(Music begins, they sing while the scene transitions to the dinner table, The music
stays synth until the mother unplugs it at the end)

END

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