Flowers in the Attic

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Act I

Scene 1

A small pin spot comes up on the face of Cathy Dollanganger (in her twenties). She begins to speak as if talking in her sleep.

OLDER CATHY. Truly, when I was very young, I believed all of life would be like one long and perfect summer day. Our daddy was a PR man for a large computer manufacturing firm, and when he came home on late Friday afternoons, my brother Christopher and I would dash into his waiting arms.

The pin spot widens to show Older Cathy from the waist up.

OLDER CATHY. When the twins, Cory and Carrie, were born, I was jealous, but I soon realized I need never be. “Love” was a word lavished about in our home, especially Daddy’s love for Momma. It was as if we were living in an old-time movie.

The spotlight widens.

OLDER CATHY. We never even dreamed he would die, but suddenly, on his birthday, in fact, he was in a terrible car accident, and he was gone. Daddy had done foolish things with our money and had borrowed against his life insurance. We were bankrupt, and Momma had no choice but to write to her mother for help, a mother who had never seen us. She told us we were going to live in a grand mansion and truly be rich. I would have ballet lessons, Christopher would be able to attend medical school when he graduated from high school and be the doctor he dreamed he’d be, and the twins, Cory and Carrie, would have everything a little boy and girl would need. We wouldn’t have Daddy, but we’d have a future and a family.

The spotlight goes off, and the curtain rises slowly on the attic loft.

Scene 2

Olivia walks in first and turns on a light, revealing a large, long loft that seems to go on forever. (Note: Whenever Christopher and Cathy look out the window, they look directly at the audience.) It is cluttered with old furniture, a table and chairs, antiques, bad paintings, trunks, and much more to be revealed later.

Olivia (in her sixties) turns to the others standing in the doorway. She is a stern-looking woman in a plain dress, her hair in a tight chignon.