Monologue from the play "Up the Down Staircase"
written by Bel Kaufman

(In this scene Alice Blake imagines life with her crush, teacher Paul Barringer)

Alice: His voice...the way his eyebrow goes up...how to describe the emotion I...If I could die for you Paul, like the Lady of Shalott you read to us about, floating dead on the river outside his window, and Lancelot never knowing. Saying only,"She has a lovely face, the Lady of Shalott" In my bed at night I pray to the ceiling...please make him love me or notice me in class where I sit. Make him take me in his bold, throbbing embrace! When I look at the cracks in the ceiling and how ugly everything is, I think it's all unreal, my house and my parents. Real life is somewhere else. On moonlit terraces, in tropic gardens....foreign cities...darkling woods.

Kudos and immense thanks to Hilary for the donation of this monologue, much appreciation and my everlasting gratitude go to her.

[ please return to the main movie monologue page ]